Kriti Mehrotra
If there’s one thing that has come to light across the globe over the past couple of decades thanks to media, it’s that violence against Indigenous women is an epidemic with no bounds. This much has actually even been evidenced in Hulu’s ‘Out There: Crimes of the Paranormal: The Shape-Shifting Defense,’ which chronicles the 1987 unsolved murder of Sarah Saganitso. She was not only a 40-year-old Navajo woman but also a hard-working single mother, so no one could have ever imagined she would meet her end in arguably the worst ways imaginable.
Sarah Saganitso’s Remains Were Discovered Near Her Workplace
Hailing from a big and caring family, Sarah had managed to build an individually stable life for her little brood so as to not rely on anyone to meet their day-to-day needs. In fact, she had been working at Flagstaff Medical Center as a housekeeper for at least 17 years, only for the summer of 1987 to turn everything upside down with her shift being changed. As per the aforementioned original, she was happy with the day shift because it enabled her to spend quality time with loved ones, but then she was suddenly moved to the evening shift.
That’s when Sarah and her siblings reportedly began worrying about her well-being to such an extent that the latter even memorized her schedule to make sure she always returned home on time. Furthermore, following a strange encounter with a man at work that really spooked her, she purportedly even decided to stay armed at all times — it was as if she felt like her life was in danger. As mentioned on the show, she kept a hammer by her front door as well as both her living room windows, she slept with a screwdriver by her bed, and she had a pair of scissors and a knife in the glove compartment of her truck.
But alas, little did anyone know Sarah would last be seen alive at around 11 pm while clocking out of her place of employment, a highly reputed major regional hospital in Flagstaff, Arizona. Her siblings were obviously the first to notice something was awry, yet it wasn’t until hours of searching later that her body was found naked and covered in blood in the wooded area beside the hospital. According to records, while her cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation, she also had lacerations on her breast, pubic area, and various other parts, making it evident she was murdered.
Sarah’s Family Was Exasperated With the Handling of the Case by the Officials
As per the show, Sarah’s siblings had contacted the local police within a few hours of her going missing, but they claimed they could not do anything until at least more than a day had passed. They still managed to get the Flagstaff Medical Center security to help out, just for the beloved single mother to be found dead on the opposite side from where her truck had been parked. As if that’s not enough, graveyard dirt was recovered from beside her vehicle, the ground near her remains had been disturbed, and there was a stick in her neck as well as hair in her wounds.
All this baffled the authorities, especially since Sarah had been killed in such a manner she was barely recognizable and almost mutilated, yet they allegedly still never questioned the people her family suspected. According to the episode, her sister, Rose Williams, gave them an entire list of possible people of interest who could have some answers, but they reportedly never followed up on it. Instead, it was alleged that they went ahead to interrogate an ex-boyfriend with a history of possible abuse against Sarah, only for the family to know for sure he wasn’t involved since he hadn’t even been in the picture for years.
Ultimately, it came to light that the ex-boyfriend did have an alibi, leading the police back to square one, that is, until a priest came forward with a name in August of the same year. The priest claimed that the poet, part-time Northern Arizona University English professor, and church member George Abney had some information about the case that would be interesting to them because he had confessed. The officials then reached out to the 35-year-old in question, just for him to initially dodge their questions before essentially indicating he was doing so for self-preservation.
George Abney Confessed to Sarah Saganitso’s Murder
With more push, however, George Abney confessed to killing Sarah Saganitso on the fateful night of June 1987 without any motive. He claimed he had gone to the hospital to get checked out because he wasn’t feeling well, only to walk back out the same way he had come in minutes later because he didn’t have insurance. That’s when, he said, he bumped into the housekeeper, who stopped and said “hello,” to which he responded in an admittedly “courteous” manner. “She invited me to go sit with her and look at the city,” he told the police during his confession. “Maybe she was flattered that an Anglo would be interested in her.”
George continued, “She showed me pictures of her kid, she showed me a knife that she said her brother had given her. I felt disorientation come over me. I remember blacking out, and when I came to, she was laying on the ground. I drifted in and out. I don’t know how long I sat there.” He then stated that he subsequently began thinking of everything he had endured as a child and was going through, which drove him to pick up the knife and hurt her more, even though he knew she was dead. “Every wound I put on her body after she was dead corresponded with the way I felt. Things that had happened to me.”
George actually claimed he bit her in the pubic area to represent the fact he had been molested and then bit her left breast because his heart was hurting from the baggage he was carrying. “I left bite marks because I knew that that would. It was a signature… I wanted to leave a message, some type of statement that might get me some help. I wanted to be found out.” Therefore, on September 1, 1987, the apparently aloof and quiet English professor was arrested for first-degree murder, with his trial soon being set for November of the same year. Though, Sarah’s family reportedly only found out about the arrest through the news.
George Abney Has Kept a Low Profile Since His Acquittal
While prosecutors presented a rather strong case during George’s trial, with the help of his confession and analysis that determined that the bite marks on Sarah did match his teeth, the defense’s rebuttal changed everything. They argued that a knife could leave the same marks on a body before putting an anthropologist on the stand who asserted that her killing and the scene around it represented the actions of a skinwalker. A skinwalker is a shapeshifter, whom the Navajos reportedly believed wholeheartedly, so he said he couldn’t see how a non-indigenous person could be the killer. He also claimed Sarah’s murder was like a ritualistic killing that could also be linked to witchcraft.
Therefore, in the end, with the belief that he did have some mental health issues and that his confession was coerced, George was acquitted of the charge against him and allowed to walk free. According to reports, this poet and former professor moved away from Flagstaff, Arizona, for good shortly after, and he has decided to stay well away from the limelight since then. So, unfortunately, we do not know much regarding his personal or professional experiences as of writing, all we know is that he is likely in his late 70s at the moment and has done his best to move on from the past.
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