Lt. Jeff Saunders
Actor History
David A. Little (Fall 1983 to December 1985)
Occupation
A police detective somewhere in a sleepy small town in Florida. (as mentioned by Lillian Raines)
Former Springfield police lieutenant detective.
Resides At
Last known address in Florida.
Marital Status
Unknown
Past Marriages
None
Relatives
Unknown
Children
Unknown
Flings & Affairs
Lillian Raines (Lovers)
Crimes Committed
None; although felt responsible for not picking up on the fact that Alicia Rhomer had murdered her own sister Charlotte Wheaton. or that Suzette Saxon shot and killed David Preston; left Springfield because of the second incident. [1985]
Memorable Quote
Lt. Jeff Saunder to Lillain Raines in the Spring of 1985:
"Lillian, I've arrested practically your entire family. Isn't it time you started calling me Jeff?"
Saunders to Beth Raines and Floyd Parker about India and using the aphrodisiac (to make sure she'd get pregnant by Phillip):
"You're guess is as good as mine. All I know is that using one doesn't constitute a crime. I guess we came up empty."
Brief Character History
Springfield police lieutenant Jeff Saunders became the lead detective for the Springfield police department upon the retirement of Lt. Larry Wyatt, in November 1983, after Lt. Wyatt had arrested Harlan Billy "H.B." Lewis for shooting criminal Eli Sims. Lt. Jeff Saunders was involved in solving many criminal cases in Springfield over the next two years (although many he was more successful at than others) and for making many arrest over the same time period. Also for a short time, Lt. Saunders made one Cedars hospital lead nurse quite happy!
The first case that Lt. Saunders worked on, as lead detective, was with the New York City police department to find the teenage runaways Phillip Spaulding and Beth Raines. Lt. Saunders was able to find them and bring them back to their parents when a Spaulding Enterprises stockholder
>spotted both of them in New York and reported back to Jeff. When he brought them back first to Phillip's parent, Alan Spaulding and his aunt Alexandra "Alex" Spaulding -- Lt. Saunders could tell that the Spauldings probably would cause his investigative work a number of headaches. When he brought back Beth Raines to her mother Lillian Raines, he could tell that Beth had been sexually abused by her stepfather, Bradley Raines. When Alex Spaulding found out from Beth that Bradley had raped her, Alex who normally would not associate with the Raines' family had attorney Ross Marler and Lt. Saunders arrest the man. Later in the spring of 1984, Ross would prosecute Bradley Raines for the raping of Beth. But before Ross could do that, Ross would face his own small legal hurdle.
The previous fall, Alan Spaulding had set up Ross with a prostitute named Karen Jensen and photos were taken that derailed Ross' campaign for a second term as Springfield's District Attorney. Then in the winter of 1984, Karen Jensen was found brutally murdered and drowned in a car in the Springfield River. There was evidence that Karen Jensen had been brutally beaten as well. Lt. Saunders did not lack for suspects. One of those was Ross Marler (Saunders also had on his short list for a time, a one time fellow prostitute Lola Fontaine who worked both as a bartender at "Company" and as a nanny for Quinton and Nola Chamberlain.) Eventually after many frustrating moments, including finding evidence planted in Ross' carriage house, the true culprit of Karen Jansen's brutal beating and murder would turn out to be the same Spaulding Enterprises stockholder who turned in Beth and Phillip and Lt. Saunders would arrest him and Ross would get a heavy conviction for the man.
After this Ross was more than ready to convict Bradley Raines for raping his daughter. During the trial Ross extracted this confession out of Bradley, "No one could love Beth like I did," in a pathetic attempt to justify his crime. "That's why I had to mark her, I had to make sure no
>one else would ever want her." Bradley was remanded to a psychiatric hospital, and Lillian divorced him. Now, she and Beth were free of his toxic influence for good. Then Lt. Jeff Saunders asked the pretty nurse Lillian Raines on dates. At first, Lillian was hestitant, but then seeing how handsome and caring he was, by the summer of 1984 -- Lillian caved-in and accepted Lt. Jeff Saunders dates.
