Park Predators - The Coworkers

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

In 2018, two seasonal workers at an inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia set out on a hike and only one returned alive. The reality of who was behind the demise of Sara Ellis is incomprehensible and to this day remains a horrific case for investigators and the victims' family to relive. Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit parkpredators.com  Park Predators is an audiochuck production. Connect with us on social media:Instagram: @audiochuckTwitter: @audiochuckFacebook: /audiochuckllcTikTok: @audiochuck

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra. The story I'm going to tell you about today is the case of a chilling and senseless murder that happened in one of the most scenic and beautiful mountain landscapes in the United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway. This crime changed how people living near a stretch of this iconic route in western North Carolina saw seasonal service industry workers and the people they interacted with at their jobs every day. According to the National Park Service, the Blue Ridge Parkway meanders for almost 500 miles between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Shenandoah National Park. More than 15 million people find themselves on this roadway every year, and I can personally say I'm one of those people, because I used to live not far from Shenandoah, and my husband and I have visited several times since I moved away. You can get on and off a lot of major state highways, and at those exits,

there's always restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions. One lodging area that's really popular is North Carolina's Pisgah Inn, which sits about 25 miles southwest of Asheville. The inn is privately owned but operates under a National Park Service contract. The main reason people stay there is, one, because it's convenient, and two, it has an observation deck that looks over the Pisgah National Forest, a breathtaking, lush woodland filled with waterfalls, trails, and wildlife. The inn at one point earned the moniker The Peak of the Parkway, and over the years a quote has been marketed

alongside the nickname that says, every guest and employee leaves with a positive memory or experience. But in the summer of 2018, that was not the case. A young woman working at the inn did not have a positive experience, and the memory she made while walking a trail with someone she thought was her friend

was the last memory she ever made. This is Park Predators. On Tuesday, July 24th, 2018, 41-year-old Tiffany Coleman was texting with her younger stepsister and former roommate, Sarah Ellis. The women had been exchanging messages all day long, just catching up, talking about life, and how Sarah's new seasonal job at the Pisgah Inn in North Carolina was going. Tiffany was at her home in Seminole, Florida, near St. Petersburg, and Sarah had taken a job as a pantry cook for the summer in North Carolina. She'd started working at the inn in May and had about two months of work under her belt and roughly three more left to go before the lodge closed for the season and she'd return home to Florida. Sarah had a pretty lengthy resume of working food service

jobs while she'd been in college, and according to her friends, she really knew her way around a kitchen. She was best known for making great omelets and chocolate cake. The pantry cook job at the inn was a perfect fit for Sarah because she adored cooking and she loved to experiment in the kitchen. On most days at the end, the kitchen was pretty busy, but Sarah could catch a break every now and then and she'd slip Tiffany a text. So their conversation on that Tuesday was intermittent, but still pretty consistent. The women were ironing out plans to visit together during a road trip Tiffany was planning to make to Maryland. The plan was for Tiffany to stop in and see Sarah on her way back home to Florida,

sometime in late July or early August. But after exchanging a few messages throughout the day, around four o'clock, Tiffany stopped receiving messages from Sarah altogether. Every text Tiffany sent after that went unanswered. At the time, Tiffany wasn't too alarmed. Again, she and Sarah had been sort of touch and go throughout the whole day, and Tiffany figured maybe Sarah had just gotten busy during her shift or would pick up their conversation when she got off work.

But hours went by and that didn't happen. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, around 7 p.m., the general manager of the inn, along with the inn's owner, a guy named Bruce O'Connell, were in their offices when a distraught 20-year-old man came in with some disturbing news. The guy told his bosses that his co-worker, Sarah Ellis, was missing. Bruce and the GM were totally taken aback by this news, and they asked the guy to slow down and explain what he was talking about. The young man looked

familiar to them, so they asked him to remind them who he was and just go through his story one more time. The guy introduced himself as Derek Pendergraft, and he told them that he worked as a housekeeper in the inn. He went on to explain that around 4 o'clock, he'd gone out on a hike with Sarah on a trail near the inn's employee housing building. A quick side note here, about 40 to 45 seasonal employees who worked at the inn during that summer lived in a building about 200 yards from the lodge. There was a short trail through the woods connecting that temporary housing to the main grounds of the inn. Branching off that trail were several other trails that weren't really designated. They were just kind of beaten paths that employees and visitors often walked.

