Pod Insights Murder With My Husband 326. The Last Message of Sara Raras About this episode On this episode, Garrett and Payton explore the case of Sara Raras. After Sara left a disturbing voicemail to her friend, she asks police to perform a welfare check, leading them to a horrifying discovery.
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Sources:CaseLaw. FindLaw.com - https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/md-court-of-special-appeals/1455922.html
TheCinemaholic.com - https://thecinemaholic.com/sara-raras-murder-where-are-ardale-tickles-and-emilia-raras-now/
FindAGrave.com - https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/21234481/sara_jane-raras
Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/an-unexpected-killer/crime-news/emilia-raras-has-daughter-in-law-sara-killed-over-disrespect
BaltimoreSun.com - https://www.baltimoresun.com/2000/02/02/co-workers-testify-about-raras-they-say-she-talked-often-to-man-accused-of-killing-daughter-in-law/
TrueCrimeDiscussions.com - https://truecrimediscussions.blogspot.com/2020/10/emilia-raras.html
Peacock.com - https://www.peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/_/088471f7-97c1-3b50-b9c0-600eab19df37?paused=true
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 Great meeting. Who took notes? Anyone?
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0:32 Speaker 02 Fall never arrives all at once. First the air, then the light. And slowly, the things you love begin to find each other. A jacket meets a dress. A hoodie slips beneath a blazer. An old cap finds a new scarf. Because you don't simply step into the season. You create it, layer by layer, until it finally feels like fall. Find fall your way at Ross.
1:01 Payton Moreland? You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.
1:08 Garrett Moreland? And I'm Garrett Moreland.
1:10 Payton Moreland? And he's the husband.
1:11 Garrett Moreland? And I'm the husband. Hey, everybody.
1:14 Garrett Moreland? How does it go?
1:16 Payton Moreland? Happy Monday, happy Tuesday, happy Wednesday.
1:21 Garrett Moreland? Babe, you're just not happy when you do that.
1:23 Payton Moreland? Oh.
1:25 Payton Moreland? Happy Monday.
1:26 Garrett Moreland? You're not very good at that. Like this, happy Monday, happy Tuesday. Thank you for being here.
1:34 Payton Moreland? Babe, I'm not like, just a girl.
1:37 Garrett Moreland? Just a girl.
1:38 Payton Moreland? Yeah, like, that's just not me.
1:41 Garrett Moreland? Thank you, guys, for watching. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for listening. I do need to say something real quick. Um, I just met- Some people at the bagel shop that listen to the podcast and I got in the car and guess what?
1:55 Payton Moreland? What?
1:55 Garrett Moreland? I had something huge in my teeth the entire time.
1:58 Payton Moreland? From lunch?
1:59 Garrett Moreland? From lunch.
1:59 Payton Moreland? Oh.
2:00 Garrett Moreland? Listen, guys, if I have something in my teeth and you're talking to me, you need to tell me.
2:04 Payton Moreland? Big?
2:05 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, and I smiled for a picture.
2:07 Payton Moreland? Oh.
2:08 Garrett Moreland? You guys gotta tell me, you's gotta tell me.
2:10 Payton Moreland? What tooth?
2:11 Garrett Moreland? The top one right here.
2:13 Payton Moreland? Oh.
2:14 Garrett Moreland? You need to tell me, you just need to be like, hey, Garrett, you have something in your teeth. Then I can clean it before we take pictures or I talk to you. I don't like it. I hate when I have stuff in my teeth and I'm talking to people and I could, I, I could kind of sense that I did, but I wasn't sure.
2:28 Payton Moreland? I know what you're talking about when you're talking to someone and you're a little self-conscious.
2:32 Garrett Moreland? You're like, oh, wait.
2:33 Payton Moreland? Something's just a little off.
2:35 Garrett Moreland? And guess what? Went to the car, huge piece of food in my teeth.
2:37 Payton Moreland? Did you immediately check because you had had that feeling?
2:40 Garrett Moreland? Yep.
2:42 Garrett Moreland? Yep, immediately got in the car and I went, I bet you I got something big in my teeth. Boom, huge, right in my teeth.
2:47 Payton Moreland? It's okay. Today, when I showed up at the bagel shop, I had put dry shampoo in my hair and apparently the bottle had splattered a little bit and I had brown specks all over my head.
2:56 Garrett Moreland? Oh, really? I didn't notice that.
2:58 Payton Moreland? I went and wiped it off.
3:00 Garrett Moreland? Oh.
3:00 Payton Moreland? Because I went and washed my hands immediately. Luckily, I caught a glimpse in the mirror.
3:05 Garrett Moreland? Anyways, tell me if I have something in my teeth. Thank you. Make sure you're saying hi. That's not really my 10 seconds, but I guess it can be. Other than that, no announcements. A reminder we have bonus content and ad free content on Apple and Spotify and Patreon. Um, if you are wanting to watch a video, our video is on Netflix, so go to Netflix and check it out there. Just type in Murder with My Husband. Those are all the announcements. Yeah, you got anything, babe?
3:33 Payton Moreland? No, I don't think so. I just love you all. I hope you're having a really good, positive day.
3:38 Garrett Moreland? Nice. I like that. Uh, my 10 seconds, I guess, was kind of that. If anyone ever says hi to me and I have something in my teeth, please tell me. Also, thank you for saying hi to me and thank you for listening. Always, always ask us for a photo too. We're really big on that.
3:53 Payton Moreland? If you want one.
3:54 Garrett Moreland? If you want one, ask us for a photo because Peyton and I won't ever ask anyone because it would be awkward if you were like, "Hey, do you want a photo?" And they're like, "No, I don't want a, I don't want a photo with you."
