12-year-old Sara Anne Wood was last seen on August the 18th, 1993. She was riding her bike to her family home on Hacadam Road in Frankfort, New York after attending summer Bible school at Norwich Corners Church, which was less than a mile away from her home.
At around 2:30pm, Sara was seen biking up a steep hill on Hacadam Road, just less than 0.4 miles from her home. Sara has not been seen since.
Sara’s bike was later found in an area of bushes just off Hacadam Road, leaning against a tree.
In 1996, Lewis S.Lent Jr was charged with the abduction and murder of Sara. He confessed to police that he had killed her and dumped her body in a clearing close to Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains. He even drew a map of the location for detectives to use.
However, when police searched the area extensively, nobody was ever found. Lewis then retracted his confession and said that Sara had never been buried there. He said that another body had been buried close to where he led detectives, but that he didn’t want that body to be found.
Lewis was convicted of abduction and murder in relation to Sara’s case, and he was also charged with the abduction and murder of James Bernardo, a 12-year-old boy who was killed in Massachusetts in 1990.
As Sara’s body has never been found, her case remains open and unsolved. It is strongly believed that foul play is involved in Sara’s disappearance.
Sara’s family set up the Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center, which was later renamed the Mohawk Valley Branch of The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Tags:
Unsolved, Missing, Missing Child, Foul Play, Investigation, True Crime, USA
Lost Voices 
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