5 chilling details about Sarah McLinn's crime

Sarah McLinn was a 19-year-old woman from Kansas who was convicted of the murder of Harold "Hal" Sasko. Hal was a businessman living in Lawrence, Kansas, and owned three Cici's Pizza restaurants in the Lawrence and Topeka areas. At the time of the murder, Sarah McLinn worked at one of his Cici's pizza stores and lived with him as a roommate.

On January 17, 2014, police officers were sent to Sasko's residence in Lawrence for a welfare check after he had not been heard from in several days. Authorities found Sasko's body on the floor, bound with zip ties and bearing a deep cut to his neck. Investigators found patches of blood throughout the crime scene, along with three beer cans that had been laced with sleeping pills.

Sarah McLinn was missing from the scene, and her phone was found left on the kitchen counter. On January 25, 2014, she was arrested in the Everglades National Park in Florida, where she was found sleeping in a car that belonged to Sasko.

Snapped season 19 episode 9, titled Sarah McLinn, explores the complete story behind the murder of Harold Sasko. The episode originally aired in January 2017 and was re-aired on July 28, 2025, on Oxygen.

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5 key details about the crimes of Sarah McLinn

1) Harold Sasko was found with a deep wound around the neck

Harold's autopsy revealed he had a deep cut across his neck (Image via Pexels)

According to court documents, on January 17, 2014, when officers arrived at the residence of Harold Sasko, they found him bound with zip ties. Authorities found several patches of blood throughout the house. While scrutinizing the crime scene, investigators also recovered three beer cans that had been spiked with sleeping pills.

An autopsy later revealed that Harold Sasko had suffered multiple stab wounds. The forensic pathologist reported a deep cut to his neck, noting that he was nearly decapitated. The soft tissue around his neck was slit around the spine.

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2) Sarah McLinn was missing from the crime scene

Authorities found that Sarah was missing from the crime scene with Harold's car (Image via Pexels)

As reported by The Lawrence Times, Sarah McLinn was 19 years old when she started living with her boss, Harold Sasko. She worked at one of the restaurants, which Sasko owned. As reported by Fox, Sarah moved in with him due to some personal issues. On the day of Sasko's murder, officers did not find Sarah McLinn at the residence.

According to court documents, Sasko's car was missing from the driveway, along with the pet dog. Officers also discovered Sarah's phone on the kitchen counter and initially feared that she had been kidnapped. A nationwide search was initiated, with authorities focusing on tracing Sasko's missing car.

Sarah's family later informed police that she had called her grandmother. By tracing the calls, authorities discovered that they were made from convenience stores on the route from Kansas to Texas. On January 25, 2014, Sarah was found sleeping in Harold's car at Everglades National Park in Florida.

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3) Sarah McLinn confessed to the murder of Harold Sasko

Sarah confessed to the authorities that she killed Harold Sasko (Image via Pexels)

As per court documents, on January 26, 2014, Sarah McLinn was interrogated for three hours by detectives from the Lawrence Police Department in Florida. During the interrogation, Sarah confessed to killing Harold Sasko, stating that she wanted to see how it felt to murder someone.

Sarah revealed that she had planned the killing in advance and made preparations beforehand. Reportedly, she took leave from work under the pretense of a family death, telling her coworkers she needed to go out of town. On the day of the murder, she allegedly mixed sleeping pills into Sasko's beer.

After Harold passed out, his ankles and wrists were bound with zip ties. McLinn brought a hunting knife from his bedroom and stabbed him in the carotid artery. She then slashed his neck, leaving a deep wound on his throat. Sarah was arrested and charged with premeditated first-degree murder.

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4) Sarah McLinn's attorneys claimed that she suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder

Sarah's attorneys claimed that she was suffering from dissociative identity disorder (Image via Pexels)

As per court documents, during the trial, Sarah's attorneys claimed that she was suffering from dissociative identity disorder, earlier known as multiple personality disorder. Dr. Marilyn Hutchinson served as the defense witness and provided testimony regarding Sarah's history of mental illness.

Dr. Hutchinson stated that Sarah's dissociative identity disorder was a result of childhood trauma, alcohol and drug abuse, past family experiences, mental health medications, and se*ual abuse. As reported by The Lawrence Times, in September 2015, Sarah McLinn was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.

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5) Sarah McLinn's sentencing was changed

Sarah's sentencing was reduced to 25 years behind bars (Image via Pexels)

As per The Lawrence Times, Sarah went on a retrial in May 2021. Her attorneys argued that she was se*ually abused by Harold Sasko. Reportedly, McLinn was 14 years old when she first met him and was 17 when she moved in with him.

In 2020, Sarah testified that Harold was abusive and kept her in a state of financial and se*ual slavery for more than a year. She told her psychologist that Harold r*ped her multiple times a week for 10 months. McLinn claimed that she saw this act as her only way out.

As reported by The Lawrence Times, Sarah McLinn's sentence was changed to 25 years to life in prison. The Kansas Department of Corrections records reveal that she will be eligible for parole on February 1, 2039.

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Check out our other articles to learn more details about other cases on Snapped.

Edited by Shubham Soni