December 13, 2023 • 43 mins
From the shadows of Western Massachusetts emerges a chilling tale of Lewis Lent, a name that may not ring any immediate bells, but whose heinous acts left a community scarred. We, Jess and Hannah, guide you through this horrifying maze of events that started with the shocking disappearance of 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo. Keep in mind, this episode delves into sensitive content involving children, which might be distressing for some listeners.
Our story takes an unexpected twist with the brave Rebecca, whose narrow escape from a kidnapping could have been a tragic headline but instead became a beacon of hope for law enforcement. Rebecca’s detailed description and a partial license plate noted by a witness led the police straight to Lent. We'll unravel how this critical lead helped police connect the dots between Lent, Jimmy's disappearance, and an even darker narrative.
Finally, we unfold the chapters of Lent's troubled past that may have set the stage for his unthinkable actions. The strategies that led to Lent's confession, his impact on the community, and the relentless search for Sarah Wood form the crux of our conversation. As we wind up, we'll remind everyone of the pressing need for vigilance and protecting our loved ones. Don’t forget to join us on Instagram for exclusive updates and behind-the-scenes action. If our tales pique your curiosity, lend us your support by rating and reviewing our podcast, and keep this journey of discovery alive with Wicked Wanderings.
If you'd like to show your support for Wicked Wanderings and join our community of dedicated listeners, you can start contributing for as little as $3 a month. Your support helps us continue to explore the darkest and most intriguing mysteries, bringing you captivating stories from the world of true crime and the unexplained. Click the link to become a valued member of our podcast family.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jess (00:15):
Hello Wanderers, I'm Jess and I'm Hannah, and welcome to
Wicked Wanderings.
Hello Hannah, hello Jess, Idon't know why I just say your
name, weird like that all thetime, I don't know, but I think
we need a new producer.
Hannah (00:31):
Yeah, he's going a little crazy, having a little
too much fun with the buttonsover there.
He is Just.
Jess (00:37):
Hey, hannah, stop swearing .
Alright, we're back at it againafter our Thanksgiving break.
Woo, welcome back, wanderers,even though we didn't really
disappear in your life, which iswhat we want we want to be
there for you always, always.
I have to give a shout out tomy friend, bridget.
She listens.
Thanks, bridget.
Hannah (00:57):
Thanks, bridget.
Jess (00:59):
She was the one that brought this case to my
attention and I don't know ifyou've noticed, minus the Salem
witch trials, I like to do casesthat are lesser known.
Yes, and so today we are doingan episode about Lewis Lent, who
is a serial killer fromMassachusetts.
Hannah (01:22):
Oh see, I know nothing.
I like going in blind, so bringit on.
Jess (01:25):
I knew nothing until I researched him, obviously, but I
had never heard of him beforeand he kind of gives me Larry
Hall vibes.
Hannah (01:35):
Really.
Yes, of course, larry Hall wasour last episode.
You did Last episode.
Jess (01:38):
I did, and so I'm just going to be chilling in the 90s
for a couple episodes, becausemy next episode will be in 93 as
well.
Hannah (01:48):
And a lot of girl.
You got theme going.
Jess (01:50):
Apparently.
I didn't even mean to do it.
I'm giving a trigger warning atthe beginning of the episode
because this involves childrenand a douche canoe that killed
and did naughty things tochildren.
Fuck him, yeah Right, so let'sbegin, shall we?
And I think I say that everytime that's okay.
On October 22nd 1990, jimmyBernardo arrived home from
(02:15):
school at around 245.
He dropped his stuff off athome and then grabbed his bike
and left home and went to thePittsfield Plaza, that's about a
half a mile from his house.
The Plaza was a place that allthe kids and teens would hang
out after school.
There was a furniture store,video rental store, pool hall,
laundromat you know the typicalstrip mall.
(02:36):
But the main attraction was thePittsfield Cinema Center and it
provided an expansive parkinglot for kids to ride their bikes
, hang out, play video games,pinball machines, play pool, etc
.
And they could sometimes sneakinto the movie theater with the
aid of the theater's janitor.
Hannah (02:54):
Oh yes.
Jess (02:55):
So Jimmy usually hung out at the Plaza with boys a bit
older than himself and he had areputation of being a little
mouthy, but he got along witheverybody pretty well, like he
was an issue.
He wasn't a bad kid, he justhad a mouth on him.
But that afternoon he came toplay games alone.
He was in the laundromat wherethe arcade games and pinball
(03:17):
machines were and he left to usethe pay phone at the movie
theater, came back to play thegame a little longer and then he
returned home again between 420and 430.
He ate an early dinner with hisfamily, did his homework, then
returned back to the Plaza tomeet up with a friend at 530.
They had planned ahead to meetup at 530.
Shortly after 5pm the woman whoran the laundromat saw Jimmy
(03:40):
coming from the direction of themovie theater.
He sat down in the chairsoutside and was drinking a root
beer waiting for his friend.
And how old is this kid in?
12.
?
Oh, ok, I did not.
Did I say that?
I don't know?
But yeah, he's 12 years old,which I think almost every kid
in this story is around 12 yearsold.
He has an MO.
Hannah (04:00):
Yes, he has a type.
Jess (04:02):
Jimmy's friend left his house at 530 to go to the Plaza.
Took him about 15 minutes toget there and when he got there
he didn't see Jimmy.
So he waited around and at 6pmhe called Jimmy's house and
Jimmy's mom answered and toldthe friend that Jimmy was still
playing outside.
The friend waited till around630 and then he went home
(04:22):
because he hadn't gotten there.
Jimmy did not return home forhis curfew, which was unusual
for him, and his parents beganto worry.
They called his friends anddrove around the Plaza looking
for him.
When they couldn't find himthere, they went to a few other
places around the Plaza to seeif they could find him and when
they couldn't find him anywhere,they contacted the police.
(04:42):
An officer was dispatched to thehome and took a report and the
family provided the police witha picture and a missing person
Bolo was issued.
Jimmy's picture was circulatedthroughout Massachusetts and
across the country and at thispoint there was no evidence to
suggest foul play.
And despite that, officers wereasking around the Plaza.
There were no leads.
There was no bike, no clothes.
(05:04):
The police had nothing.
On November 2nd, america's MostWanted broadcasted an episode
on Jimmy's disappearance, buteven that didn't provide any new
leads, which also made me think, if Larry Hall saw this episode
.
Hannah (05:18):
Yeah.
Jess (05:19):
Because he loved America's Most Wanted.
Anyway, interesting becauseit's around the same time.
It's a small world too.
Almost a month after Jimmy'sdisappearance, on November 18th,
two boys discovered a mintgreen BMX Mongoose bike
partially submerged in SilverLake.
That was across town from thePlaza Center.
And three days later, onNovember 21st, some deer hunters
(05:42):
found a body approximately 200feet off of a one lane road in
rural Newfield, new York, some200 miles away from Pritzfield.
So another one of those caseswhere the kid was taken across
state lines, which makes it afederal crime yeah.
The naked body was firstbelieved to be a female due to
the lack of body hair, but itwould eventually be identified
(06:04):
as Jimmy Bernardo.
He lay face down at the base ofa sapling tree with a quarter
inch clothesline rope tiedaround his neck in a slipknot
and the other end tied to thetree.
His clothes were found 200 feetfrom the body and the lack of
scratches on Jimmy's legsindicated that he had walked
through the brush before beingstripped at the scene of the
(06:26):
murder.
Also, I just want to includethat the source that I use for
this among some websites isHidden Demons Evil Visits a
Small New England Town byMarjorie Metzger, and this came
out this year, so most of thisinformation is from that.
The New York Medical Examinerruled Jimmy's cause of death as
(06:47):
asphyxiation by strangulation.
There were no defensive woundsor evidence of a struggle or
beating.
Although he wasn't foundrestrained, there was residue
around the wrists and anklesthat would suggest that he was
restrained.
At one point there was tapeover his eyes that had a paper
towel wadded up underneath thetape on his eyes.
(07:07):
This was either for comfort orto make a better blindfold.
After his body was found, amassive search was conducted
around the plaza where Jimmywent missing, as well as in
Newfield, new York.
Reward money was set up for anyinformation and the detectives
in charge of the case McGuireand McGellagott, I think I don't
(07:31):
know checked out every lead forthree years.
And for three years there wasabsolutely nothing.
That is until January 7, 1994.
So that morning, 12 year oldRebecca Savarise was walking to
school, to Notre Dame MiddleSchool in Pittsfield.
Unbeknownst to Rebecca, she hadbeen spotted walking by Big Y,
(07:56):
the local grocery store, by aman who felt like he had a
relationship with the preteen.
The man had often seen thecomings and goings of Rebecca
and her friends.
He had followed them, catalogedtheir movements, but on that
day Rebecca was walking aloneand he was ready to make his
move.
No, it's not creepy, nope.
The scruffy looking manapproached Rebecca and said Do
(08:19):
you see the gun I have?
Rebecca thought he was jokingand said he seemed kind of like
a nerd.
He approached her with a yellowshirt over her arm and coaxed
her up the street with a gunpointed at her ribs.
He then said Do everything Isay and everything will be all
right.
See that black pickup.
I want you to get in it.
(08:40):
Rebecca remembered the words hermom had told her Stay on the
main road Walk, where it is welltraveled.