4:05 Payton Moreland? Sure, I guess.
4:06 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, so the reason we don't ever say anything is because we just want you guys to ask because we don't want anyone to ever feel uncomfortable. So always ask us as well. What else? We got anything else? Any other rules? I feel like we're like laying down rules, but they're not rules, I promise.
4:21 Payton Moreland? Um, no, I love you. I think, I think you're beautiful when you say hi to me.
4:26 Garrett Moreland? Me?
4:27 Payton Moreland? Yeah, and everyone.
4:30 Garrett Moreland? Okay, guys, that's all we got. On that note, oh, also, I forgot to say,
4:39 Garrett Moreland? this, the, I was walking to the bagel shop and I was walking in and there is this family sitting to the left. And I hear, "Garrett!" Scared the crap out of me.
4:51 Payton Moreland? Really?
4:52 Garrett Moreland? I turned over, they were just saying hi to me because of the podcast. I went, "Oh, you scared the crap out of me." Anyways, it was kind of funny, so figured I'd tell you.
5:01 Payton Moreland? All right, let's get into it. Our sources for this episode are caselaw.fine law.com, the Cinemaholic, findagrave.com, oxygen.com, baltimore sun.com, truecrimediscussions.com, and peacock.com. Becoming a parent can be one of the best gifts you can receive in life. Whether that's a pet parent, a human parent, there's nothing like the love we have for our babies. But becoming a parent comes with a whole bunch of new challenges. We worry about facing a lot of judgment. Are we disciplining right? Are we working too hard and not spending enough time with our babies? For some moms, the question is, will my body ever go back to the way it was?
5:43 Payton Moreland? And don't get me wrong, it's not just women. I know dads can feel this way too. The point is, being a new parent is a vulnerable time in life, which is why new parents need all of the encouragement they can get. But not everyone is willing to offer up that support. Some people have steadfast ideas on what it means to bring up a good person in this world. And opinions that are that strong can have the ability to fracture even the closest relationships, sometimes to the point of no return. So our case today starts in Elk Ridge, Maryland.
6:23 Payton Moreland? This is an upscale town in between Washington DC and Baltimore. And it's here that 35 year old Sarah Rarice is trying to restart her life. Now Sarah was originally born in Florida on a military base. She was actually the daughter of an air force sergeant, which meant she moved around quite a bit as a kid. When she was about seven years old, her dad's work took the family to Albuquerque, New Mexico. And that is actually where she stayed until high school. And it was a pretty early age that Sarah found the thing she was really good at. I mean, the thing that she was just meant to do. That was mathematics.
7:07 Payton Moreland? She was incredibly smart and talented, but everyone who knew her said she had another useful skill too. She was also incredibly social. Sarah was an extrovert, selfless, someone who put others first. And because of that, even though she was moving around a lot as a military kid, she made friends every step of the way in life. Including at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where she eventually met her first husband. Sarah earned her degree in math with a minor in English and was planning to get her masters. Until she got a job working with the military at White Sands Missile Base instead.
7:48 Payton Moreland? And then just a few years later, Sarah's husband got a job in Maryland and Sarah went with him. And then that's how we end up there. She landed herself a job that combined both her skills in math and a duty for her country, just like her father. She was working for the NSA, the National Security Agency. But even while working this very challenging job, Sarah used her free time outside of work to just continue building her skill set as she got older.
8:18 Garrett Moreland? Every time I hear NSA, I think of Snowden. Remember the movie?
8:23 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
8:23 Garrett Moreland? I watched.
8:24 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
8:24 Garrett Moreland? Good movie.
8:25 Payton Moreland? Now unfortunately, it seems like her first marriage wasn't going as well as she hoped. And around the mid to late eighties, Sarah and her first husband actually parted ways. But she didn't let that stand in the way of her ambitions. She continued getting her education at John Hopkins College and actually went on to earn that master's degree after all. The 31-year-old Sarah graduated with her master's degree in 1994 with a degree in operations research and also graduated with a new love interest, a 29-year-old named Lorenzo
9:04 Payton Moreland? Raras. Now, that same year, Sarah and Lorenzo tied the knot. They moved to that affluent little community that I started off the story with, known as Elk Ridge. And then three years later, they actually had a son. Now, from the outside, it looked like Sarah had a bright future ahead of her. She had a lucrative government job, a new baby, a loving husband. It's the late 90s. But cracks were also forming in her second marriage as well. Shortly after having their child, Sarah and Lorenzo felt like it was just no longer working out. And in the summer of 1998, Sarah filed for divorce and hoped to get full custody of their almost one-year-old son.
9:49 Payton Moreland? And while she might have been nervous about becoming a single mom, Sarah believed she could juggle it all on her own. High-stress job, being a mom, being head of household, it's a lot. But friends of Sarah's said she seemed excited about this new independence, empowered even. But in November of that year, all of Sarah's plans for herself and her bright future as a single working mom were taken from her in a single night. It was a chilly fall day on November 15, 1998, when a woman named Laura Billiter called the Howard County Police. She told them she had
10:30 Payton Moreland? a good friend from work that she spoke to every single day, but that day she hadn't heard from her. And it was worrisome to her because the night before, that friend had left a really disturbing message on her answering machine, one that just felt more unsettling every time she listened to it. And considering now that her friend didn't show up to work. She says the message on this answering machine almost sounded like there was some sort of struggle. Obviously, that friend she was worried about was, of course, 35-year-old Sarah. Laura told the police Sarah had a one-year-old son, but she thought maybe he was with his father that weekend. Regardless, she was just hoping the police could stop by Sarah's house to perform
11:15 Payton Moreland? a welfare check. So, authorities went over to Sarah's place in Elk Ridge. And when they got inside the house to perform this welfare check, they saw a giant broken window, along with some bloody shoe prints on the carpet. So they followed those shoe prints up to the family room, where they saw a woman lying on the ground, face up. Now, this was obviously 35-year-old Sarah. She had been stabbed several times in such a brutal fashion that these officers said it was honestly a first for them. There was a cut to her throat so deep, it was just short of decapitation.
