April 1, 2025 • 43 mins
Fourteen-year-old Sarah Kinslow was dropped off at school in Greenville, Texas, on May 1, 2001, but she never stepped foot inside the building. Her disappearance was swift and silent, leaving behind a trail of questions with no clear answers. As rumors swirled and leads grew cold, Sarah’s family was left to piece together fragments of a mystery. Let's go through the details of Sarah’s last known moments and the uncertainties that continue to cloud the case.
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Resources:
- https://uncovered.com/cases/sarah-kinslow
- https://lookingforsarahkinslow.blogspot.com/
- http://www.sarahkinslow.faithweb.com/
- https://charleyproject.org/case/sarah-elizabeth-kinslow
- https://www.chipchick.com/2025/03/she-went-missing-after-skipping-school-nine-years-later-her-family-got-an-anonymous-tip-in-the-mail
- https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Sarah_Kinslow
- http://www.huntcountytexasmissing.com/sarah-elizabeth-kinslow.html
- https://www.pollyklaas.org/missing-children/sarah-kinslow/
- https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMC/938377/1
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZqkAOrgUjo
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064844432011
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sarah-kinslow-missing_n_1467959
- https://websleuths.com/threads/tx-sarah-kinslow-14-greenville-1-may-2001.16974/
- https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/MP1685
- https://ncmissingpersons.org/sarah-kinslow/
- https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3119dftx.html
- https://www.greenvillechronicle.com/s/1243/Cold-Case:-The-Disappearance-of-Sarah-Elizabeth-Kinslow-in-Greenville-Remains-Unsolved-After-22-Years.php#google_vignette
- https://emtpleasantextra.com/2021/06/cold-case-a-deeper-look-at-the-disappearance-of-sarah-elizabeth-kinslow/
- https://www.ketr.org/local-shows/2018-09-20/buried-bonus-louise-kinslow-extended-interview
- https://www.dps.texas.gov/apps/mpch/MissingPerson/mpDetails/M10-12-20011-13-17PM
- https://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/ketr/files/201809/letter_from_matt_kinslow_--_january_2018_0.pdf
- https://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/ketr/files/201809/letter_from_matt_kinslow_--_julu_2017.pdf?_ga=2.156918654.498371407.1537326525-732592542.1535846578
- https://www.ketr.org/news/2012-05-03/greenville-girls-2001-dissapearance-remains-a-mystery
- https://texasequusearch.org/cases/missing-sarah-kinslow-14-yrs-greenville-tx-05-01-01/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Reverie True Crime, your gateway to the
darkest corners of human nature, where we expose the hidden
truths of human depravity. These harrowing stories serve as a
sobering reminder to keep our senses keen and our awareness sharp.
For predator's lurk in unexpected places, patiently waiting and observing.
(00:25):
Join us as we unravel mysteries, explore motives, and seek
justice for victims. As we bring awareness to these cases.
Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Revere True Crime. I'm your host.
Page one moment, a teenage girl was living her life
a bit rebelliously like any other teenager in Greenville, Texas.
The next she was gone, leaving behind a family desk
(01:00):
ripped for answers, and a small town full of questions.
Join me as we take a closer look at her story.
Let's get started. Sarah Elizabeth Kinslow was born on June fourteenth,
nineteen eighty six, to Louise and John Kinslow in Greenville, Texas.
(01:22):
She was the youngest girl in the family, having at
least four siblings. On the morning of May one, two
thousand and one, fourteen year old Sarah was dropped off
by her dad John at Greenville Middle School. She was
dressed in a colorful T shirt, a teal zip up jacket,
(01:42):
baggy blue jeans, and blue and gray sneakers. Around her neck.
She wore a silver necklace with a pendant that spelled rock,
and on her wrist was a watch with a pink
mini mouse face. But Sarah never stepped foot inside this
school that day. Sarah had told her friends that she
(02:03):
planned to skip school and meet them at East Mount
Cemetery that morning, but when her friends arrived, Sarah never
showed up. Supposedly, no one saw her. After that, her
parents were made aware that their daughter hadn't been to
any of her classes, and the panic started to set in.
(02:25):
Louise and John quickly began making missing flyers for their
daughter to hand out to people and put in store windows.
They went into one store where a clerk said that
they could hang their missing flyer. As they were doing that,
a customer in the store, who was a total stranger,
(02:46):
said to Sarah's parents that he didn't know why they
were even bothering to look for her, because he heard
that she didn't want to be found Louise's immediate reaction
was to question why he would say something like that
to parents whose teenager is missing. Regardless of whether she
(03:09):
ran away or not, she was still a vulnerable child,
and her parents not only wanted to find her, but
also to know more than anything that she was safe.
They went everywhere in Quinland, a small town nearby where
she would hang out, and the surrounding areas to hang
(03:31):
flyers in restaurants, gas stations, and anywhere that would allow it. However,
when Louise and John would go by those places in
Quinland only a few days later, all the flyers would
be gone. Louise and John said Quinland is not the
safest town and hard drugs have really impacted that area
(03:55):
and its residence heavily. Sarah's little brother, Matt, was only
eleven years old when she disappeared. He told everyone that
he spotted her soon after she went missing. She was
at some point suspected to be staying on a street nearby,
in a storage unit behind a friend's house. It's not
(04:17):
clear when her parents found out that she might have
been staying there. Matt said that he saw his sister
walking down that street, which is near the school. He
saw her carrying a paper bag, which she might have
been using to carry clothes that she borrowed from her friends,
and he yelled her name. During this interaction, Sarah told
(04:41):
him to go away and leave her alone. She was
walking towards a pickup truck and hopped inside. That was
the last time that Matt would ever see his sister again,
well sort of, we'll get into that in just a
few moments. Around three point thirty in the afternoon the
(05:02):
day that she didn't show up to school, a witness
reported seeing Sarah inside an older model, light blue Ford
truck driven by a man in his thirties with dark
brown hair and a pencil mustache. Sarah didn't appear distressed,
and she wasn't trying to escape. Police eventually brought canines
(05:24):
to the school, and Sarah's sent was traced to a
location two blocks away, where it abruptly ended in the
middle of the street, as if she had gotten into
a vehicle. Matt was only eleven, so everyone was a
little skeptical when he said he saw his sister, but
it lined up with where the canines eventually lost her scent.
(05:49):
I'm going to read a letter that Matt wrote to
George Hall of eighty eight point nine k E. T R.
In January of twenty eighteen, and Matt was in prison
at the time, and we'll get into why soon. George
had interviewed Louise and John in twenty eighteen, and he
(06:11):
and Matt were writing back and forth to each other.
In this letter, Matt speaks about the time he saw
his sister. There is a part of the letter that
I haven't figured out who he's referring to, but maybe
one of you will. George, Hey, what's going on man?
(06:32):
I hope you had a merry Christmas in a happy
New Year. My Christmas wasn't all that? Just another day.
That makes the seventh I've been away from my family
and should be the last. No worries on reimbursing me
for the stamps. I only stay broke because I eat
up all of my money. Sometimes I sell some of
(06:55):
my drawings for twenty to fifty dollars, depending on what
it is. The only problem is I'm slow at drawing
because I have a lot of other stuff going on,
and as a result, I'm occasionally broke between projects. I've
had a good run these last few months with the holidays.
