He Was Charged in Daughter's Death. Then Son, 7, Spoke Up

A North Texas father charged with his 2-year-old daughter's murder has seen the case dropped after his 7-year-old son made a stunning admission, prosecutors say. Investigators—who initially believed 33-year-old Anthony Sanders suffocated his daughter, possibly when she interrupted him playing computer games on Dec. 12, 2015—say Sanders' son admitted to causing his sister's death while their father cared for them at a home in the Fort Worth suburb of Watauga, per Fox News. Sanders' son, who at the time reportedly told his father the toddler was asleep and wouldn't wake up, was then just 5 years old, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Sanders, who had maintained his innocence, had been in jail since April 2016 but was released days after his Sept. 11 trial was to have commenced following a phone call between prosecutors and the mother of Sanders' kids, Cassie Wright. On Aug. 23, Wright said her son had admitted to hitting 2-year-old Ellie with a pillow with a heavy object inside. In an interview on Aug. 29, the boy told prosecutors he had rolled the pillow onto Ellie's head but couldn't get it off. It remains unclear how Ellie suffered bruises and what appeared to be adult bite marks found afterwards on her body, but Sanders' lawyer says "it's my understanding that [the case is] over; there will be no more charges coming out of it." (More Texas stories.)