“Day by day, month by month, year by year, time passed, and they never picked me up,” he said in an interview last month with the Associated Press.

A court filing by the Attorney General’s Office said the mistake happened when a trial court clerk failed to inform the Missouri Supreme Court that Anderson was free on bond after his initial conviction.

So Anderson went about his life, never trying to conceal his whereabouts or identity. He married, divorced, married again. He raised three children of his own and a stepchild, owned and operated three construction businesses. He coached his son’s youth football team in Webster Groves, and he ran the video operation at his church.