"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14 ____ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Max is Back! In this episode Max breaks down the enormous Global Warming/Climate Change SCAM! This is part 1 of a 2 part series on this topic. Max exposes the plethora of Liars and Fraudsters assembled to push this Totalitarian Global Agenda.
A former pastor was arrested more than 1,500 miles away from his church and home in Fort Walton Beach, suspected of a cold case murder from 2011.
Ty Flanders, 46, was arrested on Thursday for the 2011 murder of Marie Carlson of Fort Walton Beach. Flanders was charged with second degree murder.
Disappearance was mysterious
Carlson, the mother of Flanders' newborn child, was last seen on October 17, 2011, at the home they all shared with his wife.
According to the OCSO, several people got a message from Marie that said she'd left Fort Walton Beach to “do something she had always wanted to do”, but the message reportedly didn't have any more information.
Her ex-husband, Jeff Carlson, reported her missing seven days later after he couldn't contact her.
James Flanders located her vehicle at the Fort Walton Beach Airport, a day later, but there was no record that she'd rented a vehicle or flown out.
Carlson's disappearance was recently featured on a TNT show about cold cases, which brought national attention to the case.
Flanders was arrested without incident and will appear in court in Arizona.
--- end ---
Marie Carlson
Former Pastor Arrested In Cold Case
Posted: Thu 3:41 PM, May 14, 2015
By: Press Release: Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office
After the disappearance and murder of Marie Carlson was featured on a national television show, a former local pastor has been arrested in Arizona in the case.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Marshal led Arizona WANTED Violent Offender Task Force, and the Arizona Department of Public Safety announces the arrest of 46-year old James Ty Flanders for the 2011 Murder of Marie Carlson of Fort Walton Beach.
Flanders, former pastor of Calvary Chapel Emerald Coast at 407 Racetrack Road, was taken into custody at his home in Cochise Arizona by members of the Task Force and Department of Public Safety.
He was arrested in connection with an Okaloosa County Warrant of Second Degree Murder, signed by Circuit Judge William Stone. Investigators with the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office are in Arizona as this case continues to develop.
ANOTHER LOCAL NEWS STORY Former pastor charged in local woman's disappearance
By KATIE TAMMEN | Daily News
Published: Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 17:18 PM.
Marie Carlson, right, and her sister Esta Bridges took this picture on Oct. 15, 2011 while visiting Alys Beach together. Marie texted the photo to her sister later that night. It was the last time anyone in the family saw Marie.
A former Fort Walton Beach pastor was arrested Thursday and charged for his suspected role in the 2011 disappearance of a local woman.
James Ty Flanders was taken into custody at his home in Arizona on a warrant for second-degree murder, according to a news release from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
He is accused of killing 37-year-old Marie Jane Carlson.
He will be brought back to Okaloosa County to face the charge, but it wasn’t clear when he would arrive, according to Sheriff’s spokeswoman Michele Nicholson,
“Thank goodness! Thank God! Hallelujah!” Marie’s brother Randy Bridges said Thursday afternoon upon hearing the news. “Finally some relief.”
Marie was reported missing by her ex-husband, Jeff Carlson, on Oct. 24, 2011, after he and their daughter couldn’t reach her.
Early on in the investigation, Flanders told detectives he’d last seen Marie on Oct. 17, 2011, and that she’d been upset. He said he went out for a run after the disagreement and when he came home both she and her truck were gone.
Her disappearance was featured on the TNT show “Cold Justice” on April 17.
“What we got in April was more than I could have asked for,” said Esta Bridges, one of Marie’s sisters. “I didn’t know this was coming. This is more than I could have ever imagined.”
Before she disappeared, Marie had been living with Flanders and his wife. She had recently given birth to a daughter she conceived with Flanders.
During the course of the investigation, detectives heard several different stories about how and why Marie became pregnant with her second child.
Flanders and his wife initially said Marie served as their surrogate, but people from Calvary Emerald Coast Church told investigators the three were involved in a polygamous relationship.
The wife has not been charged in connection with the case and the child remains in her care, Nicholson said.
Flanders’ arrest was based around seven primary revelations in the course of the investigation, according to the report.
