Journalist Writes Eerie Facebook Post Hours Before Death: Who Killed Sarah Greenhalgh?

On July 9, 2012, 48-year-old Sarah Greenhalgh was found dead by firefighters, after a fire had been set in her home. But Sarah wasn’t killed by the fire–she was shot dead. The police had a suspect whom Sarah was posting about online just hours before her murder. But despite this, almost 13 years later, justice has still not been served. If you have any information about Sarah’s murder, please contact the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office at (540) 347-3300. — This episode is sponsored by: Nanit https://www.nanit.com/ - promo code: BABY20 Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLk Apartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84o Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonytFacebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NKTrue Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0Form for people directly related/close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Kendall Rae?

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• 0:43Kendall Rae?

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• 1:07Kendall Rae?

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• 1:50Kendall Rae?

  Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Thank you so much for joining me today. And if you're new to the show, then welcome. I hope you stick around. So guys, today we're going to get into a case. It's really, really frustrating, this one, because I really feel that it should have been solved by now. There's a lot of factors that have contributed to. To it not being solved at this point. But a lot of people agree that it should have been solved at this point. And her family is so desperate for answers because it has been 13 years since she was killed. I wanted to cover this case today because it has really stalled over the years. And I know her family, especially her mother, is so desperate for answers. And she's now in her 90s.

• 2:33Kendall Rae?

  And I know it would be so important and so meaningful to her if she was able to get those answers in her life. And I want to start out this episode by saying that I am not completely confident in how to pronounce Sarah's last name. Sarah Greenhalgh is who we're going to be talking about today. And I'm not entirely sure if it's Greenhalgh or Green Hall. But I have heard her mother, I think she pronounced it as Greenhalgh. I have listened to her pronounce it over and over and over. And I'm pretty sure that she is saying Greenhalgh. So not entirely sure there because so many of her coworkers and friends and people who've worked on the case say Green Hall. So I'll just put that out there that I just don't fully know.

• 3:18Kendall Rae?

  And I've really tried to figure it out. But Sarah was an awesome person. She was a very determined woman, a very independent woman. And she was an investigative journalist, actually, and a very outspoken one at that. So she really had no problem getting up in other people's business, getting to the truth of things, even if it meant, you know, being in some difficult situations. So when she was found murdered, detectives wondered if maybe her work had led to that, that maybe along the way, on some piece she was working with, she angered someone or someone didn't want something coming out about them, that maybe it was a potential story she was working on. So that was a big question.

• 4:03Kendall Rae?

  But then they also were wondering if maybe this could have been done by someone who she referred to as batshit crazy boy. Although I will say it's possible that maybe it had to do with neither of those things. And that's what's so frustrating about cases like this is We truly don't know. But I'm especially interested to hear all of your thoughts on this case and whether you think at this point in time, there's enough to potentially make an arrest. And as a reminder, in cases like this, of course, I always need to say that everyone I speak about today is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. So Sarah Libby Greenhalgh was born in Potomac, Maryland on March 21st, 1964 to her parents, Sarah and William. And she also had one sister named Kate.

• 4:48Kendall Rae?

  And when they were young, their family ended up moving to a horse farm in Poolsville, Maryland, which was about 15 miles northwest. Now, I'm sure they had a lot of reasons for moving, but I think one of the main reasons had to do with horses, actually. And I don't know if it's still like this, but back when Sarah was younger, this was an area where a lot of people were riding horses and they would have barns right there in their backyard. And Sarah absolutely loved horses. I mean, she loved all animals, to be clear, but there was something about a horse that she especially connected with. And as she got older, she made sure to keep horses as a central part of her life. And if horses were her number one passion, then photography was a close second. And man, was she good at it.

• 5:33Kendall Rae?

  When she was pretty young, her grandma actually gave her a Brownie camera, which I had never heard of, but it's like a simple, easy to use camera for kids at the time. And aside from when she was riding, you could almost always find her with a camera in her hands, or at least doing something independently.

• 5:53Kendall Rae?

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• 6:36Kendall Rae?

  While shopping, you'll also find great perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support, and financing with flexible payment options. Plus, you can find great deals on monitors and accessories. That means you can score on a whole new setup now for less. This Black Friday sale is one you don't want to miss. Head to dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 7:00Kendall Rae?

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• 7:41Kendall Rae?

