Unseen - The Birthday Party Murders | The Case of Midsi Sanchez | UNSEEN

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

“If anyone can survive him, it’s her” August 10th 2000 is a big day for 8 year old Midsi Sanchez as it’s her birthday party that afternoon, so she decides to walk home alone instead of waiting for her siblings like usual. Only one block away from her house, a man gets out of his car nearby and asks her to help him pick up something, and as she reaches down, the little girl suddenly vanishes from Vallejo. 3 days go by, until Midsi gathers her strength to escape one of California’s most dangerous serial killers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This footage hides the most disturbing secret. It was taken on August 12, 2000 in Vallejo, California. The girl in the window is 8-year-old Mitzie Sanchez. She looks happy in her father's arms, surrounded by friends and family. But on her birthday, Mitzie's life will take a shocking turn for the worse. Twelve years earlier, Amber Swartz-Cresia is playing jump rope in her front yard in Pinol, California, when she's abducted in broad daylight. After years of searching with no solid leads,

the seven-year-old is presumed dead. Her body is never found. December 9, 1999, 11 years after the disappearance of Amber, seven-year-old Ziana Fairchild goes missing, after witnesses saw her talking to a man at a Vallejo gas station. One year passes, and still, Ziana is nowhere to be found. For over 12 years, the state of California is terrorized by a serial killer targeting children. Having made eight victims already, no one knows where he will strike next, But on August 12, 2000, 8-year-old Mitzie Sanchez will become the last victim of the serial killer. She will be forever known as the one who escaped and brought him to justice.

Blail police are again asking for the public's help tonight and locating a missing eight-year-old girl. To the person who took my daughter, I don't care what they dumped to her, just bring her back to me. I just want to see my daughter again. There was someone out there that was hunting children. We needed to find that person. Missy, have you watching? I love you. It's December 9, 1999. In the quiet town of Alejo, California,

Mitzi Sanchez lives a normal life with her parents and her three siblings. 7.30 a.m., less than two miles away from where Mitzi lives, 7-year-old Ziana Fairchild disappears on her way to school. Police follow every possible lead to try and find the missing girl, to no avail. After months of investigation with the help of the FBI, the case grows cold. Zianna Fairchild is presumed dead. August 10, 2000, 8 months after the disappearance of Ziana, Midsie Sanchez leaves for school at around 7.30 a.m.

It's Mitzie's birthday, and her mother, Susanna, is preparing a party for her. At around 4 p.m., Mitzie's sister begins to worry that she hasn't come home from school yet, and calls her mother. After reaching out to teachers and friends, Susanna understands that her daughter is missing. The entire family starts to worry, calling everyone they can to ask for help, searching for the eight-year-old girl. When police arrive, flyers are already being handed out

in the neighborhood, people knocking on every door, but there's no trace of her. August 11th, 24 hours have passed since Mitzie went missing. The sheriff's department receives a phone call from a landfill worker who claims to have seen bloody clothing in one of the truck dumps. Investigators discover the cloth belonged to a Vallejo motel. They fear the worst for Mitzie and Tiana. But as the police scour the landfill, no further evidence is found. Time is running out. August 12th, two days since Midsy was taken, at around 11 a.m., the sheriff's office receives a call from a man named Carl Tafwa, who says an eight-year-old girl jumped in front of his truck

and says to have been kidnapped. He also has the license plate number of the car from which the girl has escaped. When police asked for the name of the girl, she says her name is Midsie Sanchez. She comes running to the truck saying, help me, you know, I've been kidnapped from Belil. She was pretty frightened when she jumped in my truck. I mean, she really thought that guy was going to come and try to kill her. With the license plate number given to police by the truck driver, the search focuses on one man, Curtis Anderson.

Apparently, police know Anderson very well. He is a three-strikes candidate, having been convicted of theft and kidnapping. The location where Midsie was rescued is close to Anderson's former place of employment. According to a colleague, he came in to ask for a heavy-duty garbage bag. So he didn't say what the garbage bag was for? No, he didn't say anything about the garbage bag. But what are you thinking now? Ah, now I'm thinking of something else.

August 12, several hours after Mitzie's escape, Curtis Anderson is arrested. As Mitzie is brought home in the arms of her father, she's welcomed by a crowd of cheering friends and family. Although they mean to celebrate her return, Mitzie is visibly too upset. It was a birthday party, the Sanchez family and their Vallejo neighbor, neighbors feared would never happen. Happy birthday! No one understands the nightmare she just went through.

Her story begins on August 10th. It was the day of my birthday party. I wanted to help my mom get all this stuff together, go get the cake, set up balloons. So I didn't want to go to school. I asked my mom if I could just, you know, stay home. But she said no, she didn't want me to miss school. She wanted to surprise me, you know, and do her own thing.

