Girl’s accused killer
enters no plea
SAN JOSE, Calif. >> Looking older, thinner and more haggard than he did four years ago when he bragged about kidnapping Xiana Fairchild, convicted child molester Curtis Dean Anderson was arraigned yesterday on charges he killed the 7-year-old former Hawaii girl.
Anderson, 43, who was represented by a public defender, did not enter a plea on the murder, kidnapping and molestation charges against him.
Curtis Dean Anderson: He is arraigned on charges he killed former Hawaii girl Xiana Fairchild
Xiana disappeared while on her way to school in December 1999, and her fate remained a mystery until her skull was discovered more than a year later.
After Anderson was arrested in 2000 on charges he kidnapped another girl, he boasted to reporters that he killed Xiana. He told one reporter he drugged Xiana, then put her body in a bag and tossed it down an embankment, investigators said. But they could not corroborate his stories until recently.
Anderson also tried to extort weekly payments from Xiana's great-aunt Stephanie Kahalekulu in exchange for guaranteeing her safety, investigators said.
It is unclear whether Anderson ever anticipated his cocky and sometimes confusing confessions would land him back in court facing capital charges, but Kahalekulu, who helped raise Xiana and pressed authorities not to give up on the case, was confident that day would come.
"This is what I've been waiting for, for him to be charged with Xiana's kidnapping and murder," Kahalekulu said shortly after the brief hearing in Santa Clara County Superior Court. "For her, I needed to be here."
For a split second, Anderson's steely gaze met her angry, tearful eyes in court. She said she had not seen Anderson since December 2000 -- her last of several jailhouse visits to see if she could glean more information about Xiana's disappearance.
In her mind, she said she imagined people jumping over the low wall separating courtroom visitors to attack him.
If convicted, Anderson, a former Vallejo cab driver with a long criminal history, could face the death penalty. Kahalekulu has told authorities she wants them to pursue capital punishment, but prosecutors have not yet announced their intentions.
Anderson, who used a wheelchair in court and did not speak, already is serving a 251-year sentence for the 2000 kidnapping and molestation of another little girl from Vallejo who eventually escaped.
Deputy Public Defender Ken Mandel said he met with Anderson, who has a bad right hip, for several hours Wednesday night.
"It's a grave tragedy," he said. "My heart goes out to the family."
Xiana was raised by Kahalekulu in Hawaii and Colorado before moving to Vallejo six months before her disappearance.
Her skull was found in the Santa Cruz mountains in January 2001. Investigators refused to release details on her cause of death or any physical evidence linking Anderson to the crime.
