Sarah Pender Escaped from Prison After What Many Call a Wrongful Conviction

On August 4, 2008, convicted murderer Sarah Pender made national news when she escaped from an Indiana prison. She joined the relatively short list of women featured on America's Most Wanted, became known nationwide as the “female Charles Manson" and successfully resisted capture until just before Christmas, when authorities tracked her down in Chicago. Her grim nickname was plastered everywhere, though now the prosecutor who gave it to her no longer believes she deserves it—or her lengthy prison sentence. 

Pender was 21 years old in 2000. She had dropped out of Purdue University after just a year and was working as a secretary while living with her boyfriend, Richard Hull. Hull was a bouncer at a bar and had already served time for auto theft and residential entry, while Pender's record was clean. That meant that when Hull wanted to acquire a gun, Pender had to buy it for him. 

Hull and Pender lived with another couple, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman. Cataldi and Nordman were fugitives from a Nevada prison, where Nordman was serving time for forgery and Cataldi for possession and intent to distribute methamphetamine. Hull and Cataldi were selling drugs out of their home, and a neighbor reported that there had been tension between the two couples. 

On October 24, 2000—the same day the shotgun was purchased—an argument broke out between Hull and Cataldi while Pender was out for a walk. Hull grabbed the gun Pender had bought for him and shot Cataldi and Nordman, who were dead when Pender returned. She helped Hull drive the bodies to a nearby dumpster and did not call the cops. Later, she explained that she did those things out of "love, fear, loyalty, and sheer stupidity." 

However, prosecution later alleged that Pender had actually organized the killings and manipulated Hull into doing the shooting, causing prosecutor Larry Sells to dub Pender the "female Charles Manson." 

There were two pieces of purported evidence to back this story. One was a letter Hull said was sent to him by Pender while they were both in jail. In the letter, she admitted to having "snapped" and killed Cataldi and Nordman, and that it "must have been the acid." The second piece of evidence was testimony from inmate Floyd Pennington, Pender's pen pal. He claimed she admitted her guilt to him, and this claim, along with the letter, led the jury to declare Pender guilty of two counts of murder. She was sentenced to 55 years in prison for each count and was sent to Rockville Correctional Facility. 

Hull pled guilty and claimed he was influenced by Pender to murder his friends. He received two 45-year sentences for the crime. 

However, in 2004, Hull signed an affidavit in which he confessed that the letter was a total forgery, created based on letters Pender actually sent. Hull was given a harsher sentence after the forgery was revealed, but Pender's conviction and sentencing remained unchanged. 

After that setback and some unsuccessful appeals, Pender chose to break out of prison with help from a couple of accomplices: her newly released former cellmate, Jamie Long, and prison guard Scott Spitler. She'd had sexual relationships with both, convincing them to risk their own freedom and employment to help her escape. As Pender later wrote, she "essentially walked out of the back door" with Spitler's help. He helped her hide under the seats of a prison van, then drove the van through the gates to a parking lot, where Long was waiting. 

Pender's escape got her a spot on America's Most Wanted. Her episode aired September 13, 2008, and referred to her as a "cunning and dangerous fugitive" with "manipulative ways." Sells also called her a "demon” in the episode. 

For a few months, Pender found a job and new life under the alias of Ashley Thompson on the North Side of Chicago, but it was the America's Most Wanted episode that led to the end of her life on the run. After a rerun aired in December, Pender's Chicago neighbor recognized her and called authorities. She was caught on December 22 and sent to the Indiana Women's Prison, where she was put in solitary confinement for more than five years. In 2018, she was transferred back to Rockville.

In 2009, as her stint in solitary at the Indiana Women’s Prison began, the other major piece of evidence against Pender came into question. Pennington, the inmate who testified that she had confessed her guilt to him, was revealed to have written a "snitch list," including Pender and 17 other people. He had given the letter to a detective, offering to snitch on anyone on the list in exchange for a plea agreement. When Sells, the prosecutor in Pender's trial, learned of the list, he said he began to reconsider whether or not Pender's trial was fair. 

In 2023, he told IndyStar, "If I'd known the stuff that I know now, I mean, there's no way that I would have prosecuted her. I'm so sorry that she's been there, especially this long."

Sells even wrote a letter to support Pender's December 2025 request to lessen her sentencing. 

"I know of no credible evidence that Sarah Pender actually shot anyone," he wrote. "As a matter of fact, there is evidence she did not."

Pender's request was denied by the judge. She will be eligible for parole in 2054.