(07:15):
I don't know why that guy would say that kind
of stuff, knowing he isn't telling the truth. Maybe he
gets some kind of satisfaction from it. Your guess is
as good as mine. I learned a long time ago
to not get my hopes up. Maybe I can learn
something that will help. I plan on doing some of
(07:37):
my own investigating. It doesn't seem like the police are
interested in my sister's case anymore. Maybe if she would
have been one of their kids, they would have found
something out by now. At first, I don't think the
police believed me since I was just a kid. Then
they brought out the canines and picked up percent. All
(07:59):
of a sudden they believed me. Go figure, well, I'm
going to close this letter for now so I can
get it in the mail. I hope things are going
good for you. Take care, Matt PS. Any information you're
willing to share would be a big help. There was
(08:20):
one pretty obvious lead to follow. First, she had been
seeing eighteen year old Curtis Wayne Bell, a relationship that
her parents highly disapproved of. Just one week after Sarah disappeared,
Curtis was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault. Of
(08:41):
a child. No, not Sarah, but another child who was sixteen.
Sarah had written in her diary about her love for
Curtis and her desire to run away with him, even
mentioning that they might run to Mexico if her parents
didn't approve of their relationship. He admitted they had discussed
(09:05):
running away, but claimed that it was never serious. Despite
her romantic thoughts, Sarah had not taken any extra clothes,
her toothbrush, or even her purse. It was as if
she had left, maybe expecting to go back home later on.
(09:26):
Curtis and Sarah were caught together a day or two
later at a gas station. CCTV footage showed Curtis and
Sarah or their lookalikes entering and leaving. His story about
that video would change at least twice. First, he said
(09:46):
the male in the video was him, but it wasn't
Sarah with him. It was supposedly a girl named Michelle,
but Louise knew that was not true. As she explained
to Georgie Tail in their interview, there are things about
your child that you just know. For example, Louise said,
(10:08):
Sarah took long strides and swayed her arms when she
walked plus. She said she obviously knows what her daughter
looks like, no matter how she tried to change her
appearance by chopping off her hair and dying at brown.
So when a couple of months went by, she asked
(10:29):
Curtis again about the footage. That time he claimed it
wasn't him on the video at all. When Louise was
shown the video, the police officer with her told her
that it was Curtis, at least in his opinion, and
asked what she thought. She said she honestly couldn't be
(10:49):
one hundred percent sure that it was him, even though
she thought it was, but she knew that was Sarah
without a doubt. The police officer also walked away after
analyzing the video, still confident that the guy in the
footage was Curtis. Louise wanted the police to go to
(11:10):
the gas station and ask the people who were on
duty during the time Sarah was seen on the video
so they could pick the mail in the video out
of a photo lineup. She told law enforcement that she
could get a picture of Curtis and some other guys
and have those employees look at them. However, the police
(11:33):
wouldn't agree to it. According to Louise, one of the
reasons they gave was that it would be too expensive,
which didn't make any sense. Louise did end up showing
the employees a photo of Sarah taken before she went missing,
and an altered photo of what Sarah would look like
(11:55):
with shorter brown hair. The employees immediately said, yes, that
was definitely the girl with the brown hair. Louise already
knew it, but having that confirmation likely helps, not just
with the investigation, but I'm sure it can make you
feel better to hear it from the people who were
(12:17):
there too. Whenever Louise would go to confront Curtis at
his home, his dad would tell her to stop harassing
his son, that he did not have anything to do
with Sarah's disappearance, and he would make her leave. Several
of Sarah's friends were questioned extensively and some failed polygraph tests,
(12:42):
but there were no concrete answers and they were never
polygraph tested or investigated again. Friends of Sarah's would be
seen wearing jewelry or clothes of hers, but as a
lot of teenage girlfriends do, they often swapped clothes, purses, jewelry,
(13:03):
and things like that, but it made Louise wonder if
her daughter was maybe hiding out at one of their houses.
When she would ask Sarah's friends where they got those
certain items, they would tell her that it was something
Sarah let them borrow before she went missing. As a mother,
(13:23):
her mind was always reeling, and I'm sure it must
have been so difficult to believe that her friends would
never lie for her, especially if they knew she was
hiding away somewhere. Louise mentioned that her friends might have
felt like they were quote unquote protecting Sarah from her,
(13:45):
but she didn't understand why they thought that. Her friends
also claimed Sarah would have bruises often, but the Kinslows
said that simply wasn't true. I started to wonder what
might have been going on with Sarah that she chose
to turn to drugs at fourteen years old, or maybe
(14:08):
even a little younger. What problems might she have had
that she possibly turned to substances as an escape or
coping mechanism. At first, I thought, since they lived so
close to Quinland with its reputation, that the issue could
have been started by a peer pressure. Louise said that
(14:30):
Sarah was going through a rebellious phase in her life,
and the likelihood of her running away seemed to be
chalked up to a teenager simply defying the rules that
she disliked. However, I do have a duty to be
honest and forthright from my findings. There have been public
(14:52):
allegations of sexual abuse, heavy drug use, and violence in
the home according to a family member. I have struggled
with whether or not to expand on that, because it's
always important and necessary to be sensitive to the ones
left behind, to pick up the pieces who my heart
(15:15):
does deeply ache for if they didn't do any harm
to the victim, while also being a voice for those who,
in this case likely can no longer speak their side.
So I'll leave that there for you to think about
as we move on. Louise went to the police department
(15:36):
and told them she suspected Sarah was staying in Quinlan
with Curtis and that he was selling drugs out of
his house. She advised them to put up cameras in
the area if they wanted to catch drug dealers, users
and hopefully find her daughter all at the same time,
but law enforcement claimed it would cost too much to
(16:00):
do all of that, which is also what they said
about the photo lineup that Louise wanted to do because
it costs money, apparently to show people's pictures to the
employees at the gas station. Even though she said police
had just recently used Curtis in a photo lineup for
(16:20):
another crime. Law enforcement ultimately said no. So Louise rightfully
pointed out when police said it would cost too much
to set up just one camera in that area, that
the price of a camera was more important than a
human being. The police would then say that people on
(16:42):
drugs would simply rip the cameras down, and basically told
the Kenslows that it was pointless to even try it.
Louise told them that she obviously didn't mean for them
to put the camera in a place that was noticeable
or reachable, but it seemed like nothing she said really mattered.
(17:03):
A lot of issues and dead ends the Kenslow's experienced
were the same as we hear in so many cases,
lazy law enforcement who don't seem to want to do
the actual work and not wanting to spend any money
on search efforts or anything else for that matter. These
(17:23):
are things we hear far too often about police departments
all over America, especially in small towns, and more commonly
when it comes to possible runaways, people who have addictions,
sex workers, or those who have had very hard lives,
(17:43):
they don't get the same treatment most of the time.
Some police don't seem to value their lives as much.
In a lot of cases, as we know, Sarah's case
had no media attention, Unlike many other missing girls at
the time who were on nationwide news every day. They
(18:04):
felt like nobody really cared about their daughter or what
they were going through as a family. Curtis did get
called in for a polygraph test. He failed it, Supposedly
it was due to him sneezing while answering if he
knew where Sarah was. They refused to test him again
(18:28):
and that was that. About a month after Sarah went missing,
her older sister Jill got married a wedding that had
been planned for at least nine months, and after a
little hesitation, everyone decided the wedding would go on. Sarah
was supposed to be one of the bride'smaids and even
(18:50):
had a dress already. Her mother had a hard time
processing that one of her daughters was in front of
her eyes, saying her wedding vows while not knowing if
she would see her youngest daughter ever again. Louise was
also dealing with the pain that eleven year old Matt
was experiencing. He was having a really rough time soaking
(19:15):
it all in and slowly realizing that his big sister
might not ever come back home. As happy as Louise
was for her eldest daughter getting married, she was devastated
by everything else going on. Sarah also has another big
sister who is only a few years older than her,
(19:38):
named Rebecca, and to Sarah, she was the coolest big sister.
