A Texas man has been charged with murder in the death of his girlfiend, and investigators say they believe he killed her and dumped her body somewhere in Oklahoma.
Molly Richards hasn’t been seen since November 2025, according to Little Elm Police, who said they launched an investigation after hearing from her concerned father, WFAA reports.
Steven Richards told police that he heard from her in November, when she reportedly told him via text that she and her boyfriend, Christopher Charles Sanders, were traveling to South Dakota and then a December 1 text message saying she was checking into a mental health facility for bipolar disorder, an arrest affidavit says. He didn’t hear from her again after that and said Sanders was unresponsive to his requests for information after that time.
Investigators soon learned that Richards’ vehicle had been involved in a minor accident in South Dakota in November. A witness in South Dakota said that Sanders had asked him to watch Richards’ vehicle while he took her to a doctor in Rapid City. That witness said that he left his own vehicle at a hotel and flew back to Texas, then returned a week later to pick up his vehicle.
He reportedly told that witness that Richards had met a man in Deadwood and wanted to stay with him in Rapid City.
Little Elm Police said in the affidavit that they checked motels, hotels, hospitals, and mental health facilities in the area but found no mention of Richards. They obtained a search warrant for her car and said they found a strong odor of cleaning products inside.
Then, the affidavit said, Richards’ phone, which had been off for weeks, reactivated and pinged near Sanders’ home. Less than a week later, a woman who was watching Sanders’ dogs at his home found several items belonging to her, including her driver’s license, bank and credit cards, a laptop, and unopened mail.
After that, investigators began watching Sanders and eventually executed search warrants on properties he owned in Denton and Little Elm. That’s when they found bedding with blood residue on it and a receipt from Lowe’s for the purchase of a bow saw, 10 five-gallon buckets, a tamper, a reciprocating saw, and gloves. The tools were not found.
Authorities say they believe Richards was killed around November 25, The Independent reported.
Sanders was arrested on March 7 in Marietta, Oklahoma, as he was returning to Texas from South Dakota. Sanders also owns property there, and investigators say they reconstructed the route of his vehicle as he traveled through Oklahoma en route to South Dakota on November 27.
They found he was near his property in Marietta for a little over an hour and believe he likely disposed of Richards’ body on or near his property during that time, the affidavit said.
Sanders has since been returned to Texas and is being held without bail.
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[Featured image: Molly Richards and Christopher Charles Sanders/Little Elm Police Department]
