Curtis Dean Anderson

Background

Curtis Dean Anderson was a former cab driver and was arrested in connection with the kidnapping and sexually assaulting of children.

Anderson was behind bars after an 8-year-old girl escaped. Police said the escape may have saved her life.

After Anderson was released in prison in November for a previous kidnap conviction, Anderson was to be arraigned on charges related to the escaped girl.

Anderson later faced additional allegations connected to another Vallejo girl, 8-year-old Xiana Fairchild, who remained missing for 14 months after her disappearance.

The offence

Midsi Sanchez, 8, was kidnapped. She spent two nights shackled to the front seat of a kidnapper’s car and was outside her home in Vallejo just in time for her birthday party.

Police said Midsi’s abduction involved aggravated sexual assault on a minor, rape, and two counts of lewd acts.

Xiana Fairchild was 7 when she disappeared while walking to catch a bus to school in Vallejo. Her remains were later found in Santa Clara County.

At a preliminary hearing to determine whether Anderson would stand trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Anderson bragged about strangling Xiana while he was molesting her and filming the entire incident, and that he decapitated her after killing her. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Anderson allegedly claimed to have killed 15 people during his lifetime.

Anderson’s later guilty plea was to first-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation.

Investigation

Police said that Midsi’s escape was a move that may have saved her life. Midsi was said to have taken a chance to flee when her abductor was outside the car and she found a key that set her free.

Investigators identified Anderson and his car as the same car from which Midsi escaped, and as connected to events in the days before Xiana’s disappearance.

Authorities disclosed that a skull found in the Los Gatos hills was that of 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild. The skull and jaw fragments were positively identified through both dental records and DNA testing.

Dr. Gregory Schmunk, Santa Clara County’s medical examiner, said Xiana’s death was a homicide and that he would not say how she was killed. Benny Del Re, director of the Santa Clara County Crime Laboratory, testified that genetic profiling matched Xiana based on tissue samples from her toothbrush.

A prison informant provided testimony that Anderson bragged about videotaping himself strangling Xiana as he sexually assaulted her before beheading her.

Prosecutors also described how investigators corroborated Anderson’s alleged confession claims. Constantinides said that investigators had talked to three children and a woman who saw Xiana with Anderson in the days before her December 1999 disappearance, and that they identified Anderson and his car.

Arrest

By Saturday evening, Anderson was behind bars as a suspect in the abduction of Midsi Sanchez. Police said Anderson would be arraigned on charges of kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault on a minor, rape and two counts of lewd acts.

Anderson was arrested and charged in connection with the kidnapping and molesting of the 8-year-old Vallejo girl who escaped after two days being held captive.

Anderson was arrested for the murder of Xiana after enough evidence was developed, and he was later transferred to the county jail for arraignment.

Trial

Preliminary hearing and allegations

A preliminary hearing was held to determine if there was sufficient evidence to make Anderson stand trial for the kidnap-murder of Xiana.

Santa Clara County Judge Ron Del Pozzo was expected to rule on whether Anderson would stand trial.

At the preliminary hearing, prosecutor Charles Constantinides used witnesses and Anderson’s own jailhouse confessions to portray him as a serial child predator.

Detective Jolene Spears testified that Anderson was already serving a 251-year prison sentence for the August 2000 abduction of an 8-year-old Vallejo girl as she walked home from Highland Elementary School.

Detective James Matthews Jr. testified that a fellow inmate at Corcoran State Prison named Louis Oliverez told investigators about Anderson bragging that he videotaped himself strangling Xiana while he sexually assaulted the drugged child before beheading her.

Anderson said “he tied (Xiana) up, gave her some drugs and asphyxiated her while having sex with her,'' Matthews recounted Oliverez telling him.
Anderson allegedly bragged “that he wanted to see her die while he was having sex with her,” Matthews testified.
Anderson then claimed “he cut off her head with a large knife,” Matthews said.
“He said that it was harder than he thought, even though she was a young girl. He thought it would be easier, because of the size of her neck.''

Anderson compared himself with infamous serial killers like Ted Bundy during an interview with a reporter, and he also claimed to have gotten away with murdering 15 total victims.

Guilty plea

On December 15, 2005, Curtis Dean Anderson pleaded guilty to the 1999 kidnapping, molestation and murder of 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild.

Anderson, 44, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation.

Sentencing

Anderson was sentenced to 50 years-to-life in prison for first-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation.

The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office decided not to seek the death penalty for reasons that included his health and out of concern for another of his victims.

Anderson was already serving a 251-year sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old Vallejo girl in August 2000.