The next person who Lt. Jeff Saunders had to contend with was a young woman named Darcy Dekker who was a member of a street gang named, "The Galahads." Beth had started dating the leader of the gang, Lujack, when Phillip ended up marrying Mindy Lewis. Lujack and Beth also ended up
becoming more than just dating partners, which totally consternated her mother. But it wasn't necessarily Lujack that concerned Lillian, but it would appear that Darcy Dekker also had some feelings for the young man and Darcy didn't think that Beth was right for the man she was pining
>for. One night Lujack and Beth went to a dance together, when Darcy and other members of "The Galahads" crashed it. With Darcy's coarse battle cry of "Look out preppies the Galahads are back!" a fight broke out that compromised the parole Lujack was out on.
A little later Alex Spaulding needed the services of Lt. Saunders again, when she figured out that her brother Alan was making biological weapons and needed proof, feeling uncomfortable and telling Alex, "Ma'am, I don't work for you, I work for all of Springfield." Lt. Saunders did fill in, his now friend, Ross Marler what was going on and Ross assisted Alex (Ross wanted something more though than being Alex's lackey, but at the time Alex was involved in a relationship with fellow Springfield attorney of Ross', Mike Bauer.) Eventually, though when Alex got a taped confession out of Alan, Mike would leave her and go accept a position at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, DC. After this, Lt. Saunders would be more leery of the Spauldings. Ross would end up in a romance with Alex.
By now it was the summer of 1984, and Jeff and Lillian's dating had turned into more than that and they were now romantically linked. Unfortunatley, for a short time "The Galahads" activities, especially Darcy Dekker's activities would make very little time for a lot of romantic moments for the two and then for another short time two other criminals in Springfield would cause headaches for Lt. Saunders. And, all of this actually had it's root cause in Alex Spaulding, yet again having trouble in her life. Ross found proof for Alex that Lujack was actually her long lost son Brandon Luvonaczek who Alex had been forced to give up by her then lover and Lujack's father, Eric Luvonaczek. When Alex tearfully told Lujack that they were mother and son, he was horrified. He'd spent his entire life striking out against wealthy autocrats like the Spauldings, only to discover that the same blue blood ran in his veins! Nonetheless, Alex was happy that he intended to leave "The Galahads" for a clean life with Beth. Meanwhile, Mindy Lewis Spaulding lost her baby and divorced Phillip. When the rest of "The Galahads" terrorized Mindy and Phillip, their friend Rick Bauer (Mike's nephew) brazenly trashed the gang's garage in retaliation. Darcy Dekker was running "The Galahads" now, and on the advice of Lt. Saunders, Lujack went undercover to infiltrate the gang. He refused to tell Beth and Alex why he was back with the gang, and Alex felt betrayed by Lt. Saunders for she had an inkling that he had set up Lujack to do this. Beth turned once again to Phillip. When Darcy caught on to Lujack and Lt. Saunders' plan, she went on a rampage, shooting Lujack and holding Beth and Alex hostage at Cedars. Lujack talked her into giving up the fight and Lt. Saunders
>arrested Darcy. A few of the other "Galahads" -- Lucky, I.Q. and Gina -- were proud of Lujack's heroics and went straight.
Phillip however, was less than impresed. He deeply resented the fact that Lujack had blood ties to the Spauldings when Phillip himself truly did not. Slowly, the false values and condescending affections that the missing Alan gave him began to show in his adoptive son. he pursued Beth with all his might, damning Lujack as scum. Beth wouldn't budge. When >Phillip discovered that Lujack and Floyd Parker were turning "The Galahads'" garage into a nightclub, he hatched a scheme. Phillip hired a crooked tradesman, that Lt. Saunders had an eye on, Andy Ferris to sabotage the construction of the club. But Andy went too far and blew up the building, injuring and blinding Beth! A guilty Phillip could not bring himself to admit his wrongdoing, so he enrolled Beth in a school for the blind, Horizon School for the Blind, where Beth befriended Andy's sight-impaired sister, Nancy. Both suspicious of Andy, Lt. Saunders asked Lujack to do undercover work again. Lujack went undercover as a blind man named Lenny to find out the true story. Then Alex' stepdaughter, Baroness India von Halkein blew into town. By this time the relationship between Alex and Ross had cooled (Ross actually dumped her, because of how much influence she was asserting on his biological nephew Phillip) and Alex was now involved with Cedars hospital administrator Warren Andrews (Lillian's boss) -- who considered Alex a means to get ahead financially. Warren had recently lost his wife nurse Lesley Ann Monroe to the same "Dreaming Death" virus that Alan had released during his funding of bioligical weapons. So these two heart broken souls, who were really rather devoid of true ability to have emotions of love, Warren Andrews and Alex Spaulding's relationship developed quickly and the two became engaged. But then Warren met the charming and beautiful India and he had an affair with her. When Warren and India discovered Phillip's collusion with Andy Ferris, India used a tape of Phillip and Andy to blackmail Phillip into marriage, but Phillip refused to consumate the union. On their honeymoon night, Phillip coldly told India, "You married a company, not a man." Alex discovered India and Warren's affair and told Warren to take a hike, but reconsidered when she realized he was in the best position to find out what India's hold on
>Phillip really was, not even worrying about whether to consult with Lt. Saunders. Alex still loved her nephew, distrusted the police, and felt caught in the middle of Phillip's conflict with Lujack.