She would give her advice and would also allegedly tell
Sarah where to meet people and make friends who would
eventually lead her down a very rocky path. It completely
wrecked Rebecca when Sarah disappeared too. The eldest sister, Jill,
(20:03):
who had just gotten hitched, had moved out of the
Kinslow household a long time ago. She started a life
of her own and wasn't as connected with Sarah as
those who still lived at home. In the months and
years that followed, several possible sightings gave the Kinslow family
(20:23):
fleeting hope. One neighbor of the Kinslows reported seeing Sarah
in a car in Quinlan on Christmas Day two thousand
and one without a doubt. They said they knew it
was Sarah behind them in a car driven by a
man when they were stopped at a red light. They
(20:43):
didn't tell Sarah's parents right away. They eventually did report
it to the police and told them the make and
model of the car that she was in. Shortly after,
authorities claimed they had a phone interview with the mail
driver after tracking him down. It took them a while
to figure out who the car actually belonged to because
(21:07):
it had changed hands several times. They finally found that
it was a man from Princeton, Texas, and police claimed
that they could quote tell just by the phone interview
that he didn't know Sarah and it wasn't Sarah in
the car. The neighbors still don't have any doubt that
(21:28):
it was the Kenslow's daughter in that car. As soon
as the family offered a reward for tips that could
lead to Sarah, the phone started ringing. So many people
made things up in hopes of getting the money. One
woman called Louise and said she lived right next door
(21:49):
to Sarah. Even having the audacity to send Louise a
picture of this person who obviously wasn't Sarah and shared
no similarities whatsoever. There were a lot of calls like that,
thinking they would get an easy payday, praying on a
(22:09):
family fighting for help and answers. There were, however, a
lot of people calling who genuinely believed they saw Sarah.
All the girls who police were able to track down
from those calls were understandably mistaken for Sarah because they
actually had similar hair and or facial features. So there
(22:34):
were people genuinely trying to help, and thankfully, almost every
tip that came in was followed up. On around late
two thousand and one or two thousand and two, there
was a party in Quinlan where a girl named Sarah
died from an overdose. Louise and John quickly met with
(22:56):
the police, ready to find out if it could be
their daughter, but it wasn't there Sarah. The Kinslows also
begged law enforcement to look in the woods around Lake
Towaukeane and in the lake itself. One search team wanted
thirty grand to go out there, but Louise and John
(23:19):
didn't have the money to do that. Lake Towakene is
one place her parents believe if something bad happened to
Sarah and her body was disposed of, it could be
where she was. It is also believed there are other
bodies and remains in that lake. Louise went out and
(23:40):
bought a pair of binoculars. She had a pair already,
but these were an upgrade. There were a few instances
that she put them to good use. She would sit
near Curtis's place and watch as all kinds of people
would come and go through all hours of the day
and likely buying, selling, and using drugs. The times that
(24:05):
she went out there, putting herself in potential danger to
do her own surveillancing that the police wouldn't she never
saw her little girl. In two thousand and two, it
was a very chilly January day when Louise went to Princeton, Texas.
She wanted to find out a little bit more about
(24:27):
this guy who was reported by the neighbors to be
driving with Sarah in the car. It just so happens
his uncle owned a wrecking yard, so Louise used her
brand new binoculars to scan the area for signs of
their daughter, but yet again no luck. Louise did get
(24:47):
a good look at the car her daughter might have
been in only less than a week before. Each house
she passed, she hoped she would happen to spot daughter
around one of them. Sadly she did not. Sarah's parents
talked to different people all around Princeton, showing them pictures
(25:11):
of Sarah, and some of them said they had definitely
seen her before. So the Kinslows found out a little
bit more and went to this restaurant where they were
told the car owner's mother worked. They just wanted to
talk to her and maybe find something out that would
be helpful to them. Right away, the woman shut down.
(25:36):
She did not want to talk to them about it,
claiming that she didn't know anything about Sarah. A possibility
that the Kenslows had thought about was that the neighbors
who reportedly saw her on Christmas Day, since they were
in Quinlan, could have actually been with Sarah and Curtis
(25:57):
that day to use drugs somewhere, maybe at Curtis's or
maybe somewhere else. They could be wrong, but either way,
at least they decided to come forward and rid their
conscience of that and do the right thing. Unfortunately, it
was only another lead that left more questions that no
(26:19):
one would help them find answers to the next thing
to happen would be an anonymous note appearing in the
Kinslow's mailbox. The message suggested they talked to a girl
named Lisa Ann who might have answers, so Louise talked
to her. Anne. Lisa said that she was friends with Sarah,
(26:42):
but that she had no idea what happened to her.
Soon after that, a man named James reached out to
Louise via my Space to explain he was the one
who sent the anonymous letter and why he sent it.
James told her that Lisa Ann absolutely told his wife, Amber,
(27:04):
who was one of Sarah's best friends, that Sarah had
been with Curtis and she overdosed. Then Curtis and Amber's ex,
Nash Waldrp freaked out and buried her body in the woods.
James told Louise that Amber felt so bad for not
telling her, but she felt like since Nash was her ex,
(27:28):
that Louise might put some kind of blame on her
or lash out. She wasn't sure how Louise would react,
so she was scared to tell her what Lisa Anne said.
James felt that he should step up and let the
Kinslows know and explain what Amber was going through. As
she struggled with how to break the news to them.
(27:51):
She couldn't be one hundred percent certain that what Lisa
Anne told her was the truth, but it was still
difficult for her. Tonvi gate the fear of how, when,
and if she should tell Louise while also trying to
wrap her mind around what happened to her best friend.
At the same time, Louise said that she knew Sarah
(28:15):
had been doing drugs with Curtis, and he had also
been arrested for drugs in the past, so what Lisa
Anne said could have been true. Louise and John were
able to get in touch with a search team out
of Houston, Texas called Equisearch. They were brought up to
speed on what was happening and offered Lisa Anne one
(28:38):
thousand dollars for any information that she would be willing
to tell them. Equisearch allegedly bolted out of town back
to Houston shortly after and never returned a single call
from the Kinslow family. They aren't sure if Lisa was
given any of the money, or if she even told
(29:00):
to hold them anything at all. John also pointed out
that small town politics definitely played a role in how
things were unfolding throughout their search for Sarah. Law enforcement
may have told Equi Search to get out of town
and not get involved. The Kinslows can only speculate on
(29:21):
reasons why they left town without communicating with them and
why they never returned their calls. One of Louise and
John's older sons, Jerry, went to prison in the nineteen
nineties and was still locked up when Sarah had gone missing.
