. .

I
. Iggl 9,9 .
1 .
. By Tim Jamiolkowskl El
News Tribune Writer

voic steady but low,
Wurst his three-day
as us ay with surprising

candor.
don?t think I?ll see her
again aliv?, he said of his Wife

of three years, Carol n- Sue
whose disapipeara so a or
has a arke an intense searc

by he St. Lucie County
sheriff ?s department.

?Try as I might, I justcan't
bring myself to believe she?ll
be feund alive. It?s like she has
ust vanished into thin air.

obody knows where she is.
Nobody?s seen her. No?body?s
heard from her."

Mrs. Sanders, a 40-year-old
district manager for Little
General convenience stores,

I do 't
left her Ashley Street home in
White City around 6 am.
Saturday, bound .ufor her
Stuart office. 
.When she hadn?t returned
that evening, Sanders said be
notified the sheriff?s depart-
ment. Despite being contacted
by authorities about several
false reports of her sighting,
Sanders said he has received
no substantive word of his
w? e's condition.

Ray Chambers, a vice presi
dent with Little General, a
division of General Host Co .,
issued a press release Tues ay
offering a $2,500 reward for
information leading to Mr.
Sanders? whereabouts.

wasn?t ,aWare they had
done that,? Sanders, 42, said
from his home by telephone

  
  
 
 
   

  
  

in I ?l I
Tuesday afternoon. say the
reward is a good thought. it
will help, but his only a drop in
the bucket.

?She's such a hard
worker,? he continued. ?She
worked weekends, long hours
.and everything. She?s made
that much for some stores in
her territory in one period. It
may help. At least .it?s doing

something.? .
Mrs. Sanders, described as
5-foot-3, 150 pounds, with

brown curley medium-length
hair. 'She was last seen in a
brown 1984 company station
wagon, according to? her hus-

band.

St. Lucie C.
Lanie No'rvel?l, in a prepared
'release,? said Mrs. Sanders
?Was possibly, enroute to the

 

ever again save" 

Little General store at Winter
Garden Parkway_ and Kings
Highway in Fort Pierce to pick
up the weekly report. . . 

"When she left the house.
she was going to Stuart,? her
husband said. ?She probably
discovered she didn?t have
some paperwork that she had
to have and probably went to
the Fort Pierce office to get it.
But as I understand it, nobody
there Saw her.? 

St. Lucie County Chief
Deputy Warren Alford said
Tuesday that aerial searches of
both Martin and St. Lucie
counties have come up empty.

He also said the nature of
Sanders' complaint led to an
immediate search for the
woman instead of it being
delayed for some 24 hours.

?It all depends on the cir-
cumstances,? Alford said.
?With juveniles, you have to
go in immediately. If a bus-
band says, 'We had a helluva
fight,? we'll let it [a search) go
for awhile.

?But that wasn?t the case
here. There was no report of a
fight. We?ve been up inplanes
in both counties looking for the
station wagon and haven?t
found a thing." 

Mrs. Sanders has been with
the company .for 16 years, her
husband said, the last six as
district manager. Her 'ter-
ritory was recently extended
to include the Florida east
coast frOm Cape Canaveral to
F0rt Pierce. 

?She was only supposed to
be "gone for a few hours

because we were going to move
to Melbourne,? Sanders said.

Sanders' relatives, including
his father from Tennessee, 
have stayed with him and.
given him emotional support
since Saturday: He added that
he?s checked with all the likely
peeple {his wife would visit
should she leave home.

But he says the thought of
her not being found alive
keeps haunting him.

have this,T-shirt I was
given when we were married
in Georgia three years ago,?
he said. ?On the front is the
saying met her? at Little
General?.?

saw that this morning and
I?ve decided to put on the back
of it lost her at Little
General.? 

 

since 1

Case ofmissing woman"
still under investigation



JUN 0 2 1985

By Sue Smith 
News Tribune Writer

It?s been more than 10 months
Sue antlers disap-
peared while enroute from- her
White City home to her office at
Little General stores in Stuart.

The trail of clues has grown
cold, but the case is still under in-
vestigation at the St. Lucie Coun-
ty Sheriff?s Department.

"We?ve followed up a number
of leads, but nothing new has

developed,? Chief Deputy
Robert L. Crowder said.
Mrs. Sanders, 41, left her

White City home early on 'the
morning of July 28, 1984. She was
driving a brown, company-owned
stationwagon.

She hasn?t been seen since.

A two-county aerial search,
covering St. Lucie and Martin
counties, produced no clues.

Von Sanders moved from the
family home in White City after
his wife disappeared. Crowder
said he lives in Palm Bay or
Melbourne.

Efforts to reach him were un-
successful. A recording from the
telephone company said, ?At-the
customer?s request, the number
is not listed in our records.?

Three days after his wife?s
disappearance, Sanders told The?
News Tribune, don't think I?ll
ever see her again alive. Try as I

1? 


 

 

Carolyn Sue Sanders

might, I just can?t bring myself to
believe she?ll be found alive.?

He never explained why he
thought Mrs. Sanders is dead.

Little General stores posted a
$2,500 reward for information
leading to Mrs. Sanders?
whereabouts. The reward was
announced by Ray Chambers, a
company vice president.

A spokesman for the Little
General Stores?

longer with the company and she
did not know if the reward offer
is still in effect. Repeated calls to
Phil Youtz, who, the spokesman
said, would have knowledge of

office in West,
Palm Beach said Chambers is no'

the reward status,
returned.

Just after Little General an-
nounced the reward, fliers show?
ing Mrs. Sanders? photograph
were posted in windows at all Lit-
tle General stores. They, too,
have since disappeared.

St. Lucie County Deputy Mike
Sumner found the stationwagon
Aug. 1, 1984, in a parking lot in
St. Lucie Plaza on South US. 1 in
Port St. Lucie. It was found about
two miles from where Mrs.
Sanders lived. The keys were on
the dashboad.

Steve Williams, who was then a
detective in the sheriff?s depart-
ment and assigned to the case,
said the car was unlocked and
papers from Mrs. Sanders? at-
tache case were strewn about. A
ticket, dated July 31 and issued
by the Florida Department of
Motor Vehicles for an expired
tag, was found on the windshield
of the company car, Williams
said.

Numerous fingerprints were
found. but there was no sign of
physical violence,
Williams.

Mrs. Sanders had worked for
Little General for 16 years, the
past six as a district manager.
Her territory. had been extended
along Florida?s East Coast, from
Cape Canaveral to Fort Pierce,

were not

just before she disappeared, her -

husband said last year.

according to