The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] [Applause] I have visible holes in my memory from when I was a kid you know
trauma and it's a different kind of trauma because there's a monster involved it's 30 years later
I can't imagine many things that are as terribly lifechanging I was two weeks away from
my 17th birthday what could I have done and what could I have done okay I've got the
command on the phone down there a week ago today uh Sarah wood 12-year-old left this church and was
traveling a short distance about a mile to her home she made it about halfway and uh we found her bicycle at around
4:30 that afternoon I am Dusty wood I am Sarah's older brother I was 16 when she was abducted
in 1993 we need to know where Sarah is please help us find her when I got a call from my sergeant that there was a
missing girl he didn't say Runway he said missing child which was unusual so I immedately imately drove up there this
is a church uh that Sarah's father was pastor at at the time the day that this happened she was here doing school work
tell me where she rode she would have gone right out out here and right down this road so this is where she took a
turn yep her her house is not too far up here on the left this is the area where
the bicycle was found I remember that moment I'm standing next to my mother and that's when you know it's all
over it's all over [Music] [Music] post we set up a station there we could do everything out of that Church Des
send right up in here there were troopers from all over the state state there days went
by weeks months right would either one of you have ever guessed the turn this case would take on January 7th 1994 no
and this was still back in the day where teletypes would come across one came over that about an abduction or
attempted abduction in Massachusetts 12 year-old uh Rebecca Savar she's simply walking to school she's approached by a
stranger who puts a gun to her and that broke the entire case she's the key she's the Lynch pin she she's what made
it all happen she got away okay that's what put us on to Louis L LS lent came across as just kind of an ordinary guy
he was a handyman man I don't think anybody would have ever conceived that he was doing what he was
doing I'm Julia cowy retired FBI agent and profiler he was prepared with duct tape he had a gun with him he had a
knife with him he had rope with him so he was always ready he's a child predator you he enjoyed going out and
driving around and in his words hunting for children he killed sir andwood he did confess to
it but we don't have sir's body finding the body is important because then my mother could know where she
is do you think lisis lent will give that up I don't know if he does it won't be out of the goodness of his heart he
does have a lot to hide [Music] [Music] my sister's life ended and I couldn't stop
that someone hurt her and took her life I know at the time I felt like I could have done something but I
couldn't she was an exuberant person she was excited to be alive it's been a little over three decades since his
12-year-old little sister disappeared but for Dusty wood memories of Sarah have not faded with time morning Sarah
what morning good morning you ready to eat no I was to here play video games every picture you see of her it's like a
big beaming smile those bright blue eyes Dusty says the two of them had a lot in
common I'm an extrovert she's pretty extroverted she's not a person in the background she's stuck out hey Dad Dad
over here she is funny I imagine she would be funny now on August 18th 1993 Dusty then just 16 years old was
enjoying a lazy summer day with his family in seyat a small town in central New York a that day we had gone shopping uh
we had come home we just hung around the house we lived in the country so there wasn't a lot of stuff to
do Sarah had made plans to ride her bike to Vacation Bible School at the church where her father was a pastor it was
just about a mile down the road the last time I saw her she was singing Dolly Parton do you remember
what song she was singing working 95 yeah she and I were at the front door and so I was listening to her as she's
working 925 and then she uh got on her bike and was like see you later when Sarah did return home later
that afternoon Dusty and Sarah's parents began to worry so I remember getting a phone call from my parents at my
friend's house hey did you see Sarah and me being like No And so at that point we
rode our bikes and came home didn't see her soon after that's when a neighbor came across Sarah's bike hidden in the
bushes on the side of the road less than a half mile from the family's home police were called around 6:00 p.m. New
York State Police Trooper Timothy Blaze who is now retired arrived at the scene so Tim where was her bicycle found it
was off the grassy area it was in where the shrubs are and there was also some school paperwork that was around some
papers were blowing around and at the time did anyone remember seeing a truck or or a child being grabbed or anything
I mean she just vanished well as you can see I mean there's nobody here really to
see anything you know by early evening the massive search for Sarah [Applause] began we'd be out in the woods searching
for her at midnight 1:00 in the morning hoping that we find her in maybe a hole or a she fell down in something 48 Hours
was invited by Sarah and Dusty's parents Bob and Francis Wood to witness those early days of the invest
vation in hopes that the media attention would help find Sarah hold for an officer and I'll be right with you it
would become one of the largest searches for a missing child during that time the first day was
the worst first night we're uh just checking to see if anybody have any information on the
Sarah Woods case first night of course you know I was up on the road all night out in the woods all night second day I
was was on the road all night watching pioner Federation command post Bob Wood's tiny church was turned into a
state police command post command post the more people we can reach early on while the thing is still
fresh in their minds the better chance we stand of maybe turning something up that that'll help
us the big thing as far as the uniform Troopers are concerned is the door too anything out of the ordinary in the past
