New information in missing child cold case Bonita Sanders

[Sister Iroz]

PLEASANTVILLE, Pa. - February 23, 2009 (WPVI) -- A one year old girl went missing September 14, 1986, in Atlantic City and now, there's new information that have police back on the case.

Authorities with the Atlantic County prosecutor's office will not acknowledge it, but Action News has learned that after 23 years since Bonita Sander's disappearance, a longtime friend of the family came forward telling detectives that the child has been dead all these years and that her body was buried in a wooded area off Brighton Avenue near Route 9.

Detectives from the Atlantic County prosecutor's office and New Jersey State Police dug into the ground and sifted through the dirt looking for the remains of Bonita Karen Sanders.

She was just one year old when she disappeared from outside her home back on Sept.14, 1986. All these years, her father had held on to hope she would be found alive.

"Going to sleep thinking, 'there's a good possibility I'm going to find her tomorrow, there's a good possibility that something's going to change tomorrow,' and then somebody comes and snatches that dream right out of your hand," Abddul Salaam said.

Back then, the child's mother, also named Bonita, claimed that she last saw her daughter strapped in her stroller on the porch of their home of the Virginia Court Apartments, sitting there eating a popsicle. The case was never solved, but authorities say the mother had a history if bizarre behavior.

Authorities say she allegedly had abandoned Bonita at birth at an Atlantic City Hospital and attempted to abandon another newborn in a bus terminal restroom after Bonita disappeared. The prosecutor told the court that the mother was uncooperative in the investigation of the missing child, and gave them false leads and lied to investigators.

But now family members say the woman's best friend came forward and told them what really happened and that the mom buried the child in the wooded area in Pleasantville.

Tameika Sander's is the child's sister who was four years old at the time.

"For some reason today, I couldn't sleep and then I got a phone call, and I had to say, 'wow, this is the reason why I couldn't sleep,'" Tameika said.

If the allegations are true, it appears the mother was involved in the child's disappearance all along.

"You don't want to suspect somebody like that. This is somebody I loved for a long time, she's the mother of my children, and the thing I want to know about it is why?" Abddul said.

Curiously, family members saw the mother, Bonita Sanders, two weeks ago at a school event, after not seeing her in years. Later that same day, authorities told them they had a break in the case.

Family members say that authorities are still trying to locate the mother for questioning, and that they will return to the wooded area again tomorrow hoping to locate and dig up the child's remains.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6675321&rss=rss-wpvi-article-6675321

 

[PoongyPrincess]

That's very odd.

So why on earth did it take the mother's friend 23 years to turn her in? I'm thinking she's going to get charged with obstruction of justice, or something?

 

[Dakota]

Bonita Sanders

In Jan. 1987, Bonita Sanders, right, who reported her 2-year-old daughter missing in 1986, is with attorney Philip H. Shick. Sanders was sentenced to nine months in jail for adandoning her 2-day-old son in the bathroom of a Philadelphia bus terminal.

 

[Wicked Doll]

Besides possibly killing one child and abandoning another, it would be interesting to know what else that "history of bizarre behavior" entails.

I hope they are able to find little Bonita and lay her to rest properly.

 

[Sister Iroz]

PLEASANTVILLE, N.J. - February 27, 2009 - -- Authorities in southern New Jersey are ending their search of a wooded area near Atlantic City after failing to turn up any remains of a toddler missing for 22 years.

The search began last week after prosecutors got a tip that Bonita Sanders was killed and her body might have been buried in the lot in Pleasantville.

Without a body or other evidence, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel says he doesn't have enough information to declare the case a homicide.

Bonita was last seen strapped into a stroller on the porch of her home on Sept. 14, 1986 - three days before her second birthday.

Housel says he wants to talk with the girl's mother, also named Bonita Sanders, but his office hasn't been able to locate her.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6682296&rss=rss-wpvi-article-6682296

 

[Dakota]

In a news conference shortly afterward, Atlantic County Prosecutor Theodore Housel would not say if investigators planned to move to another site or whether there were other leads. The case remains open, he said, and will be treated as a missing-person investigation unless there is the discovery of remains or other evidence that suggests a homicide.
[...]
The prosecutor said investigators had obtained information that the child's remains "were not deeply planted." They sifted over the entire lot, he said, but concentrated on one area.

A state police forensic anthropologist had indicated that, given the time that has passed and the child's age, it was unlikely that any remains except for "one particular part of the body" could be found, Housel said.

It also is possible that the body was moved by the perpetrator or that "scavenging carnivores" carried off the remains, he said.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20090228_Case_of_missing_tot_still_open.html

 

[Abroad]

"one particular part of the body"

By that they mean the skull, right?


:dong:

 

[LocalCelebrity]

The prosecutor told the court that the mother was uncooperative in the investigation of the missing child, and gave them false leads and lied to investigators.

Casevil???

 

[Insomniac]

I hope you are resting in peace little Bonita.

 

[Dakota]

Atlantic City police can finally question the mother of a toddler who went missing more than 22 years ago after the child's father found her by accident.

Authorities had been looking in vain for Bonita Sanders since February. That's when police got a tip about where the body of the toddler also named Bonita Sanders may have been left in September 1986. A search of the area did not reveal any evidence.

Authorities also said they wanted to question the child's mother. But she could not be found until Tuesday.

Abdul Salaam spotted her during his regular bike ride around Atlantic City.

Sanders was arrested for contempt of court in unrelated cases. She has not been named a suspect in her daughter's disappearance.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/police_find_mother_in_missing.html

 

[Abroad]

Altogether now: "Truth is stranger than fiction."

 

[LocalCelebrity]

Wow, wtf.....hope she fesses up to what happened to that poor girl. She was just a year younger then me.

 

[Shellie435]

This woman will never see a jail cell..I see an insanity defense in the making here. Unfortunately she's had the pleasure of living her crazy ass life for 23 years more than her child. I'm curious as to what shes been doing all this time..has she had more children? Are they still with us? If so, are they in her care? Luckily (and thats DAMN lucky) Bonitas daddy happened to see Bonita Sr on his usual bike ride through the park. And the "friend" who waited 22 friggin years to mention the babies is actually dead and buried, and knew exactly where she is? Somethings wrong with that person, I'm sorry, but how the fuck do you live with yourself knowing something so horrendous? I just don't get people sometimes...oh and I guess she is a mommy, I was re-reading posts and Specials post mentioned that Bonita was seen a few weeks ago at a school function. But then again, it could have been a relatives kid..we can only hope.

 

[Lorettamim]

Wait...who's father found bonita?
If it was her own father, something aint.right.