11:58 Payton Moreland? Her wrists were slit so far, her hands were nearly removed. She'd also been stabbed repeatedly in the stomach. It was definitely a scene out of a horror film. A pathologist later determined that Sarah lost over 80% of her blood volume in this attack. As the authorities described it, it was definitely overkill. Whoever came in here forced their way inside and killed Sarah with unparalleled hatred. Now, there were quite a few details that police immediately gathered from the scene. The fact that the blood had mostly dried told them that Sarah had been dead for at least a day or so. They also collected evidence of bloody shoe prints,
12:43 Payton Moreland? as well as some bloody fingerprints that were found on the wall. Fingers that seemed to be wearing gloves during the murder. Plus, there were a few things missing around Sarah's home. Her VCR player, a phone from the wall. However, Sarah's computer and purse were still out on her kitchen table. They were in clear sight, so if someone came in to rob her, you would think they also would have taken that stuff too. But by the nature of the crime and just how violent it appeared, this seemed like a lot more than a robbery. It felt like someone actually came here to kill Sarah. Maybe just the stolen VCR was an afterthought.
13:25 Payton Moreland? Unless someone also wanted to make it seem like a robbery gone wrong. So after Sarah's body was removed from the crime scene for an autopsy, detectives started knocking on neighbors' doors. And what they found immediately strange was that even though this was a quiet, tight knit neighborhood, fairly safe, nobody saw or heard a thing. You didn't see a struggle, not a smash, not a scream. But there was one person who did hear something. Someone who was a few miles away, the person who had first made that phone call to police.
14:01 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
14:02 Payton Moreland? Obviously, Sarah's friend Laura had said, "She left me a strange voicemail that sounded like a struggle the previous night." Now unfortunately, officers had to head over there to break the news to Laura in person. Like, "We went and did this welfare check. Sarah's definitely not okay."
14:18 Garrett Moreland? Yeah.
14:19 Payton Moreland? And while she was having to sit there in shock processing that information, she also had to re-listen to that voicemail with the police a few more times. At least they get a more concrete timeline from this recording. It was left at 8:46 PM the night before. And the police felt pretty certain that Sarah had managed to call and leave this voicemail to Laura while she was being attacked in her home. It was just a quick 30 second voicemail, but you can hear sounds of a struggle, maybe some like garbled screams. Officers thought Sarah was probably trying to just dial Laura or 911 for help.
15:04 Payton Moreland? And this is just a heartbreaking realization. But Laura had something else she thought might be good for the police to know. There's only one person in this world that Laura thinks would do something like this to her good friend Sarah. And that was Sarah's ex-husband, Lorenzo.
15:23 Garrett Moreland? Could you imagine having an ex where you're like, yeah, like they might kill me one day?
15:28 Payton Moreland? Or like your best friend finds out that you're murdered and they're like, yeah, it was her ex-husband immediately.
15:34 Garrett Moreland? Which is crazy because like it's scary. You don't see like those signs aren't there. Like when you marry someone.
15:44 Payton Moreland? But they will show up in a divorce.
15:45 Garrett Moreland? But they, but they show up.
15:47 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
15:48 Garrett Moreland? I mean, even in, I feel like early on in any relationship or marriage, right? Like you, people's friendships too. People's true colors and true personality like comes out the longer with someone because you see them get frustrated. You see them get annoyed. You see them get anxious, whatever it may be.
16:06 Payton Moreland? Also just changes a person.
16:08 Garrett Moreland? And you're like, whoa, this person's different. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. There are plenty of reasons we put off getting support. And for a lot of people, cost is one of them. With BetterHelp, insurance options may now be available nationwide with an average copay for eligible members of just $23 per session. And while we're reconsidering old assumptions, maybe there are a few others worth questioning too.
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17:05 Garrett Moreland? And Peyton and I are big advocates for therapy. Give it a try. Life can be crazy. There's a lot going on. Like we were talking about, sometimes it feels like you need to have everything figured out. You don't. Go talk to someone, go see what's going on. Visit betterhelp.com/husband to explore your payment options. That's betterhelp, H E L P dot com slash husband.
17:27 Payton Moreland? Guys, we're getting into an ad and waiting sucks. I hate waiting for things, but Earnin is an app, not a bank, that gives you access to money that you have already earned. Okay, if you don't understand, let me explain it. Up to $150 a day and up to $1,000 between paychecks. Tips are optional and standard transfers take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. There have been many times in my life where I literally was waiting on my next paycheck. I needed to go to the grocery store, but I had to wait until Friday. Earnin definitely would have been beneficial for me at a time like that. Time just feels different.
18:12 Payton Moreland? When you're not waiting around to make moves, you have already earned this money, so collect it. Download Earnin on the App Store or Google Play. Spelled like earning money, just without the G. And then type in murder with my husband under podcast when you sign up. It just lets them know we sent you. It really helps out the show. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors. Standard cash outs take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Expedited transfers available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. Available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit earnin.com for full details. So Laura offering this does make a little sense.