But then other events in town, at first seeming to be totally unrelated to Alex, would give Lt. Saunders another criminal to investigate in Springfield. Tony Reardon and his wife, Annabelle Sims (Eli's daughter) had recently bought a cottage that seemed to be haunted, at least that's
what Annabelle and her friends, Tony's brother Dr. Jim Reardon, Dr. Claire Ramsey, Springfield Journal investigative reporter Fletcher Reade and nurse Hillary Bauer (Mike's half-sister and Rick's aunt) all thought. Tony just thought, at first, they were all crazy. Annabelle heard noises in the house, felt cold spots, found voodoo artifacts and started having dreams about a black man being killed and young black girl screaming. When at the 40th year Springfield Founders' Day picnic, a librarian named Miss Emma Witherspoon told Annabelle and her friends that a dress worn in a portrait of a young black woman belonged to a woman associated with the Spauldings, Victoria Tamerlaine, pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. Unfortunately, before the puzzle could make sense one of Annabelle's friends would lose their life.
It would turn out that the head of the real estate company that sold Annabelle and Tony their cottage, Susan Piper was being paid by a mysterious benefactor that didn't want anyone living in the cottage. Then Susan Piper's henchman and sometime lover, John Young brutally attacked Miss Emma and on her deathbed Miss Emma posed a riddle, "What's thicker than water and runs uphill, straight to the heart of a rich man's will?" Shortly thereafter, Hillary was staring out the front window of the cottage, that faced the Spaulding mansion, when she figured out the answer to the riddle -- only to have a music box that was sent by the duplicitous murderous Susan Piper blow up in her face, killing her instantly! Before Lt. Saunders could close in on Susan Piper, Piper and John Young led Annabelle and her husband and her remaing friends, Claire, Fletcher
>and Jim on a chase through the jungles of Barbados. Later, Lt. Saunders would learn as the rest of Springfield would that Susan Piper had supposedly lost her life when she fell into a lava pit and that the mystery of the cottage of Annabelle and Tony's was because Alex and Alan's>sought to be dead father, Brandon Spaulding was still very much live! Brandon had an affair with Sharina Tamerlaine, shortly after Alex' younger brother, Alan was born. Sharina lived at the cottage with her brother, Conrad and daughter by Brandon, Victoria, when Alex and Alan's mother, Penelope had gone to confront Sharina with a gun, only to end up shooting and killing Conrad instead, then Penelope herself passed out from the shock of what she had done and would also end up dying! After it was assumed by Springfield, that Lucille Wexler had killed Brandon Spaulding back in 1979, Brandon instead was living in Barbados with Sharina and their daughter Victoria. Brandon and Sharina would later die there. So, another mystery was solved without Lt. Saunders' involovement.
In 1985, the intrigue involving Phillip's collusion with Andy Ferris would come to a shocking conclusion. At the Horizon School for the Blind, Beth regained her sight and was thrilled to discover that her new friend Lenny was really Lujack. Andy did not share Beth's joy however, whe he spotted Lujack during a visit with his blind sister, Nancy. Andy went gunning for
>Lujack and Lt. Saunders arrested him. But much to Lt. Saunders consternation, Alex Spaulding interceded yet again. Alex bailed Andy Ferris out in exchange for his silence about his involvement in Phillip's scheme. Noticing that Phillip and Beth were renewing thier old friendship, India told Beth about Phillip's sabotage plot, which resulted in her blindness. Beth angrily rejected Phillip but didn't tell him she knew the truth in order to prevent further bad blood between him and Lujack. Lujack was suspicious, though, and convinced Andy to crash Alex's Valentine's Day soiree with the intent to reveal Phillip's dupicity. But once he was at the patry, Andy began having second thought. A fuming Lujack warned, "If you back out on me now, Ferris, I'll kill you!" Suddenly the ballroom was plunged into darkness. A shot rang out! A few moments later, the lights went on -- and Lujack, gun in hand, was standing over Andy's dead body.
