Death of a Showgirl

20/20

ABC News

True Crime

4.0 • 8.9K Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2026

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A Vegas dancer disappears just hours before the biggest break of her career, leaving behind a trail of mystery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	9-1-1, where is the emergency?
0:02.7	It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey shore.
0:06.7	Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge.
0:09.9	A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern.
0:14.9	Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide?
0:17.6	At this point, nobody knows.
0:19.6	Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie, plays out in real life.
0:29.0	I'm Jiu Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio.
0:33.4	Listen now to Bridge of Lies, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:40.1	Why is going to shake that? Listen now to Bridge of Lies, wherever you get your podcasts. A Vegas showgirl is a girl who has beauty, who has talent, who can be seductive.
0:49.3	You have so many women with their unique talents, and they're bringing them to this city. A Vegas showgirl is glamorous.
0:56.0	She's beautiful. She's sexy.
0:58.0	She is Las Vegas.
1:00.0	Debbie breathed dancing.
1:04.0	She landed a spot on one of the strips of biggest shows called Fantasy.
1:08.0	Sometimes being pretty puts you at risk.
1:12.6	I can tell you from personal experience
1:14.6	how scary Vegas can be.
1:17.6	Debbie was never late to practice.
1:21.6	She was always on time.
1:23.6	But then the last practice before the opening act, Debbie didn't show up.
1:29.3	Red flags immediately started popping off.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ABC News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ABC News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.