Jerry would often talk to people who were from the
(29:43):
Quinland area, and one person told him that Curtis and
other guys were known to get together to drug girls
and then sexually assault them, which sounded legit due to
Curtis's charges of sexually assaul another teenage girl right after
Sarah disappeared. Curtis's mother was clearly worried about the age
(30:08):
gap between Sarah and her son and the possibility of
him getting in more trouble for potentially playing a role
in Sarah's disappearance or death. His mother would often call
Louise and attempts to drain her of more information about
what was going on with Sarah's case, if they'd heard
(30:30):
anything else, or if Curtis had been brought back up
at all. They felt that she was only reaching out,
acting concerned and asking questions because she was trying to
see if Louise would say anything so she could figure
out how to best shield her son, maybe come up
with lies if she felt she needed to. Louise did
(30:53):
say that his mom was nice and part of her
had good intentions, but of course she also knew that
she had her own reasons for wanting to know if
her son had been mentioned anymore. Not long after talking
to Curtis's mother, his aunt, his mother's sister Jenny, added
(31:14):
Louise to MySpace and was asking questions. She told Louise
that Curtis has a brother named Michael who lives in Waco,
and wondered if they had thought about looking into him.
Was this a question asked out of genuine worry for
Sarah or did she just want to know if Michael
(31:34):
was being mentioned in Sarah's case as well. Louise believed
that at the root of it all, all the contact
from his mom and his aunt was only for as
much information as they could get in order to do
what they felt they needed to for Curtis's sake, which
likely would entail anything other than holding him accountable if
(31:57):
he was guilty of anything. His aunt would say that
she and her sister didn't get along and all these
other things against Curtis's mom, possibly a tactic to lower
Louise's guard, wanting to make her believe that she was
a safe person to talk to. Eventually, all of those
(32:19):
communications would stop once they didn't get any answers. In
early two thousand and four, there were reports of Sarah
possibly being seen in many places all over or Again.
There was also a siding in British Columbia, Canada, with
speculation that Sarah was trying to lay low and maybe
(32:43):
begin a new life, but none of these sightings were
ever confirmed. In two thousand and nine, Curtis pleaded guilty
to the sexual assault charges and served a short sentence.
His probation was later revoked in twenty twelve, resulting in
a nine year prison sentence. But despite his connection to Sarah,
(33:07):
Curtis has always denied knowing anything about her whereabouts. When
he was sent to prison for sexually assaulting the sixteen
year old, it came out that he had taken that
child to his grandfather's property, so the Kinslows decided to
just see what the property looked like. They went online
(33:30):
and pulled up a satellite view of the back of
the property. Louise pointed out what looked like a triangular
lump in the ground, and she couldn't help but think
that a body could easily be buried there. It immediately
struck them as a very suspicious spot. The grandparents had
(33:51):
passed away, but Curtis's parents had taken over the place.
They eventually sold it to another man, and the Kinslows
weren't sure if the parents or the other man owned
the property when cadaver dogs were taken there to search around. Unfortunately,
the triangular part that Louise had talked about had piles
(34:14):
and piles of limbs, debris, odds, and ends. All these
discarded items of junk stacked up on top of it
and around it. That spot wasn't a small one either.
It seemed to Louise to likely be fifteen by fifteen feet,
but there was no way to get close to the
(34:37):
actual piece of ground due to the amount of crap
piled on and around it. Nothing was detected by the
dogs during the search. A few years later, Matt believed
he saw his sister. He was at a motel, hanging
out and using drugs, which had consumed his life by
(34:59):
the point. He believed he saw a man at the
motel who was dragging his sister around. He began beating
and kicking down doors at the motel, his head likely
spinning from whatever substances he was indulging in, whipping out
a knife to defend himself and Sarah if he could
(35:20):
find her. In his mind, he was desperately trying to
save her. The cops were called, and when they arrived,
he was yelling belligerently at them to go find her
because he knew she was there. He got so angry
and frustrated at the police that he assaulted the officer.
(35:42):
Matt also still had the knife in his hand, but
he didn't attempt to use it on the officer. He
did hit him, though, which led to a tussle and
a sentence of ten years in prison. He was supposed
to get out of prison in twenty nineteen if he
had made parole, but I couldn't find any information about
(36:03):
whether he had or not. This is a letter he
wrote to George Hale in July of twenty seventeen about
the incident. Mister Hale, Hey, how's it going. Sorry it
took so long for me to respond to your letter,
But here I am. My mom has told me a
little about Carrie Parker side note. She was another girl
(36:26):
that went missing and they thought that she could be
in Lake Tewokene. She also told me about the guy
who quote unquote found a body in the woods by
Curtis's grandparents. Since he wasn't able to take anyone to
this body, I figured he's probably just lying if he
did actually see a body, Why tell you and not
(36:49):
the police first, and why wait so long to say something.
As for your question about what happened to get me
in prison, it was behind drugs. I still don't remember
what all happened that day. I was shooting up meth
and I did too much and blacked out. When I
came back around, I was so high I was seeing
(37:12):
things that weren't really there. Well, I thought I saw
my sister Sarah. I know that sounds crazy, since at
that point she had been missing for ten years, but
you have to understand I was way out of my
head anyway, one moment I see Sarah, and the next
she goes into a motel room. So I kicked the
(37:35):
door in and no one's in the room. I think
I did that two or three times before the police
showed up. At some point I pulled out my knife.
The police were yelling at me to drop it. I
said the only way I was going to drop it
was if they shot me. I told you, I was tripping.
(37:56):
Very glad that didn't happen. Eventually, one of the police
officers managed to get close enough to spray me with
mace and I started trying to fight him. Then I
got taken down by two more police officers and it
was pretty much over with after that. It sucks how
it all happened, but it was definitely a positive thing
(38:18):
for me in the long run. It got me off drugs,
and I don't have a desire for that stuff at
all anymore. I feel like I've matured a lot, and
I think once I'm released, I'll be able to be
more responsible. Anyway, that's what happened. I apologize if I
wasn't very helpful on the other subject. I plan on
(38:40):
doing some of my own investigating when I get out.
Maybe I'll be more helpful. Then I can't call you
because you would have to set up a phone account,
and I think it would cost too much. But anytime
you write, I will right back. I look forward to
hearing from you if you have any more questions. Take care,
(39:01):
Matt kinslow p s what days and times does your
radio show come on. Police eventually deduced that Sarah more
than likely left voluntarily and wasn't kidnapped or off somewhere
living a new life, but her family and close friends
didn't think she would have left without taking any of
(39:24):
her things. In the interview with George Hale, Louise opened
up about how she and Sarah had a big, blown
up argument when she came in late for curfew one night.
Sarah was livid. She took off to her room, shoving
clothes into a backpack, and told her mom she was leaving.
(39:45):
Louise put her foot down and told her that she
wasn't going anywhere, but Sarah spouted back, you just wait,
I will I will leave. It made the hair on
the back of her mother's next stand up because in
her heart of hearts, she said she knew her little
girl meant it. She said, that's what ended up happening
(40:09):
that Sarah ran away with Curtis. At least that was
her feeling and opinion at the time. Sarah's mother has
lived with all this uncertainty and all of these what
ifs for over two decades. She believes the worst happened,
but still holds on to the hope of finding answers.
