The Binge Cases: U R NEXT - Killer Story | 3. Paradise Ruined

Episode Date: February 16, 2026

With dogged determination, Lyndal follows up on the clue that might be the key to her search. Binge all episodes of Killer Story ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Cases on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. From serial killer nurses to psychic scammers – The Binge is your home for true crime stories that pull you in and never let go. Join our free newsletter at Patreon.com/TheBinge. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Killer Story is brought to you by Sony Music Entertainment and Orbit Media. Find out more about The Binge and other podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Listen to all episodes of Killer Story, ad-free right now, by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page, or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge. Feed your true crime obsession. This woman tells me that her niece is missing. And I said, we don't do missing persons. I'm just like, oh, hey, you know, you'll be okay. I'm like, no, this is not okay.

This is not okay. I could feel that it was going to have an impact on her for the rest of her life. I was glad somebody was investigating it, and I remember being glad somebody believed us. She said that a nurse went out there. I went, what? Why would a nurse go and see her? When a dead body can't be identified and is declared a Jane or, John Doe. The local cemetery gets a call.

Sabrina's body was for years a Jane Doe. It was fished out of the Colorado River. The closest cemetery was in Kingman, Arizona. It's not like a normal cemetery, you know, where there's grass and things. It is the Arizona Desert. This summer place is managed by a peppy woman, Nikki Rowe. It kind of like the old Western movies, how they're all kind of like red. and then the sand color, and then there's the dark black color rock.

You can't see anything but sky. Just sky and trees. Arizona Cypresses, it gives this certain desert smell, and it's just such a strong, just beautiful smell. I don't know how to explain it. Nikki likes the quiet of the place. I usually just hear the birds. I hear the birds and the wrestling of the.

trees if there's a breeze and then of course just the gentle sound of cars coming by and it's nice unidentified people have their own spot in the cemetery so they do have a headstone a lot of them are the black granite which is beautiful the headstones are engraved but not with the deceased's name not with their birth date or their date of death it's either a jane or john doe and then the date on what they were found. And this is where Sabrina's body would rest for years, alongside other Jane and John Doe's, unnamed and unclaimed. We just have the lowering device set up. They did do the pine caskets. Like an oval top with just a square body bottom. The service for Sabrina was modest, no family, no friends. They weren't even sure if she was alive or dead at that point.

Just the graveyard staff attended. They were the last to say goodbye to her, not knowing who she was or had hoped to be. And then we all, we will load the casket. We'll all stand around, say a prayer for the deceased, you know, because we don't have a name, so we say a prayer for the deceased. Father God, please take care of the soul,

let their family come forward, let their killer be found, and let their name be known. If a family comes forward, they put a name on the gravestone. Would Sabrina's family ever get that chance? Sabrina's family wouldn't know for years where she'd gone or how she'd got there. They'd had clues pointing them in the right direction,

but they didn't know it. It would be up to Lindel to put the clues together and discover what happened to their kin. This is Killer Story. I'm Steve Fishman. Episode 3, Paradise Ruined. Want more true crime? Subscribe to The Binge to get all episodes of My Mother's Lies,

add free today, and get instant access to over 50 other jaw-dropping true crime stories. Plus, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series on the first of every month, every month. Search for The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts, or head to Get The Binge.com. to subscribe today. The binge, Feed Your True Crime Obsession. New York, 1991. Four years after Sabrina was buried as a Jane Doe, Lindell's at the current affair office.

It's late. And Lindel's wondering about the nurse that visited Sabrina. The zoo is finally quieted down, so Lindel goes ahead and dialed Sabrina's soft-spoken mother, Bobby Sue. Sabrina's disappearance has warned down her mother. Linda listens as she drifts off, turns maudlin tearful. She felt like she had not done the right thing by her daughter. On tonight's call, like on most of their calls, Bobby Sue's refrain is, I want my baby back. Lindel's patient to an extent, but she tells Bobby Sue that

to help, she needs information. Did Sabrina ever say anything to you that you thought you thought was strange. Bobby Sue and Sabrina's aunt weren't great when it came to producing actionable information. To Lyndall, they weren't facing reality. They were thinking along the lines of sex trafficking, she was just missing. They were looking around the country. They were trying to find her, scouring different newspapers. Linda asked Bobby Sue to think back to the time just before Sabrina disappeared. Back then, mother and daughter spoke regularly by phone. Sabrina refused to live with her mother, but she still liked hearing her voice. Lindel asked Bobby Sue, did Sabrina say anything unusual? She needed a clue, a lead, something.