Lujack stood trial and was convicted of Andy's murder despite Ross's brilliant defense and Lt. Saunders suspicion that Lujack did not committ the murder. In prison, he found an unlikely ally in a fellow inmate -- Bradley Raines! Without Lt. Saunders' knowledge, Lillian had written a
>letter to Bradley asking him to look after Lujack. Bradley was grateful for the opportunity to right some of the wrongs he had committed. Meanwhile, Beth convinced Phillip to come clean about his collusion with Andy, and they became friends once again. Ironically, the authorities, headed by Lt. Saunders didn't even believe Phillip's story. By now, Phillip shared Alex and Warren's suspicion tht India was Andy's murderer and Phillip was also very distrustful of the police. The real culprit, however, was holding India hostage in a cabin, where he forced her to sign a false confession. He was none other than Floyd Parker! Once a jovial, uncomplicated guy, Floyd's romantic and financial roller-coaster ride left him lost and confused as to who or what he was. The pitiful young man revealed to India that he had killed Andy Ferris out of his secret love for Beth Raines. Beth and Lujack tracked down Floyd and India, and contacted Lt. Saunders, a tearful Floyd was taken to jail. Ironically, all of these events strengthened Phillip and India's marriage and found they had a great deal in common and finally consumated their marriage.
The next criminal Lt. Saunders had his eye on was a fellow Cedars nurse, of Lillian's, Charlotte Wheaton. When Ed and his wife Maureen Reardon Bauer returned from Lebanon after helping out their friends, newspaper reporter Fletcher Reade and Dr. Claire Ramsey who was trying to save Fletcher's daughter Rebecca (who'd ended up dying in a bombing at a market in Lebanon), Charlotte picked up on some admonisity between the Bauers and Dr. Ramsey. It would turn out that while Maureen and Fletcher went missing, Ed and Claire had an affair and now Claire was pregnant with Ed's daughter. Ed then took to drink and Maureen as hospital administrator had no choice to put her own husband on probation. Ed's condition did not escape gossipy nurse Charlotte Weaton. Suspecting that Ed had fathered Claire's child, and feeling jealous, Charlotte leaked Ed's alcholism to newswoman Alicia Rhomer, and he was suspended from Cedars. Reveling in her victory, Charlotte and her boyfriend, Harry, enjoyed a night of champagne and sex in a vacant hospital room. After Harry left, Charlotte fell asleep. Before leaving on suspension, Ed had issued a medication order to Lillian for a patient whom neither knew had been moved from the room in which Charlotte was now snoozing. In the darkened room, Lillian injected the sleeping woman. Later, in the cold light of day, she realized she had injected Charlotte -- who now lay dead!
Lt. Saunders' lady love, Lillian felt responsible for Charlotte's death, but Jeff had other suspects in mind. He discovered Charlotte had died after being struck by a blunt object, and Ed and Claire were at the top of his suspect list. although Alicia wasn't at first a suspect in Charlotte's murder, her assistant, Gina Daniels, noticed that Alicia had some missing time that Alicia had trouble accounting for. At the same time, Fletcher was determined to clear the regular suspects and investigated Charlotte in her home city of Philadelphia. There he learned that Charlotte and Alicia Rhomer were sisters! Suddenly things fell into place when Gina found what she thought might be proof that Alicia had killed her sister -- she found a pair of shoes of Alicia that she hid in a box under her desk -- and of the highheels of one of the shoes was broken and looked bloody on the bottom. Very soon after, Fletcher learned that Charlotte had blackmailed Alicia with the knowledge that she had launched her television news career by falsely accusing a local doctor of being a lush. Although Charlotte had studied to become a doctor, she couldn't make the grade, so she settled to becoming a nurse. Consequently, she had resented the success of doctors like Ed. Armed with proof of Charlotte's blackmail, Fletcher urged an at first reluctant Gina to help him set up a way to get Alicia to confess to her sister's murder. Fletcher, with Gina's help, lured Alicia to her TV studio late one night as police officers, including Lt. Jeff Saunder, hid in the wings. With great flourish, Fletcher presented the neurotic telejournalist with a private show of his own titled, "This Is Your Life, Alicia Rhomer." Reduced to a sobbing wreck, Alicia confessed to killing Charlotte, and the police arrested her. Not long after, Ed got off the bottle and rejoiced when Claire gave birth to a baby girl, Michelle. Again, Lt. Saunders' first instincts were proven wrong and this time felt like ace >news reporter, Fletcher Reade had one-uped him!
