Mar 28, 2007 2:16 pm US/Central
Keller Top Cop Details Woman's Murder
(CBS 11 News)
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Donna Sandlin
Keller Police Dept.
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Richard Sandlin
Keller Police Dept.
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Valley Mills is west of Waco
CBS 11 News
Keller Police said they have no motive in the murder of a Keller woman who was reported missing on Monday.
Police have charged her husband, Richard Sandlin, with the crime, Keller Police Chief Mark Hafner said Wednesday morning.
Officials found the body of a female, believed to be Donna Sandlin, in
Valley Mills, which is west of Waco, after her husband admitted to the crime.
The 47-year-old Keller man led police to believe his wife's disappearance was an abduction, Hafner said. Police, however, always considered the man a person of interest.
About 9:40 p.m. Tuesday, police said the woman's husband confessed to the murder after investigators began collecting evidence from the couple's home and both vehicles.
He was arrested this morning.
Donna Sandlin, also 47, was reported missing by her daughter at 8 a.m. Monday when she did not report to work at Fossil Ridge High School.
Hafner credited the Keller community for helping in the investigation.
"It's a rock solid community that truly cares," Hafner said.
Family members last saw Donna Sandlin leaving her home on Briar Meadow Drive Monday morning. Her vehicle was found at a Keller restaurant on Main Street.
During Wednesday's news conference, Hafner said the husband drove the Land Cruiser there and tossed his wife's phone in a nearby dumpster.
Police believe he then drove to a business meeting in Waco.
Search and rescue dogs combed the wooded area west of where her abandoned Land Cruiser was found. That search revealed no evidence, police said.
On Tuesday evening, police searched the Sandlin home in the 1400 block of Briar Meadow Lane. Hafner said investigators found blood evidence in both the home and vehicles.
In a news release Wednesday morning, police said they also looked at cell phone records.
Officials said they are not aware of any marital problems. They move from California about three years ago. They have two adult children.
Richard Sandlin's bond was set at $150,000.
Preliminary evidence showed the woman was strangled. No official cause of death has been released. Officials said the body will be taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office for positive identification and autopsy.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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