(40:31):
Every year, on the anniversary of Sarah's disappearance, the family
releases balloons into the sky, a very melancholy tribute to
a daughter whose story remains unfinished to this day. Sarah
Kinslow would be thirty eight years old today. The Charlie
Project notes that she had distinctive features, including crooked front teeth,
(40:56):
a small mole near her collarbone and and multiple piercings
in her ears, and a tattoo of the letter I
on the inside of her ankle. If there's a chance
that she's still alive, she obviously may look completely different now,
but her loved ones have never stopped searching for proof
(41:19):
of what actually happened. I'll have the age progression photos
on all of the podcast social media Instagram, Blue Sky, Tumblr,
the Facebook page x et cetera for you to look
at my hope is that maybe her pictures will jog
someone's memory, or someone will come forward anonymously to tell
(41:43):
something they just remembered. Or if the fact is that
she isn't with us anymore, they might remember hearing where
her body could be. Anything to help a family begin
to get closure. If you have any informa about Sarah's
case at all, please contact the Greenville Police Department at
(42:06):
nine zero three four five seven two nine zero zero.
The truth is still out there, but will anyone be
brave enough to finally tell it? Thank you so much
for listening to this episode, and tune in next week
for a brand new one. Until then, stay safe and
(42:30):
take care.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved, If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle there to
step forward. As author Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,
(42:57):
the dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a
duty of the living to do so for them. Until
we reconvene. My friends stay vigilant and stay informed.
You're listening to Reverie True Crime, your gateway to the
darkest corners of human nature, where we expose the hidden
truths of human depravity. These harrowing stories serve as a
sobering reminder to keep our senses keen and our awareness sharp.
For predator's lurk in unexpected places, patiently waiting and observing.
(00:25):
Join us as we unravel mysteries, explore motives, and seek
justice for victims. As we bring awareness to these cases.
Listener discretion is advice.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hello, and welcome to Revere True Crime. I'm your host.
Page one moment, a teenage girl was living her life
a bit rebelliously like any other teenager in Greenville, Texas.
The next she was gone, leaving behind a family desk
(01:00):
ripped for answers, and a small town full of questions.
Join me as we take a closer look at her story.
Let's get started. Sarah Elizabeth Kinslow was born on June fourteenth,
nineteen eighty six, to Louise and John Kinslow in Greenville, Texas.
(01:22):
She was the youngest girl in the family, having at
least four siblings. On the morning of May one, two
thousand and one, fourteen year old Sarah was dropped off
by her dad John at Greenville Middle School. She was
dressed in a colorful T shirt, a teal zip up jacket,
(01:42):
baggy blue jeans, and blue and gray sneakers. Around her neck.
She wore a silver necklace with a pendant that spelled rock,
and on her wrist was a watch with a pink
mini mouse face. But Sarah never stepped foot inside this
school that day. Sarah had told her friends that she
(02:03):
planned to skip school and meet them at East Mount
Cemetery that morning, but when her friends arrived, Sarah never
showed up. Supposedly, no one saw her. After that, her
parents were made aware that their daughter hadn't been to
any of her classes, and the panic started to set in.
(02:25):
Louise and John quickly began making missing flyers for their
daughter to hand out to people and put in store windows.
They went into one store where a clerk said that
they could hang their missing flyer. As they were doing that,
a customer in the store, who was a total stranger,
(02:46):
said to Sarah's parents that he didn't know why they
were even bothering to look for her, because he heard
that she didn't want to be found Louise's immediate reaction
was to question why he would say something like that
to parents whose teenager is missing. Regardless of whether she
(03:09):
ran away or not, she was still a vulnerable child,
and her parents not only wanted to find her, but
also to know more than anything that she was safe.
They went everywhere in Quinland, a small town nearby where
she would hang out, and the surrounding areas to hang
(03:31):
flyers in restaurants, gas stations, and anywhere that would allow it. However,
when Louise and John would go by those places in
Quinland only a few days later, all the flyers would
be gone. Louise and John said Quinland is not the
safest town and hard drugs have really impacted that area
(03:55):
and its residence heavily. Sarah's little brother, Matt, was only
eleven years old when she disappeared. He told everyone that
he spotted her soon after she went missing. She was
at some point suspected to be staying on a street nearby,
in a storage unit behind a friend's house. It's not
(04:17):
clear when her parents found out that she might have
been staying there. Matt said that he saw his sister
walking down that street, which is near the school. He
saw her carrying a paper bag, which she might have
been using to carry clothes that she borrowed from her friends,
and he yelled her name. During this interaction, Sarah told
(04:41):
him to go away and leave her alone. She was
walking towards a pickup truck and hopped inside. That was
the last time that Matt would ever see his sister again,
well sort of, we'll get into that in just a
few moments. Around three point thirty in the afternoon the
(05:02):
day that she didn't show up to school, a witness
reported seeing Sarah inside an older model, light blue Ford
truck driven by a man in his thirties with dark
brown hair and a pencil mustache. Sarah didn't appear distressed,
and she wasn't trying to escape. Police eventually brought canines
(05:24):
to the school, and Sarah's sent was traced to a
location two blocks away, where it abruptly ended in the
middle of the street, as if she had gotten into
a vehicle. Matt was only eleven, so everyone was a
little skeptical when he said he saw his sister, but
it lined up with where the canines eventually lost her scent.
(05:49):
I'm going to read a letter that Matt wrote to
George Hall of eighty eight point nine k E. T R.
In January of twenty eighteen, and Matt was in prison
at the time, and we'll get into why soon. George
had interviewed Louise and John in twenty eighteen, and he
(06:11):
and Matt were writing back and forth to each other.
In this letter, Matt speaks about the time he saw
his sister. There is a part of the letter that
I haven't figured out who he's referring to, but maybe
one of you will. George, Hey, what's going on man?
(06:32):
I hope you had a merry Christmas in a happy
New Year. My Christmas wasn't all that? Just another day.
That makes the seventh I've been away from my family
and should be the last. No worries on reimbursing me
for the stamps. I only stay broke because I eat
up all of my money. Sometimes I sell some of
(06:55):
my drawings for twenty to fifty dollars, depending on what
it is. The only problem is I'm slow at drawing
because I have a lot of other stuff going on,
and as a result, I'm occasionally broke between projects. I've
had a good run these last few months with the holidays.
(07:15):
I don't know why that guy would say that kind
of stuff, knowing he isn't telling the truth. Maybe he
gets some kind of satisfaction from it. Your guess is
as good as mine. I learned a long time ago
to not get my hopes up. Maybe I can learn
something that will help. I plan on doing some of
(07:37):
my own investigating. It doesn't seem like the police are
interested in my sister's case anymore. Maybe if she would
have been one of their kids, they would have found
something out by now. At first, I don't think the
police believed me since I was just a kid. Then
they brought out the canines and picked up percent. All
(07:59):
of a sudden they believed me. Go figure, well, I'm
going to close this letter for now so I can
get it in the mail. I hope things are going
good for you. Take care, Matt PS. Any information you're
willing to share would be a big help. There was
(08:20):
one pretty obvious lead to follow. First, she had been
seeing eighteen year old Curtis Wayne Bell, a relationship that
her parents highly disapproved of. Just one week after Sarah disappeared,
Curtis was arrested and charged with aggravated sexual assault. Of
(08:41):
a child. No, not Sarah, but another child who was sixteen.
Sarah had written in her diary about her love for
Curtis and her desire to run away with him, even
mentioning that they might run to Mexico if her parents
didn't approve of their relationship. He admitted they had discussed
(09:05):
running away, but claimed that it was never serious. Despite
her romantic thoughts, Sarah had not taken any extra clothes,
her toothbrush, or even her purse. It was as if
she had left, maybe expecting to go back home later on.
