Features

Convicted kidnapper admits part in Xiana case

The Associated Press
Friday May 04, 2001

 

FAIRFIELD — The man convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl now claims he kidnapped and killed a 7-year-old in a high-profile case, and said he has snatched 10 other girls off the streets in years past. 

Curtis Dean Anderson, 40, said he abducted and killed 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild, who disappeared from Vallejo in December 1999. Her skull was found in January on a rural road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. 

“I’m the only one who knows all of what happened to Xiana,” Anderson told the newspaper. “This is gonna go down like the Zodiac.” 

Anderson was referring to a series of five murders in California in 1969 and 1970 believed to be committed by someone calling himself “Zodiac” in letters to police and newspapers. 

Anderson claims to have kidnapped and sexually assaulted 10 other girls over the past 30 years, but has provided authorities with no evidence to directly link him to other crimes. 

“I was on a good roll for 30 years, enjoying my sexual preferences,” Anderson said. “It was a better way of working for 30 years. This is the first time I’ve been in a courtroom (for such a crime).” 

Anderson said that many of those girls returned home after convincing him that what he had done to them was “no big deal,” he said. 

He remains a suspect in the Xiana case, authorities say, but no charges have been filed. Police say they need credible information to link Anderson to that case. 

“A lot depends on evidence. It’s not necessary to have the body. It’s not essential,” said Vallejo Police Lt. JoAnn West. “It just depends on the information.” 

Anderson’s defense attorney, Carl Spieckerman, said he had no indication his client would make the statements about other abductions, and that doing so would endanger him in prison where pedophiles are treated harshly. 

“It seems like he’s got a death wish,” Spieckerman said.