So I went to school that day. Mitzi spends her day in class, waiting anxiously for the bell to ring. Normally our routine was, I would meet up with my brother right after school and some friends, and we would walk home together. They couldn't wait. The bell rang, and I took off. Her house is only six blocks away. As her route is on one of the busiest streets in Vallejo, she doesn't think twice about leaving without her siblings,

convinced that nothing will happen. When she's only one block away from her house, she notices a car park down the road, with a man sitting inside, looking in her direction. At first, she doesn't make much of it. Started to approach the car. I've just had this weird gut-wrenching feeling that something wasn't right. She tries to ignore her feeling and walk straight forward, looking ahead. I remember making eye contact with him through the rearview mirror. As she gets closer, the man gets out of the driver's seat and approaches Midsie.

He stopped me and said, hey, I need your help. I was in a bike accident and I broke my hip. He asked me to reach over for some duct tape that was on the floorboard of his car because he said he couldn't bend over and so I did. At that moment, she feels the full-grown man press his entire way to get. She was against her, trapping her. Though she tries to fight him off and scream, the man is too strong, and Mitzi is shoved inside the car.

He covered my mouth with his hand, and he shut the door behind me. I just tried grabbing the door handle and opening, and it just went open. The man quickly drives off with Mitzi, swerving through traffic. No one can see what's going on inside the car. Mitzie stops screaming, as it becomes clear no one can hear her. As we were making that left towards the highway,

I could see my home. I was that close to home. I remember just looking at my home wanting to be there so bad. I felt so helpless. After driving around for a few minutes, the man turns into a hardware store parking lot. There, he hands her a bundle of clothes and forces her to change. My thought was, whose clothes are these?

It was just so awkward to me. I did, you know, everything he said, I didn't want to make him mad or I didn't want, you know, I didn't want him to hurt me, so I just, I just went along. The man warns her, I have a gun in the trunk. No one has ever gotten away from me, so don't even try. Then, he drives off again. When night comes, he parks the car in a rest area and carefully covers the windows with blankets and towels. Mitzie keeps thinking of a way she could escape, worried of what he might do to her.

waiting for the right moment. I noticed that there were restrooms nearby, so I asked him if I could get out and use the bathroom, and he said no. As the man walks back into the car, he puts a chain around Mitzi's ankle and padlocks it to the gear shift. Then, he takes out a bottle of alcohol

and forces her to take a shot. I remember he started to pull out Polaroids of naked women. I remember just closing my eyes and not. Not wanting to open him. He pulled out his Polaroid and started snapping photos. I felt so violated and helpless. Later that night, Mitzi is awake while the man sleeps beside her. She's exhausted, but she doesn't want to close her eyes,

afraid of what might happen, of what the man might do to her. Limited to the interior of the man's junkie car, The little girl wonders if her family is looking for her, or if they even know she's gone. Through a small interstice, Midsey sees a cop car patrolling the area, his lights illuminating the parking lot. She wishes she could scream out or jump out of the vehicle, but she remembers the man's words. If she tries anything, he'll kill her. A few seconds later, the cop drives off.

And I thought, this is it. I'm not going to see my family again. August 11th. It's day number two. That morning, the man starts to drive off around town. Mitzi is forced to sit on the floorboard, covered by a blanket. After a few minutes, the car stops at a house, and the man gets out. While he's gone, Mitzi tries to pick the lock of her chain, but soon realizes that it would

be impossible for her to open it or wiggle it off. When the man comes back, he drives off again. But when he tells Mitzi where he went, her heart drops. He had actually walked into our home asking for flyers so he could help pass him out around the city. As time passes, Mitzi, who is denied food or water, is becoming weaker and weaker. After spending most of the day driving around, making numerous stops, the man drives into an industrial parking lot away from the city. He unchained my leg and he made me jump over into the driver's seat and he was

standing outside of the car and that was the moment that he um that was the moment that he raped me my entire body went into shock I felt helpless I didn't I didn't I never cried in front of him although I was dying and breaking and falling apart inside I wasn't going to give him that Satisfaction. Nightfalls. As the previous night, she forbids herself to fall asleep, too fearful of what he could do if she closes her eyes. Instead, she finds her escape in the stars, gazing at them, and wishing to be home. I didn't know what was going on at home.

I just knew that I missed them. I wanted to be with them. I prayed for God to let my family know that I love them. The next morning, they drive out of the parking lot to his former place of work. former place of work. It's around 8.10 a.m. At this point, Mitzie remembers his usual routine. He goes out to buy alcohol and cigarettes, leaving her chained up in the car for around 30 minutes. And when he comes back, she knows she'll be forced to do terrible things. This time, however, something is different. He came back to the car and he didn't get in this time.

He just, he opened the passenger door, leaned over me and dropped something. The man warns her not to look and leaves again. But Mitzi doesn't listen. She leans over to the driver's seat and sees on the floor a ring full of keys. I sat there looking at the keys and I saw little tiny keys that seemed like it would fit the padlock and I picked one. It fit into the lock. And then as I twist it opened, I'm in shock like, oh my gosh, it unlocked. Mitzie hurries out of the window of the car, but as her feet hit the floor, her knees buckle.

She's too weak to run, but she can't give up now. As she walks around the car, the man sees her and screams for her to come back, but she doesn't stop. She staggers her way down the street. Mitzie can see the man start to chase after her. Cars pass by, and she tries to wave them down, begging them for help, but no one stops. Still, she continues to walk as fast as her legs can carry her. If she hesitates for just one second, she knows the man will kill her. As she sees a truck driving in her direction, the man is almost there. In one last attempt to escape his grasp, she jumps out in front of the truck in the middle of the road. Finally, the driver stops.

