Whatever Happened to Sara

By Gwen Beaudean Thoma EdD

In 1953 life in Farrar, Missouri, was simple and quiet. The town of less than one hundred was composed of German immigrants who were mostly farmers. The town was centered around their Lutheran church and school. Sara Turner was a twenty-three-year-old elementary teacher at the Salem Lutheran Grade School in Farrar. She was beautiful, and she was loved by this community. She had close friends but was not lucky in romance. The heartache from her first broken romance at the age of twenty-one made Sara cynical and distrustful of men.

In July of 1953, Sara Turner was brutally murdered on a deserted county road near Farrar. The small town was shocked to learn that their sweet and dear Sara was killed in such a way. Nothing like this had ever happened before in Farrar. Everyone knew everyone else in the community. The murderer couldn’t possibly be anyone living in Farrar.

John Barnes was the sheriff in Perry County, Missouri. He wanted to solve this case desperately. As he learned more about Sara and put the clues together, he became obsessed with the need to find justice for the young woman whose life had ended so brutally. Whatever Happened to Sara is a book that reveals not only the life of Sara Turner but also the evidences as they compiled until the case was finally solved. I hope you enjoy this book until its dramatic end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669837671

Gwen Beaudean Thoma EdD

Gwen Beaudean Thoma, EdD was born and raised in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a small college town along the Mississippi River. She attended the local college and graduated in 1969 with her basic nursing degree. Gwen was a registered professional nurse for 42 years at Southeast Missouri Hospital. During that time she continued her education receiving her bachelor’s degree in nursing and a master’s degree in administration at Southeast Missouri State University. In 1999 Gwen graduated from the University of Memphis with her Doctorate in Education. Dr. Thoma loves to write and published her first book in 2016 entitled “No More Biting”. It is a children’s book written for parents, grandparents and teachers who have children who bite. It was written originally for her grandson in 2001. He had trouble with biting his friends at school. After retiring in 2011, Dr. Thoma decided to have it published. Events in Dr. Thoma’s life entangled her in 5 murders in Cape Girardeau. These murders changed her life forever and followed her for 30 years. Thus in 2015, Gwen wrote this book entitled “Living with Murder for Thirty Years”. Her love for writing is like a second career and even though the differences between children’s books and murder mysteries is huge, Dr. Thoma believes one should never limit possibilities in writing and authorship. Dr. Thoma’s third book entitled “The Cat Named Bud” is another children’s book meant for lower elementary age children who are beginning readers. Children love their pets and can relate to the story of this pet. Dr. Thoma’s forth book, “Whatever Happened to Sara” is a work of fiction about a 23 year old elementary teacher who is murdered on a deserted road in 1953. Writing fiction is particularly challenging because it requires more creativity to come up with a plot and the characters. The only thing real in this book is the location of the crime in Farrar, Missouri. Dr. Thoma believes this story is intriguing and suspenseful from the very first chapter until the very end. This book, “The King of Hearts” is a fictional murder mystery about a teenage girl in high school who has her world turned upside down by a serial killer who stalks her over a three and a half year period. Each boyfriend that Angelina Harper goes out with is murdered. The King of Hearts leaves king of hearts playing cards where ever Angelina goes and sends her sympathy cards after each murder. It appears he knows her every move and wants her for his very own. This thrilling murder mystery will catch hold of the reader and draw them in to the story from beginning to the dramatic end.

Book preview

Copyright © 2022 by Gwen Beaudean Thoma, EdD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and

such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/12/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1     The Event

Chapter 2     Finding Sara

Chapter 3     Telling Sara’s Parents

Chapter 4     About Farrar

Chapter 5     The Morning of the First Day

Chapter 6     The Questioning

Chapter 7     July 21, 1953

Chapter 8     Saying Goodbye to Sara

Chapter 9     Sara’s Diary

Chapter 10   Never Again

Chapter 11   The Heartache Interview

Chapter 12   Exploring Other Leads

Chapter 13   Going Cold

Chapter 14   A Simple Twist of Fate

Chapter 15   Gathering Proof

Chapter 16   Closure

Dedicated to the residents of Farrar, Missouri, where my grandparents,

John and Bertha Sticht, had lived and raised their twelve children.

CHAPTER 1

The Event

It was a hot and humid night in July of 1953. Heat lightning kept the sky lit continuously. There was no breeze in the air. The only air that was moving was coming through the open window of Sara Turner’s 1940 Ford Coupe. Sara was driving home to Farrar from her night on the town with college friends she had met in Cape Girardeau. Sara had graduated three years ago from Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with a teacher’s certificate. She taught elementary school.

Sara was humming to the music on the radio as she sped down the gravel road of County Road 414 toward her parents’ farm in Farrar, Missouri. She had promised her parents she would be home to go to church with them in the morning. She was thinking back over the events of the night and the fun she had with her old classmates. They had gone out to eat, went to the movies, and then went to a local dance club. Sara had done her usual amount of flirting with the men at the dance club, but she was determined to not let anyone get too close. She had vowed two years earlier that she would never let any man get too close again.

Sara was beautiful at the age of twenty-three, with flowing long blond hair and blue eyes. She had a gorgeous figure at five feet, two inches tall and 110 pounds. It was no wonder that she attracted men wherever she went. She smiled to herself about how she could tease men into thinking she liked them and could cool their desire at just the right moment. She would see just a glimpse of their anger as they stormed off. Sara would sometimes have a moment of regret at being the way she was, but the regret would pass quickly.

As Sara continued down the gravel road shortcut to Farrar, she continued to think about her past relationships. Suddenly she came over a hill and around a curve and slammed on her brakes. Her car skidded sideways on the gravel before coming to an abrupt stop. Sara said to herself, What’s he doing here?

The man was standing in the middle of the road, had his hands on his hips, and did not move as the car skidded toward him. It was his intent to stop Sara from getting home. This gravel road shortcut was isolated, with only two farms on the ten-mile stretch of road. Sara was frightened, and she had every reason to be. Why are you here? Sara shouted out the window.

The man smiled as he moved toward her car. Why, Sara honey, you should know by now, he said. He tore open the driver’s side door and said, Get out, Sara, we need to talk.

We have nothing to talk about! Sara shouted.

The man pulled Sara out of the car, and she started fighting him. She knew if she didn’t fight him, she wouldn’t stand a chance of getting away. She put her foot behind him and shoved him away. He stumbled and fell backward, giving Sara a chance to start running down the road. The man cursed at Sara, calling her a no-good bitch. He caught her, swung her around, and grabbed her in a lustful embrace. Sara screamed and fought for her life, but she knew she was doomed. She slapped him and spit on him, but that just made him even angrier.

He threw her down on the ground. He tore at her clothes. He said, I’m going to teach you a lesson, bitch. He then raped Sara. She tried to slap him and clawed at the flesh of this brutal man’s upper arms. But the man just put his hands around Sara’s neck and strangled the life out of her battered and bruised body. A single tear rolled from the corner of Sara’s eye as she took her last breath. The man stood up to rearrange his clothes and spit on her as he started to walk way. He turned around and walked back to Sara, bent down and tore the little gold cross necklace from her neck, then rolled her nude and limp body off the road and down into a ravine. He put the cross necklace into his pocket like a souvenir. This was his final act of hate