September 29, 1984. Chicago, Illinois. 23-month old Deborah Sanders is taken from her mother, Norell Sanders, who claims she was violently attacked by the child’s estranged father, Odell Sheppard, before Deborah was abducted. Nearly one year later, Odell is tracked down and arrested, but he no longer has Deborah with him and maintains that he returned her to Norell. After serving a prison sentence for child abduction, Odell winds up being sent to jail for contempt of court after he refuses to produce Deborah. Even though is never charged with a crime or put on trial, Odell remains incarcerated for over ten years before he is released and he never reveals what actually happened to his daughter. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a tragic unsolved missing children’s case which unexpectedly wound up making legal history.

If you have any information about this case, please contact the Illinois State Police at (847) 294-4400.

Additional Reading:

https://charleyproject.org/case/deborah-lyyn-sanders

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-29-mn-25605-story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/28/us/10-years-in-jail-without-ever-a-charge.html

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1998-01-29-9801290191-story.html

https://apnews.com/article/0e8ce58923b6515ecea928d78ed3da07

https://casetext.com/case/sanders-v-shephard-1

https://law.justia.com/cases/illinois/supreme-court/1994/77016-7.html

https://www.anylaw.com/case/02-10-94-norell-sanders/appellate-court-of-illinois/02-10-1994/Ja9lS2YBTlTomsSBYm6X

https://www.newspapers.com/image/388378083/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/388416871/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/388842155/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/389436902/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/311862193/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/389903906/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/241293225/

https://www.newspapers.com/image/241225319/

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“The Trail Went Cold” is now doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True  Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.

The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.

All music is composed by Vince Nitro.