The truck driver had his window open, so I just jumped. I jumped through his window, jumped over his lap and got into his passenger seat. As Midsy explains that she's been kidnapped, the truck driver looks around for the man, but he's nowhere in sight. Then, a car pulls out of the parking lot in a hurry. That's when the driver takes down his license plate and calls the police. That was the first time that I'd felt safe again. When Mitzi is taken to the police station, she's told that her family is on their way

and that they've been worrying about her every single day, but never gave up hope. Once I got inside, I saw my mom, and I just ran up to her, and I hugged her, and we were just so emotional. It was just every emotion. Within the next 10 hours, police have Curtis Anderson in custody. As news makes its way to the community, one thought comes up. If Mitzie escaped and the man is caught, what happened to Ziana Fairchild? The girl who went missing the year before, is she still alive? As everyone breathes a sigh of relief for the safe return of Mitzie Sanchez, there is still no happy ending.

Although everyone was there to show their love and support, I was still not okay. One person who can't forget about the missing girl named Ziana is Mitzie herself. She struggles with the idea that she made it out alive, but Ziana is still out there. Less than two weeks after her ordeal, 8-year-old Mitzie Sanchez rallies with volunteers to search for the missing child. She feels she can't rest until they find her. January 2001, police have found the remains of a child up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Soon after, detectives confirmed that the identity of the child is Ziana Thierchild. According to the investigation, Ziana was murdered the same night she was.

was taken, Mitzi is destroyed. It's April 2001. The trial of Curtis Anderson begins, and Mitzi is called up to the witness stand. The courtroom was packed, and I remember seeing him sitting over in his wheelchair, and I just had to get up on that stand and do what I had to do to be able to put him away. In front of a judge and jury, and of Curtis himself, Mitzi describes in detail her entire ordeal. is shocked by her story. On the first day of testimony, the eight-year-old kidnap victim climbed onto the witness stand

and calmly pointed out the man who she said grabbed her off the street and sexually molested her for two days before she escaped. As prosecutor Donna Stashen asked her one detailed question after another, the little girl clutched her teddy bear and answered in a strong, clear voice. It made me feel really proud of Ms.C that she went up there and pointed him out and said he is the person that did this to me. Because of her incredible memory and courage, Anderson is sentenced to 251 years in prison, but his taunting is not over.

He confesses to the murder of another young girl 12 years prior, Amber Schwartz, who was taken from her front yard at seven years old. In an attempt to negotiate with police, Anderson also confesses to having kidnapped and killed 13 other girls, but he refuses to give up details without accommodation. I'm not going to be inmate of the month in the cell block. The majority of the people in there are going to try and kill me the first chance they did. And then when that happens, nobody will ever get the answers they want. Although her captor is behind bars, Mitzie's victory is short-lived.

Life becomes harder than it was before the kidnapping. We just kind of acted like it didn't happen and life went on. I was angry at the world. At school, Mitzie gets bullied for being labeled the kidnapped girl. Kids think she loves. loves the attention she gets on TV. I just had a really tough time in school, and they would say horrible things. You know, you should have died when you got kidnapped.

Every time a child goes missing, Midsy volunteers to show support and help in the search. But every time they find the missing child too late, Mitzie is crushed and spirals downwards again. I drank and I drank. I had no tools to deal with the pain and devastation that I was feeling. But everything changes on May 1st to do that I was feeling. changes on May 1st, 2009. After a night of drinking with friends, Midsy is involved in a horrific car accident. I flew through the windshield, broke my nose, my neck, my arm, and I was in a coma for two weeks. When Mitzie wakes up, doctors tell her the news that will shift her entire world upside

down. Excema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with ebbglis, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to disappear eczema. After an initial four-month-month-old or longer do FOSE, about 4 and 10 people taking EBGLUS achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. Ebglis, Librikizumab, LBKZ. A 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not

well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical topical therapies. Ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Use if you're allergic to ebbglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with ebbglis. Before starting Epglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about ebbglis. And visit ebglis.com or call 1-800-LillyR-X or 1-800-545-979. She is pregnant with a daughter. That was when my life took a turn for the better.

Girl to fool is my hero. If it weren't for him driving down that street at that exact moment, I don't think I would be here today. I know you don't feel like a hero that you're my hero. So good to see you. Good to see you. You had my back and you, you were quick thinking and everything that you did was just on point and I'm so grateful for you. You truly are my hero. Now, Mitzi is a loving mother, raising her daughter alone.

She says she owes it to Ziana and Amber and to other victims to make sure she makes a difference with her life. She doesn't define herself by her ordeal anymore. We can use our trial for triumph and come out stronger. It's not meant to keep us down. I am living proof that you can be successful, you can be happy, you can live your best life. She sees her story as a tool to help others, a way to give hope. She created the Mitzi Sanchez Foundation to fight for the recovery of missing children. To teach children about safety

is what gives me purpose in life. I get to use my story that was just so much trauma, but I get to use it for triumph.