18:55 Payton Moreland? Lorenzo and Sarah did not end things on the best of terms. They were going through a heated custody battle over their one-year-old son. And Lorenzo had gotten the short end of the stick. Sarah had primary custody while he got every other weekend and Wednesdays. Still Lorenzo was fighting against that ruling and the two were supposed to return to court on December 3rd.
19:23 Payton Moreland? Now, in the meantime, apparently Lorenzo had made some pretty scary remarks that just terrified Sarah. He threatened to run off with their son and take him to Switzerland so she couldn't get custody, or back to his family's native country, the Philippines. Lorenzo had even applied for a passport for their son, so it didn't really seem like an idle threat, which is why the police dug deeper into the couple's history. They heard that the relationship started to deteriorate after the birth of their son. And honestly, according to friends and family, a lot of it had to do with the fact that Lorenzo became jealous over their baby.
20:08 Payton Moreland? I guess their son was taking away all of the attention Lorenzo used to get from his wife Sarah. And as a result, Lorenzo wanted his own mom, who lived nearby, to help out more so that him and his wife could get more quality time together. But this only made things worse because Sarah felt like Lorenzo's mother, Amelia, was too overbearing. She would tell her what to do with their son, how to raise him. And meanwhile, Lorenzo took even more of a step back as a father now that his mother could step in and do the work for him. So eventually, things escalated from verbal altercations to physical ones.
20:50 Payton Moreland? Laura told police that there was one day when Sarah called her in the morning to say she and Lorenzo had gotten into a huge argument and this time she had been holding their son in her arms and Lorenzo had tried to hit her and she had turned her body to protect the baby. No, he ended up kicking her in the back.
21:11 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
21:12 Payton Moreland? But Sarah did not stand for it. She went right to court that day, the day that he kicked her in the back while she was holding their baby, and she got a restraining order against him. Looking back at their records, police actually realized this wasn't a first. They had been called out to Sarah and Lorenzo's home on at least one occasion regarding a domestic dispute. It happened a few months after their son's birth, so around January of 1998. Sarah told police that Lorenzo was making, quote, murderous threats to her, and that he was refusing to take his medication for depression. And she'd also mentioned to police that he owned several guns.
21:56 Payton Moreland? Now, after the restraining orders granted, Lorenzo was not allowed back in the house, which made him so angry that Sarah then told Laura, her friend from work, she was afraid for her life. So you can understand why Lorenzo was immediately brought in for questioning when Sarah turned up dead. Police felt like this was going to be a pretty open and shut case. They figured, we have our guy, he's going to confess right away.
22:24 Garrett Moreland? We are only 25 minutes in, so I doubt this is him.
22:29 Payton Moreland? Now, when police bring him in and they're like, do you know why you're here? And he's like, no. And they're like, well, Sarah's dead. Break the news to him, he puts his hands over his face, he falls to his knees. He seems completely gut-wrenched. However, when he stands up, police are like, there's no evidence of tears, which again, I hate, hate, hate when this is brought up.
22:52 Garrett Moreland? I hate to, because again, you just never know how someone's going to react in trauma.
22:56 Payton Moreland? I just, I don't tear. So when people are like, oh, she's crying, but there's no tears. Oh, he was crying.
23:04 Garrett Moreland? You tear a little bit.
23:05 Payton Moreland? I don't ever have tears roll down my face. So if I was crying, like my eyes might look watery, but I wouldn't have tears. Like people will be like, no tear in sight. And it's like, yeah, well, when I cry, I don't ever have tears roll down my face. So people would think I literally was a heartless murderer.
23:22 Garrett Moreland? Yeah. Yeah.
23:25 Payton Moreland? So.
23:26 Garrett Moreland? What? Yeah.
23:28 Payton Moreland? No evidence of tears.
23:29 Garrett Moreland? The non tears babe.
23:30 Payton Moreland? Maybe his tear ducts are broken. You don't know.
23:33 Garrett Moreland? Uh huh.
23:33 Payton Moreland? You don't know.
23:34 Garrett Moreland? Yep.
23:35 Payton Moreland? Now, once he got to the interrogation room, his demeanor shifted quite a bit. Now, there was no performative waterworks. Honestly, no real emotion at all. And yet, the thirty-three-year-old Lorenzo insists he had nothing to do with Sarah's murder. He claimed the last time they saw each other was when he picked their son up on Friday, November thirteenth, for his weekend with custody. And he's like, the night of the murder, I have an alibi. He was at his family's home, the one he shares with his parents and brother, the night Sarah died. So detectives took a little trip to the family home. It was thirty minutes away in the town of Parkville. Like, we just have to go confirm his alibi. And while his mother Amelia said, ah, she was at work at a local nursing home that night,
24:20 Payton Moreland? Lorenzo's younger brother Mike is like, yep, I can confirm Lorenzo was here at this house on the night of Sarah's murder. Apparently, Mike had worked a shift later that night, but when he left for work, Lorenzo was at home with his son. Now, a family confirming someone is at home isn't exactly what the police would consider a solid alibi, because this is a very easy lie for a family to tell. So they also seized Lorenzo's car. And then they got a warrant for his person, meaning they were able to fingerprint and photograph him, as well as gather Lorenzo's DNA through hair samples. It was gonna take some time to get these results back and compare them to the evidence that was found at the crime scene.
25:06 Payton Moreland? But Lorenzo did give the police something to do in the meantime. He said, "Okay, I understand you're looking at me, but there's someone else you should also be looking into." Someone, he says, was certain Sarah was having an affair with.
25:22 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
25:22 Payton Moreland? So now we've brought in the love triangle. He's like, yeah, I didn't kill her, but she was cheating on me with this person, and you should look into him. It was her old supervisor and mentor at the NSA, fifty-one-year-old Don Lewis.