Among the items to play a role were cell phone records that placed Flanders with Marie’s truck, the fact Flanders didn’t tell investigators he and Marie had a physical altercation on the night she disappeared, that he and his wife didn’t report her disappearance and that they left the area in the middle of the night.
Detectives also cited a conversation Flanders had with a friend about needing to get out of the country about two weeks after Marie went missing.
Esta and Randy both said they’re hopeful they will finally be able to find Marie’s body and put her to rest.
“I found out at work, and after that I went straight to church to pray,” Esta said. “I want to know where she’s at.
It’s a rare day when an Okaloosa County courtroom is filled to overflowing for a bond hearing, but murder suspect James Flanders is, after all, something of a celebrity.
Flanders was featured prominently in an April airing of “Cold Justice” on TNT as a key suspect in the 2011 disappearance of Marie Jane Carlson.
The former head pastor of Calvary Chapel church in Fort Walton Beach was charged with killing Carlson just a month after the show aired.
In court Tuesday he testified he had considered Carlson his wife, along with his other wife, Tanya.
After a lengthy hearing, Circuit Court Judge William Stone ordered Flanders held on $1 million bond, an amount that clearly dismayed the many friends and acquaintances he had in the courtroom.
“I find the defendant to be a great flight risk and a risk to the public in general,” Stone said in making his ruling.
Carlson was last seen Oct. 17, 2011. Her vehicle was later found parked at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport but no sign of her has been found.
She was living with Flanders and his wife at the time of her disappearance and Flanders admitted early on that he and Carlson had been involved in a disagreement.
Details of the relationship between Flanders and his wife and Carlson were originally hazy, but became more clear as the investigation progressed.
Flanders’ attorney, Glenn Swiatek, attempted to convince Stone that his client’s ties to the community made him a safe bet against running if given a reduced bond. He brought several Flanders’ friends to the witness stand to offer to house him until trial.
Swiatek also argued that the court was holding his client on a murder charge without actually knowing Carlson was dead.
“This case is inference upon inference upon inference,” Swiatek said. “Is Marie Carlson dead? We don’t have proof. Was James Flanders responsible for her death? We don’t have proof. We have inference.”
Swiatek also argued that he wouldn’t be able to offer effective counsel if Flanders were being housed in the Okaloosa County Jail.
He also noted that Flanders had spent the last three-and-a-half years in Arizona without ever trying to evade authorities.
But Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason said Flanders was nothing if not a flight risk. She induced testimony from the defendant that he had at one time discussed with a friend leaving the country while under investigation for the Carlson disappearance.
She told the court that Flanders decision to resign as head pastor of his church and move to Arizona came as Okaloosa County investigators were asking questions about his relationship with Carlson.
Flanders said he’d been considering the move for a year, and at least one friend confirmed that testimony.
But Flanders also said on the stand that the Okaloosa County investigation had spurred he and his wife to leave the state sooner than originally planned.
“He cannot be trusted,” Mason said, citing Flanders’ dishonesty to his congregation about his polygamous relationship and his dishonesty to law enforcement investigating him.
She attempted to solicit testimony from Flanders that on the night before Carlson’s disappearance he and she had become involved in a “physical altercation.”
He hedged on using the term physical altercation, but did admit that he’d reported later receiving bruises on his chest and injuries to his arm.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
--- end --- DECEMBER 3, 2015 UPDATE
By TOM McLAUGHLIN
315-4435 | @TomMnwfdn
tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com
December 02. 2015 1:02PM
Pastor charged with murder granted indigent status
James Flanders
Faced with mounting attorney’s fees and the cost of financing “a very complex matter” in court, former Okaloosa County pastor James Flanders has been granted indigent status.
That means the state is presently on the hook for many of his legal bills, according to Flanders’ attorney Glenn Swiatek.
One woman wants to know how that can be.
Susan Jenkins wrote a letter to the Northwest Florida Daily News questioning how Flanders can be considered indigent when he and his wife own and are renting out a home worth just under $140,000.
“He owns the property and I know he doesn’t live there; I live next door,” Jenkins wrote in a letter she emailed to the newspaper last week.
The letter contained an attachment to the Property Appraiser’s website and information regarding the Flanders’ home.