week or so can that be done with the chopper the thing that keeps everybody going is
the uncertainty not knowing whether she's dead whether she's alive whether she's a mile away or whether she's 120
Mi away so now all I'm doing is praying and encouraging people cuz they're doing
all the work we've expanded the search operation we're probably into the area of 600 square
miles I'm getting in fresh Crews I got more crews coming in from different parts of the state and we're going to be
crawling on our hands and knees it's really thick once we get down in there let's find that guy buddy let's go when
you're dealing with a child it hits you personally it hits me personally you tend to devote 110% let's
go track I hope we find this girl thank you Lord for this day and we thank you out for the good food that we have we do
ask that you would uh be with Sarah nourish her protect her please bring her home to us tonight how's it going guys
Sarah's father doing a good job out there that's like like you know I'm on a precipice and there's a there's a deep
dark Cliff there hi how you doing hun I'm glad you're here I really am and if I step over and and in self-pity and
start to go down there I may not be able to get back up how you I'm doing this fine Francis is strengthening daily
she's in the Bible a lot Dusty he's strong he's real strong tell me about yourself oh myself yeah
uh I don't know what we need is a break a good solid lead that we can take and finish this
case up with and Bob belied police were going to get that break we're doing the state of
Texas if enough people could see his daughter's face somebody stops one of these stores and gases up 10 minutes
later to can see my daughter they can make the phone call we need to get you see this little person here this is my
baby whatever I have to do I'm going to do to find this little girl here Sarah's
Mother Francis made a public plea whoever behind this I don't hate you I don't hate you I just want my daughter
back that's we just want her here right here with us investigators were determined to find out what happened to
Sarah and they did not shy away from looking anywhere or at anyone our entire family was focused on getting Sarah back
so so you want to investigate me I'm okay with that Sarah's got to come home we'll do whatever it takes
[Music] period when this happened people realized it's could to happen to anybody
it could be their children retired New York State Police Det detectives reys TR and John Fallon
were state troopers when Sarah wood disappeared in 1993 my daughter was only 5 miles from
there when this happened at her grandparents house 3 years old it's home TR and Fallon were part of the army
of investigators from around the state thank you for assigned to search for Sarah we had no vehicle she didn't just
go into thin air they would join Frank Lawrence one of the lead detectives something or someone had to have taken
her there he is right there Sarah Channel 2 yet despite the weeks of media attention that Sarah's case received
Lawrence now retired from the New York State Police says law enforcement still had very little to go on somebody took
her we didn't know so when you don't know you have to eliminate everything every possibility and you start local
and that included question questioning the people closest to Sarah her brother and her parents you had to look at the
woods the woods were looked at I wasn't that tough though it's very it's always difficult to do that you know especially
in this case because they're such good parents Bob Wood was there every day glad you're here though you're helping
out a lot every day investigation isn't over uh this is one facet I had a hard time going to every day once the woods
were elim ated Lauren says they turned their attention to investigating known and suspected sex offenders each and
every one of them had to be spoken with and eliminated and we did we did and they
still had nothing we got this section done despite the long hours and heavy Manpower until a bitterly cold day in
January 199 4 5 months after Sarah disappeared officer Timothy Blaze was working in the command center when a
message came in Via teletype a device that police departments used at the time to share information one came over that
about an abduction or attempted abduction in Massachusetts and then I handed off to Frank another 12-year-old
girl named Becky Savar was almost abducted as she walked to school in Pittsfield Mass
Massachusetts 100 miles away Becky didn't respond to 48 hour's most recent request for an interview but back in
1994 she did speak with me and told me her remarkable story I was coming up here it was 7:10 in the morning on
January 7th at one of the busiest intersections in town I was listening to my music he was on the side of me he
like where I am yeah he was saying stuff before I didn't know what he was saying
so I took my earphones out to um hear what he was saying and then he said do you see the gun I have I was like yes I
I see the gun you have he's like just do everything I say everything would be perfectly okay I was like all right he
had it up against you he he had about maybe an inch away from me were you scared no you weren't scared I wasn't
scared we turned down here to where his truck was parked now he wants you to go in the truck that's over there all right
you're not intending going to that truck no it if I got away I didn't care if you
shot me I I just knew I was not going to get into that truck why why did you know that was that
something someone had told you or I I just felt it inside me I knew I was not going to get into that truck that's when
Becky came up with an idea that possibly saved her life she faked an asthma attack I started a fake that I was like
losing breath when I was trying to take my backpack off uh when he tried to grab for me and he
got in my backpack and said and I just ran Becky ran into a man clearing snow off a sidewalk who called the police at
about the same time a witness called in with three digits from the truck's license plate investigators began
searching for the vehicle I remember it well because it was a blizzard despite the snowstorm a Pittsfield officer
spotted a truck with those three digits in its license plate sitting in a driveway in a residential area the
