Grand Jury Returns 15-Count Indictment in Double Murder

A Toombs County Grand Jury on Monday, April 4, returned a 15-count indictment against Joshua Sanders, who is a suspect in the January 6 shooting deaths of a Vidalia mother and daughter. The indictment was read in Toombs County Superior Court Monday by Chief Judge Robert Reeves. Sanders will be arraigned at a future date on the charges brought against him. Sanders is charged with the murders of Pamela Harden and her daughter LaTorey Harden. The incident occurred in a Vidalia neighborhood following a domestic dispute.

Middle Judicial Circuit District Attorney Tripp Fitzner said after consulting with the family of the victims that he is not planning to pursue the death penalty at this time.

Fitzner said Sanders was indicted on two counts of felony murder, two counts of malice murder, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of assault and battery, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and two counts of cruelty to a child. LaTorey Harden’s two-year-old child was a witness to the murder of his mother and grandmother, Fitzner explained. Sanders was also charged with theft by taking after fleeing the scene of the murders in Pamela Harden’s vehicle.

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Sanders abandoned Pamela Harden’s vehicle in Alabama before traveling by bus to Arizona. He was taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at a bus stop in Flagstaff six days after the murders.

Sanders waived extradition and had his first appearance in Superior Court on February 11.