If anyone is behind you, duckinto a business, kick, bite,
scream, punch, spit anything toget attention.
Badass Becky here knew that ifshe were to get into that truck
she would never see her motheragain.
(09:01):
So she began to hyperventilate,faking an asthma attack, and
asked the nerdy attacker if shecould sit down for a minute.
And that was just enough tocatch the kidnapper off guard.
And as she began to sit downshe was able to wiggle free of
her backpack that the man washolding.
And Rebecca took off runningand ran into Kenneth Card, who
(09:23):
worked for a management companyclose by and was out shoveling
the sidewalks.
He took Rebecca inside andcontacted the police.
Russell Davies was parked atthe intersection and witnessed
the whole interaction.
He had originally thought itwas a father and daughter, but
when Rebecca had freed herselfhe became suspicious and looked
(09:44):
directly at the man, who thenrealized that he was being
watched.
Hannah (09:49):
Oh, guess who's being watched now.
Jess (09:51):
Yeah, the man walked back to his truck and Russell was
able to get a partial licenseplate.
Russell attempted to follow theman, but he was unable to keep
up because he blew through twored lights and so he stopped
somewhere to call the police.
Hannah (10:07):
Remember 1994, no cell phones yet Right, no cell phones
.
That was actually a thought.
I'm like dude, why did you stop?
Like you could have called, butobviously in time period.
Jess (10:16):
Yeah, he actually stopped at the corner mobile station,
the gas station, and ran intoOfficer Delmont Keyes and told
him what he had just witnessed.
Rebecca was taken to the policestation and was questioned by
Detective Joe Collias and heremembers that she seemed like a
bright and happy kid.
(10:36):
She was smiling during theinterview and wasn't crying.
She was able to give a prettygood description of both the man
that attempted to kidnap her aswell as the truck he was
driving.
She also reported that she hadseen the truck before as she was
walking home from school withfriends and around the cinema
center, with the compositesketch that Rebecca was able to
(11:00):
do and the partial license plateprovided by Russell Davies.
The police put out a Bolo withthis description.
All detectives were called into conduct grid searches for the
truck in the surrounding area.
Detective Boyington headed toLanesboro and was going to check
in with the Lanesboro PD to lethim know he was in the area and
(11:21):
what he was doing.
After speaking with theofficers there, he decided to
head back to Pittsfield becauseit was snowing.
It was like a really bad stormthat day and all of this was
going on.
Hannah (11:32):
So was he maybe accounting for the fact that
there probably wouldn't be thatmuch people around.
Jess (11:36):
Yeah, because he wanted to go search some more, but it was
snowing, people were not on theroads and the weather was
getting worse.
But on his way back he stoppedin an intersection and just
happened to look up to his left.
And wouldn't you know it,across the lane of traffic up
Summer Street in Pittsfield andin the driveway of the second
(11:58):
house on the north side of thestreet sat a dark blue truck
with a white cab over the bed.
Boyington turned around andheaded to that house and
discovered that the licenseplate number was 878-735.
And the partial plate numberthat Russell Davies provided was
878.
So Boyington returned toLanesboro PD to have them run
(12:22):
the plate and the truck wasregistered to a Phil Shallies of
Summer Street.
So keep in mind all of this ishappening on the same day.
Rebecca was headed to school at7 am and detectives were
knocking on the door of PhilShallies by 2.15 pm that
afternoon.
That's pretty good, yeah,especially in a blizzard,
(12:42):
especially in a blizzard Smalltown.
Hannah (12:45):
they got nothing else to do.
Also true.
Jess (12:48):
In the home were two elderly women, sarah Shallies
and Eleanor Turner, and anelderly man.
I mean, you all know how I amwith words nowadays, I should
just not say anything anymore.
Just move on.
Chester Forfa, along with twoyounger men, phil and his friend
.
They were all confused as towhy the police were there, but
(13:10):
also went on to say they knewwhy they were there, which is
weird, creepy.
Why are you here?
But we know you're here.
But they had heard about theattempted kidnapping on the
radio.
Boyington thought that Phil'sfriend looked a little like the
description that Rebecca hadprovided, but asked if anyone
had been using the truck thatmorning.
Phil's friend mentioned that hehad used it and he asked to
(13:34):
speak to the friend outside,which the friend agreed.
So they went outside and heasked him some basic questions
where he lived and worked.
Detective Boyington asked himfor his ID, which the friend
obliged, and they now had a nameLouis Lent of North Adams,
massachusetts.
It wasn't until Lent hadmentioned that he worked at the
(13:56):
movie theater for seven yearsbut was currently unemployed
that a light bulb went off inthe detective's head.
Boyington's mind went straightto Jimmy Bernardo, who went
missing from the movie theaterthree years earlier, the
unsolved case that continued tohaunt the town and the
detectives working the case Lentwas brought in to the police
(14:17):
station for questioning of theattempted kidnapping of Rebecca,
and McGuire, who worked at thePittsfield PD who was on Jimmy's
case, contacted New York PD tolet them know that they might
have a suspect.
So because the body was found inNew York and he was from
Pittsfield, they had bothdepartments working on the case.
(14:37):
Makes sense.
A background check showed thatLent had a previous address in
Burdette, new York, which wasjust 12 miles away from where
Jimmy's body was found.
During the interview Lentpresented himself as friendly
and he loved to talk.
He was not yet being questionedabout the day's events and he
(14:58):
was not under arrest, andBoyington informed him that
since he was not under arrest hewas not obliged to talk and
that he could leave whenever hewanted.
But Lent chose to stay andtalked about his day and it
seemed that he enjoyed being thecenter of attention.
Hannah (15:15):
Oh yeah, that's a common denominator with these guys?
Jess (15:18):
right yeah, Lent had made it clear that he had left his
house in North Adams around 6 amand drove directly to Phil's
house in Lanesboro, which IGoogled and it's about a 30
minute drive.
But the detectives didn'tbelieve him and were given the
green light to question himabout Rebecca.
Lent was then read his rights,which he acknowledged that he
(15:41):
understood his rights as well.
He was sticking to a storyabout heading straight to Phil's
house until a lieutenant camein and asked Lent if he had a
license to carry or a federalidentification card.
Lent said he did and handed itover to the lieutenant and said
he didn't own a handgun nor hadhe ever shot one.
(16:03):
But like, isn't that a littlesuspicious to randomly offer up
that information?
Hannah (16:09):
Yeah, that's very strange.
But also, don't you have to gothrough a training in order to
get your license to carry?
So obviously you've handled agun, that's very strange.
Jess (16:22):
Yeah and main, this was in the 90s.
I don't know how different itwas back then.
True, here's my license tocarry, but I don't own a gun and
I've never touched one.
And I've never shot one.
Yeah, I just okay buddy, webelieve you.
As the Lieutenant walked out ofthe room he mumbled under his
breath you'll never see thisagain, which was loud enough for
(16:44):
Lent to hear, and theseriousness of the situation
seemed to hit Lent as he refusedto talk after that.
Later that afternoon, bothRebecca and Russell Davies came
into the police station for aphoto lineup.
They both picked the samepicture but could not say with a
hundred percent certainty thatit was the right man.
(17:04):
The police decided to do aphysical lineup, which Lent
consented to do, and the shittything about this lineup is that
the Pittsfield PD didn't have aroom with a double-sided mirror,
so they lined everybody up in ahallway, each holding a number,
and Rebecca was supposed tocome out of a room and get them
(17:24):
out oh yeah.
Hannah (17:27):
There's something wrong about that, Right oh?
Jess (17:31):
that's just.
Did you imagine?
Hannah (17:32):
No, yeah no.
Jess (17:36):
But once again 12-year-old badass Becky was able to do it
Go.
Hannah (17:40):
Becky.
Jess (17:41):
And she understood her role.
She was nervous and Boyingtonwas with her, and the moment she
walked out the door she stoppedand grabbed Boyington's arm
when she saw Lent standing thereand she knew without a doubt
that he was the man that triedto kidnap her.
Hannah (17:57):
It should have been done like that, though I feel like
that's breaking a law of somesort Right At least it should be
yeah, Because that could beintimidation too, you know.
Jess (18:06):
And we will take a short break.
We just want to thank Lynn fromSpringfield, Heather from New
Jersey, Courtney fromMassachusetts and Chelsea from
Utah.
Thank you all for yourcontributions monthly so that we
can keep going Well, yeah, eatand continue with the wonderful
(18:32):
things that are wickedwanderings, Thank you.
A sincere expression ofgratitude to our esteemed
patrons Lynn from Massachusetts,heather from New Jersey,
courtney from Massachusetts andChelsea from Utah for their
generous monthly contributions.
Their support fuels the engineof our investigative endeavors
(18:55):
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Hannah (18:57):
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Hannah (19:26):
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Jess (19:36):
And now back to the shit show.
Lynn was a little shaken upafter the lineup because,
remember, he saw her and heremarked to officers how fearful
Rebecca looked when she saw him.
It was then that Lynn happenedto mention that he suffered from
(20:01):
blackout spells during which hehad no memory.
Convenient, yeah right.
He tried to explain that hispersonality would split and his
alter ego, stephen, would appearand Lent would have no control
over him.
How convenient, lou Convenience.
Rebecca's ID resulted in Lentbeing arrested.