25:40 Payton Moreland? Almost immediately, though, police are a little skeptical about this lead that was brought to them by the ex-husband. Not only had Don since retired from the NSA, he was now living in an entirely different state up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Still, detectives made the trip so they could talk to him about this alleged affair and cross him off the list. And when they get there and knocked on his door to ask him about Sarah, he was completely shocked about the news of her death. What he wasn't shocked about, though, was that Lorenzo had told them that him and Sarah were having an affair. Apparently Lorenzo had emailed him in the past accusing him of the same exact thing,
26:24 Payton Moreland? but Don insists to police, that's just not true. That wasn't the nature of his relationship with Sarah. There was never anything romantic going on between them. And Lorenzo was literally just controlling and paranoid. He was paranoid over Sarah.
26:43 Garrett Moreland? Interesting.
26:44 Payton Moreland? Don even says, "I've always been more of a father figure mentor to Sarah." Like, this has definitely never been a work fling. Plus, he had a rock-solid alibi. He was at a dinner party in Massachusetts the night Sarah was killed. So, please go back to some of Sarah's coworkers just to see their take on this alleged relationship. And Laura, who also worked at the NSA with Sarah and Don and was one of her best friends, said, "It's not true. Like, it's a ridiculous accusation. There were no romantic feelings whatsoever. Lorenzo made this entire thing up in his head. He was spiraling."
27:23 Payton Moreland? Which makes sense, since we heard that Lorenzo was jealous over his own one-year-old son for taking attention away from him. I mean, I understand that having a baby can be complex, but also there's no one a baby needs more than their mother.
27:40 Garrett Moreland? Parents or their mom. Yeah, true.
27:42 Payton Moreland? At one years old, that baby has barely lived life. It is attached to the mom. It's gonna be a lot of years before that mother begins to gain some independence.
27:51 Garrett Moreland? You know, I bet that happens a lot, though.
27:53 Payton Moreland? Oh, yeah.
27:54 Garrett Moreland? I bet it happens a lot. I mean,
27:55 Payton Moreland? that's why I say.
27:56 Garrett Moreland? Payne, I don't have a kid yet, but I bet it happens a lot.
27:58 Payton Moreland? Well, that's why I say it's complicated feelings because everyone knows introducing a kid into a marriage brings change, no matter what, right? But the reality is, is when you make the decision to bring a kid into a marriage, you are understanding that that baby is going to need its mother. It's gonna take up the mother's attention for quite a while.
28:15 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, but I mean, a lot of people don't realize that, too.
28:17 Payton Moreland? No.
28:18 Garrett Moreland? But yes, you're correct. Yeah.
28:19 Payton Moreland? So he's jealous over his little son. He's jealous over this affair partner that was a complete
28:25 Garrett Moreland? That was not an affair partner.
28:27 Payton Moreland? It didn't exist, which only then cast more suspicion on Lorenzo because it seems like he really was in a very bad downward spiral regarding his marriage. And he didn't do himself any favors when he failed to show up to Sarah's funeral. In fact, his entire family was absent from those services. At that point, police really needed the results of those DNA tests to move forward. But in the meantime, they decided to reanalyze the one solid piece of evidence they had, and that was the voicemail message. So detectives started playing this tape over and over, looking for any tiny details they might have missed. And the more they heard it, the more they think they picked up on something.
29:12 Payton Moreland? Something Sarah appeared to be trying to say during the struggle. Now, it's muffled, which is why they didn't catch it the first time, and it does take a while for them to make it out. But eventually, they came to the conclusion that she was saying the name Mike.
29:28 Garrett Moreland? Mike, okay.
29:30 Payton Moreland? And immediately the pieces start to fall together because police are like, why would she be saying Mike, not Lorenzo? Well, Lorenzo's brother, the one who supported his alibi, then the night that she was killed, said, yeah, Lorenzo was at home with me. His name's Mike.
29:46 Garrett Moreland? Interesting. Okay.
29:48 Payton Moreland? So now investigators are wondering, are the two brothers in this together?
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32:40 Payton Moreland? Well, detectives pulled Mike in for an interview next. And while he completely denied having anything to do with Sarah's gruesome murder, police took hair samples and fingerprinted him as well. And again, we're now back to a waiting game. But when they drove Mike back to his job later that day after questioning him, he immediately got out of the police cruiser and threw up. He gets out and throws up all over the place. Mike.
33:08 Garrett Moreland? Mike, okay.
33:09 Payton Moreland? Which said to the police, like, this worked this guy up so much. He denied having anything to do with it.
33:14 Garrett Moreland? That's a red flag.
33:15 Payton Moreland? But he got worked up so much that he threw up the second he got out of our car.
33:20 Garrett Moreland? But no offense, I feel like you would do that.
33:24 Payton Moreland? Yeah, that would be nerve wracking for me.
33:26 Garrett Moreland? Yeah, yeah. So.
33:29 Payton Moreland? Police, after this, after he's done throwing up everywhere, they give him their card and they say, hey, as soon as you're ready to confess, give us a call.
33:38 Garrett Moreland? That's what they said?
33:38 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
33:41 Payton Moreland? But things hit a snag with Mike pretty soon after that. The attorney who was representing Lorenzo stepped in and told the police, yeah, you're also not speaking to Mike without an attorney present as well. So once again, the police had to pivot if they wanted to get one brother talking, which was when they turned to an unlikely cohort. Someone who had their own grievances with Lorenzo, but also knew him pretty well. His first wife before Sarah, a woman named Becky. They're like, let's bring in the ex-wife. Now, when the police sat Becky down and told her about Sarah's murder, she's pretty eager to help because she insists I've seen the dark side of Lorenzo.
