Latest / True Crime and Wine Time / S6 E29 - Sarah Hartsfield_ Black Widow - Part 3_ Up in Flames _ TCWT Podcast

Transcript

S6 E29 - Sarah Hartsfield_ Black Widow - Part 3_ Up in Flames _ TCWT Podcast · True Crime and Wine Time

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to True Crime and Wine Time.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: I'm Terry and I'm Lama.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Tonight we are uncorking the truth one of the darkest
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: crimes and breaking it down together with you.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: One case, one conversation, and one or maybe two glasses
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: of wine to take a job. It's time to get
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: comfortable and double check those locks before we just started.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: So let's take a sip and dive in.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: I forgot to do all my pre ritual stuff. Uh oh, hello, everybody.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: A notification that Terry and Lam are on, so I
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: gotta go.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Oh, you gotta go. Well. Hello everybody, Welcome in Happy
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Thursday night. Her answers to my get ready rituals.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Just eight amos. Hello, Pam in disguise, Hello Terry True Crime.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Hello everybody. Now, it's a very special day. Do you
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: know what today is. It's Terry's birthday, It's Terry True
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Crimes birthday. It's your birthday.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: My birth hasn't felt like a birthday day, but it
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: is my birthday.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to just say, don't schedule medical procedures, treatments
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: and stuff on your birthday because you kind of feel
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: not so sparkly.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Thanks. Yeah, yeah, don't do that next time.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: But hey, you think Fluffy Mike.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Cover you do. They're spreading like wildfire. And then you
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: have plans right after this to celebrate your birthday.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Has been invited our neighbors over to have cake in
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: the open presence.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Apparently I love that. Well, happy birthday to you, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: thanks for still doing the story tonight. Why not?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Because this story I'm so invested in. I wouldn't miss
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: it for anything.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: That's true. That's true. Well, guys, though, before we begin,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: if you're watching us on YouTube, please hit the like button.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It puts our little channel out there into the algorithm
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: and lets everybody know that we go live. Subscribe to
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: our channel, and hit the notification bell so you never
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: miss when we go live or drop an episode, which
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: is all of the time.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Which is all of the time. And if you're listening
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: to this as a pod on the podcast apps, please download,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: leave me a rating and review. Oh my goodness, excuse me,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: I had a law of burb mass. It helps our
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: little pod get noticed and it's just sparkling water. And
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: if you'd like to support our podcast and get your
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: episodes add free, you can join our supporters club on
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: the podcast app of your choice.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Nice. Nice. You can also become a member of our
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: YouTube channel, which comes with all sorts of exclusive perks.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Just click the join button and pick which tier works
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: best for you. If you've had your eye on one
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: of our quarterly merch boxes, which are fantastic. Terry does
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: all of those herself, putting them together and they're magical.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Be sure you joined the Forever Fam level by July
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: thirtieth and remaining that member level through September, because then
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in October you'll receive our newest exclusive box themed Carnival
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: of Crimes. And apparently you don't want to miss this one.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I don't know what's in it yet, but I know
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: I'll be getting a sneak peak soon enough.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Maybee may maybe just keep this one a full oh
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: sacred oh.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: So we'll see.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: And also, guys, just to let you know that I
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: am back with Midday Missing. I will be back on
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: Monday one pm Eastern with new cases of missing persons.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Come and join me and let's help these family get
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: the word out.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Yes, a very important cause. And then for me, we're
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: starting our own couch court with Lama channel on YouTube.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: We got about two hundred subscribers so far and could
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: definitely use some more. So find Couch Court with Lama
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: on YouTube, where right now we are covering Laura Owens
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: bricks and minifigs and some other big surprises that I've
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: been working on this week that we'll start covering soon enough.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: But that is Couch Court with Lama on YouTube.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Well, Mary, because people are scared of clowns, there will
