Tarrant County Man Cleared of Killing 2-year-old Daughter After His 7-year-old Son Confesses

A Tarrant County Man accused of killing his 2-year-old daughter has been released from jail after his son, now 7, confessed to the crime.A capital murder charge against Anthony Michael Sanders, 33, of Watauga was dismissed last month, court records show.Ellie Mae Sanders was killed Dec. 12, 2015, and police noted bruising on the girl's face and body as well as two bite marks on her back. The Tarrant County medical examiner ruled in April 2016 that the death was a homicide caused by asphyxiation. Sanders was arrested the next day; detectives said he may have killed his daughter in a fit of rage when she interrupted him while he was playing computer games.Sanders denied the charge "from the beginning," his lawyer Tim Moore told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.A grand jury indicted Sanders on the murder charge in August. Days later, however, prosecutors disclosed in a court filing that the girl's brother had told his mother that he accidentally killed her.Authorities met with the boy, who told them he and Ellie had been playing with a pillow that was "heavy" because of something zipped inside of it. He said he accidentally rolled the pillow onto his sister's face and was unable to remove it.The boy, who was crying during the interview, said he told his parents that he killed his sister, but he didn't tell anyone else because "he was afraid that he would get in trouble," court documents say.Prosecutors also met with Dr. Marc Krouse, Tarrant County's chief deputy medical examiner, who told them it was possible that the boy — then 5 — could've overpowered his sister and that he couldn't disprove the boy's account.The Tarrant County district attorney's office had no comment on the case.  Continue reading...