Saunders arrested on son's murder
The Wood County Sheriff’s Department arrested George Saunders Wednesday at his home on West Patten Street in Mineola in the fouryear old murder of his son, Loren, near Alba.
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Saunders arrested on son's murder
The Wood County Sheriff's Department arrested George Saunders Wednesday at his home on West Patten Street in Mineola in the fouryear old murder of his son, Loren, near Alba.
On Jan. 18, 2011 shortly after 1:30 a.m. George Saunders called 911 reporting his son had been shot and he was doing CPR. When officers arrived at the Chaney Point RV Park east of Alba they found the teenager was already deceased with a gunshot wound to his chest from a .22 caliber revolver.
At the time, the sheriff's department, under the administration of Sheriff Bill Wansley, ruled the shooting accidental based on interviews with his father, friends, the community and evidence from the forensic lab. Loren was 16 years old and a sophomore at Alba-Golden High School.
However, in May 2011 the sheriff's department reopened the investigation. George Saunders was arrested on Dec. 2, 2011 and charged with manslaughter. He was released on $50,000 surety bond. Saunders had scheduled a time to turn himself in at the Wood County Jail, but did not show up so officers arrested him at Walmart in Mineola. The sheriff's department stated at the time the arrest was a result of lab results from the Texas Department of Public Safety that had been received. There was no indictment on the 2011 charge of manslaughter.
Wood County
Sheriff Jim Brown said after he took office the department opened several cold cases, and the Saunders case was one of them. The department's investigators conducted a comprehensive review of evidence from the both the Southwestern
Institute of Forensic Sciences and Texas Department of Public Safety labs. Upon researching the file and conducting additional interviews, investigators compiled probable cause to obtain a warrant for murder signed by 402nd Judicial District Judge Tim Boswell. The sheriff said the department found it was more appropriately charged as murder than manslaughter.
"It will be presented as a murder charge and it will be up to the grand jury," Brown said.
People who knew Loren Saunders from school described him as very courteous and polite.
"Every time I saw him on campus he would walk up and shake my hand," Superintendent Dwayne Ellis said. An assembly was held at the high school to discuss the tragedy with students and support was given by local youth pastors.
The sheriff's department said that the teenager lived at the Chaney Point RV Park with his father and that his mother lived in the metroplex.
Saunders was booked into the Wood County Jail to await arraignment. Bond was set at $150,000.