Derek said that shortly after he and Sarah got off work and started on their hike, it had begun to rain. He said at that point, Sarah had turned back to head towards the employee dorms, but he'd continued on hiking for another hour or so. Eventually, he'd turned around too, and when he passed by the spot he last saw Sarah, he noticed an umbrella and hat were laying on the ground. He said he felt like that was really unusual, so he started calling out and searching the general area for Sarah. When he didn't find her, he picked up the stuff and came straight to

the inn's office to let someone know she was missing. According to WMYA's reporting, Bruce and the general manager wasted no time reporting what Derek had told them to the local authorities. Bruce later told the news outlet that in the moment, everyone immediately assumed Sarah had taken a tumble or fallen somewhere and was possibly injured. They didn't think of a worst-case scenario, like she'd been abducted or anything like that. Bruce's call to police came in at 7.30 p.m. that night, and right away park rangers with the National Park Service

and a search and rescue team from a nearby local law enforcement agency responded. When they arrived, they started searching the grounds, and three hours into their task, around 10.30 p.m., Cruz made a horrifying discovery. About a half mile down a narrow slope, searchers found a young woman's lifeless body several feet off an embankment. There's some discrepancy in the source material about the exact trail where the body was found. Some sources say the victim was found right near the footpath between the main inn and the

employee dorms, while other sources say she was actually a half mile down a separate unnamed path. That path reportedly led away from the employee dorms. I'm not sure what source material is truly accurate, but regardless of the precise location, the body was discovered very quickly after searches started for Sarah, and it was apparent right away that the woman's death was no accident. Not long after finding the body, authorities were able to get a positive ID and confirm that the deceased woman was in fact Sarah Ellis. They figured this out based on the description they'd gathered from staff at the inn about what Sarah looked like and what she'd last been seen wearing. Because the woods where the crime scene was technically fell into federal jurisdiction, the FBI became the lead investigating agency on the case.

Not long after agents arrived, the feds called in help from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. Crime scene techs from that agency started processing Sarah's body, and what they determined was that she was found lying on her right side with her shirt pulled up, exposing her breasts. Whoever had attacked her also pulled down her pants and underwear to her knees, telltale signs of a potential sexual assault. Reports state that at first glance, there was no visible signs of trauma on her body, like a gunshot wound or a stab wound, that indicated her killer had used a weapon. The only noticeable trauma that indicated homicide were several deep bruises on her head and around her neck. To preserve evidence and get Sarah's

body out of the elements, the FBI and SBI transported her to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. That procedure was scheduled for Friday, July 27th, three days later. The first two tasks investigators needed to start on while they waited for the results to come back from the autopsy were contacting Sarah's family and beginning to interview witnesses who worked at the inn. As you can imagine, the Ellis family was devastated when they learned the news. Sarah was the middle child of her family with with a twin sister named Rachel, who'd been born just seconds after her. Sarah also had an older sister named Carrie, and her stepsister Tiffany, who, even though she was more than a decade older than Sarah, was still really close with her. According to the Associated Press, the Ellis family had already

suffered one heartbreak in the years leading up to Sarah's murder. In 2011, Sarah's mom, Jamie, had died of melanoma, which left her father, Greg, to provide for his daughters. Greg told the Tampa Bay Times he was shocked and horrified to learn about what had happened. He couldn't believe his daughter had met her demise in such a beautiful place that she loved so much. He went on to tell the newspaper that the family had lived for several years in western North Carolina before eventually moving to Minneapolis. When Sarah had left for college, she ended up moving to Florida's Gulf Coast, but the mountains of North Carolina had always had a special place in her heart. Greg said he wasn't surprised when Sarah told him that she was going to work as a cook during the