In the sentencing information provided, Anderson was sentenced to 301 years in prison in 2005.

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Curtis Dean Anderson pleaded guilty on December 15, 2005.

Anderson died in prison on December 9, 2007.

Aftermath

After Anderson’s guilty plea, Xiana’s great aunt, Stephanie Kahalekulu, reacted to the plea and said:

“You never would have thought you would hear him say he was guilty,” Xiana's great aunt, Stephanie Kahalekulu, said this afternoon.
“He was just too cocky for that. Something's happened. He didn't have the threat of the death penalty.”

Kahalekulu later described continuing her “Xiana Angel Tree” during multiple holiday seasons, saying she did it “in Xiana’s memory rather than having her here.”

Midsi Sanchez’s mother, Susana Velasco-Sanchez, said:

“She is a hero; she got away. She outsmarted him,”

Santa Clara Police Department spokesman Anton Morec said:

“She had the will to survive and she had the will to escape and she never gave up,”
“She said she thought he was going to kill her.”

Midsi’s mother told authorities she saw Anderson standing on a nearby corner smoking a cigarette and that she saw him again when he volunteered to help search for Midsi:

“I remembered the face, and it was him,” Velasco-Sanchez said during a news conference.
“He even came into my house and offered to help search. When police showed me the flier and said they had a suspect, it just hit me. I knew it was him.”

Anderson’s defense attorney Carl Spieckerman said about Anderson being transferred:

“They're going to book him,” Spieckerman said. “And I believe he's going to be charged with something in connection with this case.”

Spieckerman also said:

“It's like some damn inquisition; they spirited him off,” Spieckerman said.
“It's extremely strange. I've been doing this 26 years and have never seen anyone spirited off in the middle of the afternoon.”

The prepared funeral and memorial activities included thousands of residents mourning in Vallejo when Xiana’s identification was disclosed, and volunteers erected a memorial shrine to Xiana outside their search center.

In 2006, Kahalekulu described nearly 200 low-income Vallejo families receiving Christmas gifts through “Xiana Angel Tree.”

Other details

People connected to the events

Juan Carlos Sanchez was Midsi Sanchez’s father.

Susana Velasco-Sanchez was Midsi Sanchez’s mother.

Anton Morec was a Santa Clara Police Department spokesman.

Xiana Fairchild’s mother was Antoinette Robinson.

Xiana Fairchild’s great-aunt was Stephanie Kahalekulu.

Robert Turnbough was the boyfriend of Xiana’s mother and a mechanic at City Cab around the time Robert Turnbough’s employer-related work connections were discussed by police.

Turnbough was questioned repeatedly by police.

Dan Healy was Robinson’s attorney.

Vallejo Police Chief Robert Nichelini gave statements about the case.

Lt. Joann West was identified as a Vallejo police spokeswoman.

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Capt. Brian Beck said there was no evidence linking Anderson at that point.

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Lt. John Hirokawa said investigators did not know who the suspects were in the homicide case and stated there was “no physical evidence” linking Anderson at that time.

Carl Spieckerman was Anderson’s attorney.

Charles Constantinides was Santa Clara County deputy district attorney.

Karyn Sinunu was Chief Assistant District Attorney.

Jolene Spears and James Matthews Jr. were mentioned as Vallejo police detectives.

Louis Oliverez was a fellow inmate at Corcoran State Prison who was named in testimony.

Zack Anderson was Anderson’s brother and testified at the preliminary hearing.

Dates and chronology described in the material

• August 14, 2000 — Police described Midsi Sanchez’s escape after two nights shackled to a kidnapper’s car.
• January 19, 2001 — A skull was identified as belonging to Xiana Fairchild.
• May 12, 2004 — Authorities arrested Curtis Dean Anderson for the murder connected to Xiana Fairchild.
• April 20, 2005 — A preliminary hearing included testimony about Anderson allegedly bragging about strangling and beheading Xiana.
• December 15, 2005 — Anderson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping and child molestation; he was sentenced to 50 years-to-life.
• December 9, 2007 — Anderson died in prison.

Methods and physical details mentioned

Midsi attempted to pick the lock of her leg shackles using a nail file, but the tip broke off, so she abandoned that plan.

Midsi rummaged through a ring of keys until she found one that set her free.

Midsi flagged a truck driver and hopped up the steps of his cab, then dove through the window onto his lap.

Xiana’s remains consisted of a portion of her skull and two pieces of her jaw, found on Soda Springs Road, about 20 miles from Anderson’s trailer park home.

The skull discovery was made by a construction worker who stopped his truck to move what he thought was a rock from the middle of the narrow, paved road.