(20:24):
He was, he's such a dumbass.
He was searched and thisdumbass still had the receipt
for the gun he purchased in hiswallet.
Wow, you know the gun that hesaid he never possessed or
touched or touched or shot orwhatever.
They asked Lent again if he hada gun and he denied again
(20:48):
owning one.
So then they showed him thereceipt to his wallet and he was
like, oh, that must have beenStephen, I don't remember.
Hannah (20:59):
You know we don't laugh at mental health here.
I would go wondering, but thisjust sounds like just making it
up and being convenient.
Jess (21:08):
So to ensure they had an ironclad case, they recorded
Lent being read his rights againand being interviewed.
He still wanted to talk, ifonly it was to avoid being alone
in the jail cell in thebasement Like.
He even complained when he wasin there, saying that there were
bugs and he didn't want tostand, he was going in the dark
Poor guy Night night You've beenkids freaking nightmare.
Hannah (21:32):
Nope sympathy for you.
Jess (21:33):
Right Police ended up talking to Lent until 3am and
they wanted to make sure he feltcomfortable so he would let his
guard down.
Sorry, I love you, teddy bearerYou're sitting there with your
arms crossed and you're justangry, Anything like kids.
Hannah (21:51):
I'm like yeah.
Jess (21:53):
He was calm and cooperative and he knew after he
was arrested that there was nohiding his involvement.
The interviews continued thefollowing day, saturday, january
8th 1994.
Lent mentioned that heremembered some things that he
didn't remember the previous day, like Lee Story Lou, he said
(22:15):
that the scared look onRebecca's face during the lineup
it was like he had seen herbefore.
Well, no shit.
He also remembered not goingstraight to Phil's house, like
he had previously mentioned, buthe must have been headed to
Pittsfield.
Once again, no shit.
And then he also remembered thathe owned a shotgun, a.22 rifle
(22:41):
and a pellet pistol, butcontinued to deny owning the
revolver.
Wow.
He also said that he didn'tremember going to the sporting
goods store and buying a gun.
Man, he really is going for thesplit personality thing.
What a joke.
While New York detectives werewaiting their turn in line to
(23:03):
interview Lent for thedisappearance of Jimmy Bernardo,
they interviewed his family andfriends.
His arrest had hit his familyhard, understandably, and they
were shocked and claimed that hewould never do such things and
he's a Christian, because youknow people who are Christians
never do anything wrong.
Hannah (23:22):
Well, let's look at past episodes that suppose
Christians never did anythingwrong.
Huge Iroll.
Jess (23:28):
Yep.
But let's get into thebackground of this douche canoe,
right.
Even though he doesn't deserveany more attention than the
victims, it kind of helps to getan insight into who this guy
was.
Lent was born in Reynoldsville,new York, in 1950, and he was a
middle child and only son ofLois and Lewis Lent.
(23:48):
So Lewis Sr was a huge dick,basically, and he ended up
getting divorced, leaving Loisto raise Lewis Jr and his two
sisters.
And what's funny at least Ithink it's funny is Lois did end
up marrying a friend of LewisSr, mr Alfred Wood.
Lewis didn't like visiting hisfather and would scream and cry
(24:08):
and cling to his mom and askingto stay home.
Some people contribute this tohis relationship with his mom
and being clingy, but there wasa lot going on at his dad's
house that may not have been ahealthy environment for any
child.
In 1954, in true dick fashion,lewis Sr began a relationship
(24:29):
with a 14-year-old girl namedCharlene.
Oh God, she was a family friendwho lived on and off with him
for 15 years, wow, yep.
But also that same year hefathered a daughter, deborah,
with an Ellen Venetian, and theyeventually got married.
They had Deborah and her olderbrother, frank.
(24:50):
So Ellen's son from a previousrelationship go live with
Ellen's mother.
Then they had another child, ason they named Ronald, and when
Ellen's mother died, deborah andFrank came to live with them
and Lewis Sr decided he didn'twant the burden of two more
children, so he left Ellen.
This guy was a class act.
(25:12):
He would go back into the armsof Charlene, who continued to be
his go-to Hootie throughout hismarriage.
Hannah (25:22):
The girl that was 14.
Jess (25:23):
Yeah, Around the same time , lewis Jr appeared to be
struggling.
He dropped out of high schoolin his sophomore year and
resented his parents for theirdivorce.
There was little to no parentalguidance.
His relationship with hisfather was inconsistent.
He didn't fit into school.
He was bullied in school forhis coke bottle glasses and
(25:47):
following Lewis Jr's arrest,relatives began to recount
stories of abuse by the hand ofLewis Dick Sr.
Hannah (25:56):
He's his male name.
Jess (25:57):
Dick, or you just said that Cause he's a dick.
Good touch, yes, thank you.
He was physically, emotionallyand sexually abusive.
It wasn't until Lewis Jr'sarrest that Lewis admitted that
Lewis Sr had molested at leastone of their daughters and
possibly the other one as well.
Wow, there is no account of himmolesting Lewis Jr.
(26:21):
But if you look at the cycle ofabusers, especially sexual
offenders, they have usuallybeen victims themselves.
So it makes sense to me thatLewis Jr was molested by someone
, if not his father, lewis Jr,who I refer to as lent for most
of those episodes.
So I'm just trying to keep himand his father separate.
(26:43):
But lent arrived in Pittsfieldin 1986 after living in New York
and Florida for a short time.
He became involved in the localchurch of Christ, which is
interesting, cause detectiveBoyington's wife was a member of
the congregation and would saythat there was something off
about Lewis.
So the detectives wife knew him.
(27:05):
But I mean, I guess small townLewis always managed to find
ways to be around children.
He would offer to drive themaround for church outings and
would befriend single mothersthat were thankful to have a
male presence in theirchildren's lives.
There were a few times when hejust became part of the family
(27:25):
and he had a lot of access tochildren all of the time.
So I am willing to bet thatthere are more incidents of
sexual assault that neversurfaced.
Hannah (27:37):
It's really unfortunate, because the church is such an
easy place for predators to comein and, yes, take advantage of
situations because they'realways looking for volunteers.
They're always looking for newmembers and it's really the
unfortunate thing because somechurches don't.
(27:58):
If you're going to volunteerfor something you know you don't
get a quarry check.
Or even if you had a quarrycheck, I mean lent didn't get
caught until the nineties, so Imean, so who knows how many
victims are?
Jess (28:09):
out there.
Right, right, yeah.
He remained active with hischurch activities for about four
years but abruptly stopped in1990.
I wonder why Lent was.
Lent was able to get his job atthe Cinema Center.
Upon a recommendation from amember of the church
(28:31):
congregation, richard Baumannhired Lent to work part time at
the church, at the cinema.
He worked mostly nights, buthad keys to the movie theater
and could go in to the buildingwhenever he wanted.
Even after seven years ofemployment, baumann stated that
he hardly even knew the man.
His daughter, however, was lentsupervisor and he did not like
(28:56):
her.
And so tell me if this isn'tshady.
She caught him camping out witha young man in the theater one
night.
Heather told her yeah, heathertold her father about it, and
Lent was giving a warning andwas told that this type of
behavior was unacceptable andwould not be tolerated.
And he was like, oh, but I toldhim I was take him camping and
(29:21):
the weather's bad, so who knowsthis is heavy.
Hannah (29:28):
It is.
It's heavy and I I feel likemost of our episodes I've been
fine with, but I think it'sbecause it has to do with kids,
yeah, and I was thinking aboutthat as well, but I also noticed
your change in your bodylanguage and your so in my mind
of my God.
Sorry, Hannah, oh no, I meanit's no, it's, it's fine, it's
(29:48):
part of history.
Unfortunately, these bastardsare out there and for whatever,
reason.
Jess (29:55):
this is a little more, it's more creepy than Louis Lent
, cause I mean just more.
More, yeah, more creepy thanLouis Lent, isn't this?
Aren't we talking?
I?
Hannah (30:05):
mean Larry Hall.
Sorry, I'm like, are we?
Jess (30:07):
wait, wait, awkward Cause.
Those girls were like 12 to 14years old and older.
Hannah (30:15):
I don't feel like this is more detail.
Jess (30:17):
I don't know it just well, so this will be a good side
note.
In the book hidden demons itgives Lent's confessions, yeah,
and what he did, and I actuallyhave kept a lot of things out
just for the sake of we don'tneed to know that.
Hannah (30:35):
Yeah.
Jess (30:36):
But if someone, a wicked wanderer, is curious, go ahead
and check out the book.
But yeah, there was a lot Ileft out for this.
So, sarge, it's heavy.
Hey, the trigger warnings inthe beginning, that's true.
Continued trigger warningspeople, listeners, wanderers.
So finally, in 1993, lent wasfired.
(30:58):
Due to many warnings of hissloppy work, lent threatened
Bomin, saying I know where youlive and I know all about your
family, creepy.
Bomin attempted to call thepolice but dialed the wrong
number and Lent had taken offand he had never heard anything
from him again.
Lent, like I said earlier,always found his way to the
(31:21):
younger crowd and the apartmentshe lived in became hangouts for
local teens who wanted to placethe party during can-do drugs.
During this time, lent's moodswere described as erratic and he
would be nice, polite, generousand funny one minute and then
instantly flipped to beingirrational and violent.