  As I said earlier in the episode, Sarah was just a really independent person. And even from a young age, she liked to do things alone, had no problem doing that, I mean, no fear when it came to approaching things independently. And when I say that, I really mean it. Sarah was very brave at a young age, certainly much braver than I was. When she was only 12 years old, you guys, she actually took a trip by herself across the world to Africa. How many 12-year-olds do you know that would be up for doing that or could handle it? But Sarah literally did that. At just 12 years old, she flew alone to Nairobi to visit a friend whose family lived there. And that was really just the beginning of all the travel that she did in her life.

• 8:24Kendall Rae?

  One of the things that I thought was especially cool was the fact that she attended an all-girls college preparatory school called Old Fields in Glencoe, Maryland, which is known for not only having a strong academic program, but also having a great equestrian program. As well. And even though it was certainly pricey, Sarah did come from a family that was able to send her there. Her dad, who sadly passed away in 1994, was at one point an attorney, as well as the associate dean of Georgetown University's law school, which I mention because it's believed that Sarah got her passion for the truth from her father. Now, after she left Oldfield, she went to Columbia University to study journalism. And from there, she moved back to the DC area where she began working as a journalist and photographer

• 9:09Kendall Rae?

  for several local newspapers. Which I just have to say, I mean, I'm definitely not an expert in photography, but from what I've seen of her work, she was an incredibly talented photographer. And it makes sense why she, you know, did so well in that field and earned all these awards for her photography. She seemed to have a super like keen eye for detail, and that's something that really worked well for her in both aspects of her career. I wasn't able to find this elsewhere, but the Prince Williams Times reported that her pictures were once featured in Time Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Fortune Magazine. So very, very impressive career. And then as far as her journalism, she worked for several different publications,

• 9:52Kendall Rae?

  including but not limited to freelancing for The Washington Post, The Chronicle of the Horse, as well as working for The Winchester Star. And in 2012, The Winchester Star was the job that she was currently working. She wrote about everything from sports and horses to entertainment and government. And if one thing is for sure, it's that Sarah was a force to be reckoned with. I mean, really, out of everything that I learned about her, what I thought was so special about Sarah was her passion for the truth and her passion for getting a story out there. And that's just kind of what I kept coming back to. Basically, if Sarah needed to get to the bottom of something for something she was working on, watch out because she was going to do it.

• 10:33Kendall Rae?

  She did not mince words and was plenty fine making a few enemies along the way, so long as it meant that she told the story that she needed to tell. And I think it's qualities like that that really sets journalists apart from the rest, that really makes for that fantastic.

• 10:50Kendall Rae?

  Journalism. But of course, it is a kind of personality trait that you either loved about someone and respected, or maybe a little bit feared. And whether people liked this about her or not, there was just no denying at the end of the day, how people, for the most part, saw her as a really good and loyal person. And I genuinely believe she was those things, from what I know about her. And that goes for both her work and her friendships. Sarah, to me, strikes me as someone that you would want in your corner, that you would want as your friend, because she would have your back no matter what. But of course, if you were on the other end of a story, she wasn't afraid to get up in your grill and ask those hard questions, even if they were uncomfortable.

• 11:34Kendall Rae?

  And again, I think most people would agree that that is what makes someone an exceptional journalist. And to be clear, she wasn't mean or rude about the way that she did things. She was just very direct and a little bit, I'd say, intense, which, yeah, I think made her really good at what she did. Some of her friends from work say that she was the type of person who fought to have her work on the front page, too. She really seemed to be her own best advocate. And in July of 2012, she was on the front page, but not for a reason that anyone would have wanted or could have predicted. And let me go ahead now and provide some more context, so that this all makes sense.

• 12:15Kendall Rae?

  So in 2012, Sarah was 48 years old, and she lived by herself in a one-bedroom cottage in Upper Ville, which is in northern Virginia. And her place was sort of like a second home on this large property, and the people that she rented from lived just up the road in the main house on the property. And as for Upper Ville, it isn't very big, and it's also not very busy, especially in terms of crime. So on July 9th of that year, when everything happened, it was more than shocking. It started at about 8:08 a.m., when an off-duty firefighter called 911 after seeing smoke rising from a house which we know belonged to Sarah. By 8:22 a.m., a fire crew had arrived on scene and were successful in putting the fire out, but the damage was-

• 13:00Kendall Rae?

