17-Year-Old Girl's Body Found in River at University in 1993
It seems like it is always the sweet young ones that end up in a tragic situation. Sara Wisnosky was only 17 when her body was found near a creek. She was described by her friends and family as a good student and a fun and welcoming person. She had just started college in the fall of 1993 at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
During her time at college, she got very close to some other girls that she lived with. She got especially close with her roommate Nikki and Sarah and Nikki made a pact to contact each other if they were ever staying overnight somewhere outside the dorm. This was just a way of keeping each other safe and accountable.
Sarah met a boy named Derek Barnabei. He invited Sarah and a few of her friends to a party at which he told Sarah that he had just graduated from Rutgers University and was now a member of the fraternity on campus. Sarah fell very quickly for him but her roommate had negative feelings. Though there wasn't much Nikki could do about it she just sat by and watched with a close eye. Sarah did not know what she was getting into considering Derek had a violent past that she wasn’t aware of.
It Gets Dark
On September 22nd, 1993, Sarah went to Derek's apartment. He said he had a meeting for the fraternity around 1 p.m. but told Sara that she could wait in his bedroom. Due to her pact with Nikki, while she was waiting for Derek to get back, she contacted Nikki saying where she was. Nikki had a very odd feeling about the call because Sarah was whispering. The phone call abruptly ended when Derek returned home. The next day Sarah didn't show up for a class which alarmed Nicki because she also hadn't returned to their dorm room either. The police department was contacted later because the body of a young female was found in the Lafayette River just a few miles away from Derek's apartment and from the campus.
The Hunt
Investigating the body at the river, the police found a brown shoe size 8 which matched Sarah's shoe size. Also, a ring was located on the victim from Heritage High School with the initials SJW on it. The police then contacted the college who confirmed that Sarah was a freshman on their campus who had come from Heritage High School. The police then went to Sarah's dorm and spoke to her roommate Nikki who had told them about the phone call from the previous night. Nikki was then asked to go to the police station to identify the body as Sarah's.
With the information that they had received from Nikki, they went to Derek's apartment where they discovered Sarah's other shoe that matched the one from the crime scene. The shoe had blood on it and it appeared as if someone had tried to discard the shoe but failed.
Upon further investigation of the apartment, they found blood on the walls and drawings and they also found a notebook of Derek's. But there was no Derek inside. Derek's roommates did say that they had noticed some weird behavior on the day that Sarah was killed. They heard loud music coming from Derek's room and another one of his roommates noticed that he didn't have sheets or blankets. The police went further investigating Derek. They discovered his history of violence and scamming young college girls and fraternities. He traveled to different campuses and con college students into giving him money.
Derek was finally located months later on December 19th in Ohio. A police officer saw his vehicle in a parking lot of an apartment complex and brought him in.
Trial
At Derek's trial, everything came to light rather quickly. Derek's DNA was found underneath Sarah’s fingernails and it was believed that he tried to strangle her but she fought back. She had been hit in the head about 10 times and the object that was used to hit her was described as heavy and suggested to be a hammer. Her blood was found all over his room as well as showing signs on her body of being sexually assaulted.
On June 13th, 1995, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He didn't spend a long time on death row. He tried to get an appeal many times but the evidence damning him was too substantial. He did always claim his innocence until the day he died.
Right before his execution date, his legal counsel was trying to state that the blood found under Sarah's fingernails couldn't have been his. Because at the time of the original trial the blood DNA was never tested for identification. Though the prosecution stated that they didn't even need the evidence to prove Derek was guilty of the crime. But the defense said that testing could have easily implicated another person in Sarah's murder.
Final Thoughts
Sarah was just a young girl in love who got caught up with the wrong guy. It seems to be a rather large pattern nowadays but most of the time it doesn't end in tragedy, like this one. It's terrible to think that Derek tried to state his innocence till the day he was executed knowing full well that there was DNA evidence against him. But I guess when you lie you have to lie even to yourself.