Circumstances of Disappearance
Alexander was initially abducted by his non-custodial father, Ulysses H. Roberson, on November 9, 1985 in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
Olive's mother, Rosemary Olive, went to see her son in December 1985, to have Roberson scream at her, then punch and kick her repeatedly when she asked where he was.
She later won a court order from a San Francisco judge ordering Roberson to return Alexander, but the boy was nowhere to be found.
Roberson was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and served a year in the El Dorado County Jail for beating Olive. He returned to Washington and was later arrested and convicted of the rape and child beating charges.
Murder charges were filed against Roberson in October 2001 after authorities submitted new witness testimony and DNA evidence. Police say the evidence confirms their long-held suspicions that Roberson beat the little boy to death and then hid the body, all because he had soiled his pants.
Without a body, prosecutors didn't believe there was enough evidence for a murder charge. But recently, FBI crime lab tests for DNA revealed that Alexander's blood was on some clothes found in Roberson's van.
A witness said she was with Roberson when Alexander was beaten to death, then loaded into the van and dumped at a remote location -- a two or three-hour drive from South Lake Tahoe.