34:23 Garrett Moreland? I wonder how many.
34:26 Garrett Moreland? I feel like Becky's a very common name in these cases we do.
34:30 Payton Moreland? Really?
34:30 Garrett Moreland? But I was gonna say is I wonder if there's a one name.
34:34 Payton Moreland? That's tied to murder?
34:35 Garrett Moreland? No, that has more divorces than others or like tied to murder more than others, you know?
34:40 Payton Moreland? Like statistically, it's that name you have a higher.
34:42 Garrett Moreland? I'm gonna go look those up, yeah.
34:44 Payton Moreland? Wait, that's kind of smart. It's like signs, horoscope, horoscope.
34:49 Garrett Moreland? Yes, I guess so. But honestly, it's probably just gonna come down to what name was popular during that time, so.
34:55 Payton Moreland? You're always thinking of every angle.
34:57 Garrett Moreland? Always thinking.
34:59 Payton Moreland? So now I will say, I think it's hard when police bring in an enemy of a suspect and are like, yeah, tell us. But also at the same time, an ex-wife does know a lot about him. So I do think her point of view is also important. So it's just difficult, but she's like, yes, my ex-husband Lorenzo has a dark side. And lucky for investigators, she wasn't on such bad terms with Lorenzo that it would feel random for her to call him. She's like, we actually have stayed pretty friendly after our divorce. So police are like, listen, can you call him? And we tap into it. Can we just record a call between you and your ex-husband? Ask him about Sarah's murder, you know, just talk to him about it. So Becky called him to
35:43 Payton Moreland? extend her condolences about Sarah. In fact, they actually spoke a couple of times over the next few days or weeks, and each time the police listened in. And they claimed Becky was a great informant. The problem was Lorenzo never said a single thing that incriminated him on those calls. If anything, they made the police feel like maybe he was innocent after all. Something that really solidified for detectives when a few weeks after Sarah's death, they got some results back from the crime scene. Now, remember those bloody glove prints they took from Sarah's walls? Well, the DNA results said the mixture belonged to Sarah, the blood, and an unknown male.
36:27 Payton Moreland? So they compared that male sample to the DNA they collected from Lorenzo and Mike, the brothers, and the results said neither of them was a match. They'd been telling the truth. There was unknown DNA at the crime scene mixed in with the blood. Someone else had to have been there and killed Sarah.
36:47 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
36:48 Payton Moreland? It is a massive setback for the investigation because they've been spending all their time on these brothers. Basically, this discovery puts them back to square one.
36:58 Garrett Moreland? It's hard. I feel like if I was a detective, easier said than done. I know, nobody come at me. Logically, obviously, it probably can't work this way, but I feel like it would be hard for me to go after people until I had DNA back. Right? Because you do, you spend all this time thinking, oh, it's them. Then you get the DNA and you're like, oh, never mind.
37:21 Payton Moreland? Talking to the X, Y.
37:22 Garrett Moreland? But I just wasted 30 hours for no reason.
37:25 Payton Moreland? Right.
37:26 Garrett Moreland? I don't know.
37:27 Payton Moreland? Now, it's at this point when they get this back that they're like, yep, we're bringing in the FBI, especially because Sarah was killed so brutally, they wondered, I wonder if this matches any other FBI cases.
37:40 Garrett Moreland? That's so sad.
37:41 Payton Moreland? They're thinking, maybe this is just one of those rare things where this was a serial killer. So they ask and the FBI is like, no, this doesn't fit any MOs we've seen, but they wanted another favor from the FBI. They wanted them to try and enhance the voicemail to see if there was anything their tech could pick up that maybe the local police didn't have access to. But again, there was nothing. In fact, the FBI is like, we're not even sure we're hearing the name Mike. They believe the detectives were probably imagining it, knowing that Lorenzo's brother was named Mike. So after this, seven to eight months go by, police are no closer to making an arrest. If anything, they had taken a few steps back.
38:27 Payton Moreland? It seemed like Sarah's case was never going to be solved, but then police got one really lucky break. It was around May of 1999, when the Baltimore County PD got a call from someone at the Baltimore County Detention Center. It wasn't an officer. It was a jailhouse informant named Edison George. Edison said he was talking to a fellow inmate there who was currently serving time for an armed robbery at a McDonald's a few months earlier. But this informant-
39:00 Garrett Moreland? Armed robbery at McDonald's?
39:02 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
39:03 Garrett Moreland? All the places do armed robbery and we're gonna try McDonald's?
39:07 Payton Moreland? Yeah, like armed too, like that's a heavy charge.
39:10 Garrett Moreland? At McDonald's? Gordon Bruce Chris or like-
39:14 Payton Moreland? Maybe he thought he could get away with it more.
39:16 Garrett Moreland? They probably don't have much cash there, but I don't know, it's hilarious.
39:19 Payton Moreland? Now, the informant's like, listen, this McDonald's robber, he allegedly confessed to a murder that he had committed prior to the McDonald's robbery. The person who confessed was a 19-year-old man named Ardell Tickle's. Yeah. Tickle.
39:39 Garrett Moreland? Is that like a words or his name's Ardell Tickle?
39:42 Payton Moreland? That's his name.
39:43 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
39:44 Payton Moreland? Now, the Baltimore police knew better than to take an informant's word for it. So they're like, yep, we're going to need you to wear wire and get Mr. Tickle's talking again.
39:54 Garrett Moreland? I can't do not call Mr. Tickle. No, you can. You can.
