How do You Tell about Sara?
By Beth Pearce
Voice of the Victims
When I went to Chicago with my camera crew to talk to Sara’s family and friends about the ecstasy that she took, I had no idea how truly evil her story really was. It took everything I had inside me to NOT out loud sob cry or run from the room! I am a mom that can’t stand what is happening to our kids because of designer drugs, and knowing not too many parents even know about these until their child is dead or in the emergency room. I make “True Story Documentaries about the dangers of drugs” to teach the kids and Parents before they get in to trouble with them. Sara is one of the beautiful kids that is in my film.
Sara was an only child. She was beautiful, kind, smart, very nice, and just a very sweet girl, until she met Garrett! When Sara was 18 years old she started hanging out with Garrett, he was 21 years old and was just a friend. He was like a brother to her, and would take care of her.
The night before Mother’s Day 2001, Sara was out with friends, they were going to go to Starbucks hang out, just have fun! Around midnight Sara called her mom to say she was at Garrett’s house; his mother was home his sister was there and not to worry they were going to play Video games and watch some movies, and she would just spend the night there.
This is what happened next. Sara took 3 ecstasy pills that night along with Garrett and another male that was with them. They were downstairs in the basement that was made up as the recreation room. Soon after taking the pills, she was pulling at her hair and grabbing her throat saying she couldn’t breathe. She was talking to people that weren’t there, so she was hallucinating. She was suffering on the floor for six hours.
By ten o’clock the next morning, Jan, Sara’s mom got a call from the police, saying that Sara had had a seizure or something; they were asking her if she was on any mediation or if she was sick. Jan said no, Sara was not on any medication and not sick. She rushed over to Garrett house to find Sara on the floor. The paramedics kept asking Garrett what she took, he continued to just walk around like nothing was happening saying she took nothing. They were all begging him to tell them what she took, he just stuck with the lie that she took nothing, even though, and just maybe it could have saved Sara’s life to tell the truth. Sara was rushed to the hospital; her temperature was 108 degrees she was bleeding, internally. There was a doctor there that thought it could be ecstasy, so that’s how they started treating her. The doctors told the parents that her nerve endings were dead and that she probably didn’t know what was going on. Sara’s eyes were fixed up at the ceiling….. No response… But when the Parents went into the room, the nurses noticed that she cried… A tear out of one eye and then the other. Sara could have been inside!!
The doctors had to tell the Jan and Robert (Sara’s Parents) that there was just nothing more that could be done for Sara. As Jan explains this, “The silence when they turn the machines off is the loudest silence I had ever heard!”
Sara had expressed to someone at one time that she wanted to be cremated. So Jan and Robert took her home, she’s by Jan’s chair, and she talks to her all the time.
Four days before Sara passed away the police had a warrant out for the arrest of Garrett, for selling drugs. The police never picked him up. They wanted to see what else he would do. As Jan says, it’s like a door opened for Sara, if he had been picked up the door would have been closed. You see…. what they found out later, on tape, as Garrett is bragging to his cell mate is this…
Garrett’s plan was to rape Sara! He was the one getting the water for the group he wanted Sara, so he crushed up four pills and put it in her water. He claimed she chugged it, as if that would have made a difference if she had drank it slowly. Garrett got 15 years in prison for the selling of drugs. Half his time was knocked off right away, he is due out of prison in 2007. Garrett was never tried for the murder of Sara. The judge did take his confession to the cell mate into consideration and gave him the 15 years, which then went to 7 and a half.
New Update:
Garrett is now due to be released before Thanksgiving 2005.
As Mom says, “How do you keep your children safe? How do you know who they should be hanging out with, especially when they say they’re like a brother and will take care of her?”
Here are my feelings on this whole tragedy! Garrett is a guy that looks like the guy next door, or the cute guy on the football team! He was supposed to have been Sara’s friend! Garrett has no remorse for what he did to Sara. He was bragging about the whole thing just days later! I think he will do this again. He is in Prison in Chicago, his parents live in Arizona now, and he needs to be watched!
What I want to say to the young women that think they are safer if they have a male with them, don’t be so sure! Sara had a male friend with her, who she thought would help keep her safe! Why did Sara feel the need to have another male with her when she was with Garrett? I just feel so bad that Sara didn’t follow her instincts and stay away from this creep all together. I think she did have some red flag warnings that she decided were probably nothing and she sort of ignored them, or thought that if the other guy was there, she was safe, everything would be O.K. Doesn’t this happen to us many times? We will have a thought and talk ourselves out of it, thinking we are just being silly, nothing is going to happen! We need to stop and really give ourselves credit, pay attention to those little thought flashes, red flags feelings what ever it is and go with it! Let’s also not forget when someone wants something from us, they will be very charming, not the ugly creepy looking guy with the horns!
The thing that seems to be happening more and more is they will drug the male first the get him out of the way and then go for the woman. This is now happening to older women, newly divorced woman that haven’t been out for awhile. The main drug that will be used is GHB, Ketamine or Roofies. I really believe that the best way we can protect our loved ones is to teach them the dangers that can be involved with using drugs, or hanging out with the wrong people, or what’s the freakiest of all is, you are out minding your own business having fun with your friends and some sicko decides “He wants you!” You don’t know the guy and you have no warning that anyone is even around that is thinking about harming you. He has his little eye dropper bottle filled with whatever drug he chose for the occasion, and when you look away for just a second there he goes! Or maybe you go dance and your drink is on the table, there are all kinds of ways that they can get to you and your drink.
