Cause of death Murder Other names Zoey Zane Other name Zoey Zane | Body discovered November 29, 2007 Education Butler Community College | |
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Full Name Emily Irene Sander Born February 26, 1989 ( 1989-02-26 ) Olathe, Kansas Disappeared November 23, 2007
East El Dorado Died 24 November 2007, El Dorado, Kansas, United States | ||
Emily Irene Sander (February 26, 1989 – November 24, 2007) was an 18-year-old American student at Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas. Reported missing on November 23, 2007 and found dead six days later, her disappearance was widely covered in the mainstream news media. Israel Mireles was named as a suspect and later arrested in Mexico and charged. Mireles' capital murder trial in February 2010 found him guilty of Sander's murder.
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Circumstances of disappearance
According to police, Sander and a man they identified as 24-year-old Israel Mireles were seen leaving a bar in east El Dorado on November 23, 2007. This was the last time Sander was seen alive. Later, blood was discovered in Mireles' motel room next door to an Italian restaurant where he worked as a waiter and Sander's car was found still parked at the bar. The rental car Mireles was driving was found abandoned on November 27 in Vernon, Texas, where he has relatives.
Six days after Sander's disappearance, on November 29, investigators found a body 50 miles east of El Dorado which they said matched a preliminary physical description of Sander. On December 1, 2007, police confirmed the body to be that of Sander, but refused to comment on the condition of the body. An autopsy was performed, but the results and cause of death were sealed until the trial. During the trial, it was revealed that Sander had been stabbed multiple times and strangled to death with a telephone cord.
El Dorado, Kansas Police Chief Tom Boren said a special task force of FBI and Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents was assigned to the case.
Apprehension
Local police apprehended Mireles on December 19, 2007, in Melchor Muzquiz, Mexico. He was subsequently charged in the U.S. with capital murder, rape and aggravated sodomy. When captured, Mireles was with his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend Victoria Martens. Although prosecutors promised to not file charges against her, Martens initially refused to return to Kansas.
According to Sandy Martens (the mother of Victoria Martens), her daughter had called her on November 24 to tell her Mireles had been involved in an altercation when another man attempted to rob him. Sandy Martens also claimed to have received a text message from her daughter days after the couple fled that said she "had a lot to tell her mother." Later the mother said she believed her daughter thought her trip with Mireles to Mexico was a vacation. Victoria later called home and was picked up at the border. She was taken to Texas, where she was put in juvenile custody. Because Mireles was suspected of impregnating Martens, he was also charged with aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
Because Mireles, who was in the United States legally, went to his home country of Mexico, there could have been added complications to the case. Before extraditing a suspect, Mexico requires that authorities submit the most serious charges that the suspect could face, and will not allow extradition of someone who could face the death penalty; according to Boren, Mireles will not face the death penalty. The maximum penalty he could face would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. On June 26, 2009, the Associated Press reported that Mireles was back in the US following extradition.
Trial
Mireles' trial was held from February 8–12, 2010. He was charged with capital murder, rape and aggravated criminal sodomy. He was convicted of rape and capital murder; the aggravated sodomy charge was dropped as part of the capital murder charge. On March 31, 2010, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mireles remains an inmate of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Online activity
After several days of speculation following her disappearance, it was revealed Emily Sander was an Internet pornography model using the pseudonym Zoey Zane. Friends of Sander said she was recruited for an internet porn site during the summer of 2007, shortly after her 18th birthday. She apparently kept her career mostly to herself and only close friends knew about it, which was in addition to her work as a secretary. According to Sander's grandmother, Shirley Sander, her family knew nothing of her porn site and did not believe the reports. Following reports of her modeling, the case drew international attention.
Investigators said they do not believe that Sander's involvement in porn was connected with her disappearance.
Criticism of the news media
The Zoey Zane porn site featured a statement criticizing the media, saying they had blown Sander's porn career out of proportion. The statement reported that it was a shame that the site drew more viewers after the death of Emily than it had drawn previously. The Zoey Zane site is currently redirected to an online memorial for Emily Sander, and does not contain any photos from the original Zoey Zane website.
Aftermath
Sander's death had an impact both at and beyond Butler Community College. Memorials were created for her. Sander's funeral took place on December 6, 2007.