summer of 2018 at the Pisgah Inn. He informed investigators that even though Sarah was almost 30 years old, she was a particularly vulnerable young woman. Sarah and her twin sister Rachel had been born with a birth defect that started affecting their sense of hearing when they turned 14. By the time they became adults, both women were almost completely deaf. The Associated Press reported that Sarah's hearing impairment became such an issue during her college years that she'd abandoned her dreams of becoming a broadcast journalist and left school just after a few semesters. For a while, she worked odd jobs in Florida in the food service industry and eventually

went back to school taking classes and studying restaurant management. That's what she'd been pursuing right before taking the job at the inn. Her family told the Citizen Times that Sarah was a devout Christian who was very cautious around men, and she had no issue ending a relationship with someone if she felt the guy didn't hold the same moral values as she did. She was known to turn down men who made sexual advances because she was very adamant about saving herself for marriage. Authorities gathered all of this background information about Sarah with lightning speed, and by the next day, Wednesday, July 25th, they'd lined up a list of people they wanted to interview. At the top of that list was 20-year-old Derek Pendergraft. When FBI agents spoke with him

one-on-one, Derek offered the same story he told his bosses. He said he and Sarah had gotten off work around 4 p.m. the day before and decided to take a hike together. After a few minutes of rainfall, he said Sarah turned back and he kept going. He explained how he found her stuff on his return trip, and that's when he knew he needed to tell someone she was missing. Right off the bat, authorities were unsure what to make of Derek's story. It seemed pretty convenient, and there were no eyewitnesses other than him to corroborate what he'd said. They probed him more, but Derek didn't change his story. Authorities were left waiting for lab and autopsy results to come back in order to rule out Derek as a suspect or not.

By late afternoon on Wednesday, the FBI officially announced to the public that they were investigating Sarah's death as a homicide. They were desperately in need of tips and information that could help lead them to her killer. The rest of the day on the 25th, news about the murder spread like wildfire through the area, and some guests at the inn began to check out early. Bruce O'Connell, the inn's owner, tried to settle his customers' and employees' fears by hiring a nighttime security guard and assuring everyone that the crime would be thoroughly investigated, but at that point, that was kind of no use. Everyone in the region was spooked, and having such a brutal murder occur during the peak of tourism season impacted every retailer in the area. A crime of this nature was extremely rare for this stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway. A special agent named

Kirby Stiles told the Asheville Citizen Times that he could only think of one violent sexual assault that had happened in the greater Asheville area during his 12 years on the job. According to the Times, that incident Kirby was talking about had taken place in May of 2016, more than 40 miles away from the inn. The victim was a 64-year-old woman who'd been found tied to a tree with her service dog trotting around her nearby. Reporting on that case says that shortly after the crime, a suspect was arrested, but it's unclear from the source material if the charges ever stuck. Authorities didn't have to speculate for long, though, if Sarah's murder was somehow tied to that crime or any other from years prior. Because by nightfall on July 25th, less than 24 hours after Sarah's body was found,

someone came into the Pisgah Inn and confessed. The person who'd taken full responsibility for Sarah's murder was none other than Derek Pendergraft. Yeah, the same guy who hours earlier had told the FBI that he didn't know what happened to Sarah. According to Kimberly King's reporting for ABC News 13, Derek had shown up at his general manager's office after dark on Wednesday night and shared that he was the one who'd killed Sarah. Within minutes of him coming in, his manager called investigators and special agents with the FBI responded to the end. They were ready to re-interview Derek and get the full story. According to a criminal complaint

filed in the case, Derek declined to have a lawyer join him and he willingly opened up to investigators in a recorded interview about what had happened. He said it was true he and Sarah had decided to take a hike together after they got off their shift. But the portion of his initial story where he said Sarah had decided to turn back after it started raining, well, that wasn't true. He said that he and Sarah had not parted ways and he'd not continued hiking without her. He told investigators all he remembered was, quote, blacking out, end quote. And when he came to, he was looking into Sarah's face and saw it turning purple.