officer quickly called for backup and they knocked on the door and said who was driving this truck earlier the
homeowner told the officers a friend named Lis lent had borrowed the truck and he just happened to be sitting in
the kitchen when police entered the house to question lent he denied knowing about Becky but willingly agreed to come
down to the police station had LS lent that name Lewis lent ever come up before no not in our investigation had he ever
been connected to a disappearance of a child no but he had a criminal history yeah some minor things like bad checks
and forged checks things like that but nothing that approaches this and when investigators searched lent's vehicle
they knew they had the right man they found Rebecca's backpack they found found the gun they found duct tape and
clothesline rope basically his his kidnapping abduction kit although the attempted abduction was 100 miles away
in Pittsfield Massachusetts everyone wondered if lent could have also taken Sarah got a call
from the lieutenant he says well go home and pack a bag and you're going to Pittsfield
[Music] almost 12 hours after the attempted abduction of 12-year-old Becky Savar New York state police detective
Frank Lawrence struggled through a snowstorm and finally arrived at Pittsfield Massachusetts eager to speak
to leis lent but he would have to wait his turn there's similarities but it's a Pittsfield case okay they would talk to
him then we'd get him in between and he was willing to talk to you yeah he talked to us and during their
conversations Lauren says he and two other New York investigators made sure LS lent understood why they were there I
actually showed him this poster and I said to him Lou this is who I'm here to talk to you about so he knew that
eventually we're going to be talking about this okay how did react did he he he was he was he was flat flat yeah he
was flat to the whole thing did that make you think he had no idea who she was I I didn't really care I was going
to find out that's what we were there for but getting LS lent to admit anything was not going to be easy
although Becky saavar and a witness picked him out of a lineup it took lent until the next morning to admit he had
tried to take her Lewis lent was arrested and charged with kidnapping and assault with deadly weapon but New York
investigators were not done with lent they started to ask him questions about other missing kids we talked to him we
spent a lot of time with him and that's when laurren says he and New York investigators came up with a strategy we
found out that he was religious so he says they brought a Bible into the interview room that Bible sat on the
table in front of him anytime he would wander okay we would use the Bible and we go Lou you got to tell the truth and
this comes from the heart you got to tell us the truth we would go back to the Bible and Lauren says the strategy
appeared to be working because as the hours went by lent started to reveal things about himself and some very
disturbing plans for the future that involve kidnapping young victims he told us about his master plan man once he
found the acceptable vulnerable individuals he was going to bring him back to his house and put him in like C
like I describe as a coffin but keep them alive so he could use them and have them
whenever he he wanted them investigators would later find the beginning of his horrifying construction project when
they searched lent's bedroom and found this wooden partition wall and things only got worse he wanted to talk about
Jimmy Bernardo Jimmy Bernardo was a 12-year-old boy who had gone missing 3 years earlier in Pittsfield
Massachusetts a month later Hunters would find his body the case had stumped local investigators for years but now
lent was about to tell everyone what had happened to Jimmy he was riding his bike through a
strip mall in uh Pittsfield Mass assetts leis Lun was a janitor at the cinema center there in Pittsfield when Jimmy
stopped in front of the cinema to wake for a friend that's when Len said he offered him money to help him clean the
movie theater Jimmy agreed and then once lent got him inside he overpowered him and kidnapped him lent told
investigators he drove Jimmy 200 miles to a rural and isolated area near his hometown of Reynoldsville New York then
he said he strangled Jimmy to death and left him there he had details that only the Killer and the police knew as
horrific as that Revelation was investigators kept pressing him about Sarah wood the more we talked about
Sarah we're probing he's responding and then 5 months after she went missing LS lent finally
confessed lent admitted that he had kidnapped raped and then murdered Sarah M Wood she was
vulnerable he was hunting and he found the victim and just like Jimmy Bernardo detective Lawrence says lent account
match details only known to investigators lent knew specifics about what Sarah had been wearing and details
about her bike that had not been made public he knew that the chain on the bike was
broken and he also said that the bike was a little bit big for her I didn't know that I found out later
that it was then laurren says lent drew them a map showing where he said he buried Sarah's body this is just a copy
obviously right but this is actually what Louis Lent did he drew that I handed him a piece of paper and this is
what he drew and where did he say he put her off Route 28 up by Blue Mountain Lake Blue Mountain Lake is located in in
a remote Woody area near racket Lake in New York's ader de mountains and within hours police from
all over New York state were dispatched and searched the area Bob Wood was there along with dusy
who was a senior in high school it was very cold it was ridiculous and it was tons of snow remember a lot of helping a
lot of people how you guys doing for tarps up here was that a time when you thought you might be able to bring Sarah
home yeah for over 50 days they searched for Sarah in the ader rondex it was 30 below zero we could only stay outside
for 20 minutes at a time we were in waste High snow we had shovels we're digging we're looking for any evidence
at all having anything to do with Sarah and we were hoping we somebody would come up with something that had
something to do with her it just didn't happen as investigators continued to look for Sarah's body lent would face