Lent's relationships with womenwere also awkward.
(31:46):
He proposed to four women whowere surprised, considering they
were never in a romanticrelationship with him.
Oh my God, he was 17 when heasked the first girl to marry
him and her refusal devastatedhim.
His next proposal wasn't untilhe was 26 and out of nowhere he
(32:07):
asked his 14 year old friend tomarry him.
First of all, why is there a 26year old that has a 14 year old
friend?
Yeah, yeah, gross.
A few years later, he wasworking on his car with a 16
year old cousin and randomlyasked her to marry him.
His 16 year old cousin Gross.
Hannah (32:28):
This guy is he's not right in the head, no, and
thinking about mental health.
He's looking for thisattachment, but he's obviously
looking in a lot of wrong places.
But he's looking for thatconnection and he wasn't able to
get it as a child.
He's looking to be accepted,which obviously does not condone
anything that he did, butthere's there's a lot of trauma
(32:52):
involved with that.
Jess (32:54):
But he's also going very young which is very concerning.
Hannah (32:59):
Yes, yeah, but his father also.
Jess (33:02):
Yeah, I mean, he had an outstanding role model, gross
Yep.
His last proposal was when hewas at the Bible college.
He went for the daughter of oneof the ministers who taught at
the school.
Her name was Brenda Muller.
She was a single mother ofthree children and they became
(33:24):
friendly and started havingdinner at each other's houses.
When he proposed, she told himthat she was not ready to marry
and that it was too soon afterher divorce.
He became upset so she left thehouse and she kind of told her
dad about it and was like hey,talk to this guy.
Like what the hell, what thehell, dad?
What kind of school are yourunning?
(33:45):
Just kidding.
A month later he confronted herrandomly in the library asking
her how she could do somethinglike that.
The sad thing about the storyis that Sarah Ann Wood, who
we'll learn was another victimof his, was the daughter of a
minister, and so Brenda thoughtthat Lent went after Sarah to
(34:08):
get back at her.
That's a lot of unnecessaryguilt for Brenda and Kerry.
So after that confession, lentwasn't done.
There was another confession tomake, and I don't know if
you've caught on yet, hannah,but Lent is super fucking creepy
Really.
(34:28):
Yeah, and he had this masterplan to continue this bullshit.
Lent admitted that in his roomhe had built like half a wall to
separate a portion of his roomwhere he was going to be
building these boxes that werelong enough to put a person in
Hell.
He might even keep two peoplein there foot to head, and like
(34:51):
coffins yeah, like coffin sizeprobably and he would keep them
in there until he was ready tohave sex with them.
Oh my God.
Then, when he was done, hewould just put them back and
keep them as his little slaves.
I'm sorry, hannah.
Hannah (35:09):
If you guys could see my face right now.
I'm like my lunch dinner iscoming back up.
Jess (35:16):
That's why I said people who, needless to say, the police
got a warrant to search Len'sapartment and they discovered
maps with notes and logs of thegirls he had been following.
They discovered the beginningsof Len's master plan.
And there was another bombshell, however.
The first weekend Len was incustody, len told investigators
(35:39):
that he held the key to thedisappearance and murder of
Sarah and would, who wentmissing from Frankfurt, new York
, in August of 1993.
So that was five months beforeRebecca's attempted kidnapping.
Sarah was riding her bike, andmaybe this is why he reminds me
(35:59):
of Larry Hall, because most ofhis victims were riding bikes.
Anyway, she was riding her pinkand white bike from Norwich
Presbyterian Church, where herfather was a pastor.
She was riding while carrying afew boxes from Bible school on
her way home, which was onlylike a half a mile away.
She was struggling to carryeverything and was going slow,
(36:23):
and Len had pulled up in frontof her, jumped out of his van
and confronted her with a knife.
Hannah (36:29):
Sorry, go back to the bike thing.
Yeah, didn't that girl fromMassachusetts near Palmer?
Her last name was Pyrrhanon.
Remember I told you Holly Holly, didn't she ride a?
Jess (36:43):
bike.
She was kind of young, though.
Yes, they actually mentionedher in this book, that hers is
one of the cases that they wantto link to him, but he is not
confessed to hers.
Okay, so that's, that's who Ithought of yeah, okay,
interesting.
So Lent had pulled up in frontand jumped out of his van and
confronted her with a knife.
She dropped the boxes and tookoff running, but Lent was able
(37:05):
to catch up to her quickly.
He threatened her with theknife and forced her into the
van and once inside he taped herhands and he drove around
looking for a quiet sorry Hannahdirt road, where he got in the
back of van and sexuallyassaulted her.
He then made her walk into thewoods and when she wasn't
looking, he hit her in the headwith a large branch.
(37:27):
He thought that she was deadbecause she wasn't moving and he
grabbed a shovel, dug a holeand buried her.
He covered the grave withsticks and branches and he
reported that he wasn't sure ifshe was dead or not, because he
doesn't like to touch deadbodies.
Hannah (37:46):
Wait a minute.
Jess (37:47):
What a fucking dick I thought he wanted to keep dead
bodies in his room.
No, he wanted to keep themalive in his room.
Hannah (37:54):
Oh well, not that it really makes sense, yeah.
Jess (37:56):
Yeah.
Hannah (37:57):
But I okay.
Jess (37:59):
So who knows if she was really dead when she was buried
or not, which I hate thinkingabout, but I mean really he
didn't.
It's just a fucking dick.
Lent never provided the familywith the exact location of her
body and her body has never beenfound.
He took the police out tovarious places and told them
(38:22):
where to look, but, like I said,her body has never been found
and part of me thinks that hewas just driving around
aimlessly and can't reallyremember.
Hannah (38:31):
Yeah.
Jess (38:32):
But I don't know.
But what's interesting is, asrecently as November of 2023,
police are still conductingsearches for her body.
They recently searched 29 acresin the Vermont woods after
developing new information itwas a three day search in the
Green Mountain National Forest,but you'll did no results.
They had canine out there andhelicopters.
Hannah (38:54):
He just hoped that her soul's at rest and her poor
family.
Jess (38:59):
Lewis will go on to confess to one more murder, that
of 12 year old Jamie Lusher,who went missing in 1992 from
Westfield when he was riding hisbike to Blandford, to his
grandma's house.
And officials are hoping,hoping to tie at least 10 more
unsolved cases to Lent.
Hannah (39:18):
like Holly, I know my mom mentioned to me when I was
doing research on Longo and shehad mentioned the Holly period
in case, and she's like yep whenthat came out.
That's why I wouldn't let youguys out of my sight.
And now, talking about allthese other murders that
happened in the WesternMassachusetts area, yeah, I can
see why she kept us pretty closeback then, because there was
(39:39):
definitely a maniac on the loose.
Jess (39:43):
Right On Friday, january 6 , 1995, just one day shy of a
year from the date of theattempted kidnap of Rebecca jury
selection began and after afour day trial they found Louis
guilty of kidnapping, assaultand battery and assault with a
dangerous weapon.
He was sentenced to 17 and ahalf to 20 years in a maximum
(40:05):
security prison.
A year and a half later, lentactually pled guilty to first
degree murder of Jimmy Bernardothe first time that happened in
Berkshire County and the onlythe third time for that to have
happened in Massachusetts.
In 1997, in Herkamore County,new York, lent was also
(40:27):
sentenced 25 years to life forthe kidnapping of Sarah Wood,
even though he never revealedwhere her body was buried.
So this douche canoe willdefinitely be dying in prison.
And that, my friends, is thehorrible story of the douche
(40:48):
canoe Lewis Lent.
Do you know where he is?
Burn and hail.
I think he's in jail in NewYork.
He was doing some time in aseater somewhere I can't
remember the name, and then hewas having a hard time.
He was afraid to leave his cellbecause he was getting beat up.
So we did some time in thispsychiatric prison too.
(41:08):
Yeah, so that is Lewis Lent.
Well, that happy note Right,this episode is over.
Sorry, not sorry, but we shouldjust never let your kids out of
your house Right and we'regoing to remember those victims
and hope they find Sarah Wood'sbody?
Hannah (41:26):
Yes, hopefully.
Jess (41:29):
And that is that.
Hannah (41:30):
Thank you, jessica, for ruining my night night.
Jess (41:34):
Oh right, and thank you, wanderers, for showing up and
listening again.
Have a wonderful night, loveyou.
Hannah (41:42):
Bye.
Thanks for listening today.
The show wouldn't be possiblewithout our amazing producer and
editor, Rob Fitzpatrick, whoworks tirelessly behind the
scenes to bring you the bestcontent.
Jess (41:52):
And a special thanks to Tyga Soundprod for providing the
captivating intro music.
Cinematic Intro 24.
Hannah (41:59):
And of course, we can't forget the hauntingly beautiful
outro music, Rhino's Theme,composed by Kevin MacLeod.
Jess (42:05):
If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to leave a
rating and review on ourfavorite podcast platforms like
Spotify, Apple and YouTube.
Your feedback means the worldto us.
Hannah (42:17):
Also be sure to follow us on Instagram for behind the
scenes glimpses, updates andmore thrilling content.
You can find us at WickedWanderings Podcast.
Jess (42:25):
Thank you so much for listening and being part of our
Wicked Wanderings community.
