HARRISONBURG — With a suspect in custody, one body correctly identified and another being investigated, the case of Thomas Steven Sanders is getting closer to completion.

Catahoula Parish Sheriff James Kelly said the only thing left for his agency to do is file charges.

“We are looking to file first-degree murder charges against Sanders in the next few days,” he said. “That is the only charge we have jurisdiction for.”

Sanders could also be charged with murder by the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona, if the body found Monday morning in the area of Interstate 40, west of the town of Seligman turns out to be that of Suellen Roberts, Kelly said.

“They have to keep investigating that,” he said. “Until the DNA comes back, we won’t know for sure.”

Sanders is currently being charged on the federal level with kidnapping 12-year-old Lexis Kaye Roberts, who was found dead in Catahoula.

A YCSO press release says prior information indicates Suellen befriended Sanders earlier this year in Las Vegas and decided to bring Lexis along on a vacation with him.

A hunter found the body of Lexis Roberts on Oct. 8 in the woods outside of Harrisonburg.

Lexis Roberts was last seen traveling with Sanders and Suellen Roberts, her mother.

Authorities were searching for Sanders, who was legally pronounced dead in 1994, since Oct. 27.

Sanders was arrested at a truck stop in Gulfport Sunday morning in the same vehicle he was seen driving in with the Roberts women.

Kelly said he is relieved the case came together as quickly as it did.

“You find a body, you don’t know who it is, you have nothing to go with, and two weeks later the body is identified,” he said. “I was prepared for it to be a very long investigation, but the pieces just started falling together.”

Kelly said it was a collaborative effort from all agencies involved that helped get this case to where it is so quickly.

“The night we found the body we knew she wasn’t from Catahoula Parish or even from Louisiana,” he said. “We got the FBI involved after that, and from there we were able to work together and make it happen.”