He said before he knew what was happening, she was already dead and lying on her back on the ground. Derek told agents, When I came to, I felt it had not been a single blink of my time. After realizing he'd killed her, Derek said he moved Sarah's body off the trail to hide it and admitted he left her in a state of partial undress. After that, he returned to the inn with Sarah's hat and umbrella and told the manager and owner that she'd gone missing during their hike, even though he knew otherwise. What's super eerie to me is that according to WMYA News, Derek actually helped

take part in the search for Sarah on that Tuesday night, knowing full well she was already dead and he'd been the person who killed her. Minutes after his confession, FBI agents arrested Derek and charged him with second-degree murder. They took him to the jail in Asheville and set his first appearance court date for two weeks later on August 6th. When word of his arrest made headlines the next day, Bruce O'Connell, the inn's owner, told the Asheville Citizen Times that he couldn't provide any details about whether or not Derek and Sarah were close friends or if they were romantic in any way. All he knew was that both of them were first-time seasonal employees and they worked in different departments at the inn, but they lived in the same shared dorm building. Other news outlets reported that no one who knew Sarah or Derek thought that they were close friends. To everyone who knew them, the couple was just co-workers, nothing more.

Sarah's siblings told the Associated Press that not once had Sarah ever mentioned Derek when discussing people she was friends with at the inn. Meanwhile, some of Derek's friends told reporters that they were shocked that he was even capable of committing such a cruel act. According to ABC 13 News, Derek had grown up with a rough background and experienced homelessness and bullying most of his youth. He didn't have healthy relationships with his parents and overall was described as sort of lost and troubled. His high school friends said despite that rough upbringing, they remembered him as a funny kid who didn't have a history of violence. On August 8th, 15 days after Sarah was killed, a federal grand jury officially indicted Derek for second-degree murder. Four days later, on Sunday, August 12th, Sarah's friends and family gathered in Florida to celebrate her life and hold a memorial service. Attendees were asked to wear

bright colors and skip the traditional black garb of funerals. Her stepsister Tiffany told news outlets that the celebration had been full of vibrant colors, flowers, and some of Sarah's favorite music. Her friends and family came from all over Florida, North Carolina, and Minnesota to commemorate her life. The family had decided to cremate Sarah's remains and spread her ashes along the beach. Her obituary read, quote, Sarah loved cooking, gardening, home improvement projects, and all animals. She taught herself to play guitar and love to sing.

Sarah was hilariously witty and always appreciated a good pun. She was kind to everyone. If she knew you were sad, she could make you smile. Sarah would always support and encourage you. If you knew her, you loved her. She truly shined God's loving light to everyone she met, end quote. From August to December of 2018, the Ellis family refrained from speaking publicly about Derek's arrest and the upcoming trial. They didn't want

to compromise the case federal prosecutors were putting together. Around the time of Sarah's funeral, some of her family members did speak to reporters with the Citizen Times, though, and they indicated they were convinced that Sarah's trusting nature and kind heart had perhaps made her an easy target for someone like Derek, who'd taken advantage of her. Rachel, her twin sister, described Sarah as funny and kind and said she often tried to see the good in everyone she came across. Rachel said she believed Sarah went hiking with Derek because she was trying to show him kindness. She told Fox Carolina News,

quote, She always tried to be positive. It could be raining and she would be happy. It was raining when she went up the mountain that day, but I know she was trying to show this person something positive. End quote. By December 2018, the case was moving swiftly and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina made a big announcement, something that changed the high-profile nature of the case entirely.