  was extensive, to say the least. The structure of the house was still standing, but the inside was pretty much just torched. However, that was the least of everyone's concerns. What they were really concerned about was the fact that a woman's body was found in the bedroom, and she had obvious gunshot wounds, indicating that she didn't die from this fire. And at first, of course, they had no idea who this woman was. But when they ran the plates on the car parked outside, they learned that it belonged to Sarah, and that this woman was Sarah. The upper part of her torso had been covered in debris, and there was a 9mm handgun placed not far from her body. And there were also several bullet holes in the walls and door, as well as 12 bullet casings on the floor around her,

• 13:45Kendall Rae?

  suggesting that there had been some type of struggle for the weapon. And an autopsy would later reveal that Sarah died as a result of a gunshot wound to her neck, and her manner of death was, in fact, homicide. Now, there was a lot of progress in the case on that first day, the 9th, and obviously, the first thing to happen was alerting her friends and family. And to say that they were shocked would be a massive understatement. In fact, her coworkers were in the newsroom when they were told. And they actually found out from the newest reporter, who came into the room and asked if anyone knew who Sarah was. And at first, everyone sort of lit up, like, yeah, of course, we know who Sarah is. I mean, people loved her. But that's when he broke the news.

• 14:28Kendall Rae?

  And right off the bat, nobody could wrap their minds around how something like this could happen, especially to Sarah. And as for her mom finding out, she was actually on the phone when a friend of hers ran into the house and told her what happened. And she couldn't even begin to fathom that this was real. And maybe she could have wrapped her mind around it a bit more if it was just an accidental house fire and she was trapped. But murder? She didn't even think that was possible. I mean, she had no idea that anyone would want her daughter dead. She just couldn't even believe that this was what she was hearing. But that is what happened. And as I'm sure you are already putting together, There was nothing accidental about this fire.

• 15:12Kendall Rae?

  They not only found pour patterns in the house to indicate that someone had poured an accelerant, but they legitimately found a bottle of charcoal lighter fluid 15 feet inside the door. And clearly, whoever set this fire knew exactly what they were doing when they did so, because there was little to no other evidence collected at the scene. Even the gun and the shell casings came back with no trace evidence. And that being said, the detectives luckily were able to find some clues elsewhere.

• 15:45Kendall Rae?

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• 16:29Kendall Rae?

  While shopping, you'll also find great perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support, and financing with flexible payment options. Plus, you can find great deals on monitors and accessories. That means you can score on a whole new setup now for less. This Black Friday sale is one you don't want to miss. Head to dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 16:52Kendall Rae?

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• 17:34Kendall Rae?

  One of the things that they looked at first was Sarah's car. And what was weird was they noticed that there were some bamboo leaves that were stuck in the trunk of the car, like someone had put the trunk down and the leaves got caught in the door. And this was all strange for a few reasons. For starters, Sarah normally did not park her car there. The son of the property owner, a guy named Colin, came home that morning and he told police that that wasn't somewhere that she normally parked. And then, when they opened her trunk, they found all of her personal belongings. I'm talking her phone, her wallet, her laptop, all of those kinds of things. And it may not be necessarily that strange if those items were just in her car, but the fact that they were in her trunk, very strange.

• 18:18Kendall Rae?

  So it almost looked like whoever did this had put all of those things in there and then was planning on driving off with her belongings in the car. But maybe they ran out of time as the sun was coming up. And of course, that's just a theory, but I can definitely see how that is plausible. And luckily, law enforcement waited no time getting into this investigation. The detectives did what they almost always do in situations like this, and they decided to look at the last 24 hours of Sarah's life to see if they could find any information there. And believe it or not, Sarah herself was the one to leave behind a seemingly very important clue. Around 11:00 PM on the night of the 8th, Sarah made a Facebook post, and it reads, "Going to be sleeping with the windows wide open..."

• 19:02Kendall Rae?

