Warning: The following article covers violent crime and sexual assault. Please read with caution.
Sarah Yarborough was a normal high school student, she had lots of friends, loved her family, and loved dancing. CBS’s 48 Hours reported she was “creative and talented” and seemed to always have a smile on her face.
She was part of the high school’s drill team and on the morning of December 13th, 1991, she was on her way to a drill team event when she mysteriously disappeared. Within an hour of her disappearance, her body was unfortunately discovered, and the horrifying truth was revealed – she’d been murdered. You may have seen her story covered on 48 Hours, so here’s what happened to her.
What happened to Sarah Yarborough?
Sarah Yarborough’s body was located an hour after her disappearance, around 100 yards away from her school. Two young boys stumbled across her after startling off a man who had been hovering around a spot on the nearby hill. As she had only been missing for a short time, many of her friends and family, while worried, were hopeful she would be found safe and sound. When the horrible discovery was made the community was shocked. Sarah was discovered partially nude with stockings knotted around her neck, she had been strangled.
Investigators were baffled, the young girl had no known enemies and there were no signs of struggle in her nearby parked car. She had her backpack sitting on the seat along with a container of orange juice that was undisturbed. Investigators and the community continued the search, putting up posters of a sketch of the man the young boys had seen. Despite getting over 3000 leads over the years, no break in the case or suspect ever surfaced. Almost 30 years passed with no new information but then something miraculous.
With the development of DNA technology came new information on the case. DNA evidence had been collected at the scene of the crime and testing on the sample began. September 2019 brought a break in the case, as the DNA evidence found a familial match in the CODIS system.
Who is Patrick Nicholas?
Patrick Nicholas is the brother of Edward Nicholas, a registered sex offender and whose DNA was in CODIS. When the DNA on the Yarborough case was returned, it was a familial match to Edward but a full match to his brother, Patrick.
It turned out it wasn’t the first time Patrick Nicholas had committed a crime, he had raped two young women as a juvenile and attempted to rape another one. Anne Coney had managed to get away by swimming away from Nicholas and had narrowly escaped a horrible fate. She testified against him at trial and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, yet he only served three years of that time. He was released early, in 1987, and Yarborough was murdered in 1991. Sadly, if he had served his full sentence, he would have still been behind bars and unable to commit the murder. The family was saddened by the letdown of the system and the fact that Nicholas was able to slip through the cracks.
Yet the family would finally get their day in court. More than 30 years after Sarah Yarborough’s death, 59-year-old Patrick Nicholas finally went on trial for the murder of the young girl.
He was found not guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, but guilty of murder in the 1st and 2nd degree due to the sexual motivation of the crime. Anne Croney testified at the sentencing hearing begging the court to keep Nicholas where he belonged–in prison. He was sentenced to 46 years. Justice was finally served for the Yarborough family.
While it is a win for justice and the Yarborough family, they continue to mourn the loss of their daughter and the fact that the system initially failed them. They continue to work diligently to ensure that no one else has to wait 30 years to find out what happened to their child, or hopefully, even ensure it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s child at all.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.