In the Fall of 1985, one more case would have Lt. Saunders' baffled and make him realize it might be a good idea for him to hang up his badge and move out of Springfield. Ironically yet again, this case involved one of the Spauldings and someone else close to Lillian. Entertainment guru and video producer, David Preston, associate to Kyle Sampson, and his equally
>aggressive live-in lover, record procucer Suzette Saxon, frequented Warren Andrews' new nightclub the Blue Orchid (Andrews had subsequently left his job as Cedars Hospital administrator.) Ironically at this time, Lujack decided to ask Warren, who was still seeing his aunt Alex to sing at the Blue Orchid. Warren reluctantly agreed, but was pleasantly surprised how well Lujack sang, equally pleasantly surprised was Suzette Saxon who saw big dollar signs for the warbling former gang leader. Alex feared that Lujack's growing fascination with show business would threaten his new marriage plans with Beth. To bring Lujack back down to earth, Alex introuduced him to her former lover, Locke Walls, a musician who had become a substance abuser. Lujack ended up idolizing the man and grieved when Locke later died of a terminal ailment.
Satisfied to see Lujack committed to his singing career, Suzette offered him a record contract. She brought in a suave rock promoter named Jackson Freemont to work with Lujack. Jackson soon became friendly with Beth, who had always been a talented artist, and Jackson himself had an artistic bent. He encouraged her to be more free and sensual in her brush strokes. Suzette was pleased by this, for she made no secret that a girlfriend did not fit into the plans she had for her new star, Lujack. Suzette was so preoccupied with Lujack's career that she was unaware David Preston was fending off a threat that had been made on her life. Bea Reardon's latest boarder, Daryl, was in fact a vicious criminal named Largo who aimed to take over Kyle Sampson's company, Sampson Industries. Lt. Saunders though had Daryl pegged from the get go. But, Lt. Saunders could not stop Largo forcing David to help him in his scheme by threatening to kill both him and Suzette. Noticing the enmity between Billy Lewis and Kyle Sampson, Largo and David engaged Billy in a poker game and hypnotized him with Largo's unusual ring. Their mission was to control Billy's mind and manipulate him into killing Kyle. Billy indeed had subliminal thoughts of murdering the man he thought was his half-brother, but strangely, the programming was ruined whenever Billy saw the ringed symbol of Largo's organization, known as Infinity. Coincidentally, Beth and Jackson had designed the same logo for Lujack's music video.
The eerie scenario came to a head during Billy's daughter, Mindy and her fiance, Kurt Corday's lavish wedding. At the reception, Lujack proudly screened his video, complete with the ringed symbol. A programmed Billy pulled a gun and aimed at Kyle, but when H.B. called out Billy's name in the ensuing melee, David was shot instead! Lt. Saunders' suspected that Billy was the actual accidental murderer of David, but Jeff would be proven wrong again and this time with tragic consequences, as Billy was on trial, with Ross Marler defending him, Beth and Jackson were taken hostage aboard Largo's ship but was saved by Lujack, Kyle and Kurt. The boat exploded, taking Largo's life and injuring Lujack severely. Lujack was rushed to Cedars, where he died tragically in the arms of his beloved Beth. Consumed with grief, Alex swore never to forgive Kyle or the Lewises. Afterwards, Billy was acquitted when not only Beth and Jackson testified of the Largo's nefarious schemes but also when Suzette Saxon came forward to confessed that she had fired the shot which killed David Preston. Consumed with guilt, over his misinterpretation of who the true murderer of David Preston was and not seeing how evil Largo was and the death of Lujack, Lt. Jeff Saunders resigned from the Springfield police force and went to pursue a job in a small town police force in northern Florida and bid a tearful Lillian Raines goodbye.