  Now, if Batshit Crazy Boy would just leave me alone... We'll get some much-needed rest because tomorrow is Monday and I got a ton of work to do." That was Sarah's last communication. And nine hours later, she was gone. So what happened and who the hell is Batshit Crazy Boy? Well, a lot of people who were close to Sarah knew that she had been dating, but it was definitely something that she kept as a private part of her life. And she would often refer to guys that she was dating in monikers, like different nicknames almost. So people knew about Batshit Crazy Boy, but they didn't actually know who he was. He was. That is, until a coworker of hers, Melissa, started looking through her desk

• 19:47Kendall Rae?

  that said "John from Gainesville" on it, as well as a phone number. But there was also something else written on the paper, and what was weird is it was written in a different color, almost as if it was written on another day, like she had added to it later, or it's possible she wrote it on the same day and just wanted to emphasize this part, and I'm sure you could guess what it said. It said "Batshit Crazy Boy." And it's really eerie, actually, because Sarah was really into true crime, and it makes sense, of course, because she was a journalist and, as I explained, loved getting to the bottom of things, figuring things out, so true crime, obviously, would be right up her alley. But now, to be the person whose mystery they were trying to solve, very eerie, and it wasn't lost on anyone.

• 20:29Kendall Rae?

  And so when Melissa found this piece of paper with the name, the phone number, and "Batshit Crazy Boy," she knew it had to be something significant, so she called detectives right away. And of course, they were very interested in this, so they looked more into the note, and they found out that "Batshit Crazy Boy" is actually a man named John Kearns. Now, John wasn't home when they got to his apartment, but they did speak with some of the neighbors, and come to find out, he was in a heated exchange the night before with a woman who they quickly learned was Sarah. So Melissa was actually given permission to take on the case, journalistically speaking, and she ended up talking to a lot of the neighbors about what happened. And I guess they overheard John tell Sarah that she wasn't supposed to be there, and

• 21:13Kendall Rae?

  it was clear he was super, super angry that she was. Apparently, Sarah even called him an asshole, and the whole thing came across as very heated, which was obviously very interesting to them, because not long after this heated argument, Sarah was dead, so it was super important that detectives spoke with him as soon as possible. So they ended up finding him at the auto body shop that he worked at, and he agreed to come into the station for questioning. And his reaction to this whole thing came across as very strange and very cold. When they said that his girlfriend died, he was super matter-of-fact about it, didn't seem shocked or upset, and he even said- That he knew what this was all about and even suggested that maybe Sarah had taken

• 21:57Kendall Rae?

  her own life, which is really odd considering that at this point, they only had told him that she died in a fire. And when they asked him about their relationship and why she'd make a post like that, he explained in his opinion what the whole argument the night before was even about. It turns out that Mr. Batshit Crazy Boy had another girlfriend. Shocker. And apparently, she was on her way over to his house that night as well. So, he got angry with Sarah when she showed up because he didn't want the two of them to see each other. What's interesting, though, is that John mentioned that this other woman never ended up coming over, so no one could account for his alibi. And detectives also

• 22:40Kendall Rae?

  found it interesting that he had these, like, cuts and scrapes on his knuckles. So they're seeing red flags right away. But he did explain that it was because he is a martial arts instructor. And not only that, he's actually a black belt. And honestly, they were pretty suspicious of this, but they did confirm that he was telling the truth, at least about being an instructor. Of course, the cuts on his hands could have come from something else, but it wasn't something that anyone could prove, and he was an instructor. So they really couldn't prove anything at this point. But overall, investigators are thinking this looks really strange, and in their opinion, John's behavior wasn't helping the case, and I completely agree with them. I mean, he was acting very odd and, like I said

• 23:24Kendall Rae?

  earlier, very cold. And apparently, Sarah had emailed John when she got home after that fight, and their email exchange was also heated. And despite John saying that he had nothing else to hide, it turns out that he deleted all of those emails, which is really unfortunate because we actually don't have access to those emails. We have no idea what they said, but we do have this. According to a search warrant affidavit, quote, "She, Sarah, lamented that she listened to all of John's problems, and based upon what he had told her, she could go away for 25 to life as an accessory due to her knowledge of his admissions of wrongdoing to her." So basically, in her emails to him, she was saying that she could go to jail for whatever he has told her. And of course, I don't know

• 24:09Kendall Rae?

  what he told her, and I don't know if she was threatening him or what, but I'd... Definitely be curious to know why he deleted them. And I'm sure there's a reason for that, but of course he wouldn't say. And so they tried pushing him, trying to get him to explain what these emails were all about, explain the whole situation and why he deleted them. And at that point, he went ahead and asked for an attorney, so they had to let him go. And that's definitely not to say that they took their eyes off him, of course not. But they did expand who they were looking into. And Colin, the son of the property owner, who I mentioned earlier, was someone that they actually considered. And I guess this was mainly because there were a few people in town who had mentioned

• 24:50Kendall Rae?

  that Colin, or they thought that Colin had a crush on Sarah potentially. But after they interviewed him and also did a polygraph test, they ended up just ruling him out. But what's made this case all so tricky was just the lack of evidence, lack of physical evidence and electronic.