Hannah (42:30):
We appreciate each and every one of you Stay curious,
keep exploring and alwaysremember to keep on wandering.
Jess (44:38):
Since you guys are here listening, you must be a fan of
the podcast, and if you want toshow your support, head over to
WickedWanderingPodcastcom, clickon the support tab and choose a
monthly subscription startingat just $3 a month.
Your contributions willdirectly fuel our podcast
production and, as a thank you,we'll give you a shout out in
(45:00):
every episode.
Hannah (45:02):
And you know what might be fun too if we will say your
name and your favorite hauntingplace.
Murder mystery or serial killer, Do you love to go?
Hello Wanderers, I'm Jess and I'm Hannah, and welcome to
Wicked Wanderings.
Hello Hannah, hello Jess, Idon't know why I just say your
name, weird like that all thetime, I don't know, but I think
we need a new producer.
Hannah (00:31):
Yeah, he's going a little crazy, having a little
too much fun with the buttonsover there.
He is Just.
Jess (00:37):
Hey, hannah, stop swearing .
Alright, we're back at it againafter our Thanksgiving break.
Woo, welcome back, wanderers,even though we didn't really
disappear in your life, which iswhat we want we want to be
there for you always, always.
I have to give a shout out tomy friend, bridget.
She listens.
Thanks, bridget.
Hannah (00:57):
Thanks, bridget.
Jess (00:59):
She was the one that brought this case to my
attention and I don't know ifyou've noticed, minus the Salem
witch trials, I like to do casesthat are lesser known.
Yes, and so today we are doingan episode about Lewis Lent, who
is a serial killer fromMassachusetts.
Hannah (01:22):
Oh see, I know nothing.
I like going in blind, so bringit on.
Jess (01:25):
I knew nothing until I researched him, obviously, but I
had never heard of him beforeand he kind of gives me Larry
Hall vibes.
Hannah (01:35):
Really.
Yes, of course, larry Hall wasour last episode.
You did Last episode.
Jess (01:38):
I did, and so I'm just going to be chilling in the 90s
for a couple episodes, becausemy next episode will be in 93 as
well.
Hannah (01:48):
And a lot of girl.
You got theme going.
Jess (01:50):
Apparently.
I didn't even mean to do it.
I'm giving a trigger warning atthe beginning of the episode
because this involves childrenand a douche canoe that killed
and did naughty things tochildren.
Fuck him, yeah Right, so let'sbegin, shall we?
And I think I say that everytime that's okay.
On October 22nd 1990, jimmyBernardo arrived home from
(02:15):
school at around 245.
He dropped his stuff off athome and then grabbed his bike
and left home and went to thePittsfield Plaza, that's about a
half a mile from his house.
The Plaza was a place that allthe kids and teens would hang
out after school.
There was a furniture store,video rental store, pool hall,
laundromat you know the typicalstrip mall.
(02:36):
But the main attraction was thePittsfield Cinema Center and it
provided an expansive parkinglot for kids to ride their bikes
, hang out, play video games,pinball machines, play pool, etc
.
And they could sometimes sneakinto the movie theater with the
aid of the theater's janitor.
Hannah (02:54):
Oh yes.
Jess (02:55):
So Jimmy usually hung out at the Plaza with boys a bit
older than himself and he had areputation of being a little
mouthy, but he got along witheverybody pretty well, like he
was an issue.
He wasn't a bad kid, he justhad a mouth on him.
But that afternoon he came toplay games alone.
He was in the laundromat wherethe arcade games and pinball
(03:17):
machines were and he left to usethe pay phone at the movie
theater, came back to play thegame a little longer and then he
returned home again between 420and 430.
He ate an early dinner with hisfamily, did his homework, then
returned back to the Plaza tomeet up with a friend at 530.
They had planned ahead to meetup at 530.
Shortly after 5pm the woman whoran the laundromat saw Jimmy
(03:40):
coming from the direction of themovie theater.
He sat down in the chairsoutside and was drinking a root
beer waiting for his friend.
And how old is this kid in?
12.
?
Oh, ok, I did not.
Did I say that?
I don't know?
But yeah, he's 12 years old,which I think almost every kid
in this story is around 12 yearsold.
He has an MO.
Hannah (04:00):
Yes, he has a type.
Jess (04:02):
Jimmy's friend left his house at 530 to go to the Plaza.
Took him about 15 minutes toget there and when he got there
he didn't see Jimmy.
So he waited around and at 6pmhe called Jimmy's house and
Jimmy's mom answered and toldthe friend that Jimmy was still
playing outside.
The friend waited till around630 and then he went home
(04:22):
because he hadn't gotten there.
Jimmy did not return home forhis curfew, which was unusual
for him, and his parents beganto worry.
They called his friends anddrove around the Plaza looking
for him.
When they couldn't find himthere, they went to a few other
places around the Plaza to seeif they could find him and when
they couldn't find him anywhere,they contacted the police.
(04:42):
An officer was dispatched to thehome and took a report and the
family provided the police witha picture and a missing person
Bolo was issued.
Jimmy's picture was circulatedthroughout Massachusetts and
across the country and at thispoint there was no evidence to
suggest foul play.
And despite that, officers wereasking around the Plaza.
There were no leads.
There was no bike, no clothes.
(05:04):
The police had nothing.
On November 2nd, america's MostWanted broadcasted an episode
on Jimmy's disappearance, buteven that didn't provide any new
leads, which also made me think, if Larry Hall saw this episode
.
Hannah (05:18):
Yeah.
Jess (05:19):
Because he loved America's Most Wanted.
Anyway, interesting becauseit's around the same time.
It's a small world too.
Almost a month after Jimmy'sdisappearance, on November 18th,
two boys discovered a mintgreen BMX Mongoose bike
partially submerged in SilverLake.
That was across town from thePlaza Center.
And three days later, onNovember 21st, some deer hunters
(05:42):
found a body approximately 200feet off of a one lane road in
rural Newfield, new York, some200 miles away from Pritzfield.
So another one of those caseswhere the kid was taken across
state lines, which makes it afederal crime yeah.
The naked body was firstbelieved to be a female due to
the lack of body hair, but itwould eventually be identified
(06:04):
as Jimmy Bernardo.
He lay face down at the base ofa sapling tree with a quarter
inch clothesline rope tiedaround his neck in a slipknot
and the other end tied to thetree.
His clothes were found 200 feetfrom the body and the lack of
scratches on Jimmy's legsindicated that he had walked
through the brush before beingstripped at the scene of the
(06:26):
murder.
Also, I just want to includethat the source that I use for
this among some websites isHidden Demons Evil Visits a
Small New England Town byMarjorie Metzger, and this came
out this year, so most of thisinformation is from that.
The New York Medical Examinerruled Jimmy's cause of death as
(06:47):
asphyxiation by strangulation.
There were no defensive woundsor evidence of a struggle or
beating.
Although he wasn't foundrestrained, there was residue
around the wrists and anklesthat would suggest that he was
restrained.
At one point there was tapeover his eyes that had a paper
towel wadded up underneath thetape on his eyes.
(07:07):
This was either for comfort orto make a better blindfold.
After his body was found, amassive search was conducted
around the plaza where Jimmywent missing, as well as in
Newfield, new York.
Reward money was set up for anyinformation and the detectives
in charge of the case McGuireand McGellagott, I think I don't
(07:31):
know checked out every lead forthree years.
And for three years there wasabsolutely nothing.
That is until January 7, 1994.
So that morning, 12 year oldRebecca Savarise was walking to
school, to Notre Dame MiddleSchool in Pittsfield.
Unbeknownst to Rebecca, she hadbeen spotted walking by Big Y,
(07:56):
the local grocery store, by aman who felt like he had a
relationship with the preteen.
The man had often seen thecomings and goings of Rebecca
and her friends.
He had followed them, catalogedtheir movements, but on that
day Rebecca was walking aloneand he was ready to make his
move.
No, it's not creepy, nope.
The scruffy looking manapproached Rebecca and said Do
(08:19):
you see the gun I have?
Rebecca thought he was jokingand said he seemed kind of like
a nerd.
He approached her with a yellowshirt over her arm and coaxed
her up the street with a gunpointed at her ribs.
He then said Do everything Isay and everything will be all
right.
See that black pickup.
I want you to get in it.
(08:40):
Rebecca remembered the words hermom had told her Stay on the
main road Walk, where it is welltraveled.
If anyone is behind you, duckinto a business, kick, bite,
scream, punch, spit anything toget attention.
Badass Becky here knew that ifshe were to get into that truck
she would never see her motheragain.
(09:01):
So she began to hyperventilate,faking an asthma attack, and
asked the nerdy attacker if shecould sit down for a minute.
And that was just enough tocatch the kidnapper off guard.
And as she began to sit downshe was able to wiggle free of
her backpack that the man washolding.
And Rebecca took off runningand ran into Kenneth Card, who
(09:23):
worked for a management companyclose by and was out shoveling
the sidewalks.
He took Rebecca inside andcontacted the police.
Russell Davies was parked atthe intersection and witnessed
the whole interaction.
He had originally thought itwas a father and daughter, but
when Rebecca had freed herselfhe became suspicious and looked
(09:44):
directly at the man, who thenrealized that he was being
watched.
Hannah (09:49):
Oh, guess who's being watched now.