39:58 Payton Moreland? Which Edison did and Ardell started mentioning very explicitly the way he committed that previous murder. He had talked about, he described how he busted through his victim's window while she was studying. He surprised her. He stabbed her in the stomach. He talked about nearly decapitating the female victim with a knife.
40:17 Garrett Moreland? What the?
40:18 Payton Moreland? Talks about slicing her wrists. And while he doesn't mention Sarah's name, he's just he's referring to her as like, girl, police were thinking, he's basically describing Sarah's murder. Not to mention these details he's confessing had not been known to the public, like the the graphic nature of the crime, her hands almost being cut off, her head almost being cut off. That hadn't been released. And yet it sounded like a step by step play of what the police analyzed at the crime. But that's not even the most shocking detail mentioned in the tape. When Ardella is asked, okay, like, why'd you do this though? Like, why did you commit this random murder?
41:00 Payton Moreland? He goes, oh, no, like this wasn't for me. I was hired to kill this girl. I'm a hitman.
41:07 Garrett Moreland? Oh, okay.
41:08 Payton Moreland? And he said, the woman who paid him to make the hit was someone who had worked with him. So police are like, looking at each other stunned, wondering who, what woman in Sarah's life would have paid for a hitman to kill her. So next they're obviously like, let's just pull up Ardell's former employment records, go through them and see if there's anyone that crosses over into Sarah's life. And they discovered something of interest. And honestly, I'm like low key shocked you haven't pieced this together.
41:43 Garrett Moreland? The ex-wife?
41:44 Payton Moreland? No. Ardell worked in the laundry room of a local nursing home. You know who else worked at the nursing home as a nurse?
41:51 Garrett Moreland? Who?
41:52 Payton Moreland? Lorenzo and Mike's mother. Sarah's mother-in-law. Sixty-three-year-old Amelia.
42:01 Garrett Moreland? The mother-in-law? We haven't really talked about her.
42:04 Payton Moreland? The mother-in-law who's been watching this son through this custody battle, who stepped in and tried to help.
42:12 Garrett Moreland? That is, that is nuts.
42:14 Payton Moreland? The mother-in-law.
42:15 Garrett Moreland? That is insane.
42:15 Payton Moreland? The mother-in-law who told police she was at work the night of the murder. So now they find a connection. They're like, what are the chances? Mike and Lorenzo's mom works with Ardell and then Ardell tells this jailhouse informant that he was hired by someone he worked with to kill Sarah.
42:34 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
42:35 Payton Moreland? So they start gathering witnesses. It's not hard to confirm. Amelia and Ardell definitely knew each other. They worked a lot of the same hours at the nursing home. One question, other employees said they had seen them talking on multiple occasions before Sarah was found dead. One nurse claimed Ardell came around the nurse's station a lot looking for Amelia. It seemed they kind of had a mother-son type of relationship, which adds up when you look at Ardell's background. I mean, he had a pretty unstable home. Uh, he had been in foster care for quite a while, so it's not that odd that Ardell looked up to Amelia as a mother figure in some ways. And I guess that's why he agreed when Amelia made him an offer.
43:18 Payton Moreland? Three thousand dollars to murder her ex-daughter-in-law, who was trying to gain full custody of her grandson.
43:26 Garrett Moreland? Three thousand dollars? No way.
43:29 Payton Moreland? So.
43:29 Garrett Moreland? That is not worth it.
43:30 Payton Moreland? The Baltimore County PD share all of this with the Howard Police, who are still like jurisdictionally in charge of Sarah's case.
43:38 Garrett Moreland? I can't believe that she just got killed because the mother-in-law wanted to kill her.
43:43 Payton Moreland? Yeah.
43:44 Garrett Moreland? That's horrible.
43:46 Payton Moreland? Because of custody battle.
43:47 Garrett Moreland? That's absolutely horrible.
43:50 Payton Moreland? Don't get me wrong. Custody battle does feel like one of.
43:53 Garrett Moreland? Just crazy. Now this kid just doesn't have a mom.
43:55 Payton Moreland? Yeah. Because of.
43:56 Garrett Moreland? Horrible.
43:57 Payton Moreland? His grandma?
43:57 Garrett Moreland? Yes, yeah.
43:59 Payton Moreland? Now, on August 24th, 1999, they arrest Ardell. They bring him in for questioning. They play him the confession. They're like, listen, you're facing first-degree murder charges, which in Maryland also could equal the death penalty. But if you decide to help us out, tell us who hired you, maybe that can change. They show him a picture of Amelia. They're like, is this the woman who hired you? And he's like, yep, that's her. He told them that Amelia paid him $3,000 in cash to kill her daughter and ex-daughter-in-law. But here's the thing, they don't really know how reliable Ardell's statement really was. Could they take his word that Amelia hired him? Was he just blaming things on her? Well, the police had a method to confirm his statement and that was following the money.
44:41 Payton Moreland? They get a warrant for Amelia's financial records and sure enough, right before the murder, Amelia wrote a check out to cash in the amount of $3,000, which obviously is pretty good. Evidence helps them secure an arrest warrant for Amelia.
44:56 Garrett Moreland? Okay.
44:57 Payton Moreland? On the same day of Ardell's arrest, police picked Amelia up and brought her down to the station. They're like, listen, you're going to be charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. They told her they already had gotten a taped confession out of Ardell Tickle's. And then they placed crime scene photos of a deceased Sarah in front of her and told her, hey, this is what your $3,000 paid for. And shockingly, Amelia admitted she did pay Ardell Tickle's, but not to kill her daughter-in-law. She's like, I only paid for him to scare her, maybe throw a couple of rocks at her house. Now, police aren't buying it. Who pays someone $3,000 to throw rocks at someone's home?