They're not journalists. Bobby Sue thought for a minute, there was one thing, a life insurance policy. Lindel perked up. That would explain the nurse's visit. Insurance companies often were require a physical when applying. Why was Lindel just hearing about this now? These are simple, loving, kind women who hadn't been trained, who didn't know how to look for clues, whose instincts were about, you know, family, not about what's going on. In other words, to Sabrina's mother and aunt, this insurance policy just hadn't seemed notable. To Lindel, it was notable.

You know, my brain always goes to something evil's happening. But this insurance policy, Bobby Sue didn't take it out, so who did? Who'd take out a life insurance policy on a 17-year-old girl? Lindel's spidey sense tingled. Who would benefit if something happened to Sabrina? Lindel needed to see the policy. Bobby Sue wasn't any help. She didn't have a copy.

She didn't even know the name of the carrier. The insurance was what I really wanted to set my sights on. And so Lindel begins systematically calling every insurance company in the vicinity. It's days of tedious, fruitless calls. I'll spare you the real-time details. Instead, here's the movie version. You know, quick cuts, lots of sound effects. Open on Lindel thumbing through phone books.

This is back when there were phone books. She's dialing lots of phone numbers. We see Lyndall crouched on the floor of her office. It's after hours. She's got the Las Vegas yellow pages in her hands. It's a thick book. She drops it. It's a very thick book.

That sound should be louder. Lyndle continues riffling through the yellow pages, which contain phone numbers of every business in the area. She flips to the eyes to insurance companies. makes a list of 20 or so, and continues dialing. Lindel's rehearsed a spiel. It's crafty and effective. You have to either determine to tell a story

and to find ways to do it. And? And not always do it above board. And I did not say I was from a current affair. And I said, there's a missing girl and her mother's very upset. She asks the company rep if they write life insurance policies. If so, would you send a nurse out to do a physical? Some company said yes, some said, no, we don't do that.

She makes call after call whittling down the list. That's supposed to be the sound of whittling. If Lyndall comes across an uncooperative person, she might add a little menace to her pitch. There could be legal ramifications for you if you don't give us information. The mother wants information. Lyndle gets a lot of the same kind of nose.

And then she reaches an insurer whose tone is strikingly different from the others. When I got onto State Farm, they said we're not going to do anything without any information from the mother. Why even say that? The company's answer is simultaneously direct and evasive, like the agent is hiding something. At least that's what Lindel surmises. And so she thinks she's found the company that wrote the insurance policy on Sabrina. State Farm had it

because they engaged with me a little bit longer. State Farm won't talk to Lyndall. Insurance records are private. But they will talk to Sabrina's mom so Lindel gets Bobby Sue to call State Farm. Bobby Sue actually spoke to them And they did say, yes, we think we might have something with the name Sabrina Kid. And so Bobby Sue then sent them, fax them, information about Sabrina.

State Farm says they'll reply by fax. So Bobby Sue provides State Farm a fax number, a current affairs fax number. Whatever State Farm finds will go directly to Lindle. Could this be the break in the case? The key to understanding what happened to Sabrina? Lindel hopes so. It's still 1991, and Lindel presses pause on the investigation. The facts could be key, but she isn't about to drum her fingers on the desk while waiting.

And of course, I had to get back to work, my job. She's always looking for a story with a twist. Elizabeth needed more than $20,000 to continue her studies. And instead of taking a student loan, she took a risky step. She started working as a call girl. Lindel is constantly thinking about the job, but Lindel also has something else going on in her life. Romance with her boss, Dan. In Lindel's story, Dan is a plot twist.

After she was attacked, Linda lost faith in men. She wrote off romance. A real loner. My work is my friend. I've just found solace, comfort, reason in my work. But... I was a long way from home. I was a long way from my family.

And Dan felt like home. Dan seemed to know all the iconic New York dates. Their first had been to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade to watch the balloons inflate. A month later, he escorted her to... a Rockefeller Center to see one of the country's iconic Christmas trees with dozens of ice skaters circling in the rink below. I am in heaven. I'm like, this is New York. This is like every movie I've ever seen. I'm in the city of my dreams and here's the big Rockefeller Center of Tree and I look down and Dan is on his knee and he brought out a ring and he proposed right there

all these tourists were around going yes say yes say yes and she did bang we were engaged four months later they were married it's just one of those things that you know sometimes you meet someone and you just know it just felt right it felt right it felt this this is this is a guy that will be with me will look after me but even as lindle finds romance Sabrina is on her mind. She worries about Sabrina. Worry turns to fear. And I then thought,

yeah, she's probably dead. But who would want to harm Sabrina? Let's forget the insurance policy for the moment. Was there anyone in her past who posed a threat? Turns out there was one person. Her first cousin, Dawanna, had some information about him. Okay. So we're back in time.