Jess (09:51):
Yeah, the man walked back to his truck and Russell was
able to get a partial licenseplate.
Russell attempted to follow theman, but he was unable to keep
up because he blew through twored lights and so he stopped
somewhere to call the police.
Hannah (10:07):
Remember 1994, no cell phones yet Right, no cell phones
.
That was actually a thought.
I'm like dude, why did you stop?
Like you could have called, butobviously in time period.
Jess (10:16):
Yeah, he actually stopped at the corner mobile station,
the gas station, and ran intoOfficer Delmont Keyes and told
him what he had just witnessed.
Rebecca was taken to the policestation and was questioned by
Detective Joe Collias and heremembers that she seemed like a
bright and happy kid.
(10:36):
She was smiling during theinterview and wasn't crying.
She was able to give a prettygood description of both the man
that attempted to kidnap her aswell as the truck he was
driving.
She also reported that she hadseen the truck before as she was
walking home from school withfriends and around the cinema
center, with the compositesketch that Rebecca was able to
(11:00):
do and the partial license plateprovided by Russell Davies.
The police put out a Bolo withthis description.
All detectives were called into conduct grid searches for the
truck in the surrounding area.
Detective Boyington headed toLanesboro and was going to check
in with the Lanesboro PD to lethim know he was in the area and
(11:21):
what he was doing.
After speaking with theofficers there, he decided to
head back to Pittsfield becauseit was snowing.
It was like a really bad stormthat day and all of this was
going on.
Hannah (11:32):
So was he maybe accounting for the fact that
there probably wouldn't be thatmuch people around.
Jess (11:36):
Yeah, because he wanted to go search some more, but it was
snowing, people were not on theroads and the weather was
getting worse.
But on his way back he stoppedin an intersection and just
happened to look up to his left.
And wouldn't you know it,across the lane of traffic up
Summer Street in Pittsfield andin the driveway of the second
(11:58):
house on the north side of thestreet sat a dark blue truck
with a white cab over the bed.
Boyington turned around andheaded to that house and
discovered that the licenseplate number was 878-735.
And the partial plate numberthat Russell Davies provided was
878.
So Boyington returned toLanesboro PD to have them run
(12:22):
the plate and the truck wasregistered to a Phil Shallies of
Summer Street.
So keep in mind all of this ishappening on the same day.
Rebecca was headed to school at7 am and detectives were
knocking on the door of PhilShallies by 2.15 pm that
afternoon.
That's pretty good, yeah,especially in a blizzard,
(12:42):
especially in a blizzard Smalltown.
Hannah (12:45):
they got nothing else to do.
Also true.
Jess (12:48):
In the home were two elderly women, sarah Shallies
and Eleanor Turner, and anelderly man.
I mean, you all know how I amwith words nowadays, I should
just not say anything anymore.
Just move on.
Chester Forfa, along with twoyounger men, phil and his friend
.
They were all confused as towhy the police were there, but
(13:10):
also went on to say they knewwhy they were there, which is
weird, creepy.
Why are you here?
But we know you're here.
But they had heard about theattempted kidnapping on the
radio.
Boyington thought that Phil'sfriend looked a little like the
description that Rebecca hadprovided, but asked if anyone
had been using the truck thatmorning.
Phil's friend mentioned that hehad used it and he asked to
(13:34):
speak to the friend outside,which the friend agreed.
So they went outside and heasked him some basic questions
where he lived and worked.
Detective Boyington asked himfor his ID, which the friend
obliged, and they now had a nameLouis Lent of North Adams,
massachusetts.
It wasn't until Lent hadmentioned that he worked at the
(13:56):
movie theater for seven yearsbut was currently unemployed
that a light bulb went off inthe detective's head.
Boyington's mind went straightto Jimmy Bernardo, who went
missing from the movie theaterthree years earlier, the
unsolved case that continued tohaunt the town and the
detectives working the case Lentwas brought in to the police
(14:17):
station for questioning of theattempted kidnapping of Rebecca,
and McGuire, who worked at thePittsfield PD who was on Jimmy's
case, contacted New York PD tolet them know that they might
have a suspect.
So because the body was found inNew York and he was from
Pittsfield, they had bothdepartments working on the case.
(14:37):
Makes sense.
A background check showed thatLent had a previous address in
Burdette, new York, which wasjust 12 miles away from where
Jimmy's body was found.
During the interview Lentpresented himself as friendly
and he loved to talk.
He was not yet being questionedabout the day's events and he
(14:58):
was not under arrest, andBoyington informed him that
since he was not under arrest hewas not obliged to talk and
that he could leave whenever hewanted.
But Lent chose to stay andtalked about his day and it
seemed that he enjoyed being thecenter of attention.
Hannah (15:15):
Oh yeah, that's a common denominator with these guys?
Jess (15:18):
right yeah, Lent had made it clear that he had left his
house in North Adams around 6 amand drove directly to Phil's
house in Lanesboro, which IGoogled and it's about a 30
minute drive.
But the detectives didn'tbelieve him and were given the
green light to question himabout Rebecca.
Lent was then read his rights,which he acknowledged that he
(15:41):
understood his rights as well.
He was sticking to a storyabout heading straight to Phil's
house until a lieutenant camein and asked Lent if he had a
license to carry or a federalidentification card.
Lent said he did and handed itover to the lieutenant and said
he didn't own a handgun nor hadhe ever shot one.
(16:03):
But like, isn't that a littlesuspicious to randomly offer up
that information?
Hannah (16:09):
Yeah, that's very strange.
But also, don't you have to gothrough a training in order to
get your license to carry?
So obviously you've handled agun, that's very strange.
Jess (16:22):
Yeah and main, this was in the 90s.
I don't know how different itwas back then.
True, here's my license tocarry, but I don't own a gun and
I've never touched one.
And I've never shot one.
Yeah, I just okay buddy, webelieve you.
As the Lieutenant walked out ofthe room he mumbled under his
breath you'll never see thisagain, which was loud enough for
(16:44):
Lent to hear, and theseriousness of the situation
seemed to hit Lent as he refusedto talk after that.
Later that afternoon, bothRebecca and Russell Davies came
into the police station for aphoto lineup.
They both picked the samepicture but could not say with a
hundred percent certainty thatit was the right man.
(17:04):
The police decided to do aphysical lineup, which Lent
consented to do, and the shittything about this lineup is that
the Pittsfield PD didn't have aroom with a double-sided mirror,
so they lined everybody up in ahallway, each holding a number,
and Rebecca was supposed tocome out of a room and get them
(17:24):
out oh yeah.
Hannah (17:27):
There's something wrong about that, Right oh?
Jess (17:31):
that's just.
Did you imagine?
Hannah (17:32):
No, yeah no.
Jess (17:36):
But once again 12-year-old badass Becky was able to do it
Go.
Hannah (17:40):
Becky.
Jess (17:41):
And she understood her role.
She was nervous and Boyingtonwas with her, and the moment she
walked out the door she stoppedand grabbed Boyington's arm
when she saw Lent standing thereand she knew without a doubt
that he was the man that triedto kidnap her.
Hannah (17:57):
It should have been done like that, though I feel like
that's breaking a law of somesort Right At least it should be
yeah, Because that could beintimidation too, you know.
Jess (18:06):
And we will take a short break.
We just want to thank Lynn fromSpringfield, Heather from New
Jersey, Courtney fromMassachusetts and Chelsea from
Utah.
Thank you all for yourcontributions monthly so that we
can keep going Well, yeah, eatand continue with the wonderful
(18:32):
things that are wickedwanderings, Thank you.
A sincere expression ofgratitude to our esteemed
patrons Lynn from Massachusetts,heather from New Jersey,
courtney from Massachusetts andChelsea from Utah for their
generous monthly contributions.
Their support fuels the engineof our investigative endeavors
(18:55):
here at Wicked Wanderings.
Hannah (18:57):
You too can become a valued patron and unlock a realm
of exclusive content bysupporting our mission for as
little as $3 a month.
Your contribution sustains ourcommitment to delivering high
quality content.
Jess (19:09):
Visit wickedwanderingspodcastcom and
click on the support tab to jointhe ranks of dedicated patrons
like Lynn, heather, courtney andChelsea.
Your investment not only keepsour podcast thriving, but also
ensures you are at the forefrontof intriguing discoveries.
Hannah (19:26):
Thank you for considering this opportunity to
deepen your engagement withWicked Wanderings.
Your support is paramount inenabling us to continue our
journey into the realms ofmystery and true crime.
Jess (19:36):
And now back to the shit show.
Lynn was a little shaken upafter the lineup because,
remember, he saw her and heremarked to officers how fearful
Rebecca looked when she saw him.
It was then that Lynn happenedto mention that he suffered from
(20:01):
blackout spells during which hehad no memory.
Convenient, yeah right.
He tried to explain that hispersonality would split and his
alter ego, stephen, would appearand Lent would have no control
over him.
How convenient, lou Convenience.
Rebecca's ID resulted in Lentbeing arrested.
(20:24):
He was, he's such a dumbass.
He was searched and thisdumbass still had the receipt
for the gun he purchased in hiswallet.
Wow, you know the gun that hesaid he never possessed or
touched or touched or shot orwhatever.
They asked Lent again if he hada gun and he denied again
(20:48):
owning one.
So then they showed him thereceipt to his wallet and he was
like, oh, that must have beenStephen, I don't remember.