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: be no clowns in the box. There will be no
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: clowns because I got to think, and I love this community,
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: and some people have serious fears of clowns.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. True, So because of that, I am.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Not going to sit anybody any clowns. Yay, not even cute. Nope, okay,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: not even.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Oh goodness, tell you what. We had beautiful weather here
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: today and now all of a sudden it's gotten all
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: warm again and humid, and I don't like it.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: We have another heat wave. I think we were only
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: one hundred and one today with it feels like one
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: oh seven or something.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: What that's crazy. Yeah, well, you guys, tonight we are
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: back to the Sarah Hartsfeld story, Part three. I own
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: the last who have been quite enthosy. But before we
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: get into that, let's talk about what we're drinking tonight.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I am having water, sparkling water because I'm trying to
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: be here with you guys, And if I drink a glass,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know what it would do after my shots today,
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I might be in bed.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Right, I too, am drinking water. Well, I'm drinking water
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: with the blueberry lemon meo, which is my favorite of
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: all of the meos. We're like obsessed with it. It's
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: for relaxing, I guess. But you know, both both Terry
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: and I like to be responsible and we are somewhat medicated,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: so we're not going to be risky and mix that
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: with alcohol tonight. So you get water, So.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: You get water, and guys, we're just as funny.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we think right, so we think all right.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: Well with that, let's get into tonight's case, shall we.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, guys, now, I'm going to welcome you all back here. Okay. Now,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: if you've been on this ride with us for this
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: mini series, you know we are deep in the trenches
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: of the Sarah Hartsfield saget And if you're just dropping in,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: stop right there, go back binge episodes one and two,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: then come back here because you're gonna need all the foundation.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Everything we say is going to be crazy if you don't. Hello,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: mister lackey.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Oo card Lackie, Happy to see you here. Responsible, no fun,
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: I know, but sometimes yeah, I'll be right, all right.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Sometimes you have to adult. Okay, that's true, and I
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: can tell you my calend Roby here says adulting is
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: bullshit to do.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: We're down it. But anyway, back to the story. So
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: last week we dug into the blueprint of a predator.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: We tracked Sarah from a childhood sustained by generational violent
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: and a convicted killer stepfather straight into a chilling pattern
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: of behavior. We watched her first husband, Titus, survive a
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: terrifying gasoline incident at his trailer, and husband number two, Michael,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: endured an assault that landed Sarah and handcuffs for the
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: very first time. And then we closed out with Sarah
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: donning a US Army uniform in nineteen ninety seven, using
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: the military structure as the ultimate armor to camouflage her
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: escalating need for absolute control. Yeah, it was that much
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: of a wild ride in one episode, In case you
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: haven't listened to the others.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, guys, it's a wild story. Okay, wild Now in
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: this episode, episode three, We Are Cracking, opened the longest
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: relationship of Sarah's life, her nearly two decade marriage to
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: her husband number three, Christopher Donahue, and to the outside world,
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: this was the illusion of an absolute stability, the marriage,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: the house, and the baby carriage.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: But as always in these stories, behind closed doors, a
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: domestic cold war was brewing, and when Sarah's control began
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: to slip, the consequences were devastating. We are tracking a
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: trail of absolute chaos, from a bitter family feud in
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Missouri to the explosive Brian Altis affair. So everybody grab
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: your glasses and lock your doors, because this is episode three.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Up in Flames. Mm hmmm, yep, up in Flames. I
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: think that's a good indicator of where we're going tonight.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Now, by nineteen ninety nine, Sarah was settled into her
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: military career and she was stationed up north at Fort
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska. How can we keep going back
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to Alaska?
