Erin Moriarty, correspondent on 48 Hours, is on the case when the program investigates the murder of a child in the season 37 premiere on CBS and Paramount Plus Saturday, September 21. “The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood” looks at the case of 12-year-old Wood, who disappeared on her way home from church in Sauquoit, New York in 1993. Lewis Lent is in prison for the murder, but won’t say where he buried the girl’s body.
Moriarty first investigated the Sara Anne Wood case back in 1994. It was, at the time, unsolved, and Moriarty interviewed another 12-year-old girl, Becky Savarese. She had been walking in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, some 130 miles east of where Wood was taken, when a man drove up, pulled a gun, and told her to get into his truck. Moriarty said Savarese faked an asthma attack, and got away. She shared license plate numbers from the man’s truck, and Lent was arrested within 24 hours.
“The child was so calm,” Moriarty told B+C. “I said, weren’t you scared? and she said, No.”
Moriarty described the Wood case as a “cautionary tale,” and one that affected her, the mother of a young child when she first encountered the case, on a personal level. “I realized how easily and quickly a child can be taken,” Moriarty said. “That’s what this show is a reminder of. I think it’s an important story to tell.”
After Lent confessed to killing Wood, he drew a map to where he said he buried her in a remote location in the Adirondack Mountains. Police investigated, but she was never found.
Asked why Lent isn’t more forthcoming regarding the burial place, Moriarty said, “That’s the only power they have. They have information.”
Law enforcement continues to work with Lent and try to get him to share where the body is buried. “At a time when there are so many questions about police work, it reminds viewers about the really dedicated investigators who took the case so personally,” said Moriarty, “and are determined to bring some kind of resolution to the family.”
That includes Sara Anne’s brother Dusty, who was nearly 17 when his sister was taken. Moriarty noted how a child in that situation not only loses a sibling, but also deals with parents who are fully consumed in the search, and then the loss, of their other child.
She added that Dusty runs a yearly summer bike ride these days, stopping at schools to pass along tips on children staying safe. He also ended up as a camera operator for his occupation, inspired by Darrell Barton, who filmed the Wood family for 48 Hours over the years.
“He even adopted his style, the way he would shoot,” said Moriarty.
Moriarty is also behind the podcast "Murder in the Orange Grove: The Troubled Case Against Crosley Green," which CBS Audio launched September 18. She said she’s never seen such interest in true crime before.
“We are so divided on political issues,” said Moriarty. “[True crime] is one thing we can still discuss, even if we have a disagreement. These are huge cases, but we can talk civilly about them.”
Three decades after first encountering the Sara Anne Wood case, Moriarty hopes the new episode of 48 Hours brings it a little further along. “I’m hoping someone who knows Lewis Lent’s family, or someone watching the hour, knows more information and could advance the story,” she said. “I’m also hoping people take a look at this case and take it as a cautionary tale, and protect their own children. That really matters to Sara Anne Wood’s parents and family–that no other family goes through what they’ve gone through.”
