Janis Kay Sanders was a creative, kind, and soft-spoken young woman devoted to her two small children. At 24 years old, the single mother was working hard as a waitress to support her daughter Dena, age five, and her son James, age two. Having moved to the Michiana area with her husband in 1967, she found herself on her own after their marriage ended in 1973. Friends and family remember a woman who loved cooking, sewing, and stenciling, and who dreamed of one day attending art school. She took pride in her appearance and excelled at her work in local restaurants. In July 1975, she had decided to move back in with her parents in her hometown of Niles, Michigan, to build a new life for herself and her children.
That new life was violently cut short. On the night of July 20, 1975, Janis finished her shift at Pete's Patio, a local restaurant in Niles where she worked. As she left around midnight, she was followed into the parking lot by her ex-boyfriend, Gerald C.
Libertowski Jr., with whom she had recently ended a tumultuous relationship. Janis Sanders was never seen or heard from again. The following day, her family reported her missing. Weeks later, on August 5, her car was found abandoned in the parking lot of the Holiday Inn in Niles, about three miles from where she was last seen. Her body has never been found.
The investigation quickly focused on Libertowski. When police searched his home, they discovered Janis's purse and identification hidden away in a crawl space. The case took on an even more sinister dimension when investigators realized Libertowski was also the prime suspect in the 1973 disappearance of another former girlfriend, Janeice Langs, from nearby South Bend, Indiana. In 1976, prosecutors charged Libertowski with the murders of both women. However, after a jury in South Bend acquitted him in the Langs trial, the Berrien County prosecutor dropped the murder charges related to Janis, citing a lack of evidence without a body. Libertowski died in 2010, never having faced trial for Janis's disappearance.
For decades, the case languished, though it was never forgotten by investigators or Janis's children, who spent their lives searching for answers. Over the years, the case file was picked up and put down multiple times, but leads always ran dry. That changed in September 2022, when the Michigan State Police (MSP) officially reopened the investigation. With the help of students from the Western Michigan University (WMU) Cold Case Program, who digitized more than 5,000 documents, investigators began to find new avenues to explore. In November 2022, the MSP formally reclassified Janis's case from a missing person to an abduction-homicide.
"We know who committed the murders, we know who did it, that's not even a question," MSP Detective Sergeant John Moore has stated. "But we want to recover these women's bodies for their families." The renewed investigation has focused on locating Janis's remains. With assistance from the WMU program and departments at the University of Notre Dame, investigators have used modern technology, including ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs, to search properties connected to Libertowski, including a large farm near Niles. While those searches have not yet been successful, police remain hopeful. "It's essentially like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Moore said. "But there's a possibility someday... somebody stumbles across something."
Fifty years after she vanished, Janis's children, Dena and James Sanders, continue to advocate for their mother. They started a podcast, "Cold No More," in 2023 to keep the case in the public eye and held an event in July 2025 to mark the 50th anniversary of her disappearance and call for justice for both their mother and Janeice Langs. "It's about her and her life that was taken away... in a violent way and she has had no justice. Her family has had no closure," James said. "The truth is still out there and that's what we're still looking for.”
As of July 2025, the investigation into the abduction and murder of Janis Sanders is active and ongoing. Michigan State Police and the WMU Cold Case Program continue their efforts to locate her remains and bring a final measure of peace to her family. Investigators believe that solving Janis's case could also lead to the recovery of Janeice Langs. They urge anyone who may have even the smallest piece of information to come forward. "You just never know how that's going to lead into something else," Dena said. Anyone with information is asked to contact Michigan Crime Stoppers or the Michigan State Police at 269-683-4411.