(09:26):
Curtis and Sarah were caught together a day or two
later at a gas station. CCTV footage showed Curtis and
Sarah or their lookalikes entering and leaving. His story about
that video would change at least twice. First, he said
(09:46):
the male in the video was him, but it wasn't
Sarah with him. It was supposedly a girl named Michelle,
but Louise knew that was not true. As she explained
to Georgie Tail in their interview, there are things about
your child that you just know. For example, Louise said,
(10:08):
Sarah took long strides and swayed her arms when she
walked plus. She said she obviously knows what her daughter
looks like, no matter how she tried to change her
appearance by chopping off her hair and dying at brown.
So when a couple of months went by, she asked
(10:29):
Curtis again about the footage. That time he claimed it
wasn't him on the video at all. When Louise was
shown the video, the police officer with her told her
that it was Curtis, at least in his opinion, and
asked what she thought. She said she honestly couldn't be
(10:49):
one hundred percent sure that it was him, even though
she thought it was, but she knew that was Sarah
without a doubt. The police officer also walked away after
analyzing the video, still confident that the guy in the
footage was Curtis. Louise wanted the police to go to
(11:10):
the gas station and ask the people who were on
duty during the time Sarah was seen on the video
so they could pick the mail in the video out
of a photo lineup. She told law enforcement that she
could get a picture of Curtis and some other guys
and have those employees look at them. However, the police
(11:33):
wouldn't agree to it. According to Louise, one of the
reasons they gave was that it would be too expensive,
which didn't make any sense. Louise did end up showing
the employees a photo of Sarah taken before she went missing,
and an altered photo of what Sarah would look like
(11:55):
with shorter brown hair. The employees immediately said, yes, that
was definitely the girl with the brown hair. Louise already
knew it, but having that confirmation likely helps, not just
with the investigation, but I'm sure it can make you
feel better to hear it from the people who were
(12:17):
there too. Whenever Louise would go to confront Curtis at
his home, his dad would tell her to stop harassing
his son, that he did not have anything to do
with Sarah's disappearance, and he would make her leave. Several
of Sarah's friends were questioned extensively and some failed polygraph tests,
(12:42):
but there were no concrete answers and they were never
polygraph tested or investigated again. Friends of Sarah's would be
seen wearing jewelry or clothes of hers, but as a
lot of teenage girlfriends do, they often swapped clothes, purses, jewelry,
(13:03):
and things like that, but it made Louise wonder if
her daughter was maybe hiding out at one of their houses.
When she would ask Sarah's friends where they got those
certain items, they would tell her that it was something
Sarah let them borrow before she went missing. As a mother,
(13:23):
her mind was always reeling, and I'm sure it must
have been so difficult to believe that her friends would
never lie for her, especially if they knew she was
hiding away somewhere. Louise mentioned that her friends might have
felt like they were quote unquote protecting Sarah from her,
(13:45):
but she didn't understand why they thought that. Her friends
also claimed Sarah would have bruises often, but the Kinslows
said that simply wasn't true. I started to wonder what
might have been going on with Sarah that she chose
to turn to drugs at fourteen years old, or maybe
(14:08):
even a little younger. What problems might she have had
that she possibly turned to substances as an escape or
coping mechanism. At first, I thought, since they lived so
close to Quinland with its reputation, that the issue could
have been started by a peer pressure. Louise said that
(14:30):
Sarah was going through a rebellious phase in her life,
and the likelihood of her running away seemed to be
chalked up to a teenager simply defying the rules that
she disliked. However, I do have a duty to be
honest and forthright from my findings. There have been public
(14:52):
allegations of sexual abuse, heavy drug use, and violence in
the home according to a family member. I have struggled
with whether or not to expand on that, because it's
always important and necessary to be sensitive to the ones
left behind, to pick up the pieces who my heart
(15:15):
does deeply ache for if they didn't do any harm
to the victim, while also being a voice for those who,
in this case likely can no longer speak their side.
So I'll leave that there for you to think about
as we move on. Louise went to the police department
(15:36):
and told them she suspected Sarah was staying in Quinlan
with Curtis and that he was selling drugs out of
his house. She advised them to put up cameras in
the area if they wanted to catch drug dealers, users
and hopefully find her daughter all at the same time,
but law enforcement claimed it would cost too much to
(16:00):
do all of that, which is also what they said
about the photo lineup that Louise wanted to do because
it costs money, apparently to show people's pictures to the
employees at the gas station. Even though she said police
had just recently used Curtis in a photo lineup for
(16:20):
another crime. Law enforcement ultimately said no. So Louise rightfully
pointed out when police said it would cost too much
to set up just one camera in that area, that
the price of a camera was more important than a
human being. The police would then say that people on
(16:42):
drugs would simply rip the cameras down, and basically told
the Kenslows that it was pointless to even try it.
Louise told them that she obviously didn't mean for them
to put the camera in a place that was noticeable
or reachable, but it seemed like nothing she said really mattered.
(17:03):
A lot of issues and dead ends the Kenslow's experienced
were the same as we hear in so many cases,
lazy law enforcement who don't seem to want to do
the actual work and not wanting to spend any money
on search efforts or anything else for that matter. These
(17:23):
are things we hear far too often about police departments
all over America, especially in small towns, and more commonly
when it comes to possible runaways, people who have addictions,
sex workers, or those who have had very hard lives,
(17:43):
they don't get the same treatment most of the time.
Some police don't seem to value their lives as much.
In a lot of cases, as we know, Sarah's case
had no media attention, Unlike many other missing girls at
the time who were on nationwide news every day. They
(18:04):
felt like nobody really cared about their daughter or what
they were going through as a family. Curtis did get
called in for a polygraph test. He failed it, Supposedly
it was due to him sneezing while answering if he
knew where Sarah was. They refused to test him again
(18:28):
and that was that. About a month after Sarah went missing,
her older sister Jill got married a wedding that had
been planned for at least nine months, and after a
little hesitation, everyone decided the wedding would go on. Sarah
was supposed to be one of the bride'smaids and even
(18:50):
had a dress already. Her mother had a hard time
processing that one of her daughters was in front of
her eyes, saying her wedding vows while not knowing if
she would see her youngest daughter ever again. Louise was
also dealing with the pain that eleven year old Matt
was experiencing. He was having a really rough time soaking
(19:15):
it all in and slowly realizing that his big sister
might not ever come back home. As happy as Louise
was for her eldest daughter getting married, she was devastated
by everything else going on. Sarah also has another big
sister who is only a few years older than her,
(19:38):
named Rebecca, and to Sarah, she was the coolest big sister.
