For seven years, Lewis Lent worked as a janitor at a movie theater in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. He volunteered his time helping the blind. He studied the Bible and became an ordained minister. He mentored neighborhood kids who called him "the Big Brother." And behind that mask of kindness, he was hunting, abducting, and murdering children across the northeastern United States.In this episode, we trace the full story of Lewis Lent from his troubled childhood in rural upstate New York through his nomadic years drifting across Florida, New Mexico, and the Northeast, to the horrific crimes that would eventually define him.

We cover the nineteen ninety abduction and murder of twelve year old Jimmy Bernardo from a Pittsfield strip mall, the nineteen ninety two disappearance of sixteen year old Jamie Lusher in Westfield, Massachusetts, and the nineteen ninety three kidnapping, rape, and murder of twelve year old Sara Anne Wood in Sauquoit, New York.We also tell the story of the girl who stopped him. Twelve year old Becky Savarese, who faked losing her breath and slipped out of her backpack to escape Lent at gunpoint on a frozen January morning in nineteen ninety four. Her courage and quick thinking cracked open cases that had gone cold for years and ended a predator's reign of terror.

This episode covers the massive multi-state investigation, the three day interrogation that produced Lent's chilling confessions, his so-called "master plan" to imprison children in a hidden room in his apartment, and the courtroom proceedings that put him away for life.

We also examine the thirty year search for Sara Anne Wood's body, a search that continues to this day because Lewis Lent refuses to tell her family where he buried their daughter.

If you have any information about the whereabouts of Sara Anne Wood or Jamie Lusher, please contact the New York State Police Troop D Headquarters at 315-366-6000.

If you’re drawn to real criminal investigations, cold cases, and the details that don’t always make it into the official report, make sure you’re following The Guilty Files wherever you listen.

Turn on automatic downloads so you never miss an episode — because each case unfolds in two parts, and the truth is rarely found in just one.If you value careful analysis, real law enforcement insight, and true crime without the sensationalism, consider leaving a five-star rating and written review.

It helps more than you know and allows us to keep bringing these case files to light.

Until next time —The facts matter.
The details matter.
And the truth is often redacted.