murder charges in both Massachusetts and New York it was a rare occasion where everyone was laser focused on one event
which was find Sarah bring him to [Music] Justice before Lewis Len could be tried
for Sarah Woods murder in New York he first had to face charges in Massachusetts in 1995 Lewis went went on
trial and was ultimately convicted for Becky sav's attempted kidnapping and was sentenced to 17 to 20 years almost 1 and
a half years later after taking a plea he was given a life sentence for murdering Jimmy
Bernardo television radio and newspaper outlets and then on June 6th 1996 Lewis lent arrived at hermer New
York to a media frenzy and the district attorney wanted Justice for Sarah Anne wood and her family Jeffrey Carpenter is
Herkimer County's district attorney he wasn't in office when Sarah WB was murdered but he is studied Lewis lent's
Case Files he says the DA's office thought Lewis lent was going to ple guilty to killing Sarah but without
warning lent changed his mind but it's my understanding that when he entered the courtroom and he saw certain members
of the public especially I think her family he decided on that day he did not want to enter a plea Days Later lent
would change his mind again and finally entered a guilty plea what do you remember of him sitting there I couldn't
believe how small a man you know I couldn't believe it not imposing almost 4 years after Sarah wood was
abducted and murdered LS lent was sentenced to 25 years to life he was sent back to Massachusetts to serve the
rest of his life in prison he will never cause harm to anyone else but it was not
over for the Wood family and New York State Police investigators they still needed to find
Sarah he changes his story so often it's hard to hard to tell what's the truth and what's fiction in fact detective
Tren says lent's original story that he buried her in the racket Lake Area turned out to be a lie he cashed a check
on August 18th in Pittsfield at 6:18 p.m. so he did not physically have time to abduct Sarah at around 2:30 p.m. and
then drive to the aderan Dex dig a grave bury her and then drive back to Pittsfield cash a check so investigators
continued to visit lent in prison hoping that over time he would reveal where he
buried Sarah and perhaps even disclose the murders of other victims detectives Fallon and TR say
they visited Lon prison about 20 times isn't it difficult a time so for the two of you not to just jump across the table
and grab them no one of the things you have to do is you have to leave hate outside of the room when you go in they
didn't push him but during their conversations lent revealed that he often suffered from blackouts and
claimed he had an evil Alter Ego that he called Steven he has this dichotomy is the word he used he has a really good
side that studies the Bible and actually was a traveling Minister then he has this evil side and he has these uh
uncontrollable compulsions this is the way put it to do terrible things that he could not stop somehow lent managed to
hide that evil side from nearly everyone he knew leis Len spent the last year back in
1994 48 Hours correspondent Richard slesinger interviewed some of lent's friends the sidewall here it was caving
right in right and uh he helped you with that too huh oh yes to Phil shy who is legally blind lent was a Good Samaritan
months just came over and said well I'd be glad to give you a hand I hear you're
doing uh work on your foundation he said i' be glad to help you out we built a border all the way around we put in
probably hundreds of hours working together in that Sumer it was definitely hard work he and he did that all out of
the goodness of his heart yes he did to Frank cette the dean of students at a bible school that lent attended he was a
gentleman he was in intelligent he was unassuming he was quiet uh one thing about Louis that everyone remembered was
he always had his hand out to to shake your hand when you were meeting one and if you didn't watch out he' give you a
big bear hug he had a lot of children with him young kids the kids would play video
games and then they would come and go to the movies and he would bring them home
to Richard Balman who employed him lent seemed like a mentor to children they called him the Big Brother they did oh
yeah the kids yes Balman owned the movie theater where lent worked as a janitor for six years and he thought he knew
lent very well I I hired him I worked side by side with him what's what's tell me what's going
on I just feel as though I may have missed something that he might have said or done that would have ke me that would
have let you know just give me a clue that there's something wrong this guy people have trouble understanding that
you can have this very religious God-fearing nice polite man in contrast that to his other side where he is
hunting and praying on and killing children those can exist in one person Julia cie is a retired FBI agent and
profiler who worked on cases like the Golden State killer she now hosts a true crime podcast called the consult real
FBI profilers this podcast is about criminal profiling cie has never met Louis lent but at our request she
reviewed his background and studied his confessions she says that what appeared to be lent's desire to help people could
actually have served a selfish purpose by helping all these people this is a way to maybe hide who he really is to
gain people's trust when you do that you can manipulate them you can control them
it's strategically motivated as opposed to being motivated by true emotion just like other serial killer she has studied
cie says lent is completely self-centered his needs come before anybody else's obviously he had no
regard for his victims he has no regard for victim's families something Reese TR
says he is seen firsthand he knows what emotions are that other people have but he doesn't feel them himself one of the
things that he said in the past that is that the murders ruined his life he's remorseful that he got caught that it
ruined his life but he doesn't think in terms of it ruined anybody else his life
he just doesn't think that way Le lent so quickly admits to kidnapping and and killing Sarah wood why not tell it all
why not give all the details it's just a secret he wants to hold on to it's his it's the only thing he has that's his