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: It's always Alaska, It's always Alaska.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Now. It was here amidst the freezing, sub zero temperatures
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: of an army outpost that she crossed paths with Christopher Donahue.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Now, Christopher wasn't just a casual date for her. He
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: was a serious and deeply committed military man. He would
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: go on to spend more than two decades in the
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: United States Army, eventually retiring at the prestigious rank of
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Master sergeant. He was career to and through. Yeah, and
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: when he met Sarah, he didn't see the volatile ghost
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: of her past. No, he saw a fellow soldier, a sharp,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: disciplined human resource specialist who seemed to match his work
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: ethic and understand the grueling demands of military life. I'm
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: sure he was like, that's probably not the easiest thing
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: to find. I imagine when you're in a military, like
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: a career career agreed.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I bet he was like, check, check, check, I mean,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: got everything.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So some mu's being I mean, I already know. It's
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: incredibly difficult to be married to anyone in the military, right, Yeah,
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: a lot of sacrifice, a lot of time away, and
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: so it probably was nice to be like, oh, somebody
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: gets it, you know. Yep.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Now, the courtship moved with Sarah's signature terrifying lightning speed
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: was the only speed he had. Guys in relationships in
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: August of nineteen ninety nine, they officially tied the knot
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: so for the very first time in Sarah live she
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: had a wedding that wasn't a brief placeholder. She legally
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: took his last name, becoming Sarah Donahue, a name she
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: would tightly cling to as a badge of respectability for
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: nearly twenty years.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: And then came the baby carriage, and over the span
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: of their nearly two decade marriage, Sarah and Chris had
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: four children together, daughters Ashley, Hannah, Emma, and their only son, Ryan,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: who you will hear a lot about.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Now, to anyone looking from the outside thought Donna
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Hughes were the gold standard of an American military family.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: They moved from base to base as christ and Sarah
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: climbed the ranks, eventually settling near fort Hood, Texas.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Now on Facebook and in neighborhood circles, Sarah meticulously crafted
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: the image of the ultimate hyper protective super mind and
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: of course, fierce patriot. She ran the household though like
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: age Rell Sergeant, organizing spotless holiday dinners and perfect family gatherings,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: and her foster mother, Barb Barb Stewart, she recalled that
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Sarah was extremely demanding of the children, but everyone assumed
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: it was just high standard military parenting, which I don't
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: really know what that means because I wasn't raised like
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: From my understanding, because my husband's dad retired from the military.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: He spent thirty something years in the military, and it
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: was your bed was made every day, there wasn't a
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: wrinkle in your bottom sheet. Everything's in the place it
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: should be.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of thing.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: But we're going to learn it wasn't just military parenting, guys. Okay,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: But during her twenty twenty five Texas murder trial, the
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: courtroom set in stunned, breathless silence as Christopher's family in
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: his own children, finally broke their silence. Christopher himself has
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: fiercely declined to do public media interviews, maintaining a strict
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: wall of privacy to protect what remains of his family,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: but his action spoke volumes. He eventually went through a
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: grueling custody battle, secured a high level protective order against Sarah,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: and moved his life to Arizona, which we're going to
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: talk about later in another episode.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because there's nine of these bad boys. Let me
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: tell you what. But it was their children, Ashley Hannah
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Emma and Ryan Donna Hu who took the witness stand,
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: courageously refusing to look their mother in the eye as
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: they painted a horrific picture of what life was truly
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: like behind the suburban facade.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, I did put the band around, but I
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: want to let everybody know there is some mention of
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: some child abuse and things like that. So if that's
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: not for you, we don't get into heavy details, but
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: just want to let you know it's mentioned.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Now. Ryan took the stand and exposed the brutal physical
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: reality of growing up under Sarah's roof. He recounted an
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: incident from the fourth grade where he was forced to
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: stay home from school for an entire week because his
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: face was heavily disfigured and his body covered in deep bruises.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: He testified that when he finally went back to school
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: and casually mentioned to a friend why he'd been gone,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: the friend looked at him in horror and said, dude,
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: that's child abuse. And Ryan told the jury that that
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: was the exact moment he realized his home life wasn't normal.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Think about that, guys, because you think it's normal if
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: it happens all the time, right, yeah, Now, the jury
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: learned of a chilling twenty fifty twenty fifteen incident report
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: from the Bell County Sheriff's office, which documented severe abuse
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: of their oldest daughter, Ashley, who was found with the
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Black Guy whip, lacerations all over her back and what
