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Woman Indicted For Allegedly Planting Human Remains

Accused Woman, Dog Well Known For Digging Up Evidence

POSTED: Wednesday, August 20, 2003
UPDATED: 7:04 pm EDT August 20, 2003

A federal grand jury indicted a woman Wednesday on charges of evidence tampering, accusing her of planting human remains while assisting police during missing-person searches. '
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The indictment levies 10 charges against Sandra M. Anderson, 43, who has made hundreds of searches in the United States and other countries with her cadaver dog, Eagle, the Justice Department said in a statement.

They include five counts of falsifying and concealing material facts from federal officers, plus three counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of lying to law enforcement officials for allegedly trying to cover up evidence during the investigation of her conduct.

FBI agents arrested Anderson (pictured, left) in April 2002 as she participated in a search in the Huron National Forest in northern Michigan.

The indictment says the Midland, Mich., resident planted human remains and fiber evidence during that search and also planted remains during a search at the Proud Lake Recreation Center in January 2002.

Anderson, director of the Great Lakes Search and Rescue of Michigan K-9 Unit in Midland, conducts about 200 searches a year with her dog.

The FBI began investigating Anderson in 2002 when she and Eagle went to Oscoda to look for the body of missing women. Police in the town apparently accused her of pulling some bones out of her boot and planting them in a stream.

Anderson and her dog also helped convict a Plymouth man three years ago for murdering his wife based in part by evidence they found at the man's home, Local 4 reported.

The man was accused of dismembering his wife's body and leaving parts in Dearborn and Ohio, Local 4 reported.

In December 1999, Anderson's dog found blood in the basement of the convicted murderer. But according to the federal document, a DNA test revealed Anderson's blood was on a hacksaw blade in the basement of the man's home.

The hacksaw blade was reportedly never admitted into evidence in the case, but Eagle found several other areas with blood that were used as evidence toward convicting the man.

In her response to the allegations, Anderson told Local 4, "It's absolutely ridiculous. Eagle did an incredible job and I absolutely did not plant evidence. Anything we touch has DNA."

Anderson and her dog Eagle were used to identify victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. They were also used in the Chandra Levy case and in helping to identify political victims in Panama.

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