own that he can control and a bit of sadism knowing that family members want answers continuing to hurt them is
something I think that he needs off of it's It's there's some enjoyment in there most Killers Don't tell us
everything they rarely give the full story instead lent reveals what he wants when he wants on his own timetable and
in 2013 he revealed something new I've described it as speaking directly to the devil he really is the
[Music] devil how do you warn your loved ones about child Predators for an in-depth
look at the case go to 48 [Music] hours.com as detectives Fallon and Tra continued to question Lewis Len about
Sarah wood and other possible victims in 2013 he made yet another confession he ended up admitting to uh killing Jamie
Lusher nine months before Sarah was abducted Jamie Lusher a 16-year-old team with disabilities disappeared in
Westfield Massachusetts just 40 mil from the Pittsfield area again he was riding his bike um
through a parking lot of a Friendly's Restaurant his bicycle was later found in a wooded area close by Len told
investigators that after a kid kidnapped and murdered Jamie he discarded the teenagers remains in greenwater pond in
Becket Massachusetts we had divers go actually with the Massachusetts State Police
divers and they all Dove the pond and uh nothing was found as he has done many times before lent would later recant his
confession authorities decided not to charge Lewis lamp with Jaime's murder hoping that one day he will lead them to
his body at this point we're not interested in further prosecution he's not going anywhere at a press conference
shortly after the confession Jaime's sister talked about the grief she endured since her brother went missing
anybody that knows me knows I talk about this I think about this every day it's this searing heartache in part
that keeps authorities motivated to find the missing so soon after Lent confed F
to killing Jamie da Jeffrey Carpenter got permission to take glent who was serving
his life sentence in Massachusetts out of prison and back to New York this time they drove him around
hoping he would reveal anything that would help them find Sarah so really what did we have to lose we had to do it
we drove to the Massachusetts border we drove to the Vermont border he took us to where she was a Ed he took us to
where he claimed he murdered her but after three long days and over 600 miles of driving Carpenter says New York
authorities ended the operation the consensus was he absolutely knew where she was he just was not going to tell us
before Carpenter sent lent back to Massachusetts he recorded this conversation with
him you know we spent some time here last couple of days hope you feel you were treated with
respect oh all the way yeah treated well yes well that was our end of the bargain
right no right Y what was your end of the bargain do the very best I can to find Sarah yeah yeah is that what we've
done that's what we've done I would say that uh that I tried I was absolutely sure that I knew the
route when it came down to it I could only get partial of what I what I actually where I actually went what was
going through your head when you're talking to him anger he does not forget details he
recalls details he recalls many things until he wants to pretend he doesn't remember a decade after that fruitless
surch in November of 2023 investigators were back out looking again this time at the Green Mountain
National Forest in Vermont after detective train identified an area with landmarks that lent had talked about
during their many conversations just too many things matched up a lot of a lot of a lot of
boxes were checked what's more search and rescue dogs taken to the area had alerted to a possible body there so we
were hopeful optimistic that we would find something there and we we never found anything but authorities kept
looking earlier this year detectives went back to the seller that lent worked him with Phil sh's to see if they missed
something in 1994 the search turned up no new evidence do you feel in a way that you
might be running out of time Lis lent is in his 70s it's a concern but that's one
of the things we can't control regardless of the challenges authorities say they will never stop looking for
Sarah wood and Jamie Lusher Dusty wood says he chooses not to think about LS lent and every day I'm
less angry because I devote my energy to positive things every year Dusty and some family members participate in the
Ride For Missing Children ready a 78 mile bike ride that was created in Sarah's Honor by Bob Wood the riters
wore jerseys that were turquoise and pink the colors that Sarah wore when she was
[Applause] abducted Riders stop at schools along the [Music] [Applause] way to talk about abduction prevention
the most important thing for us as a family is to protect kids and make sure that if there's anything that can be
done to protect them from Monsters like Lewis lent that it be done writers pay silent tribute to those
children whose families hold out hope that they will be found [Music] alive and to children who went missing
and are never coming home like Sarah M wood Dusty says he and his family are grateful to their Community who have
supported them since the beginning there will be never a way to repay the kindness of
strangers that opened up the possibility of giving the best chance to my sister he's not
sure if they will ever find his sister's body but he is at peace I'm waiting for the day I see
Sarah in heaven and I know that day is coming and that makes me feel good [Music]
[Music] [Music] CBS next Saturday a former state trooper's wife found dead in her bathtub
it was a gunshot but was it a cover up for murder Dan thought he was smart enough to trick everybody packed duffel
bags wet towels it looks odd a new 48 Hours next Saturday at 109 Central on CBS in streaming on Paramount
[Music] plus hello listeners and welcome back to season two of postmortem I'm your host
an marie green we are diving right back into another really chilling case about The Disappearance and the search for
Sarah and wood joining me today is 48 Hours correspondent Aon Mori Ari who who has been covering this case since Sarah
disappeared since she was reported missing back in 1993 we're going to get more on that in
a bit but we're also joined by longtime 48 Hours producer Chris Young riten welcome it's great to be here and we're