• 25:13Kendall Rae?

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• 25:56Kendall Rae?

  While shopping, you'll also find great perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, premium support and financing with flexible payment options. Plus you can find great deals on monitors and accessories. That means you can score on a whole new setup now for less. This Black Friday sale is one you don't want to miss. Head to dell.com/deals. That's dell.com/deals.

• 26:20Kendall Rae?

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• 27:02Kendall Rae?

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• 27:47Kendall Rae?

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• 28:17Kendall Rae?

  Search warrants were served on several electronic devices, but it doesn't sound like anything came out of it. At least not that we know of. So they had to pivot again and reconsider who else might want Sarah dead. And that's when they began to wonder, and I'm sure a lot of you have already started thinking about this, but maybe it was someone related to one of the stories that she's done, one of her articles. You know, maybe she was working on something that pissed someone off or revealed something about them that they didn't want out there. And what do you know? One of her stories raised some red flags. Sarah had been working on this piece about a man named Russell Ebersol, who was being accused of animal abuse. Now, this guy owned and operated a pet farm that she was digging into,

• 29:02Kendall Rae?

  and she had made some bold accusations against him. And given how small this town was, of course, a story like that could have completely ruined his business and his reputation. So as you can imagine, he was not thrilled. And so I guess Russell would call Sarah after her articles went live and just completely berate her. And at one point, she even had mentioned to her coworkers not wanting him to have her personal address and that if she ever turned up dead, that he should be on the list of suspects. I mean, holy shit, right? This is a major discovery. So naturally detectives wanted to dig in and see if they could potentially connect him to her murder.

• 29:43Kendall Rae?

  And they found out that Sarah was possibly going to testify against this man in the animal abuse case. And he had been suing in civil court for defamation. So obviously, when you know all of that information, it is screaming motive. And detectives definitely felt the same way, but they actually ended up clearing him. And it wasn't totally explained why, and I wish it was because I'm very confused there. But yeah, the case kind of just stalled from there. Several weeks went by after this with no new leads, and everyone was sort of holding their breath, just hoping that something else would come up, a new discovery would be made, something else would happen. And Something did happen when they learned about John Kern's ex-wife. So now we're back to John.

• 30:26Kendall Rae?

  Her name is Debbie, and it turns out that there were court records with very serious allegations of domestic violence in their relationship. Melissa was actually the one who got ahold of the records, and once she told detectives about it, they were able to bring Debbie in. And listen to this, okay? So according to his ex-wife, John was that type of guy, the type of person that we all know, right? Who came across as the life of the party. And obviously, we know people that come across as the life of the party that are wonderful people all around. But John was one of those people who came across as charismatic and charming, and a lot of people really liked him, but that's not always who he was. And over the course of the relationship, she saw more of him, and it spiraled into

• 31:10Kendall Rae?

  a very toxic and abusive situation. Now, they had separated almost exactly a year before Sarah was killed, and it was not smooth. Debbie managed to move into this townhouse to get away from him, and she thought this would make her safe. But at the end of that month, he ended up blowing up her phone with a series of super persistent creepy text messages. And they all came in minute after minute, I mean, just constant texts. And he was saying things like, "I am not going to give up on you regardless of what you say, just listen. I love you Debbie and no one else I will never love again. I will not stop pursuing you. I love you Debbie and I'm not going to give up. I love you Debbie and I'm going to tell everyone in this church today."

• 31:55Kendall Rae?

  So she finally decides to just respond to him and tells him to stop because it was all just too much. But then, a few days later, he ends up calling her, and of course, she didn't answer because why would she? But 10 to 15 minutes later, she and her son, who was from her first marriage, heard a car door slam. So her son looks out the window, and he sees that John is standing outside, and then he starts walking towards the front door, which instantly made Debbie panic and call the police. And thankfully, she did because he starts acting completely unhinged. Not only was he pounding on her front door and had punched out her doorbell. But he also stood in front of her window with a hunting knife on his belt screaming, "You're dead."