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: appeared to be broken fingers. Ryan testified that while their dad,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Chris would discipline them sometimes, it was never to the aggressive,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: endless extent of what their mother.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Did, and worse than the physical scars was the psychological conditioning.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Ryan testified that Sarah strictly enforced a cult like rule
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: in the house that what happens in the house stays
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: in the house, and.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: When Sarah occasionally offered to have hearted apologies to teach
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: her to teach her children for messing up as a mother,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Ryan revealed that there was always a sinister catch. She
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: would tell them, I did this wrong, but I was
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: with your dad at the time, and I was so
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: sad and unhappy being married to him, and that affected me.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: But as Ryan bluntly told the prosecutor, there's an apology
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: that there is no accountability.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, over and over again for them, so sad. Now,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: in twenty fourteen, the tight lid Sarah kept on her
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: house blew completely off during a family trip back to
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: her roots in Missouri. Now, at this point, Sarah and
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: Christopher's marriage was already a white hot pressure cooker, but
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: the catalyst for total destruction came from her own flesh
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: and blood, her brother, Cody Smith, and it would expose
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: the links she would go to when she felt financially
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: or emotionally slighted. She does not get better, listeners, Okay,
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: worse getting better, Yeah, only worse. Now.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: Cody was one of the few people who truly understood
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: the volatile landscape Sarah had escaped from Okay, but he
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: had managed to maintain a relationship with her grandmother, and
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: just three months after Sarah and Chris bought their own house,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Cody called with the devastating news that their grandmother had
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: sadly passed away. Sarah went back immediately, but guys, as
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: her family would later note, it wasn't.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: Because she was heartbroken. No, never, I do not like
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: this woman. So after the funeral, Sarah stayed at her
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: grandmother's house with her brother Cody and his family, who
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: had already been living there for some time right because
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: they were taking help them take care of things. But
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: within days the atmosphere shifted from grief to greed. Tensions
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: escalated rapidly when Sarah began aggressively going through her grandmother's belongings,
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: selecting items that she was planning on taking, and that's
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: when she was hit with the ultimate insult to her control.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: She was told that, well, she wasn't included in the
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: will at all, and I'm sure she took this well,
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: end of story right now.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Yet we wouldn't be here if that was the case.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Right now, their grandmother had left behind at home in
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty five prime acres of Missouri farmland,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: and she left it all explicitly and solely to Cody,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and guys. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: else because he and his wife had been the ones
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: taking care of their grandmother and the property for years, years,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: and in recognition of that, the grandma had left everything
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: to Cody, but guys, Sarah Hartsville was not a woman
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: willing to accept a rejection from the dead listen.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Cody, knowing his sister's intense nature and wanting to keep
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: the peace, tried to soften the blow. He told her,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: you know what, she should go through the house and
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: take absolutely anything she wanted. He just wanted to get
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: through the process without a war, which I get, right,
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: because you might as well just who cares?
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: That says a lot about him now cares more about
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: his grandmother, his memory and stuff like that than the
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: material you want that hutch take it girl, right. But guys,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Sarah couldn't even do that right because what was followed
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: was a screaming match of epic proportions, because Sarah didn't
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: want a piece of jewelry or family memento. She wanted
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: what she believed she was owed. Cody would later testify
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: in Sarah's trial in twenty twenty five that Sarah looked
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: him in the eye and explicitly vowed to fight him
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: for the house, the land, and everything else, citing the massive,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: significant debt she owed to her own recently purchased home.
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: And she stormed off. But guys, Sarah never truly retreated.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: No, she came back, and this time she brought trucks
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: and the trailers, and Cody watched as she began treating
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: the home like a retail storm, loading up whatever she pleased,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: even sitting with her laptop to look up the exact
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: value of the items she was taking. Class act Sarah,
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: class act.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, should I say shocked Pikachu face? But that
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: is tacky?
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know what, Cody chose not to stop
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: her operating, under the desperate hope that if she just
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: took what she wanted, she would find finally leave them alone.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: But guys, this is Sarah, and Sarah hadn't come alone.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Her daughter, Ashley was trapped right there with her, forced
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: to watch the entire spectacle. Ashley later recalled being absolutely
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: terrified and that her mom was on a complete rampage,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: driven by a toxic sense of pure entitlement, and if
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Sarah couldn't own that house, then.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Nobody would then came. The night everything changed. Around two am,
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: Cody woke up gasping for air. The unmistakable sharp sting
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: of smoke filled his lungs. And it wasn't a small fire.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: The entire house was being actively consumed by a full blown,
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: roaring blaze. How scary is that? Mm hm oh number
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: two in the story?