It's 1987. It's the moment Sabrina arrives in Vegas. Her first stop is DeWana's family house. Sabrina's standing on the doorstep with her two suitcases. She's standing there because Bobby Sue has offloaded her. Bobby Sue's new husband and Sabrina were at odds. And Bobby Sue made a choice. Sabrina had to go.

I think she felt like her mom. chose her second husband. And I think Sabrina rebelled really bad. How would you rebel against a mother like Bobby Sue? A mother fastidious about looking good. The one I hadn't seen Sabrina in a couple years. I mean, she was a very beautiful young girl, but she just didn't care about her look.

She became totally opposite than her mother. When I had seen her, I was just shocked. I mean, her hair was all butched off. She had gained weight. She was like in this golf look error. It was like, oh, my God, girl, what have you done? Sabrina had once told Dewana she just wanted to be loved. Well, looking for love can be a rough game.

But at least here in Vegas, Sabrina had DeWana, someone who saw the best in her. She had a real good heart. She cared about people and she cared about things. She was sweet. I mean, even in her golf stages, she was never a mean person. She'd do anything to help somebody. I can't even remember Sabrina saying anything mean to me. Even when we had our disagreements, I don't remember her being mean.

With the Juana in her life, maybe teenage Sabrina has a shot at finding her footing in Sin City. Unfortunately, that relationship is about to crack. Fashion burn. It starts with a party. Sabrina ended up hooking up with a guy that I knew was not a good guy. I knew he was a problem. And Sabrina decides to go home with this guy. He lives in a neighborhood locals called Naked City. That's just where all your drug dealers and all your gangbangers and everything else, the police don't even like to go back over there. It's just a really bad area. I beg Sabrina to come home with me at that time, but she was. wanted to stay there. How did she explain it to you? What did she actually say?

That she cared about him and wanted to stay with him. She's known him for like a couple of weeks. He was kind of a psycho. She latched onto people. So she was kind of a lost girl. Yeah. And so, Dewana, who's been like a big sister, cuts Sabrina off. The girls stop talking. And maybe that's why Sabrina confides in her mom about this. guy, the one she'd moved in with in such a hurry. And actor voices Bobby Sue's words. She just told me they argued a lot. He just told her he didn't want her to leave him.

He wasn't going to let her go. Was this boyfriend like Lindel's attacker back in Australia? Possessive, out of control, misguided. Bobby Sue thought he was capable of anything. I didn't know what was going to happen to her. I was worried about her. I was very concerned about her. By then, Bobby Sue was in the process of leaving her husband.

He was abusive, she said. He'd once been physically abusive to Sabrina, according to Bobby Sue. Now, Bobby Sue worried that Sabrina would repeat her mother's mistakes. Because of what I was going through at the time, I didn't know what was going to happen to her. I was worried about her. I was very concerned about her.

So Bobby Sue was worried. When a fax arrives on Lindel's desk, that worry will turn to dread. It's still 1987. We're still in Las Vegas. Sabrina has managed to escape that bad relationship with Mr. Naked City. And maybe that assertion of independence

Maybe it's the catalyst, because soon things take a turn for the better. Soon Sabrina meets Jim, Mr. Motorcycle, swapping danger as a lifestyle for danger as a pastime. We know this part of Sabrina's story. She makes new friends, and then she hears about a room for rent. With friends, Sabrina happily lugs over her two suitcases. Sabrina's new landlord lives at the house too. His son is Sabrina's friend. And Sabrina thinks of the landlord as her friend's dad.

Life in the house is chill. Sabrina's friends, Jennifer and Crystal, are free to come and go. So is Sabrina. And when we were hanging out of his house, he wasn't like hanging out with us. If we were in the main living room or family room, he would be in the other room or back in his bedroom. Bobby Sue, who's still in Texas, knows that her daughter has been through some precarious living situations, on couches in hotel rooms with boyfriends. She seems most comfortable with this new one.

