Ep 223 : Sarah Pender, AKA "The Female Charles Manson"
Mama Mystery with Kelly Evans
Kelly Evans
4.6 • 996 Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 54 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 2000, Sarah Pender was convicted in connection with the murders of her roommates, Andrew Cataldi and Tricia Nordman, and sentenced to 110 years in prison. Prosecutors called her the “female Charles Manson,” portraying her as the mastermind behind the killings, even though she never pulled the trigger. Years later, she made national headlines again after escaping from an Indiana prison with the help of a correctional officer.
Now, more than 25 years later, Sarah is back in court asking for her sentence to be reconsidered — and the case looks very different than it did in 2002. Key evidence used to convict her has since been discredited, the jailhouse informant who testified against her has been exposed as unreliable, and even the former prosecutor who put her away now says her sentence was a major injustice.
In this episode, we walk through Sarah Pender’s story from the beginning: the volatile household, the night of the murders, the investigation, trial, prison escape, years in solitary confinement, and the long fight for freedom that’s still unfolding today.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to Mama Mystery. I am your host, Kelly. Today we are talking about a case that's been |
| 0:06.4 | bothering people for more than two decades, and it's back in the news right now. I told you guys |
| 0:11.3 | a little bit about this on a weekly docket a couple weeks ago, and I told you all I was going to do |
| 0:15.9 | a deep dive, and that is what today's episode is. So in 2000, a 21-year-old woman named Sarah Pender |
| 0:23.2 | was convicted in connection with the murders of her roommates, |
| 0:26.8 | Andrew Cotaldi and Tricia Nordman in Indianapolis. |
| 0:30.5 | Prosecutors called her the female Charles Manson, |
| 0:33.7 | said that she masterminded the whole thing, |
| 0:36.0 | and she was sentenced to 110 years in prison. |
| 0:39.3 | A few years later, she made headlines again when she escaped from an Indiana prison with the help of a correctional officer |
| 0:46.3 | and spent months on the run before she was finally caught. |
| 0:49.3 | Well, now, more than 25 years later, Sarah is 46 years old, and she stood in front of a judge |
| 0:55.6 | earlier this month asking for a second chance. |
| 0:58.5 | She says that she accepts responsibility for her role, but doesn't believe that she |
| 1:02.9 | should have to die in prison. |
| 1:04.9 | Even the former prosecutor who once compared her to Charles Manson is now saying that her |
| 1:10.4 | sentence is a major injustice. |
| 1:13.0 | So today we're going to walk through who Sarah is, what happened in that house in 2000, |
| 1:18.1 | the investigation, the escape, and why so many people are suddenly rethinking this case. |
| 1:25.2 | This is the story of Sarah Pender. |
| 1:38.3 | Sarah Jo Pender was born in May 1979, which made her about 21 years old at the time of the murders. By most accounts, |
| 1:46.6 | she was a bright young woman. She grew up in Indiana, did well in school, even earned a |
... |
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