How a 12-year-old Massachusetts girl who escaped a serial killer likely saved the lives of others

January 7, 1994, began like any other winter morning for Rebecca “Becky” Savarese of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Snow lay on the ground and it was bitterly cold as the 12-year-old walked to school. Then, around 7:10 a.m., a man approached her at one of the city's busiest intersections. “He had a mustache, but he wasn't shaved. He seemed like a nerd to me,” Savarese said. The stranger quickly pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.

Becky said the shooter threatened her: “Just do everything I say and everything will be fine.” Then he led her to his truck and told her to get in. But Becky refused. “I didn't care if he shot me. I just knew I wasn't going to get in that truck,” she told “48 Hours.”

Instead, Becky came up with an idea that may have saved her life. She faked an asthma attack. She explained, “I was like, 'Can I sit down? Can I just sit down for a minute?' I tried to take off my backpack… and he tried to grab me, and he grabbed my backpack, and then I just started running.”

The shooter jumped into his truck and sped away. Becky ran into a man who was clearing snow from a sidewalk and called the police. At about the same time, a witness called three digits from the truck's license plate.

The police learned that a 43-year-old craftsman and former cinema caretaker named Lewis Lent was driving that truck. He initially denied knowing about Becky Savarese, but later confessed to trying to kidnap her.

When police searched Lent's truck, they found disturbing evidence. New York Police Detective Reece Treen said they “found Rebecca's backpack. They found a gun. They found what Lew called his 'kidnap kit.' Duct tape and a clothesline. Basically his kidnap kit that he had on him.”

After Lent was arrested for the attempted kidnapping of Becky Savarese, authorities wondered whether Lent might have kidnapped other children – including a 12-year-old girl who had disappeared five months earlier. Sarah Anne Wood, of Sauquoit, New York – 100 miles from Pittsfield – was last seen on her bicycle leaving church and heading home less than a mile down the road.

When authorities questioned Lent about Sara's disappearance, he eventually confessed in gruesome detail to kidnapping, sexually abusing, and killing Sara. He also admitted to kidnapping and murdering 12-year-old Jimmy Bernardo of Pittsfield.

Hunters had found Jimmy's body in a remote rural area 200 miles from Pittsfield. But investigators had no idea where Sara was buried. When they asked Lent, he kept saying where he buried her, according to authorities.

The search for Sara and the cat-and-mouse game between authorities and her killer to get him to reveal where her remains are the focus of “The Never-Ending Search for Sara Anne Wood,” with correspondent Erin Moriarty reporting in the season premiere of “48 Hours,” now streaming on Paramount+.

Authorities credit Becky with solving Sara's kidnapping case. New York State Police Detective Frank Lawrence said, “She's the key, she's the linchpin. It all happened because of her… She got away… That's what brought Lewis Lent to our attention.”

Treen, who spent many hours interviewing Lent in prison, said Lent admitted that he often drove many miles to find children he could abduct. “(Lent) had a large hunting ground. He mentioned that if he had money and gas, he would do that… he would go out and look for defenseless children.”

But Becky Savarese's courage and quick thinking changed everything. 1995 Lent was convicted for her attempted kidnapping and was sentenced to 17 to 20 years in prison. In 1996, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Jimmy Bernardo after a guilty plea. Later that year, Lent pleaded guilty to killing Sara Wood. In 1997, he was sentenced to 25 years to life for her murder. Lent will spend the rest of his life in prison. Sara's brother Dusty Wood said, “He (Lewis Lent) will never harm anyone else.”

Herkimer County District Attorney Jeffrey Carpenter often wonders what would have happened if Becky hadn't been able to escape. “I believe Becky Savarese not only saved herself, but saved countless children because this man (Lewis Lent) continued to develop his skills. He got better and better at it. She was smarter than him… and ended his reign of terror,” he told “48 Hours.”

Becky's mother, Chris, told “48 Hours” in 1994 that she often lectured her daughter about what to do if she was ever kidnapped: “kick, hit, bite, spit and do anything to escape.” Becky had also been warned about strangers by a police officer who had come to her school the year before the incident.

Dusty Wood says Becky's behavior is an example of why it's so important to educate youth about kidnapping prevention. “If no one had said anything to Rebecca … the outcome would have been different.”

Every year, Dusty Wood and several family members participate in the Ride for Missing Children, a 78-mile bike ride created by her father, Bob Wood, in honor of Sara. Participants stop at schools along the route to talk to children about how to keep themselves safe. Participants also pay silent tribute to the children who go missing and never return home, and those they hope will be found alive.

Dusty Wood says there is nothing he can do to bring back his sister Sara, but he can try to make a positive change by educating the public on how to protect children. He told 48 Hours: “The most important thing for us as a family is to protect children… and make sure everything is done to protect them from monsters like Lewis Lent.”

For more information about how you can educate children about abduction prevention, visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website at missingkids.org.