Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Jodi Sanderholm, a 19-year-old college student in Arkansas City, Kansas, went missing on January 5, 2007. The search for Sanderholm concluded after authorities found a female body in the Kaw Wildlife Area. A few hours later, divers located her car in the Cowley County State Fishing Lake. KLTV reported that Sanderholm’s friends claimed a man had been stalking members of a dance team that she was a part of.
According to FindLaw, Justin Thurber had been a prime suspect in Sanderholm’s disappearance from the start. Authorities arrested him on January 6 on a bond revocation and suspicion of criminal trespass for being on the college campus. The investigation also proved that Thurber had been in the area where police found her body and car.
Justin Thurber faced a kidnapping charge and two alternative counts of capital murder charge. One alleged the victim’s attempted rape, and the second alleged aggravated criminal sodomy. Two years later, a jury convicted him of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. He then received the death penalty.
However, WIBW-TV reported that Thurber has appealed his conviction, alleging that he is intellectually disabled. In 2018, the Kansas Supreme Court postponed the decision on whether the State could execute him. As per The Cinemaholic, in 2021, Thurber was serving his term in the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Butler County.
What happened to Jodi Sanderholm & how was Justin Thurber linked to the case?
FindLaw reported that Jodi Danderholm disappeared after a late morning practice with the Cowley Community College Tigerette dance team on January 5, 2007. While police searched for the missing 19-year-old in the Arkansas City area, all suspicion fell on Thurber. Police officers learned from Thurber’s father that he was near the Cowley County State Fishing Lake earlier on January 5. His father also told officers that Thurber was wet and muddy at the time.
The following day, on January 6, detectives arrested Justin Thurber on a bond revocation and suspicion of criminal trespass, stated the FindLaw report. They made the arrest after the investigation into Sanderholm’s disappearance proved he had been trespassing on the college campus.
That same evening, police officers found the shoes Thurber was wearing when his father picked him up near the lake. His father told police that he helped Thurber clean mud off the shoes. By January 7, 2007, officers started searching the Kaw Wildlife Area, where they found matching impressions of Thurber’s shoes and also saw flip-flop sandal tracks nearby.
Near the Cowley County State Fishing Lake, where Justin Thurber had been on the day of the disappearance, searchers found a muddy tire track and shoeprints near a public restroom. They also found mail addressed to Jodi Sanderholm’s parents in a chemical toilet, dance shoes in another toilet, and a flip-flop sandal.
Investigators later recovered cutoff sweat shorts, a wallet containing the 19-year-old’s driver’s license, and her social security card. They also found the teen’s other belongings, such as a black leotard, a Tigerette jacket with her first name on the front, a vehicle floor mat, and a car seat cushion.
For the next two days, officers searched for more evidence. Then, divers finally found Sanderholm’s car submerged in the lake on January 9, 2007. A few hours later, searchers also found her naked body in the Kaw Wildlife Area. The 19-year-old had been abducted, raped, and strangled, per WIWB-TV.
Where is Justin Thurber now?
As per FindLaw, the State charged Thurber with multiple charges stemming from Jodi Sanderholm’s murder case. He faced two alternative counts of capital murder. One alleged that Sanderholm was the victim of attempted rape. Meanwhile, the second alleged that she was the victim of aggravated criminal sodomy. The State also charged him with aggravated kidnapping.
The WIWB-TV report stated that in February 2009, a jury convicted Justin Thurber of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. The following month, District Judge Jim Pringle handed him the death penalty on the jury’s recommendation.
According to The Cinemaholic and other sources, Thurber had appealed his death penalty on multiple grounds. One such appeal suggested that he is intellectually disabled. His defense claimed that his low IQ eliminates the possibility of the death penalty. The Kansas Supreme Court then postponed his death sentence in 2018, and in 2021, they also approved a motion from Thurber for a post-conviction DNA test.
The Cinemaholic stated that in 2021, Thurber was serving his sentence at El Dorado Correctional Facility in Butler County.
Jodi Sanderholm’s murder by Justin Thurber has previously aired in an episode on Your Worst Nightmare.
