JACKSON (AP) — A Mississippi man who was declared dead in 1994 has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the kidnapping of a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl whose skeletal remains were found last month in central Louisiana.

Thomas Steven Sanders is scheduled to face a federal magistrate Friday at a detention hearing in Alexandria, La., on the kidnapping charge.

Stephanie A. Finley, a U.S. attorney in Louisiana, said in a news release Thursday that Sanders could face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, which allegedly resulted in her death.

Authorities in Louisiana’s Catahoula Parish, where Lexis Roberts’ body was found in the woods off a dirt road Oct. 8, say they will charge Sanders with first-degree murder in state court after he’s processed on the federal charge.

Sanders also is suspected in the disappearance and likely death of the girl’s mother, 31-year-old Suellen Roberts. Arizona authorities believe they found the mother’s body Monday, but are trying to make a positive identification through dental records.

Sanders was arrested Sunday at a Gulfport, Miss., truckstop.

Other than arrests over the years on charges of child cruelty, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving violations, little is known about Sanders’ life since he was declared dead by a Mississippi court in 1994. The judge declared him dead after his parents, brother and ex-wife petitioned the court for the declaration, saying nobody had heard from him in seven years.

Despite the death declaration, he drifted from state to state and lived unnoticed by authorities even after being arrested in Georgia and Tennessee under his real name.

Authorities say he was in a relationship with Suellen Roberts after meeting the woman in Las Vegas a few months ago. Suellen and Lexis Roberts disappeared in Arizona after taking a road trip with Sanders over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said.

Authorities say Lexis Roberts was shot by ammunition consistent with bullets that security cameras captured Sanders buying at a Walmart in Las Vegas on Sept. 3.

While being interrogated in Mississippi, Sanders allegedly told authorities where to look for the mother’s body in northwestern Arizona’s Yavapai County. Investigators said clothing and other evidence found with the body lead them to believe it is Suellen Roberts, though it could take a week for officials to positively identify the body.