Flanders is a divisive figure in Okaloosa County. He was the popular pastor of Calvary Emerald Coast Church before word began to get out that he might be married to two women.
One of those women, Marie Carlson, came up missing in October 2011 and hasn’t been seen since. Flanders is facing second degree murder charges in her death.
He has acknowledged the polygamous relationship between himself, Carlson and his wife Tanya, but claims he is innocent of the murder charge.
Swiatek said his client is justified in claiming he’s broke.
“My notes reflect that the Flanders’ residence was in pre-foreclosure at the time that he applied for indigency (July 15, 2015),” Swiatek wrote in an email. “The Flanders were approximately one year behind in their mortgage payments.”
The Flanders took on a renter to help them make mortgage payments, Swiatek wrote.
“They were still behind but they were catching up,” he wrote. “They have evidently made an agreement with their mortgage company to at least delay formal foreclosure proceedings.”
At the time he applied for indigency, Flanders had approximately $4,500 in assets with $2,000 of that being equity in his pick-up truck, according to Swiatek. His liabilities and debts were approximately $240,000.00.
In his motion to be declared indigent for costs, Flanders estimated he’d be paying $85,000 to cover Swiatek’s representation. He said his wife has paid $20,000 out of her own pocket and with donations the couple has received.
“At this point we are behind in attorney fee payments and I don’t know how my wife will raise the required funds,” the motion states.
The “very complex” nature of the case will require payment to multiple expert witnesses and gathering information from more than 90 potential state witnesses, the motion said. Many of the witnesses live in Arizona.
Flanders said in his motion he doesn’t expect his case to even come to trial before next May.
Swiatek said Flanders’ motion for indigent status will have to be revisited. He has petitioned the Judicial Administration Commission to help with costs too, he said.
A hearing date for that motion will be set after JAC responds to the request, Swiatek said.
Former pastor pleads in murder case involving missing woman (VIDEOS)
FORT WALTON BEACH — Former pastor James Ty Flanders pleaded guilty Thursday to killing Marie Jane Carlson in October, 2011 and has shown authorities where he buried her body.
Today will begin the “very tedious and time consuming” task of unearthing the corpse, according to State Attorney Bill Eddins.
Circuit Court Judge William Stone agreed to accept Flanders’ plea of guilt to the charge of manslaughter, a downward departure from the second degree murder charge he was facing.
Under the arrangement Stone will have the authority following a July 19 hearing to sentence Flanders to a maximum of 15 years, a minimum guideline sentence of 111 months — slightly over nine years — or consider something less.
Flanders asked for and received the hearing. He told Stone he believes he can produce evidence at that time compelling enough to convince the judge to depart from the minimum guidelines and lessen his prison time.
Flanders, who has been in jail facing the second-degree murder charge since last May 14, finally confessed during plea negotiations to killing Carlson, who he has said he considered his second wife.
“He described an incident where he grabbed her and held her in a tight bear hug and they fell to the floor,” said Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason, who would have prosecuted Flanders at trial. “They fell to the floor and he held her until she stopped moving.”
Flanders told prosecutors that when he saw Carlson wasn’t breathing he took her outside and buried her in his backyard on Revere Avenue in Fort Walton Beach, Mason said.
Both Eddins and Mason said Flanders had convinced them that Carlson’s death was not premeditated. Eddins said Carlson’s family is content with the plea arrangement.
Flanders told the court Thursday that he waited to make a plea in the case until the state offered the correct charge of manslaughter.
Family members chose not to speak to the media Thursday.
Eddins applauded the work of Mason in closing the Flanders’ case and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office for its investigation of Carlson’s disappearance and presumed murder.
He said the Sheriff’s Office had at one time searched Flanders’ backyard for evidence that he’d buried Carlson there, and even brought in cadaver dogs to help.
“My belief is the body was buried so deep and hidden so completely, that the only way we would have found it would have been to dig up the entire yard,” Eddins said.
Eddins said in the last couple of days Flanders has accompanied him and others to the Revere Drive property and shown them where Carlson’s body will be found. He said he is absolutely certain the location is the correct one.
Flanders’ attorney, Glenn Swiatek, said Flanders made the decision to take the plea for the sake of Carlson’s family and his own family.