Right before Christmas in 2018, federal prosecutors announced in a press release that they were upping the second-degree murder charge against Derek to first-degree murder, and the government was going to file additional charges against him for aggravated sexual abuse resulting in Sarah's death. The indictment said Derek's actions were, quote, willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation, and in the perpetration of, and an attempt to perpetrate, aggravated sexual abuse, end quote. WHSV News reported that prosecutors speculated that Sarah's hearing impairment made her a vulnerable target for Derek on the day they went hiking, and more than likely he'd taken advantage of that while out in the woods together. A big update that came along with these enhanced charges was the fact that the government now had the ability

to seek the death penalty against Derek. Four months later, in April 2019, the medical examiner publicly released Sarah's cause of death, something that had previously been kept under wraps. The Emmy had ruled that Sarah's pathology showed she'd been strangled and suffered multiple blows of blunt force trauma to her arms and legs. She'd also been the victim of sexual assault. News reports on this case don't go into specific detail of whether or not authorities found DNA or semen on Sarah that matched to Derek, but even though they don't explicitly say it, I have to assume

they had enough evidence pointing to that or else they would not have filed the additional charges against him regarding the sexual assault. By the time the one-year anniversary of the crime rolled around in July 2019, the stage was set for federal prosecutors to take Derek to trial for murder. But as it turned out, they wouldn't have to. On August 26th of 2019, Derek pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and the additional sexual assault counts. As part of his deal, he waived his right to ever appeal his case and the death penalty was taken off the table. According to ABC 13 News, Derek was very stoic in the courtroom during his plea hearing and he answered all of the judge's questions with simple yes or no responses.

His mother attended and wept openly as he admitted to the brutal crime. All of Sarah's family attended the hearing as well, and many of them told reporters afterwards that despite all the pain Derek had caused them by taking Sarah's life, they believed he was genuinely remorseful for his actions. In February 2020, a judge sentenced Derek, who was 22 years old by that point, to three life terms without the possibility of parole. The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case released a statement saying, quote, today's sentence will not bring back Sarah to her family and friends who miss her and think about her every day, but it is my sincere hope that everyone impacted by this

heinous crime can find solace in knowing that Sarah's killer will never walk free among us again. End quote. According to Mackenzie Wickers reporting for the Asheville Citizen Times, several members of Sarah's family attended Derek's sentencing, but only Tiffany Coleman, her stepsister, got up and spoke. In her victim impact statement, Tiffany recalled for the court how she'd been texting with Sarah the day of her murder and how the text messages had abruptly stopped that afternoon. She said the impact of receiving the worst phone call she'd ever gotten in her whole life the very next day was something she'll never forget.

Despite Derek's full confession and zero desire to fight the charges against him, his public defender spoke at the sentencing to provide some context as to why he made the terrible choices he did. His lawyer said Derek was extremely regretful of his actions against Sarah and said perhaps one of the contributing factors

as to why he did it could be found in his poor upbringing and environment as a child. The federal judge presiding over the case agreed that there were issues in Derek's past that likely contributed to his violent attack on Sarah, but the judge did not make excuses for him. Instead, the judge called the whole case, quote, among the saddest in his career, end quote. He told Derek that he hoped the structure of prison would teach him valuable

lessons and give him access to substance abuse counseling and treatment for sexual offenders. There was no mention during any of the court proceedings about any past juvenile history Derek may have had. Court records for incidents prior to his 18th birthday were sealed from public record, which left many people questioning if there were warning signs in the young man's life throughout his childhood. The public was left to speculate whether there had been red flags that Derek was capable of such a violent crime. Red flags that were there all along, but no one caught. Today, Derek remains incarcerated at a federal prison in Oregon, some 2,700 miles away from the mountains where he ended Sarah's life. An anecdote I learned about while researching this case came from Sarah's sister Carrie. She told a few publications that just two days before Sarah's murder, they'd been

texting back and forth. Carrie said some of the last words her sister wrote her were about how she felt the National Forest was so beautiful and how great a time she was having making friends at the inn. In their final exchange, Sarah told Carrie that she felt like the inn was a safe place. Unfortunately, she could not have been more wrong. Park Predators is an AudioChuck production. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?