Sara Anne Wood
Sara Anne Wood (March 4, 1981 – disappeared August 18, 1993) was a twelve-year-old American girl who disappeared while riding her bicycle home from Norwich Corners Church in Sauquoit, New York. She is believed to have been abducted less than half a mile from her own home by convicted child killer Lewis Stephen Lent Jr. Lent later pleaded guilty to both Sara's abduction and murder and that of a twelve-year-old boy named James Bernardo, whom he had murdered in 1990. He received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment for Bernardo's murder, and a sentence of 25 years' imprisonment to life for Sara's abduction and murder. Sara's abduction and murder ultimately inspired numerous initiatives by both law enforcement and the public within and around New York to raise public vigilance of the issues regarding missing children and child safety to prevent child abduction and sexual exploitation.