“While his life is going to be difficult over the next few years, he made his decision basically based upon what was in the best interest of the Carlson’s family and his own family,” Swiatek said.
Eddins said the state will pursue the maximum sentence for Flanders and use the fact that he hid her body from detection as an aggravating factor to bolster the request.
Carlson was 37 on Oct. 24 when her ex-husband reported her missing.
Flanders told detectives investigating the disappearance that he'd last seen Marie a week before, and that she’d taken her truck and left the home that he, his wife Tanya, and Carlson shared.
At the time of her disappearance Carlson had recently given birth to a daughter she conceived with Flanders, who was then the pastor of Calvary Emerald Coast Church.
Some church members had come to believe what Flanders would later confirm, that he, Tanya and Carlson were involved in a polygamous relationship.
Carlson’s truck was found at Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport not long after her disappearance.
Flanders and his wife moved to Arizona in 2012. He was charged with second-degree murder and brought back to Florida just a couple of weeks after the television show “Cold Justice” aired a program on Carlson’s disappearance.
He took investigators to 714 Revere Avenue Thursday to show them where he’d buried Carlson after literally squeezing the life out of her.
Officers from four agencies spent hours carefully removing the remains to allow for their shipment to Pensacola, where the Medical Examiner’s Office will positively identify them, said Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Card.
The identification will conclude a search for the 37-year-old Carlson that began on Oct. 17, 2011 when her ex-husband, Jeff Carlson, reported her missing.
It will also clear the way for Flanders, once the popular pastor of Calvary Emerald Coast Church, to secure a plea deal that ensures he will serve no more than 15 years in prison for killing Carlson.
Jeff Carlson said Friday there is great relief in finally recovering his ex-wife’s body, but no joy in seeing Flanders use its recovery to finagle a deal with the State Attorney’s Office.
“I want people to understand that yes, as a family we all agreed to presenting the deal as an option, but that doesn’t mean we’re happy with it,” Jeff Carlson said. “That was the only way we were going to find out what he did with her remains.
“That he will only serve 15 years is a travesty.”
The deal was finalized in Okaloosa County Circuit Court Thursday when Judge William Stone accepted Flanders plea of guilty to the charge of manslaughter and agreed to cap the sentence at a maximum of 15 years.
Flanders could also be sentenced to a minimum guideline sentence of just over nine years and has asked the judge for the opportunity to argue for a downward departure even from that.
A sentencing hearing will be held July 19. State Attorney Bill Eddins has already said he will seek to have the 15 year maximum imposed.
The plea deal was brokered over several days of negotiations, Eddins said.
Flanders confessed to prosecutors during the discussions that he had killed Carlson during an argument by placing her in “a tight bear hug” and hanging on until she stopped moving.
Afterward he buried her in the back yard on the west side of the home.
Carlson was living with Flanders and his wife, Tanya, at the Revere Avenue address at the time of her death.
She was in what Tanya Flanders described to a church friend a “sister wife” relationship, with the Flanders, a police report said, and bore a child, Grace, shortly before she died.
Jeff Carlson said Grace is presently under the care of Tanya Flanders and Carlson family members have exhausted almost all efforts to wrest custody away.
Tanya Flanders is unhappy that the family is even allowed court-ordered video visits with Grace.
“She feels that they shouldn’t be allowed even that,” Carlson said.
Tanya Flanders is not considered an accomplice in the disappearance or death of Marie Carlson, Eddins said.
Investigators from the Sheriff’s Office, Medical Examiner’s Office, FDLE and State Attorney’s Office were all represented Friday at the Revere Avenue residence. Card, who acted as spokesman for the group, said each agency was playing a particular role in the excavation.
Remains were found fairly quickly into the search, Card said, but once they were located the pace of the digging slowed dramatically.
“We’re literally using tongue depressors and toothbrushes,” Card said at about 10 a.m. “It’s a very slow, meticulous process.”
A forensic anthropologist was brought on scene to assist in removing the remains, Card said. He said such care was taken to preserve the evidentiary value of any items found.
The commotion at the residence, complete with a cop directing traffic, crime scene tape and an FDLE van, disrupted the calm of the quiet residential neighborhood. Passersby stopped to ask assembled media what was going on.
