On the morning of August 30th, 2001, a middle-aged police sergeant named Alan McGregor drove with his partner, Officer Mark David, toward the Huron National Forest — a sprawling nature preserve in northern Michigan. The two officers were headed there to meet a very unlikely detective. One that McGregor believed might finally help him solve a case that had haunted him for over two decades.
The case was the disappearance of Charita Thomas.
Back in 1980, Charita had been walking down a road just a mile from the police station where Sergeant McGregor worked. Witnesses reported seeing her get into a car with an older man — and then, she was never seen again. Based on tips and evidence over the years, investigators strongly suspected that the man who picked her up was named Jimmy Nelson. They believed he had murdered her shortly after picking her up and then dumped her body in a specific area of the Huron National Forest.
The problem? There was no hard evidence. The case against Jimmy was entirely circumstantial. Even after 20 years of searches — involving the FBI, countless leads, and extensive efforts — they had found nothing. No body. No closure. Nothing.
But as Sergeant McGregor approached the forest that morning, he felt a cautious hope rising. Maybe, just maybe, today would be different.
When they arrived at the forest entrance, McGregor and his partner finally met the “detective” they’d heard so much about — a Doberman Pinscher mix with floppy ears, wagging his tail on the ground. His name was Eagle.
Eagle didn’t look like a typical police dog — and that’s because he wasn’t. But according to his trainer, Sandra Anderson, Eagle was the best cadaver-sniffing dog in the world.
Sandra, a 40-year-old dog trainer known in law enforcement circles, had adopted Eagle from a shelter just days before he was likely to be euthanized. She had a background in training cadaver dogs, and in her spare time, she began working with Eagle. To everyone’s astonishment, he didn’t just pick it up — he excelled at it. He could do things other dogs couldn’t: smell blood that had been bleached and even painted over. One forensic anthropologist said, “If a great cadaver dog is a 10 out of 10, Eagle is a 20.”
So naturally, McGregor believed that if Charita’s remains were in that forest, Eagle would find them.
After some friendly pets (which Eagle loved), the dog suddenly stopped wagging his tail, looked toward the forest, and stood up. Sandra smiled and said, “Okay, he’s ready to work.”
Sandra and Eagle led the way into the woods, with the officers following close behind. When they reached the area where Charita’s body was believed to be, McGregor and his partner hung back to observe Eagle at work.
And it didn’t take long.
Eagle sniffed around briefly, then suddenly made a beeline toward a tree. He began pawing at the ground. Sandra knelt beside him and quickly spotted what looked like a bone fragment in the dirt. She called the officers over — and sure enough, Eagle had uncovered a human bone.
To be clear, Eagle didn’t find animal remains. He was trained exclusively to detect human bones. The fact that he had found one in this exact location — the very spot where Charita’s body was believed to be — stunned McGregor and his partner.
They were ecstatic.
Sandra, however, just smiled and shrugged. “This is what he does,” she said, tossing Eagle a well-earned treat.
As the search continued, Eagle found more bones. And the next day, even more. Human remains appeared to be scattered throughout the area. While disturbing, this was not unusual — animals and the elements often disperse bones over time.
By the end of the second day, McGregor felt closer than ever to solving the case. He sent the bone fragments off to the FBI for analysis and waited.
In February 2002, months later, the FBI called McGregor with results.
But the news was not what he expected.
The bone fragments Eagle had found didn’t belong to Charita Thomas. In fact, they didn’t belong to any one person — they came from three different people.
McGregor’s blood ran cold. He wasn’t discouraged, though. If anything, he was more determined than ever. “If those bodies are out there,” he thought, “Charita must be too.” He began to wonder: What if Jimmy Nelson wasn’t just a killer — but a serial killer?
McGregor immediately called Sandra and asked her to return to the forest with Eagle. She agreed.
On April 17, 2002, McGregor, his partner, Sandra, Eagle, and a whole team of officers and crime scene technicians returned to the same area of the forest.
And once again, Eagle delivered.
This time, he uncovered a human knuckle bone in a dried-up stream bed. McGregor was thrilled. The search was working. They were inching closer to answers.
But then… chaos erupted.
From behind McGregor came the sound of shouting and a scuffle. He turned around and saw two people involved in what looked like a physical altercation. Racing over, he broke up the fight.
And what he would learn next would change everything.
The person dumping human remains in the Huron National Forest wasn’t a serial killer.
It wasn’t Jimmy Nelson.
It was Sandra Anderson.
And Eagle? He wasn’t a cadaver dog at all.
Sandra had been faking everything.
Whenever Sandra was called to a crime scene, she would arrive with human bone fragments hidden in her clothing. During searches, she would discreetly drop the bones on the ground in front of Eagle — who, of course, would “detect” them.
Sandra had pulled this off across dozens of cases all over the country, fooling law enforcement time and time again. She admitted she did it because she loved the thrill of watching the police “discover” what she had planted.
But this time, she got caught.
Right before the fight broke out, a crime lab technician had seen Sandra crouch down and pull a bone fragment from her sock. When he confronted her, she panicked, accused him of attacking her, and tried to create a distraction. That’s what McGregor had witnessed.
Ultimately, Sandra was arrested and pled guilty to multiple felonies, including falsifying evidence and obstruction of justice. She was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Investigators had to go back and re-examine over 50 murder cases she had been involved in. Fortunately, none of those cases hinged on the “evidence” Sandra had planted, so no convictions were overturned.
As for Jimmy Nelson — he was eventually convicted of Charita Thomas’ murder, though that conviction was later overturned for unrelated reasons.
To this day, Charita’s body has never been found. And the mystery of what happened to her remains unsolved.
And Eagle?
No one blamed him. He retired from crime scene work, spent his remaining years relaxing, and received all the treats he could ever want — until he passed away peacefully.