Hannah (20:59):
You know we don't laugh at mental health here.
I would go wondering, but thisjust sounds like just making it
up and being convenient.
Jess (21:08):
So to ensure they had an ironclad case, they recorded
Lent being read his rights againand being interviewed.
He still wanted to talk, ifonly it was to avoid being alone
in the jail cell in thebasement Like.
He even complained when he wasin there, saying that there were
bugs and he didn't want tostand, he was going in the dark
Poor guy Night night You've beenkids freaking nightmare.
Hannah (21:32):
Nope sympathy for you.
Jess (21:33):
Right Police ended up talking to Lent until 3am and
they wanted to make sure he feltcomfortable so he would let his
guard down.
Sorry, I love you, teddy bearerYou're sitting there with your
arms crossed and you're justangry, Anything like kids.
Hannah (21:51):
I'm like yeah.
Jess (21:53):
He was calm and cooperative and he knew after he
was arrested that there was nohiding his involvement.
The interviews continued thefollowing day, saturday, january
8th 1994.
Lent mentioned that heremembered some things that he
didn't remember the previous day, like Lee Story Lou, he said
(22:15):
that the scared look onRebecca's face during the lineup
it was like he had seen herbefore.
Well, no shit.
He also remembered not goingstraight to Phil's house, like
he had previously mentioned, buthe must have been headed to
Pittsfield.
Once again, no shit.
And then he also remembered thathe owned a shotgun, a.22 rifle
(22:41):
and a pellet pistol, butcontinued to deny owning the
revolver.
Wow.
He also said that he didn'tremember going to the sporting
goods store and buying a gun.
Man, he really is going for thesplit personality thing.
What a joke.
While New York detectives werewaiting their turn in line to
(23:03):
interview Lent for thedisappearance of Jimmy Bernardo,
they interviewed his family andfriends.
His arrest had hit his familyhard, understandably, and they
were shocked and claimed that hewould never do such things and
he's a Christian, because youknow people who are Christians
never do anything wrong.
Hannah (23:22):
Well, let's look at past episodes that suppose
Christians never did anythingwrong.
Huge Iroll.
Jess (23:28):
Yep.
But let's get into thebackground of this douche canoe,
right.
Even though he doesn't deserveany more attention than the
victims, it kind of helps to getan insight into who this guy
was.
Lent was born in Reynoldsville,new York, in 1950, and he was a
middle child and only son ofLois and Lewis Lent.
(23:48):
So Lewis Sr was a huge dick,basically, and he ended up
getting divorced, leaving Loisto raise Lewis Jr and his two
sisters.
And what's funny at least Ithink it's funny is Lois did end
up marrying a friend of LewisSr, mr Alfred Wood.
Lewis didn't like visiting hisfather and would scream and cry
(24:08):
and cling to his mom and askingto stay home.
Some people contribute this tohis relationship with his mom
and being clingy, but there wasa lot going on at his dad's
house that may not have been ahealthy environment for any
child.
In 1954, in true dick fashion,lewis Sr began a relationship
(24:29):
with a 14-year-old girl namedCharlene.
Oh God, she was a family friendwho lived on and off with him
for 15 years, wow, yep.
But also that same year hefathered a daughter, deborah,
with an Ellen Venetian, and theyeventually got married.
They had Deborah and her olderbrother, frank.
(24:50):
So Ellen's son from a previousrelationship go live with
Ellen's mother.
Then they had another child, ason they named Ronald, and when
Ellen's mother died, deborah andFrank came to live with them
and Lewis Sr decided he didn'twant the burden of two more
children, so he left Ellen.
This guy was a class act.
(25:12):
He would go back into the armsof Charlene, who continued to be
his go-to Hootie throughout hismarriage.
Hannah (25:22):
The girl that was 14.
Jess (25:23):
Yeah, Around the same time , lewis Jr appeared to be
struggling.
He dropped out of high schoolin his sophomore year and
resented his parents for theirdivorce.
There was little to no parentalguidance.
His relationship with hisfather was inconsistent.
He didn't fit into school.
He was bullied in school forhis coke bottle glasses and
(25:47):
following Lewis Jr's arrest,relatives began to recount
stories of abuse by the hand ofLewis Dick Sr.
Hannah (25:56):
He's his male name.
Jess (25:57):
Dick, or you just said that Cause he's a dick.
Good touch, yes, thank you.
He was physically, emotionallyand sexually abusive.
It wasn't until Lewis Jr'sarrest that Lewis admitted that
Lewis Sr had molested at leastone of their daughters and
possibly the other one as well.
Wow, there is no account of himmolesting Lewis Jr.
(26:21):
But if you look at the cycle ofabusers, especially sexual
offenders, they have usuallybeen victims themselves.
So it makes sense to me thatLewis Jr was molested by someone
, if not his father, lewis Jr,who I refer to as lent for most
of those episodes.
So I'm just trying to keep himand his father separate.
(26:43):
But lent arrived in Pittsfieldin 1986 after living in New York
and Florida for a short time.
He became involved in the localchurch of Christ, which is
interesting, cause detectiveBoyington's wife was a member of
the congregation and would saythat there was something off
about Lewis.
So the detectives wife knew him.
(27:05):
But I mean, I guess small townLewis always managed to find
ways to be around children.
He would offer to drive themaround for church outings and
would befriend single mothersthat were thankful to have a
male presence in theirchildren's lives.
There were a few times when hejust became part of the family
(27:25):
and he had a lot of access tochildren all of the time.
So I am willing to bet thatthere are more incidents of
sexual assault that neversurfaced.
Hannah (27:37):
It's really unfortunate, because the church is such an
easy place for predators to comein and, yes, take advantage of
situations because they'realways looking for volunteers.
They're always looking for newmembers and it's really the
unfortunate thing because somechurches don't.
(27:58):
If you're going to volunteerfor something you know you don't
get a quarry check.
Or even if you had a quarrycheck, I mean lent didn't get
caught until the nineties, so Imean, so who knows how many
victims are?
Jess (28:09):
out there.
Right, right, yeah.
He remained active with hischurch activities for about four
years but abruptly stopped in1990.
I wonder why Lent was.
Lent was able to get his job atthe Cinema Center.
Upon a recommendation from amember of the church
(28:31):
congregation, richard Baumannhired Lent to work part time at
the church, at the cinema.
He worked mostly nights, buthad keys to the movie theater
and could go in to the buildingwhenever he wanted.
Even after seven years ofemployment, baumann stated that
he hardly even knew the man.
His daughter, however, was lentsupervisor and he did not like
(28:56):
her.
And so tell me if this isn'tshady.
She caught him camping out witha young man in the theater one
night.
Heather told her yeah, heathertold her father about it, and
Lent was giving a warning andwas told that this type of
behavior was unacceptable andwould not be tolerated.
And he was like, oh, but I toldhim I was take him camping and
(29:21):
the weather's bad, so who knowsthis is heavy.
Hannah (29:28):
It is.
It's heavy and I I feel likemost of our episodes I've been
fine with, but I think it'sbecause it has to do with kids,
yeah, and I was thinking aboutthat as well, but I also noticed
your change in your bodylanguage and your so in my mind
of my God.
Sorry, Hannah, oh no, I meanit's no, it's, it's fine, it's
(29:48):
part of history.
Unfortunately, these bastardsare out there and for whatever,
reason.
Jess (29:55):
this is a little more, it's more creepy than Louis Lent
, cause I mean just more.
More, yeah, more creepy thanLouis Lent, isn't this?
Aren't we talking?
I?
Hannah (30:05):
mean Larry Hall.
Sorry, I'm like, are we?
Jess (30:07):
wait, wait, awkward Cause.
Those girls were like 12 to 14years old and older.
Hannah (30:15):
I don't feel like this is more detail.
Jess (30:17):
I don't know it just well, so this will be a good side
note.
In the book hidden demons itgives Lent's confessions, yeah,
and what he did, and I actuallyhave kept a lot of things out
just for the sake of we don'tneed to know that.
Hannah (30:35):
Yeah.
Jess (30:36):
But if someone, a wicked wanderer, is curious, go ahead
and check out the book.
But yeah, there was a lot Ileft out for this.
So, sarge, it's heavy.
Hey, the trigger warnings inthe beginning, that's true.
Continued trigger warningspeople, listeners, wanderers.
So finally, in 1993, lent wasfired.
(30:58):
Due to many warnings of hissloppy work, lent threatened
Bomin, saying I know where youlive and I know all about your
family, creepy.
Bomin attempted to call thepolice but dialed the wrong
number and Lent had taken offand he had never heard anything
from him again.
Lent, like I said earlier,always found his way to the
(31:21):
younger crowd and the apartmentshe lived in became hangouts for
local teens who wanted to placethe party during can-do drugs.
During this time, lent's moodswere described as erratic and he
would be nice, polite, generousand funny one minute and then
instantly flipped to beingirrational and violent.
Lent's relationships with womenwere also awkward.
(31:46):
He proposed to four women whowere surprised, considering they
were never in a romanticrelationship with him.
Oh my God, he was 17 when heasked the first girl to marry
him and her refusal devastatedhim.
His next proposal wasn't untilhe was 26 and out of nowhere he
(32:07):
asked his 14 year old friend tomarry him.