Polly Yates, who has lived on Revere Avenue for 34 years, was distressed by the whole scene.
“I'll be glad when it's all over,” she said. “It's beyond me how this can happen.”
Jeff Carlson, who now lives in Colorado, still holds fond memories of his ex-wife, whose passing can now be memorialized in proper fashion.
“I never stopped loving her,” he said. “She wanted to go her own way, and I had to respect that.”
The couple had a daughter of their own, Paris, who is about to turn 12. She’s old enough now, Jeff said, to begin to understand the horrors her mother endured.
“I’ll have to deal with the after effects,” he said.
Previous coverage
Human remains were found early Friday where former pastor James Flanders recently told authorities he had buried Marie Carlson five years ago.
Following the initial discovery the excavation of the site slowed to a crawl, according to Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Mike Card, so that nothing of evidentiary value would lost.
“We’re literally using tongue depressors and tooth brushes,” Card said. “It’s a very slow, meticulous process.”
A forensic anthropologist was on the scene working with the Sheriff’s Office, Medical Examiner’s Office, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney’s Office, Card said.
Late in the morning Card said it would be several hours before the discovered remains could be removed from the backyard of a home at 714 Revere Avenue in Ocean City and turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office for positive identification.
Flanders provided information on the location of Carlson’s body in exchange for the opportunity to plead guilty to manslaughter in her October 2011 death.
He had been charged with second-degree murder.
Flanders told Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason that he held Carlson in “a tight bear hug” on the night of her death until she stopped moving, then buried her in the yard when he realized she was dead.
The Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at 714 Revere Avenue to dig in the location Flanders said he had buried Carlson’s body. The residence now belongs to someone else.
The commotion, complete with crime scene tape and an FDLE van, disrupted the calm of the quiet residential neighborhood. Passersby asked assembled media what was going on.
Polly Yates, who has lived on Revere Avenue for 34 years, was distressed by the whole scene.
“I'll be glad when it's all over,” she said. “It's beyond me how this can happen.”
Previous coverage 10:42 a.m. update: Lawmen confirmed Friday morning they have found human remains at a Revere Avenue burial site. More information will be forthcoming.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office have begun the search for Marie Jane Carlson's body, allegedly buried in the back yard of a Revere Avenue residence by former pastor James Ty Flanders in October 2011.
Flanders has admitted to killing Carlson.
The Daily News is on the scene and will update the story throughout the day with tweets, video and text.
UPDATE JANUARY 20, 2017
What in the world?? Flanders KILLED an innocent woman and then LIED to the police.
JUNE 3, 2017 UPDATE
Just re-watched the Cold Justice episode showing this crime and came upon the following article:
Flanders gets 15 years for manslaughter
Tuesday
Posted Jul 19, 2016 at 7:11 PM
Former Pastor James Flanders sentenced in manslaughter trial.
By TOM McLAUGHLIN
FORT WALTON BEACH — James Flanders, once the popular pastor of a Fort Walton Beach church, will serve 15 years in prison on a manslaughter charge for the 2011 killing of Marie Carlson, his “sister wife.”
Okaloosa County Circuit Judge William Stone didn’t hesitate to tag Flanders with the maximum sentence following a long hearing that featured impassioned pleas from Carlson’s family for strict punishment and Flanders’ gripping apology.
Flanders’ apparent remorse didn’t move Randy Bridges, one of Carlson’s brothers.
Former pastor James Flanders sentenced in manslaughter trial.
“I’m happy that he did receive the maximum allowed by law,” Bridges said after the hearing. “Was it a fair sentence? Probably not. We would have preferred more.”
The state had allowed Flanders, who originally had been charged with second-degree murder, to plead guilty to the manslaughter charge earlier this year in return for his telling investigators where he had buried Carlson’s body almost five years ago.
A search for Carlson began after her ex-husband reported her missing Oct. 24, 2011.
Flanders was always suspected of possible wrongdoing, but without a body authorities struggled to build a case.
Flanders, who had fathered a child with Carlson while involved in a polygamous relationship with her and his present wife, Tanya, moved to Arizona shortly after the disappearance.
A break in the case came when Carlson’s disappearance was featured on the television show “Cold Justice” in April 2015. Flanders was arrested a month later.