Sabrina's landlord seems completely respectable. He has an executive position doing what he calls brainwork from the comfort of his own home. Another good sign, he's devoted to his own troubled son, Tommy, who had seven, ran away, striking out on his own just like Sabrina. This nice man giving Sabrina a room and bored Bobby Sue, that was like, you know, Christmas has arrived. With her new stability, Sabrina can think of things beyond the day to day. Her thoughts turn to the future and making things right, starting with Dewana. The cousins have been out of touch for months.

Sabrina misses her. It's been painful for DeWana too. Doana remembers that it was really nice when after a long silence, her phone rang, and it was Sabrina. She said that she wanted to see me and she wanted to talk and she was sorry about everything and asked me if I would come and get her and I told her, yeah. I just remember when she got in the car,

I told her that she looked pretty and that she looked a lot better that I like the improvements. She had grew her hair out some, and it was back being blonde. And I could tell she had lost some weight. I mean, she was getting back to her normal self. She said, I'm trying to get back to myself. I said, yeah, I'd like that.

And I was just really we had made up. Sabrina is eager to update DeWana. She tells her about her new living situation and her new boyfriend. DeWana happens to know Jim and approves of him. She has some gripes about her landlord, who she says is starting treating her like a teenager. Imagine that. Sabrina, though, is generally upbeat.

For the cousins, it's really nice to be together again, and DeWana invites Sabrina to stay the night at her place. The next day, which will be just one day before Sabrina disappears, DeWana delivers Sabrina home in the afternoon. She wonders if maybe they can. be roommates again. That would be nice. As Sabrina exits the car, DeWanau calls to her. I told her that she could come and stay with me. She said she needed to go to work. Sabrina has just landed that full-time job. She waves off her, cousin's offer. Life is already good.

She feels good. Okay, so back to the future. To New York, to a current affairs headquarters. Linda recently married is at her desk, a diamond ring on her finger. She's sifting through the details of Sabrina's life, reviewing what she knows and what she wishes she knew. She's focused on that insurance policy. Who took out that insurance policy on Sabrina's 17-year-old life? Lindel would like to know. As these thoughts are going through her mind, Lyndall can hear the sound of a fax machine. starting up in the adjacent room.

I didn't see it come spitting off the fax machine. Somebody just came and it had my name on it and handed it to me and I looked at it. What the hell? Finally, Lindel has the document from State Farm in her hands. It's an application for insurance on the life of Sabrina Kid. It was like this golden opportunity. It was like handing me. first prize. I looked down. It was just looked like a document, a boring document, but then I

saw $400,000. And Lindel saw the date, September the 8th. This insurance application was submitted just 10 days before Sabrina disappeared. A life insurance policy worth $400,000. That would be over a million dollars in today's currency. Who would apply for a policy like that? Who would apply for a policy like that. They sent that one page that says $400,000, the beneficiary, Tom Preston. Tom Preston, Sabrina's friendly landlord. This, right there, I realize there's motive right there. It's like my blood at the same time boiled and went cold. I was elated and I was furious.

I was furious. And I went straight to Dan. I said, now we have to pursue this. We have to pursue this completely. We have to pursue this without stopping. Lindel's now sure of it. Preston knows what happened to Sabrina. And at that point, I said, OK, go for it.

But be careful. Per her husband, Lindel, she will go for it. As for being careful, that's out of your hand. Dan. Maybe Lindel's 2. Next time on Killer Story. Under no circumstances are you to talk to Preston without other people around.

No one's going to tell me not to put a microphone on and go and ambush a killer. I'm sorry. No one's going to tell me not to do that. Unlock all episodes of Killer Story ad-free right now by subscribing to the binge podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts. All of them ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series. That means all episodes all at once.

Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple. head to getthebinge.com to access wherever you listen. Killer Story is a production of orbit media in association with Signal Company number one. Creator and host is me, Steve Fishman, executive producers, Arlindo Marx, Kevin Warnas, and Jonathan Hirsch from Sony Music Entertainment. Producers Jackie Pauley, Hannah Beale, and Austin Smith.

Production Coordinator Austin Smith. Series consultant, Emil Klein, sound designer, Spangler, fact check Ryan Alderman. Our lawyers are at Clarice Law. Special thanks to Emily Rassick, Steve Ackerman, Catherine St. Louis, Sammy Allison, Allison Haney, Fisher Stevens, and the glamorous Rea Julian. We also thank our agents at WME, Evan Crassick, Marissa Hurwitz, Ben Davis, and a special thanks to Shelley Chenoy for voiceover casting. Our voice actor for this episode is Lindsay Smart for Bobby Sue Mae. And a special, special thanks to the inimitable Emil Klein.