Serial Killer Lewis Lent Is In Prison, But Investigators’ Questions Remain Unanswered

Lewis Lent was convicted of murdering two children in Massachusetts and New York, including a 12-year-old boy. Sara Anne WoodBut investigators still don’t know where he buried her.

Here’s a timeline of this decades-long saga.

October 22, 1990: Jimmy Bernardo disappears

James “Jimmy” Bernardo, 12, is missing. He was last seen outside the Pittsfield Plaza Cinema Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, around 5 p.m. Jimmy never returned home, and his parents called police later that evening.

November 21, 1990: Jimmy Bernardo’s body is discovered

Hunters discovered the body of Jimmy Bernardo on a dirt road in rural Newfield, New York, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Pittsfield. Evidence at the scene indicated he had been murdered.

November 6, 1992: Jamie Lusher disappears

Jamie Lusher, a 16-year-old disabled teenager, was last seen in Westfield, Massachusetts, riding his bike to his grandmother’s house. Jamie’s bike was discovered six days later in a field on a dead-end road in Westfield.

August 18, 1993: Sara Anne Wood disappears

Sara Anne Wood, 12, was last seen walking home from Vacation Bible School in rural Sauquoit, New York. Her family began searching for her after she failed to return home.

Later that day, Sara’s bike was discovered by a neighbour hiding in the brush at the side of the road about a kilometre from the Wood family home. Police were called and by early evening a massive search operation had begun.

January 7, 1994: Kidnapping attempt leads to major breakthrough in several cases

Five months after Sara disappeared, a man tried to kidnap a 12-year-old girl. Becky Savarese While walking to school through downtown Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Becky escaped the attack and later that day, a 43-year-old suspect named Lewis Lent was questioned by police.

During questioning, Lewis Lent told police he worked as a part-time janitor at the Pittsfield Plaza Cinema Center, the last location Jimmy Bernardo was seen at in 1990. Authorities suspected they may have had more than one one-time offender on their hands, and Lent was later arrested on charges related to the Becky Savarese case.

A teletype was sent to area law enforcement, including the New York State Police who arrived in Pittsfield later that evening to question Lent about Sara Wood.

After hours of interrogation over the next two days, Lewis Lent confessed to the murders of Sara Wood and Jimmy Bernardo. Lent also revealed chilling details about his “master plan.” He would build a large wooden partition in his bedroom to lock his victims in after he abducted them.

January 10, 1994: Investigators begin searching for Sara Wood in the Adirondack Mountains

A large search party was deployed to an area near Raquette Lake in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains to search an area using Lent’s description and a hand-drawn map of where he claimed to have buried Sara Wood. After more than 50 days of tedious searching in deep snow, authorities called off the effort.

The same day, Lewis Lent was arraigned in Massachusetts on charges of kidnapping, armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon in the Becky Savarese case and pleaded not guilty.

February 14, 1994: Lewis Lent is charged with the murder of Jimmy Bernardo

More than three years after Jimmy Bernardo’s death, Lent was indicted by a grand jury for the boy’s kidnapping and murder. He was arraigned the same day and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

January 7, 1995: Lent is convicted of the attempted kidnapping of Becky Savarese.

A year after Becky Savarese’s escape, Lent was convicted of attempted kidnapping after a four-day trial. The next day, he was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison.

May 25, 1995: Sara Wood’s father bikes 600 miles to Washington, D.C..

Sara Wood’s father, Bob Wood, and her brother Dusty Wood arrive in Washington, D.C. after biking 600 miles from upstate New York to raise money and awareness for missing children and abduction prevention. The ride was transformed into a shortened annual version that continues to this day.

June 3, 1996: Lent pleads guilty to the murder of Jimmy Bernardo

The day before his trial for the murder of Jimmy Bernardo began, Lent reversed course and pleaded guilty. It would not be the last time Lent surprised a court. The judge immediately sentenced Lent to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

June 7, 1996: Lent arrives in Herkimer, New York, to face charges in the murder of Sara Anne Wood

Days after pleading guilty to the murder of Jimmy Bernardo, Lent arrived in Herkimer County, New York, wearing a bulletproof vest and facing media scrutiny, to face charges of kidnapping and murdering Sara Wood. But it would be months before justice was served.

October 16, 1996: Lewis Lent pleads guilty

According to sources at the time, Lent intended to plead guilty at his court hearing, but he changed his mind and entered a not guilty plea. “My understanding is that when he walked into the courtroom, he saw some members of the public, particularly his family, I think, so he decided that day that he didn’t want to plead guilty,” current Herkimer County District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter told “48 Hours.”

October 25, 1996: Lent changes his mind — again

Lent has decided to plead guilty to the kidnapping and murder of Sara Anne Wood. However, authorities say Lent has continued to deny the Wood family the existence of the case by not revealing the whereabouts of Sara’s body.

April 11, 1997: Lewis Lent is sentenced

At Lent’s sentencing hearing, the Wood family and the Herkimer County District Attorney at the time gave impact statements. Despite all requests to reveal where he had buried Sara, Lent remained silent. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the kidnapping and murder of Sara Anne Wood. He was sent back to Massachusetts to serve the rest of his life in prison. But the job wasn’t done for investigators, who continued to visit Lent in prison in hopes that he would reveal where he had buried Sara and perhaps reveal the murders of other victims.

July 15, 2013: Massachusetts authorities announce that Lewis Lent has confessed to killing Jamie Lusher.

At a press conference in Westfield, Massachusetts, authorities announced that Lent had confessed to the murder of Jamie Lusher. In the days following that press conference, investigators searched Greenwater Pond in Becket, Massachusetts, where Lent told them he had disposed of Jamie’s body. However, search efforts were unsuccessful and Jamie’s body remains missing.

As he had done many times before, Lent recanted his story. The authorities decided not to charge him with Jamie’s murder, hoping that one day he would lead them to her body.

That same month, New York authorities obtained permission to take Lent back to New York to show him the place where he had claimed to have placed Sara Wood’s body. But after three days and more than 600 miles of driving, the operation ended without Sara being found, and Lent was sent back to Massachusetts.

November 2023: Investigators search rural Vermont area

According to information provided by Lent to investigators, another search operation was conducted in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont, just across the border from Massachusetts. This time, the search focused on Sara Wood, but no body was found.

2024: Dusty Wood continues to ride his bike for missing children

The “48 Hours” cameras joined Sara Wood’s brother Dusty Wood and others participating in the annual Ride for Missing Children. Refusing to let family tragedy slow him down, Dusty devotes his energy to honoring his sister and raising awareness to help prevent child abductions.

June 18, 2024: Search of an old house linked to Lent

Authorities raided a Lanesborough, Massachusetts, property linked to Lent. The property had been raided previously in the 1990s and belonged to a friend of Lent at the time. Lent had been doing some work on the basement of the home.