He and his attorney, Glenn Swiatek, struck the deal in April to secure the manslaughter charge. Flanders revealed at that time Carlson’s body had been buried all along in the backyard of the home he lived in when she disappeared.
The family, still embroiled in a battle with Tanya Flanders for custody of Grace, the baby Carlson bore, let the former pastor of Calvary Emerald Coast Church know Tuesday they weren’t ready to forgive his lies and deception.
“For over four-and-one-half years we didn’t know if our sister was alive or dead. Her child, Grace, was taken away and reared by the murderer of her mother,” Randy Bridges said in a statement to Judge Stone.
“He has inflicted more mental trauma upon our family than anyone can imagine,” Bridges continued. “It is our hope, judge, that you will show as much mercy to this killer as he showed to our sister, Marie.”
Flanders sat with his elbows on the defense table, hands covering his eyes, as Bridges, another brother of Carlson, and Marie’s ex-husband, Jeff Carlson, disparaged him.
“Unfortunately you can’t get the life sentence you deserve,” Jeff Carlson said.
In his own statement, Flanders sounded as hard on himself as his detractors.
“I never imagined it was within me to fail and fall the way I did in every way at the time of Marie’s death, and in the days and weeks that followed,” he said. “It would take an act of God for me to forgive James Flanders. ... My entire life has been a horrible lie.”
Swiatek presented at the sentencing hearing a psychiatrist who testified that Flanders needs treatment and medication for a host of mental issues.
The defense attorney argued for a shorter sentence with time set aside after prison for Flanders to get the help he needs.
However, Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason argued that Flanders’ mental issues had nothing to do with his actions of Oct. 24, 2011, or with his decision afterward to cover up his crime and lie to police.
Mason pounced on a statement Flanders had made to a psychiatrist about having put Carlson in a “choke hold” at the time he killed her. He had previously said he had killed her by holding her in a tight bear hug.
Stone, in pronouncing sentence, said the most convincing argument he had heard for leniency Tuesday had come from Flanders own mouth.
But his stirring statement ultimately was not enough to prevent the judge from levying the maximum sentence.
Custody of murdered mom’s daughter granted to murderer-dad’s Cochise County family
By Terri Jo Neff
Former pastor used his parental rights to leverage guardianship for his Arizona family after arrest 2011 Florida missing person case ruled murder in 2015 after TV show led to new evidence
CCR EDITOR’S NOTE: This article published July 10, 2017 was edited Nov. 4, 2017 to remove reference to a 2013 court order granting James Flanders custody of his daughter. No such order was made.
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SUNSITES, AZ – When James Ty Flanders sought an order in 2013 from the Cochise County Superior to terminate the parental rights of the mother of his daughter, he signed documents attesting that Marie Jane Carlson’s whereabouts were “unknown.” Flanders, a former Florida pastor, also noted there had been no contact from Carlson “for nearly two years.”
But Flanders failed to tell the family court judge one vital fact: he murdered Carlson on October 17, 2011 and buried her body near their home. He then took steps to make it look like Carlson left town and abandoned their three month old daughter. At the time of the murder, Flanders was pastor of Calvary Emerald Coast Church in the Fort Walton Beach, FL area and his wife Tanya ran the women’s ministry.
Carlson, age 37, was reported missing a week later 1 by her ex-husband in Kentucky. Authorities determined she was last seen at the Fort Walton Beach home she shared with James and Tanya Flanders and the baby. Some friends described Carlson as a surrogate mother, while others were told she was a “sister wife” who planned to raise the girl with the couple.
A few months later James and Tanya Flanders moved with the infant to Arizona, eventually settling near his family in the Sunsites – Cochise area. In 2013, Flanders petitioned the court to terminate the missing mother’s parental rights, a move denied by Cochise County Superior Court Judge Donna Beumler.
However, Flanders still had his parental rights and custody of the little girl, which would come into play when Florida authorities arrested Flanders at his Cochise County home on May 5, 2015. By then, the daughter was nearly four years old.
Cold Justice TV show features Carlson disappearance
Court records reveal the Flanders left Florida “in the middle of the night” January 28, 2012, a few hours after a detective with the Okaloosa (Florida) Sheriff’s Office tried to speak with Tanya Flanders about the missing person case.