starting another new season of 48 hours and this I think is a perfect story to do it with absolutely it's so great to
be here thanks so listeners if you are joining us for the very first time or you need a quick reminder if you haven't
actually listened to this for 48 Hours episode yet head on over to your podcast feed and then listen to the full audio
version of it first it's just below this episode it's on your feed so go listen and then come back for our conversation
where we're going to break it all down for you the title of this episode is the unending search for Sarah anwood and it
really has been unending for her family for investigators they are still searching for her body it's been over 30
years both of you have been really covering True Crime for death decades now in your experience is it unusual for
investigators to continue to pursue a case even after the suspect is already in prison I don't think it's that
unusual when you're talking about a case like this with a young child the one thing that struck me when we went back
now 30 years later is investigators they all remembered the age of their children
at the same time and so this case stuck with them and they put themselves in the
place of the victims and they think what would I want done for me and of course also we call it unending uh Sarah ood's
parents and and her brother they want to end this search yeah the da said to us we all kind of adopted Sarah um and
they're going to continue looking until they find her in the hour you see how investigators continue to interview lent
in prison you know they bring out you know spend days with him what's the long game here he's
sitting in prison he is going to be punished for the rest of his life you know years after he went to prison he
suddenly brings up new information about another victim Jamie Lusher so there is
this hope of trying to solve those cases there are other kids missing there's a side of me like feeling that LS Len is
kind of taking advantage of them and it drives me crazy uh because he has the control and this
is about control but investigators believe that the longer they stick with it maybe they can find Sarah Anne and
maybe they can find other children yeah I think it's everyone's hope um that people close to Lewis Lyn will encourage
him to speak out you know so he can give some closure um to both Sarah's family and potentially others I want to talk
about retired FBI profiler agent cowe cuz it was great to have her there it's like a master class in profiling a
serial killer talking to a former FBI profiler that was a little discouraging to me because uh agent Julia cowy said
these guys that's all they have they're in prison all they have is this information it is their currency and so
they can either give it or they can keep it in the bank to quote one of our investigators and die with it so it's
it's iffy yeah and you do touch in the hour about just how like time is ticking away you
know at some point he won't be available anymore um and 48 Hours also interviewed
people who knew lent like you know his friend even a minister I was really struck by Richard uh Balman who was a
theater owner he had hired him and the way he broke down you just got the sense that he felt personally sort of offended
or he was questioning himself that he could not identify the evil that this man was capable of um how could these
people how were they fooled by lent I thought the importance of that interview that Richard Slinger did so many years
ago was that it really put a almost like a a period on what the FBI profilers said that this guy was so able to hide
this evil side of himself that here's a guy who the cinema who trusted Lewis lent so much that he allowed him to have
contact with kids and the fact that this owner was so devastated that he had been
fooled that really told you how good an actor Lewis lent was absolutely yeah um one of the detectives um talked about
Lewis lent told him that you know that he kind of has two personalities you know one side um he was this nice person
always helping others and then he had this other side of him where he just did these awful things and you know when we
interviewed our profiler Julia said this is possible that these two these two different personalities can be in a in a
person and it's hard to really fathom that you and she reminded us though that you know that he wasn't the good person
because when he cried and felt sad he was sad he got caught he never expressed concern about these children I mean all
you have to do is watch this hour I'm 48 hours and see that beautiful face of Sarah M Wood and you realize yourself
how devastating and this guy seemed to feel nothing but he had to have been such a great actor and I think that's a
reason for doing this show is to remind people you know bad people don't come with horns they look like anyone else MH
so the other thing that you covered when you initi did this story for 48 hours is
you spoke to some of lent's family members did they give you any insight into how he could have become like this
well I should point out initially they were shocked I mean nobody again he hid what he called his evil side his alter
ego from his family but they all all of us wondered why would Lewis lent turn out this way and and many experts
including our FBI former profiler said that often they are abused and in fact they did believe that LS lent might have
been abused as a child so we did learn that from talking to the family as I was watching this I couldn't
help but to think about my own kid right she's a tween I'm struggling like many parents
with you know letting the leash a little looser and then pulling it back I know you guys are journalists but you're also
moms um I wonder if you know being a mom being a parent if that kind of like factored into how you felt about this
story how you felt about why you wanted to tell it well it's funny you know I I was on it back in 1993 and um I think we
need to have empathy when we're doing interviews but then when you have empathy for the victims you're feeling
it yourself particularly if you're a mom and my son was a little younger than Sarah mwood and I didn't realize how
much I was affected till I went back home to New York uh New York City and we were riding a bike and I thought Nick