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Now panicked, Cody ran to his brother's house nearby
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: for backup. Working together in the dead of Mott Knight,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: they managed to fight through the smoke and rescue Cody's
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: young son, Sarah's own nephew, Xander, from the burning structure.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Xander survived, suffering money or burns and severe smoke inhalation,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: but sadly, Cody's dog, Fluff, did not make it out alive.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: About thirty minutes. I know that's sad, sorry, Fluff. About
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: thirty minutes after the fire department finally packed up and
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: left the charred ruins, Sarah materialized at the scene. What snow,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: that's wild, Cody recalled her, appearing completely calm and kind
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: of eerie and alert. Now what do you think? Her
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: first words were it or her brother, who had just
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: barely escaped with his life. Are you okay? Is anyone safe? Maybe?
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: Perhaps Lamma, you're not even close, sweetheart, Okay you're not. Instead,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: she coldally demanded to know why Xander was in the house.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: Why was Ander even there? According to Cody, she later
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: continuously questioned why the boy had even been staying there
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: that night. So weird, so weird. Glad to see she
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: cares that a child was there, and she almost killed
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: a child.
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: I don't think she cares them.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: I don't think she cared either.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Now, when a state fire investigator examined the ash, they
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: encountered a heavily compromised scene because due to multiple distinct
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: hotspots found throughout the entire structure, they couldn't officially determine
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: the cause of the blaze, But investigators did note when
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: highly specific and fact detail during their interview with Sarah,
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: her face was covered in a fresh and angry poison
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: ivy rash.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: And guys, it was a detail that sat heavily with
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: the fire marshal, considering a massive patch of poison ivy
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: was growing directly on the back of the house, right
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: where the fire had originated.
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: It's kind of not accessed at all, not at all.
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: I love that karma for her, though facious to their
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: an itch all day. Ultimately, Cody was able to collect
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: the insurance payout for the destroyed home and the belonging
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: Sarah hadn't already managed to haul away. Now. As for Sarah, well,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: the suspicions that lingered around her in Missouri never, unfortunately
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: solidified into handcuffs. For some reason, she was never criminally
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: charged and connect with the destruction of her grandmother's home.
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I mean, guys, I agree that the poison ivy might
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: be circumstantial, but I'm sorry. If I was on a
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: jury and her actions and here and everything, I would
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: have been like.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: There you go, it's okay.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: But she escaped the ashes clean, even after a former
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: motherish in law door swatter later Okay, let me try
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: that again. She escaped the ashes clean, even after her
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: former kind of mother in law doors swore later went
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: to authorities and testified that Sarah had explicitly bragged about
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: setting the blaze for the sole purpose of ensuring Cody
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: would never inherit that property. But Sarah didn't rush back
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: to Texas immediately. Instead, she stayed in town y long
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: enough to start something entirely new.
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, that's ballsy to oh and talk about
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: it later, like what.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: And why isn't that enough?
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Now, while Chris Donahue, her husband you remember
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: that guy well, while he remained back in Texas trying
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: to keep their fragile household together, Sarah was actively leading
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: a secret double life. The catalyst for this hidden world
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: began right after her grandmother's funeral, when she reconnected with
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Brian Altis, someone she had known since childhood. Now what
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: began as a nostalgic reunion quickly turned into what Brian
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: would later describe as a two year roller coaster. And
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: it was gonna be one that pulled him in fast
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: and didn't let go easily. Yeah.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Now, to pull this off, Sarah executed a massive, calculated
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: game of manipulation on both sides. She showed her husband
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Chris that her repeated, lengthy trips back to Missouri were
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: entirely about settling her grandmother's or her grandmother's affairs, just
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: your normal routine, necessary steps after the death of a
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: family member. Chris, trusting his wife, had no reason to
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: doubt her, But she told Brian something entirely different. She
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: had convinced Brian that her fifteen year marriage was completely
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: over and that a divorce was already actively in motion.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: And what Brian didn't know was that Sarah and Chris
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: hadn't filed a single piece of divorce paperwork. Chris thought
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: his loving wife was simply handling an estate, completely unaware
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: she was playing the role of a single woman in Missouri.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, we see people do it, but man, that's
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: balsy man, that's balsy, thank you. Sorry, I had to
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: get small water. In the beginning, Brian felt incredibly hard
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: for her. He truly believed he had finally found the
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: woman for him. Sarah had an intoxicating way of making
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: him feel important. She was attractive, attentive, and good in bed,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: so seemingly everything a man could ever want.