By mid-2013 the investigation was stagnant due to a lack of reported sightings of Carlson and no direct evidence that she was dead. Even a national missing persons alert by the FBI and a $10,000 reward by the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement failed to develop serious leads.
Then in early 2015, producers for the Cold Justice television show decided to feature Carlson’s disappearance. The show, produced by Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, centers on two experienced female investigators who look at cold cases with the cooperation of law enforcement.
Detectives with Okaloosa County met with the show’s stars and explained that Carlson’s ex-husband reported her missing October 24, 2011 after she stopped communicating with him and their 8 year old daughter. Carlson’s movements were confirmed up to the afternoon of October 17, 2011 but then her trail went cold.
Okaloosa authorities suspected Carlson did not leave town voluntarily, as there was nearly $1000 in her bank accounts and she left clothes and personal items in the home. She also had shown no signs of abandoning the baby or severing contact with her older daughter who lived with the ex-husband.
Detectives recounted that James Flanders said that he left Carlson alone in their house on October 17 so he could go for a run while his wife Tanya was out with the baby. He also said Carlson and her vehicle were gone when he returned that evening. It would be the only statement Flanders gave to Okaloosa detectives about Carlson for three and a-half years.
Parishioners talk, new evidence, confirms detectives’ suspicions of murder
Parishioners previously reticent to talk about their pastor now spoke freely, on camera, about friction in the Flanders’ home. Some witnesses told of an admission by Flanders of a physical altercation with Carlson the day she disappeared. There was also a report that a “distraught” Flanders met with a friend to ask for help leaving the country.
Detectives also learned that Flanders’ conduct during that meeting led to him being hospitalized for 10 days under a Florida law which allows for the voluntary and involuntary commitment of a person for mental health treatment.
For the TV show, researchers analyzed old cell phone records including some not previously available to the sheriff’s office. It was discovered that Carlson’s cell phone never pinged outside Fort Walton Beach after October 17, 2011. And at the time she was supposedly parking her truck at the airport to leave town it was the cell phone belonging to James Flanders, not Carlson, that pinged near the airport.
Another piece of cell phone evidence indicated that on October 19, after Carlson allegedly left town, a group text message was sent from her phone when the was actually very near their house. That was also the same location the records placed James Flanders’ cell phone when it received the text message.
The new information led to the issuance of an arrest warrant and on May 5, 2015 officials from the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Arizona Dept. of Public Safety descended on Flanders home in Cochise County. He was charged with second degree murder and extradited to Florida where he remained in custody unable to post the $1 million bail.
Flanders later admitted in court that he put Carlson “in a choke hold” and a “bear hug” until she stopped breathing. He accepted a plea bargain in April 2016 for one count of manslaughter with a sentence of not more than 15 years in prison. The plea deal required him to show detectives where Carlson’s body was buried.
Flanders, now age 49, was sentenced July 19, 2016 to the maximum 15 years. He is scheduled for release in December 2029.
According to William Bishop of the Florida State Attorney’s Office, investigators in 2015 “looked at all the evidence then available” to determine if others should be charged in connection to Carlson’s murder.
Bishop explained in a recent telephone interview that although some people close to James Flanders may have been an accomplice after the fact, “we were unable to find any evidence sufficient to charge anyone.”
Arguing from jail: 2013 custody order influences guardianship decision
Left in the wake of Flanders’ arrest was the little girl, who knew no other parents than James and Tanya Flanders. Carlson’s sister Rose Bridges from Florida petitioned Cochise County for guardianship, but the Flanders family, including James’ mother Geraldine, challenged her effort.
From jail, Flanders argued it was his right to assign care of his daughter to his wife and mother. He referenced the 2013 court proceeding to show he had standing as the girl’s father.
The parties took part in a mediation session after which Bridges dropped her request for guardianship and agreed to Tanya and Geraldine Flanders having guardianship. In February 2016 judge Karl Elledge named the women temporary co-guardians and a month later their appointment was made permanent.
A visitation plan was also worked out and accepted by judge Elledge to allow members of Carlson’s family to visit with the girl and maintain regular weekly communication. According to the judge, “the visitation agreement reached between the parties today is in the minor child’s best interests.”