45:38 Payton Moreland? But it's the reason why she wanted this that actually comes as a real shock. Because they're like, obviously it's the custody dispute, right? But Amelia's like, no, I wanted to scare Sarah because after having the grandson, she completely disrespected her. Mother-in-law felt like daughter-in-law Sarah questioned her maternal experience and didn't like her grandparenting style. She made comments about how Sarah was handling breastfeeding and bathing her son.
46:13 Payton Moreland? And Amelia said, I tried to help her do it the right way and Sarah just rejected all of my advice.
46:18 Garrett Moreland? Oh my gosh. So do not be the crazy mother in law, please don't do it.
46:24 Payton Moreland? Everyone's allowed to parent how they want.
46:25 Garrett Moreland? Don't be a crazy mother in law.
46:27 Payton Moreland? Also.
46:27 Garrett Moreland? Or father in law, I guess.
46:29 Payton Moreland? The custody dispute made 10, 10,000 more sense than you being offended by the way your daughter in law parents.
46:38 Garrett Moreland? Your daughter killed? That's insane.
46:40 Payton Moreland? Cause you don't like the way she breastfeeds.
46:42 Garrett Moreland? No, that's prison for life.
46:44 Payton Moreland? Also, being a mom's already hard enough.
46:46 Garrett Moreland? Chop her legs off.
46:48 Payton Moreland? Yeah. So, sounds like Amelia was just overbearing and jealous and hurt and maybe just had some narcissistic tendencies. But Amelia took the offense to a whole new level. She said in her culture back in the Philippines, mothers were supposed to be revered and respected and Sarah's behavior towards her was a slap on the face and quote, showing disrespect to a mother is death. So what Amelia says in her interview. Ultimately, Amelia is portraying herself as the victim in this situation. But Amelia's issues obviously don't stop there. She spoke about how she also wasn't a good wife to her son.
47:29 Payton Moreland? She felt like Sarah was cheating on her son and then she finally mentions the ongoing custody battle. But police weren't buying her excuse that she hadn't hired Ardell to kill Sarah. They're like, we don't believe you hired him to throw rocks. They also weren't sure about one other detail. Do Mike and Lorenzo know about this? Like, do they know their mother?
47:51 Garrett Moreland? Oh, okay.
47:52 Payton Moreland? Did this, but Amelia is like, no, I never told either of them.
47:55 Garrett Moreland? Oh my gosh.
47:56 Payton Moreland? And after hours of wiretaps and constant surveillance on the house, police actually think she's telling the truth. They also confirmed the unknown male DNA inside Sarah's house was a match with Ardell Tickles. And a friend of Ardell's came forward to say she helped him rent a car for the crime and helped him burn his bloody boots after the murder. This source even takes police to the exact spot where they burned the boots. And after recovering one, they found it was a match for the bloody prints found inside Sarah's home.
48:27 Garrett Moreland? What did Lorenzo and Mike say? That's crazy.
48:31 Payton Moreland? So I'm gonna start with Amelia's charges first. She's found guilty on all charges. During her sentencing, she said, quote, "I would like to say to the honorable court that I had no intention at all to kill Sarah. I'm very, very sorry that it happened." But meanwhile, the judge calls Amelia, quote, "an evil person without, quote, 'real remorse.'" Amelia was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for hiring this hitman.
48:59 Garrett Moreland? I don't care how she gets life, but we have people who are killing people. We get like 15 years.
49:03 Payton Moreland? I know.
49:05 Payton Moreland? Well, I mean, she deserves life.
49:06 Garrett Moreland? No, she does. I'm just, I don't understand the inconsistency.
49:09 Payton Moreland? Then in March of 2000, Ardell Tickle pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. And with so much evidence stacked against him, he didn't stand a chance against a jury. Anyways, Amelia has tried to appeal her sentence, but is currently, as of this recording, still in custody at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. And in a strange, heartbreaking twist of fate, Amelia sort of got what she wanted out of all this. Lorenzo ended up getting full custody of the son he shared with Sarah because he didn't do it.
49:40 Garrett Moreland? That is so, I mean, I do feel kind of bad for Lorenzo because it wasn't him.
49:45 Payton Moreland? This isn't-
49:45 Garrett Moreland? He wasn't involved. So it's like he lost his ex-wife. He also lost the mother of his children, like, and all this trauma. And then he also lost his mom.
49:54 Payton Moreland? Also, no parent wants full custody because their mother murdered their ex-wife.
49:59 Garrett Moreland? It's horrible.
50:00 Payton Moreland? At the beginning, we talked about how becoming a parent is one of the greatest gifts in life, but also definitely one of the most vulnerable. But when love turns to control, when opinion turns to judgment, when support is undermined by frustration, resentment, and hatred, those fractures don't just hurt a family. I mean, it just proved they can literally lead to outcomes that fail everyone involved. And that is the murder of Sarah Roris.
50:30 Garrett Moreland? That's crazy that the mother-in-law did it. And they're not even involved, like Lorenzo and Mike and all them.
50:37 Payton Moreland? Nope.
50:37 Garrett Moreland? It's insane.
50:39 Payton Moreland? It's heartbreaking. I mean- There's survivors that this is very nuanced and complex and there are survivors of this story that I can't imagine how they've navigated living with this. So let's just take a minute to remember them and remember Sarah, who did not deserve any of this. Thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode or watching, and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.
51:07 Garrett Moreland? I hate it.
51:08 Payton Moreland? Goodbye.
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