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: But the honeymoon phase quickly sour to none of our surprises.
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: The relationship fast became both the happiest and most miserable
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: time in Brian's life. It was a volatile, high stakes
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: connection that burned white hot and was completely unstable.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The control and jealousy escalated to such a toxic
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: degree that at different points throughout the two years, both
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Sarah and Brian ended up taking out legal restraining orders
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: against each other. Guys, that's a good indication you shouldn't
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: be together.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Split up? Yeah, just tell you.
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: And through every single bit of this chaos, Sarah is
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: still legally married to and living with her actual husband
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Chris Dona Hugh and their children.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So, by twenty sixteen, Brian had reached his absolute
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: breaking point with all of this bs and tried to
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: end the relationship for good, and as we've learned so far,
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: Sarah just wasn't a woman you could just walk away from.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: In the moment Brian tried to cut ties, Sarah deployed
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: a classic desperate manipulation tactic that we're very familiar with
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: already for a different story. She told him she was pregnant. Yeah,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: we got ourselves another Laura here, I see Owens and
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Taylor Parker.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: No now, well, Brian immediately smelled a lot okay, because
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: he was remembering that Sarah previously told him that she
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: had her tubes died. So still to handle the situation,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: he agreed to one final meeting at his.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: House, and when Sarah arrived, Brian refused to even let
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: her step inside. He stood outside talking with her, trying
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: to convince her to take a pregnancy test right then
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: and there in front of him, and Sarah of course,
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: fiercely refused, as one does.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Of course, I bet she didn't follow Laura Owens and
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: get the HG hormones to take.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: Uh huh, we should come past that test.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Now, realizing her leverage had failed, Sarah prepared to leave,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: but she did make one final request. She asked, Hey,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: can I use your bathroom real quick before I hit
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: the road, And Brian, wanting to avoid a scene and
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: just get her out of his life, he said, sure,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: I would have. So Sarah went inside, used the bathroom,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: came back out, and went on her way.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Now relieved that the confrontation was finally over, Brian left
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: his house and head it to a local bar, most
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: likely to celebrate the fact that he was that this
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: was going to be the last time he would ever
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: see Sarah Hartsfeld and that she was finally gone. But
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: his piece lasted about less than an hour.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, anybody guessing what's going to happen? So within forty
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: minutes of Sarah leaving his property, Brian's phone rang, but
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: it wasn't a raging rant.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: From his ex.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: It was the police to let him know his house
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: was actively on fire.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: What. Yeah, that's fire number three and this story incident ink.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And it's not very often you see a female arsonist.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: But no, but she's definitely a female arsen. It's not
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: talked about much, I feel, or as much focus as like,
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: it's very rare.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: My understanding is extremely rare.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Now, firefighters had rushed to the scene and managed
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: to keep the structure from being completely lost, but the
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: damage was still pretty severe. The fire had started directly
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: in Brian's bedroom and it was burning quick and fast,
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: filling the entire home up with thick, black smoke. Brian
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: later described the aftermath as a total gut job and
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: that kind of devastating structural damage you just can't repair.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: You have to basically rebuild from scratch everything.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: And in the immediate aftermath of the blaze, Sarah actually
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: called Brian and guys, and as you expected, she didn't
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: sound panicked at all. Instead, she told him that she
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: was sorry about what had happened. Then she tried to
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: deflect the blame entirely, suggesting to Brian that maybe one
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: of his own relatives was responsible for torching his home
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and fiercely denied having any involvement.