• 32:37Kendall Rae?

  She says that the look in his eyes was pure terror and she instantly started screaming out that he was going to kill her and she was terrified. Thankfully, though, by this point, police sirens could be heard approaching their house. And of course, when John heard that, he decided to leave. But before he did, he slashed her tires and knifed the side of her car before quickly getting into his own car and speeding off. And Debbie did end up filing an emergency protective order right after this incident, but of course, that did not stop John. Before their first court hearing, he called her to let her know that he had burned all of her stuff. And truly, he did. He burned everything down to her wedding dress. And maybe that wasn't a memory that she even wanted to keep, but still, it just shows

• 33:21Kendall Rae?

  you the lengths that this guy was willing to go. So she knows that she needs to get as far away from John as possible. And thankfully, her parents were able to get her out of the state just while the protective order was being finalized, which, by the way, of course, made him even more angry. And it turns out, two days after the order was served, he got into a road rage incident with a motorcyclist who cut him off. Apparently, he got the motorcyclist to pull over and then he just started wailing on him, like beat the living shit out of him. And thankfully, he was arrested for assault. Now, let's just stop for a second here and put ourselves in the shoes of the detectives on this case, okay? They have a murdered woman who had some kind of relationship with this guy who has a detailed

• 34:05Kendall Rae?

  history of violence and at least one documented instance of arson. And then get this, so Debbie also told them that when she was married to John, he admitted to her that he had committed arson on buildings before and that he had tortured animals. And so, of course, it makes sense why they thought of him as a person of interest. Now, I guess he was ordered to take anger management classes in October of 2011, so maybe you could say that he worked through those problems by July of 2012, maybe. But in May of 2012, he stopped going to those classes. And not Only was he not going and therefore not getting any help or making any improvement with his anger issues, but he also lied to his probation officer about not going.

• 34:50Kendall Rae?

  So a week after Sarah was killed, he was actually arrested and put in jail for like two weeks before he posted bail. And that wasn't his first time in jail that year. He had actually been sentenced to 90 days earlier that year in April for violating his protective order against Debbie and calling her 23 times in a row. Now, 86 of those days were suspended, so he was only locked up for four, but the dude was clearly on a downward spiral. And so with all of this considered, detectives felt understandably that it was plausible that he was somehow involved. I mean, you're looking at a man who is clearly prone to violence against women, but also has had violent episodes against men as well. And his life was going less than great.

• 35:35Kendall Rae?

  He has a history of arson. I don't know, things are starting to add up here. And again, of course, I have to be really clear, I'm not saying that he did it. I don't know that he did and he's innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, of course, but I am saying that detectives have had to factor all of this information into what they think happened. And I'm not really sure where their heads are at. I'm not sure what else they have on him or what other information they know that hasn't been released. And clearly, they don't think there is enough evidence at the end of the day to make an arrest, but many people disagree with that. Now, as for his ex-wife Debbie and what she thinks, all of this has truly devastated for her, and my heart truly goes out to her.

• 36:17Kendall Rae?

  One thing that she has brought up is that she sees a lot of resemblance between herself and Sarah, and I totally see that as well. I mean, just look at the two of them. And she has expressed feeling responsible if her ex was the one who did this. And I can totally understand why she feels that way, but I don't know if she'll ever see this, but Debbie, you are in no way responsible for what happened to Sarah, just not at all. But I, carrying that type of pain and having those feelings are valid feelings to have. I just wish that you didn't have to deal with that at all because this is in no way your fault in any way, shape, or form. And I'm just sorry that you have to deal with those types of thoughts. That's really horrible.

• 37:01Kendall Rae?

  And I think my whole audience will agree that this is in no way your responsibility.

• 37:11Kendall Rae?

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• 38:18Kendall Rae?

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• 39:03Kendall Rae?

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• 39:48Kendall Rae?

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• 40:14Kendall Rae?

  So going forward in time here, over the months and years that followed, John has sat down for multiple interviews during which he has adamantly denied being involved. He did agree to give them access to his social media, but could never explain why their communications had been deleted. And yeah, of course, once he lawyered up, there was a lot less that they could ask him. And some of these interviews did get pretty accusatory, but without more direct evidence, unfortunately, it doesn't sound like they are willing to risk prosecuting him, which, you know, makes a lot of sense. It is something that you want to be very sure of. Oftentimes, well, really, you always only get one shot at it. So you want to make sure you really have your facts straight.

