Bones-finder says she cheated

She and her dog tried to assist police, but some evidence was false
March 12, 2004

BY JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


A Midland woman once known as handler for the world's most famous cadaver-sniffing dog has pleaded guilty to five felonies, including obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal agents.

DOG AT REST
Eagle, the Doberman pinscher-shorthaired pointer mix at the center of the criminal case against handler Sandra Anderson, died in November of heart disease. The dog was 12 and lived with Anderson in Midland.
In addition to searching for human remains, Eagle hunted grave sites in several forgotten cemeteries in Monroe County as well as in suspected Indian burial grounds in downtown Monroe.

A Cherokee Indian played a flute at a Dec. 7 memorial service for Eagle, and Eagle was honored by archaeologists, Anderson told the Monroe Evening News.

Eagle's ashes were buried in St. Antoine's Cemetery, which Eagle's grave-finding skills helped preserve.


The admissions by Sandra M. Anderson, 43, of Midland that she falsified evidence in several law enforcement investigations could lead to a new trial in at least one case, a well-publicized dismemberment-murder in Plymouth in 2000.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, Anderson pleaded guilty Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood in Detroit to five of the 10 counts of an August indictment.

Anderson remains free on bond and should expect a sentence of 18-24 months in prison, followed by a few years of supervised release, officials said. No sentencing date has been set.

Anderson admitted that on April 17, 2002, while she and her dog, Eagle, were helping police and the FBI search for the body of a missing woman in the Huron National Forest, she falsely claimed that she and the dog found a small piece of carpet that was potential evidence.

The following day, Anderson said, she also falsely claimed Eagle had found a small human bone in an area that already had been searched. A law enforcement scientist saw her plant the bone and authorities soon began investigating other cases involving Anderson and Eagle.

Neither Anderson nor her attorney could be reached Thursday.

Anderson also admitted planting a human bone during the search for a supposed murder victim in the Proud Lake Recreation Area in Oakland County.

And she admitted planting evidence, a toe, in a creek bed in Bad Creek, Ohio, on April 9, 2002. Anderson told authorities she obtained the toe from a dissected foot that was in the freezer of the home of a friend, a fire captain in the Shreveport, La., area, according to the plea agreement.

Anderson testified in the murder trial of Dr. Azizul Islam of Plymouth, who was charged with killing his wife, Tracy Islam, dismembering her body and dumping the torso in Ohio.

Anderson claimed that while helping police search the Islam home on Jan. 7, 2000, her dog led her to a hacksaw blade behind the dryer in the basement. The blade had blood on it, but DNA showed that the blood actually belonged to Anderson.

Anderson now admits she planted the blade.

Islam's attorney, Michael Alan Schwartz, said Thursday that although prosecutors could not introduce the blade into evidence at the trial, the jury heard witnesses refer to it.

Schwartz said Wayne County Circuit Judge Patricia Fresard heard arguments Tuesday on his motion for a new trial for Islam, who is serving life in prison without parole. Now that Anderson has admitted falsifying evidence, Schwartz said, the judge is likely to order a new trial in about two months.

"This whole thing was bogus, and I am very very confident that the jury would've come up with a different verdict if they had heard the whole story," Schwartz said.

Tim Baughman, head of the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office appeals division, said that prosecutors agree that Anderson illegally placed the blade at the scene, but because the blade was not admitted into evidence a new trial is not warranted.

"It's up to Judge Fresard," Baughman said. "This should not result in a new trial, but she has it under consideration right now."

Some law enforcement officials suggest there may be a dozen cases around the country in which Anderson falsified evidence.

Oscoda Township Police Chief Robert LaVack, whose officers first alerted the FBI to problems with Anderson during the search for the body of Cherita Thomas, said Wednesday that Anderson's actions have not harmed his department's investigation of Thomas' presumed murder.

"We're close to an arrest," LaVack said. Thomas been missing since August 1980.

Anderson, LaVack said, "was used by a lot of police departments. I imagine there's probably going to be appeals from some people that were convicted based on evidence that she may have located."

Charles Londo, administrator for Monroe County, said Anderson and Eagle helped historians, Native American groups and preservations at several Monroe County sites, especially in forgotten graveyards. Anderson and the dog also searched for political victims in Panama.

"People love her down here," Londo said of Anderson. "She's never charged us. It's always been gratis, a public service."

Her guilty plea, Londo said, "kind of sends a life of good deeds down the tubes."




Contact JACK KRESNAK at 313-223-4544 or kresnak@freepress.com.


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