It was a mother’s worst nightmare that Tammy Sanders of Jennings faced April 9 when she came home and found her 13-year-old son dead from a gunshot wound to the head and her 15-year-old son was missing.

Now, the missing son, Bruce Sanders, 15, is jailed at juvenile detention in Gainesville on a second degree murder charge in the death of his brother, William “Billy” Sanders.

A grand jury will be convened Tuesday, April 19 to hear the case.

According to Hamilton County Sheriff Harrell Reid, both boys and a sister had not gone to school April 9 and at some point the mother and daughter went shopping. When they returned about two hours later, the Sheriff said, the mother found Billy Sanders lying in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. She immediately called 911 at 2:09 p.m., Reid said. Reid said he arrived at about the same time that EMS did to find the disturbing scene on NW 27th Boulevard in Jennings off CR 141.

Reid said he immediately contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and asked for the FDLE Crime Lab to be brought to the scene. “She told me the vehicle, which belonged to the family and stayed at her parent’s house about 100 yards away, was missing,” Reid said of the boys’ mother. At this point the Sheriff issued an all points bulletin for Bruce Sanders and the vehicle. Reid said at about 6 p.m. he received a call from the Madison County Sheriff’s Office saying they had found the boy and the car. Reid said both were located on Bellville Road in Madison County where the car had experienced mechanical trouble. Bruce Sanders was taken to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office where Reid said he went and interviewed him and then arrested him on a second degree murder charge. Bruce Sanders was transported to the Hamilton County Jail (HCJ) where he was booked and then transferred to juvenile detention in Gainesville because HCJ cannot hold juveniles, Reid said.

A thorough investigation was conducted at the scene by FDLE and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office before the victim’s body was transported to the medical examiner’s office in Jacksonville.

Reid said the medical examiner has confirmed that the cause of Billy Sanders’ death was a single gunshot wound to the head. Reid said he believes his office has recovered the weapon used in the shooting, a .22-caliber rifle that belonged to the family.

Funeral services for Billy Sanders will be held today, Thursday, April 14 at 4 p.m at Harry T. Reid Funeral Home in Jasper followed by interment at Sassers Landing Cemetery, Reid said.

William “Billy” Sanders is survived by his parents, William and Tammy Sanders; one brother, Bruce Sanders; two sisters, Ashley Sanders and Leslie Sanders; and paternal grandparents, William and Gloria Sanders, all of Jennings; maternal grandparents, Charles Boyd of St. Petersburg, and Linda Servatius (Steve) of Texas; and several aunts, uncles and cousins.

Billy Sanders was a student at Hamilton County High School and attended Jennings United Methodist Church.