• 40:57Kendall Rae?

  And right now, unfortunately, everything they have is just too circumstantial. John has since spoken out and said that this accusation and cloud of suspicion has hurt him greatly. And he waits for the day that he gets the call that someone else was arrested. So he can say, I told you so. And he continues to say that they were only friends and that he has been wrongly targeted by this investigation. Apparently, there have been three polygraph tests, which he himself has said he was told he failed. But since he hasn't actually seen these tests for himself, he claims that law enforcement is lying about it. Either way, though, I'm sure you all know that lie detector tests, polygraph tests are not admissible in court anyway.

• 41:40Kendall Rae?

  And yeah, if I'm being honest, I definitely have a lot of suspicions towards John. I think there's a lot that just can't be explained and I'll. So many concerning patterns of behavior. But yeah, at the end of the day, there is not enough evidence to point to him as Sarah's killer, which is really, really frustrating. And now, years and years have passed and the hope that her killer will be arrested and that their family will get justice has started to feel like it's fading. Her mom is now in her mid 90s. Oh, my heart breaks for her. She seems like such a sweet woman. And I can't imagine dealing with this type of pain and uncertainty in your 90s. But she says that she hopes that she'll know the truth in her lifetime.

• 42:24Kendall Rae?

  And I desperately hope so too. I really hope that she gets those answers that she so desperately just needs. She was featured in an interview in 2017 where she said that she often thinks of everything she could have done differently to prevent this. And of course, as a mother, I think that's a very common thought process to have. I mean, at the end of the day, you always just feel, I think, responsible for your child in some way, in most cases. But I hope, deep down, that she knows that none of this is her fault, just the way that none of this is Debbie's fault. It really breaks my heart to still see her at this age, and it seems like she still blames herself, at least partially. She says there's hardly an hour that goes by where she isn't thinking about her daughter,

• 43:05Kendall Rae?

  and she believes that Sarah would be disappointed that nobody seems to be doing anything, even though law enforcement does claim that the case is still active and open. The FBI did join the investigation early on, which was promising, but sadly, there isn't much to show for it. Several search warrants have been executed, one of which was to obtain John's fingerprints, but if anything came of it, we just don't know. Sarah's mom was able to salvage some of her daughter's things from the fire, including some clothing items, which she actually wears to feel close to her. And God, that just breaks my heart. And thankfully, Sarah's camera, which obviously was like a part of her in a lot of ways, did survive the fire. And I know that that's something her loved ones are incredibly grateful for, and I'm so glad that they have that.

• 43:49Kendall Rae?

  And to give you a sense of how big of an impact her death made, there were over 300 people who gathered at Trinity Episcopal Church, which is where she was later laid to rest. A handful of people spoke, talking about Sarah's smile, her sass, her pursuit of the truth, her grit, her fearlessness, and everything that she did. This took place on July 20th of 2012. And at that time, her friends and family asked her fellow community of journalists to never give up on her story. And many of them still haven't to this day. Melissa still keeps up the notes that she took, looking into Sarah's case in the event that this one day goes to trial. And on her birthday in 2013, her friends, her family, and her coworkers gathered to

• 44:32Kendall Rae?

  share stories and memories about the ever outspoken Sarah, whose death has changed all of their lives forever. I guess that she was someone that thought of her birthday as sort of a national holiday, and I love that about her. So it was really important to everyone that they celebrated her birthday the way that she would have wanted to. And while it's almost been 13 years since her murder, her legacy really has never been forgotten. And I don't think her loved ones, her coworkers, friends, family will ever let her legacy be forgotten. Sarah really lived her life by the saying Carpe Diem. It was actually her license plate. And although her life was taken at just 48 years old, I'd like to believe she seized as many days as she could.

• 45:17Kendall Rae?

  And it certainly seemed that way from what I've been able to learn about her. And also, the fact that she held the truth in such high regard is very admirable. And she, you know, fought for the truth in her work. And that gives me a lot of hope that maybe karmically, the truth will be revealed in her case. And that maybe one day, she and all of her loved ones can finally get the justice that they all deserve. And lastly, of course, if you happen to have any information on her murder, even if it's something that may seem small to you, please contact the Faukeer County Sheriff's Office at 540-347-3300.

• 46:02Kendall Rae?

  That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

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