Ep 223 : Sarah Pender, AKA "The Female Charles Manson"

In 2000, Sarah Pender was convicted in connection with the murders of her roommates, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, and sentenced to 110 years in prison. Prosecutors called her the “female Charles Manson,” portraying her as the mastermind behind the killings, even though she never pulled the trigger. Years later, she made national headlines again after escaping from an Indiana prison with the help of a correctional officer.

Now, more than 25 years later, Sarah is back in court asking for her sentence to be reconsidered — and the case looks very different than it did in 2002. Key evidence used to convict her has since been discredited, the jailhouse informant who testified against her has been exposed as unreliable, and even the former prosecutor who put her away now says her sentence was a major injustice.

In this episode, we walk through Sarah Pender’s story from the beginning: the volatile household, the night of the murders, the investigation, trial, prison escape, years in solitary confinement, and the long fight for freedom that’s still unfolding today.

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