She would give her advice and would also allegedly tell
Sarah where to meet people and make friends who would
eventually lead her down a very rocky path. It completely
wrecked Rebecca when Sarah disappeared too. The eldest sister, Jill,
(20:03):
who had just gotten hitched, had moved out of the
Kinslow household a long time ago. She started a life
of her own and wasn't as connected with Sarah as
those who still lived at home. In the months and
years that followed, several possible sightings gave the Kinslow family
(20:23):
fleeting hope. One neighbor of the Kinslows reported seeing Sarah
in a car in Quinlan on Christmas Day two thousand
and one without a doubt. They said they knew it
was Sarah behind them in a car driven by a
man when they were stopped at a red light. They
(20:43):
didn't tell Sarah's parents right away. They eventually did report
it to the police and told them the make and
model of the car that she was in. Shortly after,
authorities claimed they had a phone interview with the mail
driver after tracking him down. It took them a while
to figure out who the car actually belonged to because
(21:07):
it had changed hands several times. They finally found that
it was a man from Princeton, Texas, and police claimed
that they could quote tell just by the phone interview
that he didn't know Sarah and it wasn't Sarah in
the car. The neighbors still don't have any doubt that
(21:28):
it was the Kenslow's daughter in that car. As soon
as the family offered a reward for tips that could
lead to Sarah, the phone started ringing. So many people
made things up in hopes of getting the money. One
woman called Louise and said she lived right next door
(21:49):
to Sarah. Even having the audacity to send Louise a
picture of this person who obviously wasn't Sarah and shared
no similarities whatsoever. There were a lot of calls like that,
thinking they would get an easy payday, praying on a
(22:09):
family fighting for help and answers. There were, however, a
lot of people calling who genuinely believed they saw Sarah.
All the girls who police were able to track down
from those calls were understandably mistaken for Sarah because they
actually had similar hair and or facial features. So there
(22:34):
were people genuinely trying to help, and thankfully, almost every
tip that came in was followed up. On around late
two thousand and one or two thousand and two, there
was a party in Quinlan where a girl named Sarah
died from an overdose. Louise and John quickly met with
(22:56):
the police, ready to find out if it could be
their daughter, but it wasn't there Sarah. The Kinslows also
begged law enforcement to look in the woods around Lake
Towaukeane and in the lake itself. One search team wanted
thirty grand to go out there, but Louise and John
(23:19):
didn't have the money to do that. Lake Towakene is
one place her parents believe if something bad happened to
Sarah and her body was disposed of, it could be
where she was. It is also believed there are other
bodies and remains in that lake. Louise went out and
(23:40):
bought a pair of binoculars. She had a pair already,
but these were an upgrade. There were a few instances
that she put them to good use. She would sit
near Curtis's place and watch as all kinds of people
would come and go through all hours of the day
and likely buying, selling, and using drugs. The times that
(24:05):
she went out there, putting herself in potential danger to
do her own surveillancing that the police wouldn't she never
saw her little girl. In two thousand and two, it
was a very chilly January day when Louise went to Princeton, Texas.
She wanted to find out a little bit more about
(24:27):
this guy who was reported by the neighbors to be
driving with Sarah in the car. It just so happens
his uncle owned a wrecking yard, so Louise used her
brand new binoculars to scan the area for signs of
their daughter, but yet again no luck. Louise did get
(24:47):
a good look at the car her daughter might have
been in only less than a week before. Each house
she passed, she hoped she would happen to spot daughter
around one of them. Sadly she did not. Sarah's parents
talked to different people all around Princeton, showing them pictures
(25:11):
of Sarah, and some of them said they had definitely
seen her before. So the Kinslows found out a little
bit more and went to this restaurant where they were
told the car owner's mother worked. They just wanted to
talk to her and maybe find something out that would
be helpful to them. Right away, the woman shut down.
(25:36):
She did not want to talk to them about it,
claiming that she didn't know anything about Sarah. A possibility
that the Kenslows had thought about was that the neighbors
who reportedly saw her on Christmas Day, since they were
in Quinlan, could have actually been with Sarah and Curtis
(25:57):
that day to use drugs somewhere, maybe at Curtis's or
maybe somewhere else. They could be wrong, but either way,
at least they decided to come forward and rid their
conscience of that and do the right thing. Unfortunately, it
was only another lead that left more questions that no
(26:19):
one would help them find answers to the next thing
to happen would be an anonymous note appearing in the
Kinslow's mailbox. The message suggested they talked to a girl
named Lisa Ann who might have answers, so Louise talked
to her. Anne. Lisa said that she was friends with Sarah,
(26:42):
but that she had no idea what happened to her.
Soon after that, a man named James reached out to
Louise via my Space to explain he was the one
who sent the anonymous letter and why he sent it.
James told her that Lisa Ann absolutely told his wife, Amber,
(27:04):
who was one of Sarah's best friends, that Sarah had
been with Curtis and she overdosed. Then Curtis and Amber's ex,
Nash Waldrp freaked out and buried her body in the woods.
James told Louise that Amber felt so bad for not
telling her, but she felt like since Nash was her ex,
(27:28):
that Louise might put some kind of blame on her
or lash out. She wasn't sure how Louise would react,
so she was scared to tell her what Lisa Anne said.
James felt that he should step up and let the
Kinslows know and explain what Amber was going through. As
she struggled with how to break the news to them.
(27:51):
She couldn't be one hundred percent certain that what Lisa
Anne told her was the truth, but it was still
difficult for her. Tonvi gate the fear of how, when,
and if she should tell Louise while also trying to
wrap her mind around what happened to her best friend.
At the same time, Louise said that she knew Sarah
(28:15):
had been doing drugs with Curtis, and he had also
been arrested for drugs in the past, so what Lisa
Anne said could have been true. Louise and John were
able to get in touch with a search team out
of Houston, Texas called Equisearch. They were brought up to
speed on what was happening and offered Lisa Anne one
(28:38):
thousand dollars for any information that she would be willing
to tell them. Equisearch allegedly bolted out of town back
to Houston shortly after and never returned a single call
from the Kinslow family. They aren't sure if Lisa was
given any of the money, or if she even told
(29:00):
to hold them anything at all. John also pointed out
that small town politics definitely played a role in how
things were unfolding throughout their search for Sarah. Law enforcement
may have told Equi Search to get out of town
and not get involved. The Kinslows can only speculate on
(29:21):
reasons why they left town without communicating with them and
why they never returned their calls. One of Louise and
John's older sons, Jerry, went to prison in the nineteen
nineties and was still locked up when Sarah had gone missing.
Jerry would often talk to people who were from the
(29:43):
Quinland area, and one person told him that Curtis and
other guys were known to get together to drug girls
and then sexually assault them, which sounded legit due to
Curtis's charges of sexually assaul another teenage girl right after
Sarah disappeared. Curtis's mother was clearly worried about the age
(30:08):
gap between Sarah and her son and the possibility of
him getting in more trouble for potentially playing a role
in Sarah's disappearance or death. His mother would often call
Louise and attempts to drain her of more information about
what was going on with Sarah's case, if they'd heard
(30:30):
anything else, or if Curtis had been brought back up
at all. They felt that she was only reaching out,
acting concerned and asking questions because she was trying to
see if Louise would say anything so she could figure
out how to best shield her son, maybe come up
with lies if she felt she needed to. Louise did
(30:53):
say that his mom was nice and part of her
had good intentions, but of course she also knew that
she had her own reasons for wanting to know if
her son had been mentioned anymore. Not long after talking
to Curtis's mother, his aunt, his mother's sister Jenny, added
(31:14):
Louise to MySpace and was asking questions. She told Louise
that Curtis has a brother named Michael who lives in Waco,
and wondered if they had thought about looking into him.
Was this a question asked out of genuine worry for
Sarah or did she just want to know if Michael
(31:34):
was being mentioned in Sarah's case as well. Louise believed
that at the root of it all, all the contact
from his mom and his aunt was only for as
much information as they could get in order to do
what they felt they needed to for Curtis's sake, which
likely would entail anything other than holding him accountable if
(31:57):
he was guilty of anything. His aunt would say that
she and her sister didn't get along and all these
other things against Curtis's mom, possibly a tactic to lower
Louise's guard, wanting to make her believe that she was
a safe person to talk to. Eventually, all of those
(32:19):
communications would stop once they didn't get any answers. In
early two thousand and four, there were reports of Sarah
possibly being seen in many places all over or Again.
