Tuesday marks 30 years since Monica Sanders of Fouke, Ark., was found slain in Mercer Bayou, and decades since her suspected killer has gone free.
Sanders was reportedly killed Aug. 21, 1988, and found nine days later in the bayou near Arkansas Highway 237. Investigators believed Sanders was raped and said she had been shot three times in the chest. She was missing two teeth and had broken fingernails. Her clothing and boots were folded and placed in a pile beside her body.
No one has been convicted of the murder, though Sanders' sister, Kristie Chandler, still has hope that justice will be served.
"We're still praying and fighting for justice," Chandler said.
Sanders, a lifelong Fouke resident, graduated from Fouke High School and was a fifth-year ballet student who had performed at Texarkana College and the Perot Theatre.
Investigators' primary suspect was a man seen leaving a Texarkana nightclub with Sanders the night she disappeared. They began to suspect him after hearing his explanation of scratches found on his torso. He said he got the scratches in a briar patch near his mother's home while walking through the woods, but officials suspected he received the scratches during a fight with Sanders.
He was arrested Sept. 11, 1989, and charged with first-degree murder. The suspect was tried in August 1990, but after deliberating for more than five hours, the jury found him not guilty.
Investigators alleged that two other men were with the suspect when Sanders was killed. A charge against one of them was dropped and the other was never charged.
Though an alleged witness said 0ne of the three had admitted to helping kill Sanders, the statement was presented too late in the trial for both sides to have a fair chance to investigate it, according to Texarkana Gazette reports about the trial.
"I'll never give up hope. It's just not fair. They've gotten away with murder for 30 years. It's time-time for justice, time for someone to step up, tell what they know and bring closure to my family. Monica deserves justice. We miss her so much, the pain and heartache never goes away," Chandler said.