• 33:30
  Speaker 2: And guess what, Brian didn't believe a single word of it.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: He wanted absolutely nothing to do with her, so, realizing
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: she had completely lost her grip on him and that
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: the police were sniffing around, Sarah eventually agreed to leave
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: his life for good and head back to Texas. To
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: her husband, Chris, it's what a wild thing for you.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: I know you're spoused to be out and like that's wow. Yeah.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: Now, for those of you at home who are accounting,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: this makes the third fire, guys, So let's recap the
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: track record. Okay, Sarah has left in her wake just
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: this far. First she poured gasolene on the trailer home
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: where her first husband, Titus and his new girlfriend were sleeping.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: Then her grandmother's three hundred and twenty five acre homestead
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: in Missouri burned completely to the ground after in her
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: inheritance dispute. And now just forty minutes after a final
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: breakup with Brian Altus, his bedroom mysteriously ignites.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: That is three devastating fires, three ruined properties, and guess what,
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: zero criminal charges and unfortunately the worst is skill to come.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Mary app to say, real quick, yes, we
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: keep fighting them for you.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: Don't all the cases. These cases.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: So it has been said by true crime commentators and
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: people close to the case that Sarah was actually at
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: her most stable during her nineteen year marriage to Chriss.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to just say, looking at the trail
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: of ashes she left behind in twenty fourteen and twenty
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: sixteen while wearing Chris's rings, you have to stop and
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: think if this was Sarah at her most stable. Oh, well,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: we're in trouble.
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right, we are in trouble. Yikes. Well, friends, that
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: brings us to the end of part three. We have
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: tracked Sarah Hartsfeld through a literal trail of ashes, leaving
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: three separate relationships in ruins and three highly suspicious fires
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: in her rear view mirror, all while maintaining the ultimate
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: facade of a dedicated military wife. But the luck she
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: enjoyed through three fires was about to collide with a
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: smoking gun.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: Yep, because, guys. Next time on True Crime and Wine Time,
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: we are crossing the border into Minnesota and stepping directly
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: into the tragic, chaotic storm that was the David Bragg affair.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: We are unpacking how Sarah's deceptive patterns reached a pathological
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: breaking point, or, as we like to put it, how
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: she proved she had the absolute liabetes.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: But while she thought she was executing the perfect con,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: she forgot one critical detail. Her children were watching, and
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: children see everything. So we will expose the moment she
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: was caught red handed in the act, cementing her reputation
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: among those who knew her best as the absolute, the
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: worst mom. Ever, Yet somehow, despite the chaos, she managed
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: to secure an engagement ring from David Brack.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: But the fairy tale wouldn't last. The mask began to
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: slip and the control began to fracture, and on May ninth,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the taticity turned fatal. When the police arrive.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: Sarah has too many stories, too many shifting timelines, and
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: one too many excuses. But just like the fires were pasted,
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: the justice system fails to hold her accountable, and Sarah
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: walks away scott free again.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: It is the fatal turning point in the Sarah Hartsfield saga,
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: the moment she realizes she can pull a trigger and
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: literally get away with it. So get your glasses ready,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: because next week the body count officially begins.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean law enforcement. So many times she
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: just gets through.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Their thing. It's truly unbelievable. It happens so often in
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: stories we cover of just all these preventive, you know things.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: But there's there's a lot of conversations that could be
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: had from this story.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: Mary, all, were the kids at this point?
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: I want to I mean they're preteens, I.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: Would say preteens.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've seemed to Undertin like so kind of spread
• 38:39
  Speaker 2: out a little bit. I think Ashley the oldest is
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: about fourteen or fifteen maybe at this point close in that.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so yeah, next week I will be bringing the
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: wine for sure, for sure. But thank you all for
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: being here with this tonight. And if you liked what
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: you heard, be sure to follow all of our show's
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: social media accounts or subscribed to our YouTube channel because
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: it's free, and like I said, and if you're listening
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: to our pod, please download and give us a rating
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: because all of that helps us tremendously, tremendously get our
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: channel out there and let you keep up with what's
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: going on.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: Awesome. All right, Well, is there anything you want to
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: say before we sign up? Or I'll go first? How
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: about that you go first today, I'll go first. Thank
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: you all for being with us for this episode of
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: true crime and one time I look forward to next
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: week and until next time, go for it and be amazing.
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: Yes, guys, same here. Please be safe, stay aware, and
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: remember it's free to be kind.
• 39:48
  Speaker 2: That's right. Oh yeah, and happy birthday Terry. Thank you
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: bye friends, We will see you next week. Bye you
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: for the time you want to do any