There was also a siding in British Columbia, Canada, with
speculation that Sarah was trying to lay low and maybe
(32:43):
begin a new life, but none of these sightings were
ever confirmed. In two thousand and nine, Curtis pleaded guilty
to the sexual assault charges and served a short sentence.
His probation was later revoked in twenty twelve, resulting in
a nine year prison sentence. But despite his connection to Sarah,
(33:07):
Curtis has always denied knowing anything about her whereabouts. When
he was sent to prison for sexually assaulting the sixteen
year old, it came out that he had taken that
child to his grandfather's property, so the Kinslows decided to
just see what the property looked like. They went online
(33:30):
and pulled up a satellite view of the back of
the property. Louise pointed out what looked like a triangular
lump in the ground, and she couldn't help but think
that a body could easily be buried there. It immediately
struck them as a very suspicious spot. The grandparents had
(33:51):
passed away, but Curtis's parents had taken over the place.
They eventually sold it to another man, and the Kinslows
weren't sure if the parents or the other man owned
the property when cadaver dogs were taken there to search around. Unfortunately,
the triangular part that Louise had talked about had piles
(34:14):
and piles of limbs, debris, odds, and ends. All these
discarded items of junk stacked up on top of it
and around it. That spot wasn't a small one either.
It seemed to Louise to likely be fifteen by fifteen feet,
but there was no way to get close to the
(34:37):
actual piece of ground due to the amount of crap
piled on and around it. Nothing was detected by the
dogs during the search. A few years later, Matt believed
he saw his sister. He was at a motel, hanging
out and using drugs, which had consumed his life by
(34:59):
the point. He believed he saw a man at the
motel who was dragging his sister around. He began beating
and kicking down doors at the motel, his head likely
spinning from whatever substances he was indulging in, whipping out
a knife to defend himself and Sarah if he could
(35:20):
find her. In his mind, he was desperately trying to
save her. The cops were called, and when they arrived,
he was yelling belligerently at them to go find her
because he knew she was there. He got so angry
and frustrated at the police that he assaulted the officer.
(35:42):
Matt also still had the knife in his hand, but
he didn't attempt to use it on the officer. He
did hit him, though, which led to a tussle and
a sentence of ten years in prison. He was supposed
to get out of prison in twenty nineteen if he
had made parole, but I couldn't find any information about
(36:03):
whether he had or not. This is a letter he
wrote to George Hale in July of twenty seventeen about
the incident. Mister Hale, Hey, how's it going. Sorry it
took so long for me to respond to your letter,
But here I am. My mom has told me a
little about Carrie Parker side note. She was another girl
(36:26):
that went missing and they thought that she could be
in Lake Tewokene. She also told me about the guy
who quote unquote found a body in the woods by
Curtis's grandparents. Since he wasn't able to take anyone to
this body, I figured he's probably just lying if he
did actually see a body, Why tell you and not
(36:49):
the police first, and why wait so long to say something.
As for your question about what happened to get me
in prison, it was behind drugs. I still don't remember
what all happened that day. I was shooting up meth
and I did too much and blacked out. When I
came back around, I was so high I was seeing
(37:12):
things that weren't really there. Well, I thought I saw
my sister Sarah. I know that sounds crazy, since at
that point she had been missing for ten years, but
you have to understand I was way out of my
head anyway, one moment I see Sarah, and the next
she goes into a motel room. So I kicked the
(37:35):
door in and no one's in the room. I think
I did that two or three times before the police
showed up. At some point I pulled out my knife.
The police were yelling at me to drop it. I
said the only way I was going to drop it
was if they shot me. I told you, I was tripping.
(37:56):
Very glad that didn't happen. Eventually, one of the police
officers managed to get close enough to spray me with
mace and I started trying to fight him. Then I
got taken down by two more police officers and it
was pretty much over with after that. It sucks how
it all happened, but it was definitely a positive thing
(38:18):
for me in the long run. It got me off drugs,
and I don't have a desire for that stuff at
all anymore. I feel like I've matured a lot, and
I think once I'm released, I'll be able to be
more responsible. Anyway, that's what happened. I apologize if I
wasn't very helpful on the other subject. I plan on
(38:40):
doing some of my own investigating when I get out.
Maybe I'll be more helpful. Then I can't call you
because you would have to set up a phone account,
and I think it would cost too much. But anytime
you write, I will right back. I look forward to
hearing from you if you have any more questions. Take care,
(39:01):
Matt kinslow p s what days and times does your
radio show come on. Police eventually deduced that Sarah more
than likely left voluntarily and wasn't kidnapped or off somewhere
living a new life, but her family and close friends
didn't think she would have left without taking any of
(39:24):
her things. In the interview with George Hale, Louise opened
up about how she and Sarah had a big, blown
up argument when she came in late for curfew one night.
Sarah was livid. She took off to her room, shoving
clothes into a backpack, and told her mom she was leaving.
(39:45):
Louise put her foot down and told her that she
wasn't going anywhere, but Sarah spouted back, you just wait,
I will I will leave. It made the hair on
the back of her mother's next stand up because in
her heart of hearts, she said she knew her little
girl meant it. She said, that's what ended up happening
(40:09):
that Sarah ran away with Curtis. At least that was
her feeling and opinion at the time. Sarah's mother has
lived with all this uncertainty and all of these what
ifs for over two decades. She believes the worst happened,
but still holds on to the hope of finding answers.
(40:31):
Every year, on the anniversary of Sarah's disappearance, the family
releases balloons into the sky, a very melancholy tribute to
a daughter whose story remains unfinished to this day. Sarah
Kinslow would be thirty eight years old today. The Charlie
Project notes that she had distinctive features, including crooked front teeth,
(40:56):
a small mole near her collarbone and and multiple piercings
in her ears, and a tattoo of the letter I
on the inside of her ankle. If there's a chance
that she's still alive, she obviously may look completely different now,
but her loved ones have never stopped searching for proof
(41:19):
of what actually happened. I'll have the age progression photos
on all of the podcast social media Instagram, Blue Sky, Tumblr,
the Facebook page x et cetera for you to look
at my hope is that maybe her pictures will jog
someone's memory, or someone will come forward anonymously to tell
(41:43):
something they just remembered. Or if the fact is that
she isn't with us anymore, they might remember hearing where
her body could be. Anything to help a family begin
to get closure. If you have any informa about Sarah's
case at all, please contact the Greenville Police Department at
(42:06):
nine zero three four five seven two nine zero zero.
The truth is still out there, but will anyone be
brave enough to finally tell it? Thank you so much
for listening to this episode, and tune in next week
for a brand new one. Until then, stay safe and
(42:30):
take care.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Thank you for listening to this episode. As we close out,
let us not forget. Awareness is our greatest defense in
a world that can be dark and grim. Vigilance is
our beacon of hope when it comes to the cases
we have explored together that have remained unsolved, If you
happen to hold a piece of the puzzle there to
step forward. As author Lois McMaster bouge Hold once said,
(42:57):
the dead cannot cry out for justice. It is a
duty of the living to do so for them. Until
we reconvene. My friends stay vigilant and stay informed.
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