Investigators accuse a Denton County man of killing Molly Richards and hiding her remains, though they have not yet located her body.
DENTON, Texas — Prosecutors in North Texas are moving forward with a murder case against a man accused of killing his girlfriend and concealing her remains, a step that places unusual weight on forensic findings, digital records and witness statements because the victim has not been found.
Christopher Charles Sanders, 53, has been charged in the death of Molly Richards, 31, after a Little Elm missing-person investigation expanded across state lines. The case matters because it shows how authorities say they assembled probable cause without a recovered body: by combining blood evidence, search-dog alerts, purchase records, phone data, property searches and what investigators describe as false or conflicting explanations about Richards’ whereabouts.
Public accounts of the arrest affidavit lay out the evidence in layers rather than around a single crime-scene discovery. One layer came from the homes tied to Sanders. Officers serving search warrants in Denton and Little Elm reportedly found bedding with blood residue. A human remains detection dog alerted in a bedroom at the Little Elm home, according to local coverage. Police also found unopened mail and prescription medication belonging to Richards, along with documents bearing both names. Those items matter in a no-body case because they can be used to argue that Richards did not voluntarily leave behind the practical pieces of daily life while beginning a new one somewhere else.
Another layer came from tools and supplies that investigators say were documented in a store receipt. According to WFAA’s summary of the affidavit, officers found a Lowe’s receipt showing the purchase of a 24-inch bow saw, a reciprocating saw, 10 five-gallon buckets, a Kobalt tamper and gloves. Public reporting has not described any forensic testing that directly ties those items to human remains, and that gap is important. But police included the receipt in the affidavit anyway, suggesting they view it as part of a larger sequence of conduct they believe points to concealment after a killing.
A third layer involved digital and travel records. Richards’ father told police he last saw her on Nov. 18, 2025. He later received texts from her phone saying she was traveling with Sanders to South Dakota and then checking into a mental health facility. Investigators said they later traced Richards’ vehicle through Oklahoma on Nov. 27 and identified a one-hour-and-nine-minute gap near property tied to Sanders in Marietta. Police also said Richards’ phone was reactivated on Feb. 19 and pinged near Sanders’ home in Denton. In a courtroom setting, that kind of digital timeline can be used to support the state’s argument about opportunity, movement and post-disappearance behavior, even when the exact manner of death remains undisclosed.
The prosecution theory also depends on disproving alternative explanations. Sanders allegedly told Richards’ father that she was seeking mental health treatment, and Law&Crime reported he later told people she had decided to stay with another man in South Dakota. Police said they checked hotels, hospitals, motels and treatment facilities and found no sign that Richards had appeared at any of them. At the same time, her belongings surfaced at property linked to Sanders in South Dakota, including identification, cards, a laptop and unopened mail. If the case reaches trial, those facts are likely to be used to challenge the defense of voluntary disappearance.
What remains unknown could shape the case as much as what is already public. Police have not announced that they recovered Richards’ remains, established an official cause of death or publicly identified a witness who saw a killing. Public reporting also does not show a plea from Sanders or a detailed response from defense counsel. That means the state’s case, as now visible, is largely circumstantial. Circumstantial evidence can still be powerful, but prosecutors will likely have to show jurors that each separate piece — the texts, the route, the belongings, the alerts, the receipt and the blood residue — points in the same direction and not merely toward suspicion.
Sanders was arrested March 7 in Marietta, Oklahoma, while traveling from South Dakota, according to public reports on the affidavit. Police said he denied killing Richards and did not tell officers where she was. He was later held in the Denton County Jail, with reports saying he was being held without bail. The procedural path ahead will likely include fuller charging records, discovery fights over forensic testing and continued searches in Oklahoma if investigators still believe that is where Richards’ remains were buried.
For now, authorities have taken the rare step of alleging murder before recovering the victim. The case stands at an early but high-stakes stage: police say the evidence already shows Molly Richards is dead, while the unanswered question of where she is may become the most important unresolved fact in the months ahead.
Author note: Last updated April 20, 2026.