Dan Carter Sanders

Dan Carter Sanders, 26, a married World War II veteran, was shot and killed on November 18, 1946, after a group of white men in Cleveland Township accused him and another man of stealing foxhounds from a local farm. The DOJ's file identifies the shooter as Robert “Bobby” H. Johnson Jr., who was 16 years old at the time, and names his father, Robert H. Johnson Sr., along with three other men present, Russell Hatcher, Lester Phillips, and R.H. Stephenson, as subjects. No federal hate-crime law existed in 1946, and the statute of limitations on any potential criminal case had long since expired by the time the DOJ reviewed the case decades later; the Department also declined to refer the matter to North Carolina for state prosecution, citing the lack of any living subjects or likely surviving witnesses. All five men named in the file were deceased by the time it was closed on March 5, 2019.

Cleveland Township, NC · Johnston County

• 1946: Case opens — victim reported missing or found.
• Documented milestones (renewed investigation, media coverage, family advocacy) to be added as sourced.
• Present: case remains unresolved. No named suspect has been convicted.

• Victim identity, background, and the November 18, 1946 date and circumstances, per the DOJ's public case file and PBS FRONTLINE's “Un(re)solved” case summary.
• The DOJ's file names five subjects, including the 16-year-old shooter, all reported deceased by the time of the 2019 closure; no one was ever charged.

• No criminal charges were ever filed against anyone in Sanders's death.
• Whether the underlying accusation of stealing foxhounds had any factual basis was never established.

• PBS FRONTLINE Un(re)solved — case summary
• U.S. Department of Justice — Notice to Close File
• Project Cold Case
• Murder Accountability Project
• NamUs