was behind me but he was ahead of me and when he wasn't behind me I mean look I went crazy in seconds I already said my
son's missing me and I had organized people and he was just right ahead of us and some man rides back with a bike and
he goes is this your son my son was mortified but the other mothers around me said to him look she was reacting
properly you have to react right away so I think that tells you how much you do internalize this could happen to anybody
it could happen to us because it did happen to wonderful people I think also as a journalist you
know covering these kind of stories I I tend to compartmentalize because also you know you don't want to be that
parent that's overly protective at the same time but I'll tell you I have two two daughters uh an 11-year-old and a
9-year-old and after doing the story I literally have sat down with them and said you know what what do you do if
someone pulls up in a car and and and I've gone through the steps with them and so it was kind of education for them
and I'm happy that I've done that and I hope maybe parents watching this will also take the time to do that with their
children well I got to tell you after watching it I thought I have to have this conversation I just got to make
sure I know what she knows and what she doesn't know and I also thought maybe should we should take a self-defense
class together or something just to be prepared when we get back we're going to talk to Aon and Chris about Sarah an's
family and how they coped with this incredible [Music] loss welcome back everyone so 48 Hours
started covering this case just days after Sarah went missing and had incredible ACC
in those early days we see so much of that rich archival footage in the hour and Aaron what was your impression of
Sarah's family especially in those early days I think you saw really what families go through in a way that you
rarely do so at first it was shock then you see Sarah an's mother unable almost to talk you could see her suffering and
dad you know he felt he had to be the strong one he was there every day but then when he he was pushed just a little
bit and I think it was was it our cameraman who kind of pushed him somebody who was with him and said but
how are you doing then you see him dissolve and that is to me the importance it's not to interfere or
interrupt or or violate someone's privacy it is to let you know how difficult it is to go through something
like this the guilt the parents feel the loss the parents feel the um gratitude they feel for everybody who is helping
them search and that access allowed us really to share what this family was going through yeah that Dad I just
thought this is sort of the epitome of I have to be the rock for everyone and I have to stay busy so I don't focus on
this and then when he was asked how you I probably no one had asked him that no you saw him struggling not to break down
but how could you not that's how he was getting through it not thinking about it
and now suddenly he had to think about it yeah and Chris dustywood um has never actually given an interview about his
sister until this for 48 hours in depth interview I mean he spent two hours with
Aaron um and he really talked a lot about long-term grief he says there's two paths he decided to go one path
which he became more extroverted his family they're more introverted um and so he represented his family in this and
he shared with us some things that we actually couldn't put in the broadcast he pulled out all these letters from
children that had sent letters to his family and to him thanking them for speaking out um and and saying I'm
really sorry about what happened to to your sister you know he kept saying how grateful he was for the support that he
and his family have received from the community but the letters um were very emotional for him and that was
meaningful to him to have very meaningful and and I think Dusty really compartmentalized this as well I don't
think he really has looked at these letters in a long time so for him to pull them out and to share them with us
that was really special and it kind of took them back to that time you always think you know when someone's going
through something like that there are no words that could make a difference but clearly those letters did and there was
another way that this case had kind of a surprising impact on Dusty Dusty and the
rest of his family had spent a lot of time with our longtime cameraman Daryl Barton and had shown uh I guess so much
sensitivity that Dusty decided he too would become a cameraman and even adopted the way Daryl shot things which
was Conant never stopping just shooting everything um and that's what Dusty does
today he's a cameraman listening to Dusty also makes you realize that it's not like something that happened to him
30 years ago it continues to to affect his life even today and I think that's again something that we forget that the
news cycle moves on you know we say oh this is sad this family went through well it doesn't end for the family it's
there every day there's a reminder every day and you could really see that in Dusty it changed his life then it
changed the trajectory his life took what he decided to do with his life and to this day it's still what drives his
life is to save other children from the same fate so is that another reason why he was willing to talk so openly with
you all yes he's very passionate both Dusty and his family and kind of educating
um you know others about you know how they how we can protect children and he does a ride every year called The Ride
For Missing Children and he allowed us to follow him um it was a 78 mile bike ride and they would stop at schools
along the way and kids would come out and they would talk about um abduction prevention and it's a very important
thing that he does every year and I'm really happy that we were able to include that in the broadcast and
if you needed an example of a kid who's educated who knows what to do in a situation like that you got one right in
the hour right because Aon you have this incredible interview with uh Becky seice
um this is from way back then she was approached by lent and really smartly use these tactics to avoid being
abducted and this was in the middle of a busy intersection area busy town there would have been a ton of witnesses which