On March 31, 2017 judge Elledge approved the co-guardians’ annual report which provides the Court with information about the child’s care and welfare. The next mandatory guardianship review will occur in April 2018.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: Northwest Florida newspapers reported in late 2015 that Flanders acknowledged the polygamous relationship between himself, Carlson and his wife Tanya, but claimed innocence of the murder charge.
Posted Mar 1, 2018 at 10:38 AMUpdated Mar 1, 2018 at 5:49 PM
Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason, who would have prosecuted Flanders had his case gone to trial, was among those interviewed for the Dateline program. She said she thinks the case draws attention from a national audience due to its “unusual” set of circumstances, including polygamy, the church, a baby and Flanders’ fleeing to Arizona.
FORT WALTON BEACH — A notorious Okaloosa County criminal case will be featured tonight on NBC’s longest-running prime time program, “Dateline.”
The show, set to air at 9 p.m., will document the case of James Flanders, a disgraced former Fort Walton Beach pastor who pleaded guilty in April 2016 to the October 2011 killing of his “sister-wife” and mother of his then-infant child, Marie Carlson.
Michele Nicholson, spokeswoman for the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office, said a production team from Dateline, including true crime correspondent Keith Morrison, traveled to Fort Walton Beach several times in January and February to interview officials and others about the case.
“The Flanders case resonates across the spectrum because it involves a fallen ‘man of the cloth,’ a preacher who was trusted and admired, yet involved in a secret love triangle that led to death for one of those involved,” Nicholson said in an email to the Daily News. “People are drawn to true crime stories like this one because essentially they involve a yearning for justice, as well as some element of fear we can all relate to — how well do we really know someone?”
Carlson was 37 years old on Oct. 24, 2011, when her ex-husband reported her missing and a massive search began.
Flanders, who had fathered a child with Carlson while involved in a polygamous relationship with her and his wife, Tanya, moved to Arizona in 2012, shortly after the disappearance.
Flanders always had been suspected of possible wrongdoing, but without a body authorities struggled to build a case.
A break came when Carlson’s disappearance was featured on the television show “Cold Justice” in April 2015. Flanders was arrested a month later. He eventually admitted to killing Carlson by placing her in what he first said was a “bear hug,” but later said was a “chokehold.”
Flanders and his attorney, Glenn Swiatek, struck a deal with prosecutors to secure a manslaughter charge — downgraded from a second-degree murder — in exchange for telling investigators where he buried Carlson’s body almost five years earlier. Flanders revealed that he buried Carlson’s in the backyard of a home at 714 Revere Ave. he lived in when she disappeared.
Authorities recovered Carlson’s remains on April 29, 2016.
Flanders, now 49 years old, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July 2016. He is being held at the Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton. Prison records show a scheduled release date of Sept. 28, 2029, two years less than his 15-year sentence.
Assistant State Attorney Angela Mason, who would have prosecuted Flanders had his case gone to trial, was among those interviewed for the “Dateline” program. She said she thinks the case draws national attention because of its unusual set of circumstances, including polygamy, the church, a baby and Flanders’ fleeing to Arizona.
Mason doggedly pursued the case against Flanders for five years, and is among those credited with its resolution.
“That is our job. That is what we do every day,” Mason said when asked why she fought to close the case. “People violate the law if they take a life, and we are going to do everything we can to bring them to justice.”
First Judicial Circuit State Attorney Bill Eddins also was interviewed for the show, as were Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Nesli Suhi-Moore and retired Investigator Keith Matz. A producer for the show did not return a request for comment as to who else locally had been interviewed.
Tonight’s episode is titled “Secrets on the Emerald Coast.” Its description on NBC’s website reads, “A young mother disappears after leaving her newborn in the care of her local pastor and his wife. For five years Florida detectives search for her, but instead uncover a web of secrets and lies.”
JAN 12, 2022
Just watched the 2018 Dateline show. Here's the link
In chapter 4 of John we read about Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman and without any condemnation, he tells her about the living water he offers which he proclaims again in John chapter 7.
"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." John 4:9-15
"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" John 7:37-39
Over the years my opinions have changed but this will never change: Jesus Christ, Lord, God and Savior, died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay for my sin.
850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.
