When an Arizona woman fails to return home from her late night shift at the hospital where she works,

her family and friends launch a search and locate her battered body.

Her accused killer raises one of the most outrageous defenses ever entertained in criminal court

in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host Leah, crime analyst by day, and true crime storyteller by night.

And as always, I'm your co-host Scott, and I'll preface this by saying I do know a little bit about this case already because it came up while we were watching TV.

Right.

A quick heads up. This episode contains discussion of sexual assault and some details

are integral to understanding this case and the related legal proceedings. Please listen with care.

Sarah Saigonizo was last seen alive on June 12, 1987. She was 40 years old at the time and lived in Flagstaff, Arizona. She was a lifelong

Arizonan and had been born and raised on the Navajo Nation, specifically in an area

known as Tuba City. At age 20, she'd moved to Flagstaff, which is located about an hour and a half's

drive from Tuba City for work. As a young woman, she landed a job as a housekeeper at the

Flagstaff Medical Center Hospital, where she worked for 17 years, right up until her premature death.

In fact, work would end up being exactly where she spent her final moments. When she wasn't working,

Sarah could often be found in the company of her family.

She had a four-year-old son and many siblings, seven brothers, and seven sisters, to be exact.

One of her sisters, Rose, would later appear in a documentary episode about Sarah's case

and recall how she had treated her more like a daughter than a sister.

In addition to being a beloved mom,

mother figure, and sister, Sarah was also a favorite aunt. A variety of her family members remember

her as caring and resourceful, an irreplaceable pillar in their large family whose absence has been

...