just told you how sort of bold he was we're going to play some of that sound I was listening to my music he was on the
side of me he like where I am yeah he was saying stuff before I didn't know what he was saying so I took my
earphones out to um hear what he was saying and then he said do you see the gun I have I was like yes I I see the
gun you have he's like just do everything I say everything would be perfectly okay I was like all right he
had up against you it he had about mebe an inch away from me were you scared no you weren't scared I wasn't scared
we turned down here to where his truck was parked now he wants you to go in the truck that's over there right you're not
intending to go into that truck no if I got away I didn't care if you shot me I I just knew I was not going to
get into that truck why why did you know that was that something someone had told you or I I
just felt it inside me I knew I was not going to get into that truck I got to tell you why I'm smiling is I still
smile when I think about Becky saies Becky Savar was the savest little 12-year-old I mean what a hoot she keeps
her head through it all and says that uh it came to her to fake an asthma attack
and then you know planned that she was just going to slip out of her backpack and get away and which is exactly what
she did did she learn like that whole stranger danger thing is that what kind of helped to protect her well she said
she didn't she said it just came to her mind now later on I had spoken to her mother she said that she had talked to
her daughter and we also know that uh Sarah an Wood's dad went around and was in that Pittsfield area so she may have
gotten some ideas but the bottom line was Becky Savar just was so smart and used this
amazing uh Ruth to escape and let's not forget that she's a her in this story because she probably saved other kids'
lives because of what she did so yes I'm smiling cuz she's just to me she's one of those people you never forget oh
absolutely and that delivery I mean she just seemed so calm about it and I wonder if outside of the cameras did she
express any other emotions no she was she was that cool character I actually wonder I think about that like if she
had not gone away what would would have happened I mean how I don't even want to
think about you're right like Not only was it fantastic that she got away but then you know she saw him she had an
interaction with him she could give police details about him um that you know other others couldn't well she
picked him out of a lineup too which was very important yeah um definitely a a turning point um why do you think 48
Hours you come back to this case what is it about this case because you know it is the ending search we don't have that
wrap it up with a bow ending you know maybe in a way we're driven by the same reason these investigators are um it's
time to end this search and blent he's getting older he's in his 70s um he professes to be religious
maybe he should you know cleanse that soul of his before he goes and also let's not forget Jamie Lusher who's
another child who just appeared those parents deserve to know where their children are they deserve
peace and I think that's a big reason why we're doing this do investigators believe he knows where Sarah Anne is or
where Jamie is absolutely actually the district attorney in our broadcast says they absolutely believe he knows where
he buried Sarah and where he put Jamie Lusher and he refuses to tell them which is very
frustrating for them but they're going to keep going well it's a remarkable story told
in the usual 48 Hours remarkable way and it's another example of something that 48 hours does so well that you follow
stories to the very end so Ain what other projects are you working on now uh one that is near and dear to my heart a
new podcast and you can listen to murder in the Orange Grove the troubled case against Crosley green early and AD free
on the 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast Aaron Chris thank you so much for joining me for the premiere
season 2 of postmortem it's always great to be able to be here with you and talking about this show thank you so
much so if you like this series postmortem please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple podcast and then follow
48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen at free on Amazon music wry Plus in the wry app or with a
48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast thanks again for [Music] listening Paramount podcasts

Investigators are stuck in a decades-long cat and mouse game with a child serial killer.

Watch "The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood" and join "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and producer Chris Ritzen on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the impact this case continues to have on Sara's family. Lewis Lent, a serial killer, was convicted for her murder, but investigators are still searching for Sara's body 30 years later.

00:00 The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood 42:00 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/3VwKU7R

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the abduction of Sarah Ann Wood and the ongoing search for her remains, featuring insights from her family and investigators.

Key points

The Disappearance of Sarah Wood. Sarah Wood vanished while riding her bike to church, sparking a massive search effort.
A Key Break in the Case. A similar attempted abduction in Massachusetts leads investigators to suspect Louis Lent.
The Confession. Louis Lent confesses to the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Wood, revealing chilling details.
The Duality of Lewis Lent. Lent presents himself as a kind person while hiding a dark side, baffling those who knew him.
Lewis Lent's Confessions. Lent admits to multiple murders but withholds key details, causing frustration for investigators.
The Search for Sarah Wood. Investigators continue to search for Sarah's body years after her abduction and murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He was always ready... hunting for children.

3:25WatchJan 10, 2025

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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