Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘A Story To Die For’ of Investigation Discovery’s ‘People Magazine Investigates,’ the primary focus is on the 2012 killing of journalist Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh, whose body was found inside her burning residence devoid any evidence that could lead the authorities to the perpetrator responsible for the murder and fire. Upon combing through the victim’s social media, the police uncovered something sinister. The episode also features exclusive and in-depth interviews with the loved ones of Sarah and the officials directly or indirectly linked to the investigation of the case.
Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh Was Killed Inside Her Burning Apartment in 2012
It was on March 21, 1964, when Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh was welcomed into the world by her loving parents — Sara Lee Greenhalgh and William Walbridge Greenhalgh. Accompanied by her sister, Katherine Kent Langton, Sarah had an eventful childhood filled with different kinds of outdoor activities. For instance, ever since her childhood, she loved spending time on her family’s Poolesville horse farm, hunting, eventing, and ponying horses. At the age of 12, she traveled alone all the way to Africa to pay a visit to one of her classmates and spent an entire month there.
Sarah was a student of Oldfields School in Sparks Glencoe, Maryland, where her adventurous soul and confident energy made her popular among her peers. The free-spirited woman who was always up for an adventure was a talented writer, painter, equestrian, and photographer. Being a professional journalist, she worked at several Virginia news publications, including the Winchester Star, the Fauquier Citizen, and the then-Fauquier Times-Democrat. Her compassionate and loyal nature also made her a great friend to many. Since she was passionate about her work, when the 48-year-old reporter did not show up at The Winchester Star on July 9, 2012, it instantly made her coworkers and friends concerned about her well-being and whereabouts.
Meanwhile, a devastating fire broke out inside a small rental cottage in Upperville, Virginia, on the morning of July 9, 2012. Upon rushing to the scene, the firefighters discovered the body of Sarah Greenhalgh in the bedroom. When they inspected the body further, they were shocked to find out that she had died from a gunshot wound to her neck before getting trapped in the fire. During the inspection of the burned property, the detectives found at least 12 shell casings from a .9 mm semiautomatic pistol, one of which was found underneath her body. The investigators concluded that the fire was intentionally set to get rid of the evidence in the house. Thus, without wasting any time, a homicide investigation was launched.
Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh’s Murder Suspect Was Someone Close to Her
The detectives’ first course of action was to dig deeper into the life of Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh and shortlist suspects who might have had a motive to kill her. Through her friends and family, the investigators learned that she had been dating an auto body worker named John Kearns. When they studied the last few days of Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh’s activity on social media, they learned that she had posted a status update on her Facebook account around 11 pm the night before she was found dead in her charred residence. She wrote, “Going to be sleeping with the window wide open. Now if bat-sh– crazy boy would just leave me alone…will get some much needed rest because tomorrow is Monday and I got a ton of work to do.”
Suspecting that John was the boy Sarah was talking about in her post, the police searched his house, located on Somerset Crossing Drive near Gainesville, the day after her murder. Upon interviewing his neighbors, they found out that on the evening of July 8, 2012, Sarah was with him in his apartment. According to the affidavit, the couple was heard arguing with each other, and John had asked her to leave because he had another woman named Joanne Petrizzo coming over to his place, and he wanted to avoid any conflict. After leaving his house, Sarah reportedly emailed him around 10 pm that same night and talked about how she had been there for him and how she could get 25 years to life for being an accessory after the fact because of her knowledge of his crimes.
In light of all these circumstantial pieces of evidence against him, John was questioned about his involvement in the brutal murder of his girlfriend, Sarah Libbey Greenhalgh. The detectives also noticed a few injuries on his fists, which he claimed were due to his martial arts training. What made him even more suspicious in the eyes of the law was the fact that he also reportedly deleted email messages he and Sarah shared. In 2018, he was surrounded by suspicions when he claimed his innocence and told the Loudoun Times-Mirror, “I had nothing to do with this crime, and I (had) nothing against Sarah Greenhalgh.” Since the police have not found any direct evidence against him, they could not take him into custody and charge him. Thus, to this day, the case remains unsolved as Sarah’s killer roams free.
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