For two years, a family has been pressing for justice after a man was run over and killed in a neighbor’s driveway. As the case finally takes its first step toward trial, the long and tumultuous relationship between the man killed and the woman accused of killing him comes into focus.
In September 2024, first responders took about 45 minutes to arrive at a home on the Northside, where Stephen Sanders lay dying in the driveway. This came after months of bickering phone calls from a neighbor, Anne O’Rourke, who has been charged with his murder after police say she ran him over with her vehicle in a neighbor’s driveway.
“He was loved; he contributed to his neighbors,” Carla Sanders, the victim’s sister, told MySA. “He did not deserve what happened. So yes, I would love to see justice done –– justice served.”
Since that day, Carla Sanders has been pressuring prosecutors and investigators, hoping to see justice and to ensure the case isn’t forgotten. But quietly in the background, prosecutors were gathering evidence to move the case forward. As of June, O’Rourke was officially indicted by a grand jury in October 2025.
While unable to discuss specific cases, Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales explained that it’s not uncommon for cases to take time before indictment. For suspects who bail out of jail quickly, there’s less of a time clock – though defense attorneys have a speedy-trial claim after six months.
Gonzales said these delays can be linked to missing information from the initial investigation, prompting his team to request additional information from local agencies or to wait for evidence testing. However, his team has cut this case backlog by more than half.
In reviewing the dozens of police calls made by O’Rourke in the seven months leading up to Sanders’ death, the feud between the two appeared to have been building to a heated climax. Though the records show a largely one-sided vendetta on O’Rourke’s part, the full reality of that fateful night in September will likely remain shrouded in mystery until the court proceedings conclude.
Nearly 40 incident reports obtained by MySA were linked to calls from either Sanders or O’Rourke between February 19 and September 30, 2024. Of those, a vast majority were from O’Rourke, who was outraged, claiming Sanders was blasting music on his front porch. Nearly every time, an officer would drive by, say Sanders’ music was not too loud, but ask that he turn it down regardless. Reports show he complied.
On another occasion –– early in the string of nearly weekly reports, sometimes made multiple times a day, which left officers describing O’Rourke as a frequent caller –– Sanders was allegedly helping a neighbor with their fence and petting the neighbor’s dog. O’Rourke, next door, did not want Sanders to look at her.
This bounty of calls culminated in O’Rourke making an initial phone call to the San Antonio Police Department at around 1:40 a.m. on September 30, 2024, saying “someone is dying,” according to incident detail reports obtained by MySA. O’Rourke would call again, nearly 30 minutes later, saying someone had just been hit by a car, as first responders still had not made the scene.
Carla Sanders estimates it took police about 45 minutes to get emergency crews to her brother’s aid, and he died on the scene from his injuries. Ultimately, O’Rourke was arrested that morning and charged with the murder of Sanders.
“I observed front end damage on [O’Rourke’s] vehicle which corresponded to a damaged mailbox where [Sanders’] body was lying,” the police report from that night, drafted by Officer Jonathan Kavanagh, states. “I also observed blood on the hood of [O’Rourke’s] vehicle.”
O’Rourke is set to appear before Judge Frank Castro, of the 399th state District Court in Bexar County, at 9 a.m. on August 10.1