First of all, why is there a 26year old that has a 14 year old
friend?
Yeah, yeah, gross.
A few years later, he wasworking on his car with a 16
year old cousin and randomlyasked her to marry him.
His 16 year old cousin Gross.
Hannah (32:28):
This guy is he's not right in the head, no, and
thinking about mental health.
He's looking for thisattachment, but he's obviously
looking in a lot of wrong places.
But he's looking for thatconnection and he wasn't able to
get it as a child.
He's looking to be accepted,which obviously does not condone
anything that he did, butthere's there's a lot of trauma
(32:52):
involved with that.
Jess (32:54):
But he's also going very young which is very concerning.
Hannah (32:59):
Yes, yeah, but his father also.
Jess (33:02):
Yeah, I mean, he had an outstanding role model, gross
Yep.
His last proposal was when hewas at the Bible college.
He went for the daughter of oneof the ministers who taught at
the school.
Her name was Brenda Muller.
She was a single mother ofthree children and they became
(33:24):
friendly and started havingdinner at each other's houses.
When he proposed, she told himthat she was not ready to marry
and that it was too soon afterher divorce.
He became upset so she left thehouse and she kind of told her
dad about it and was like hey,talk to this guy.
Like what the hell, what thehell, dad?
What kind of school are yourunning?
(33:45):
Just kidding.
A month later he confronted herrandomly in the library asking
her how she could do somethinglike that.
The sad thing about the storyis that Sarah Ann Wood, who
we'll learn was another victimof his, was the daughter of a
minister, and so Brenda thoughtthat Lent went after Sarah to
(34:08):
get back at her.
That's a lot of unnecessaryguilt for Brenda and Kerry.
So after that confession, lentwasn't done.
There was another confession tomake, and I don't know if
you've caught on yet, hannah,but Lent is super fucking creepy
Really.
(34:28):
Yeah, and he had this masterplan to continue this bullshit.
Lent admitted that in his roomhe had built like half a wall to
separate a portion of his roomwhere he was going to be
building these boxes that werelong enough to put a person in
Hell.
He might even keep two peoplein there foot to head, and like
(34:51):
coffins yeah, like coffin sizeprobably and he would keep them
in there until he was ready tohave sex with them.
Oh my God.
Then, when he was done, hewould just put them back and
keep them as his little slaves.
I'm sorry, hannah.
Hannah (35:09):
If you guys could see my face right now.
I'm like my lunch dinner iscoming back up.
Jess (35:16):
That's why I said people who, needless to say, the police
got a warrant to search Len'sapartment and they discovered
maps with notes and logs of thegirls he had been following.
They discovered the beginningsof Len's master plan.
And there was another bombshell, however.
The first weekend Len was incustody, len told investigators
(35:39):
that he held the key to thedisappearance and murder of
Sarah and would, who wentmissing from Frankfurt, new York
, in August of 1993.
So that was five months beforeRebecca's attempted kidnapping.
Sarah was riding her bike, andmaybe this is why he reminds me
(35:59):
of Larry Hall, because most ofhis victims were riding bikes.
Anyway, she was riding her pinkand white bike from Norwich
Presbyterian Church, where herfather was a pastor.
She was riding while carrying afew boxes from Bible school on
her way home, which was onlylike a half a mile away.
She was struggling to carryeverything and was going slow,
(36:23):
and Len had pulled up in frontof her, jumped out of his van
and confronted her with a knife.
Hannah (36:29):
Sorry, go back to the bike thing.
Yeah, didn't that girl fromMassachusetts near Palmer?
Her last name was Pyrrhanon.
Remember I told you Holly Holly, didn't she ride a?
Jess (36:43):
bike.
She was kind of young, though.
Yes, they actually mentionedher in this book, that hers is
one of the cases that they wantto link to him, but he is not
confessed to hers.
Okay, so that's, that's who Ithought of yeah, okay,
interesting.
So Lent had pulled up in frontand jumped out of his van and
confronted her with a knife.
She dropped the boxes and tookoff running, but Lent was able
(37:05):
to catch up to her quickly.
He threatened her with theknife and forced her into the
van and once inside he taped herhands and he drove around
looking for a quiet sorry Hannahdirt road, where he got in the
back of van and sexuallyassaulted her.
He then made her walk into thewoods and when she wasn't
looking, he hit her in the headwith a large branch.
(37:27):
He thought that she was deadbecause she wasn't moving and he
grabbed a shovel, dug a holeand buried her.
He covered the grave withsticks and branches and he
reported that he wasn't sure ifshe was dead or not, because he
doesn't like to touch deadbodies.
Hannah (37:46):
Wait a minute.
Jess (37:47):
What a fucking dick I thought he wanted to keep dead
bodies in his room.
No, he wanted to keep themalive in his room.
Hannah (37:54):
Oh well, not that it really makes sense, yeah.
Jess (37:56):
Yeah.
Hannah (37:57):
But I okay.
Jess (37:59):
So who knows if she was really dead when she was buried
or not, which I hate thinkingabout, but I mean really he
didn't.
It's just a fucking dick.
Lent never provided the familywith the exact location of her
body and her body has never beenfound.
He took the police out tovarious places and told them
(38:22):
where to look, but, like I said,her body has never been found
and part of me thinks that hewas just driving around
aimlessly and can't reallyremember.
Hannah (38:31):
Yeah.
Jess (38:32):
But I don't know.
But what's interesting is, asrecently as November of 2023,
police are still conductingsearches for her body.
They recently searched 29 acresin the Vermont woods after
developing new information itwas a three day search in the
Green Mountain National Forest,but you'll did no results.
They had canine out there andhelicopters.
Hannah (38:54):
He just hoped that her soul's at rest and her poor
family.
Jess (38:59):
Lewis will go on to confess to one more murder, that
of 12 year old Jamie Lusher,who went missing in 1992 from
Westfield when he was riding hisbike to Blandford, to his
grandma's house.
And officials are hoping,hoping to tie at least 10 more
unsolved cases to Lent.
Hannah (39:18):
like Holly, I know my mom mentioned to me when I was
doing research on Longo and shehad mentioned the Holly period
in case, and she's like yep whenthat came out.
That's why I wouldn't let youguys out of my sight.
And now, talking about allthese other murders that
happened in the WesternMassachusetts area, yeah, I can
see why she kept us pretty closeback then, because there was
(39:39):
definitely a maniac on the loose.
Jess (39:43):
Right On Friday, january 6 , 1995, just one day shy of a
year from the date of theattempted kidnap of Rebecca jury
selection began and after afour day trial they found Louis
guilty of kidnapping, assaultand battery and assault with a
dangerous weapon.
He was sentenced to 17 and ahalf to 20 years in a maximum
(40:05):
security prison.
A year and a half later, lentactually pled guilty to first
degree murder of Jimmy Bernardothe first time that happened in
Berkshire County and the onlythe third time for that to have
happened in Massachusetts.
In 1997, in Herkamore County,new York, lent was also
(40:27):
sentenced 25 years to life forthe kidnapping of Sarah Wood,
even though he never revealedwhere her body was buried.
So this douche canoe willdefinitely be dying in prison.
And that, my friends, is thehorrible story of the douche
(40:48):
canoe Lewis Lent.
Do you know where he is?
Burn and hail.
I think he's in jail in NewYork.
He was doing some time in aseater somewhere I can't
remember the name, and then hewas having a hard time.
He was afraid to leave his cellbecause he was getting beat up.
So we did some time in thispsychiatric prison too.
(41:08):
Yeah, so that is Lewis Lent.
Well, that happy note Right,this episode is over.
Sorry, not sorry, but we shouldjust never let your kids out of
your house Right and we'regoing to remember those victims
and hope they find Sarah Wood'sbody?
Hannah (41:26):
Yes, hopefully.
Jess (41:29):
And that is that.
Hannah (41:30):
Thank you, jessica, for ruining my night night.
Jess (41:34):
Oh right, and thank you, wanderers, for showing up and
listening again.
Have a wonderful night, loveyou.
Hannah (41:42):
Bye.
Thanks for listening today.
The show wouldn't be possiblewithout our amazing producer and
editor, Rob Fitzpatrick, whoworks tirelessly behind the
scenes to bring you the bestcontent.
Jess (41:52):
And a special thanks to Tyga Soundprod for providing the
captivating intro music.
Cinematic Intro 24.
Hannah (41:59):
And of course, we can't forget the hauntingly beautiful
outro music, Rhino's Theme,composed by Kevin MacLeod.
Jess (42:05):
If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to leave a
rating and review on ourfavorite podcast platforms like
Spotify, Apple and YouTube.
Your feedback means the worldto us.
Hannah (42:17):
Also be sure to follow us on Instagram for behind the
scenes glimpses, updates andmore thrilling content.
You can find us at WickedWanderings Podcast.
Jess (42:25):
Thank you so much for listening and being part of our
Wicked Wanderings community.
Hannah (42:30):
We appreciate each and every one of you Stay curious,
keep exploring and alwaysremember to keep on wandering.
Jess (44:38):
Since you guys are here listening, you must be a fan of
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Your contributions willdirectly fuel our podcast
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(45:00):
every episode.
Hannah (45:02):
And you know what might be fun too if we will say your
name and your favorite hauntingplace.
Murder mystery or serial killer, Do you love to go?
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