← Crime Salad
Loading summary
Transcript80 lines
- [00:01]
A
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game, shifting a little money here, a little there, and hoping it all works out well? With the Name your price tool from Progressive, you can be a better budgeter and potentially lower your insurance bill too. You tell Progressive what you want to pay for car insurance, and they'll help you find options within your budget. Try it today@progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law not available in all states.
- [00:34]
B
The world moves fast. Your workday even faster. Pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work built into Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other Microsoft 365 apps you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create and summarize so you can cut through clutter and and clear a path to your best work. Learn more@Microsoft.com M365 copilot taxact is here
- [01:05]
C
anytime you want to easily file your taxes. TaxAct is here for the early birds who like to knock them out as soon as the season opens, and for the procrastinators who like to wait until the very last minute. TaxAct is also here for the middlers who file right in the middle of tax season. No one ever talks about the midlers, but taxact sees you and taxact respects you, you Tax Act. Let's get them over with.
- [01:51]
D
North California's Central Valley is known for its wide open farmland, the hum of irrigation pumps in the distance, and long summer nights that seem to stretch for forever. And about 40 miles north of Sacramento, where the Feather river bends and the land runs flat as far as you can see, you'll find Yuba City and Marysville, two neighboring towns separated by a bridge and a river. Yuba City is orchard country, peaches, plums, rice fields that catch the light in the early morning. And rising out of nowhere from the flat valley floor, the Sutter Buttes, a compact cluster of volcanic peaks that seems like they landed in the wrong place. People call them the smallest mountain range in the world. And just across the river is Marysville, with its older brick buildings, coffee shops that know your name, and a tight knit community where everyone seems connected in some way. In small counties like Sutter, things overlap. That closeness can be comforting, but when something goes wrong, it can complicate things, too. On August 16, 2015, just before sunrise, the stillness of a Yuba City neighborhood was broken by a 911 call. Inside the bedroom of one of those Quiet Homes, a 31 year old mother of three had been shot in the head, and almost immediately her death was labeled a suicide. But over the years, as more details surfaced, the community began asking a question that still hasn't gone away. Did this woman really take her own life or was something else going on beneath the surface? This episode contains discussions of suicide, gun violence, alleged domestic violence and sexual misconduct allegations. Listener discretion is strongly advised. I'm Ashley.
- [03:45]
E
And I'm Ricky.
- [03:46]
D
And this is Crime Salad. Just after sunrise in Marysville, patrol units were already moving through the quiet grid of 4th Street. At 6:17am an officer from Sutter county was dispatched to Rideout Hospital regarding a coroner's investigation. He was met by hospital staff who explained that a woman had been brought into the emergency room at 4:15am with a gunshot wound to the head. She had been unresponsive on arrival and CPR was already in progress. Doctors administered eight rounds of epinephrine and resuscitation efforts continued for over an hour. At 5:15am she was pronounced dead. The woman was lying on her back, covered in white hospital sheets. Her forehead was wrapped in a bandage, blood seeping through. Her eyes were closed, swollen and dark blue. An intubation tube remained in place. Defibrillator patches were attached to her chest and back, and six cardiac monitor leads were still adhered to her torso. The officer noted a flower tattoo on the inside of her left wrist and a bird tattoo on her right forearm. He also documented a bruise on her left shin, another on her right calf, a small bruise between her right thumb and index finger, and also dried blood around the top of her left index finger extending across the web of her hand. Her hands were placed into brown paper bags, which is a standard preservation technique in shooting investigations to protect any potential gunshot residue. The attending physician, Dr. Orchard, noted one entry wound to the left temple and he couldn't locate an exit wound. The woman's husband had been present in the room at the time of her death, and according to the report, the husband told officers he had been on the couch when he heard what he described as two distinct gunshots from the bedroom. One, and then approximately a second later, another. He said he rushed in, he found Sarah lying on her back on the bed, removed the gun from her hand, cleared it and placed it on the nightstand, performed cpr, moved her from the bed to the floor, and then called 91 1.
- [06:09]
E
And that account is worth holding on to because when investigators processed the scene, they found one shell casing on the bed next to a bloodied pillow. In one unfired round on the other side. As far as investigators could tell, only one shot had been fired, not two. Not the two shots that Aaron said he clearly heard from the living room.
- [06:29]
D
By 8:34am the responding officer contacted his supervisors and formally identified her as Sarah Lynn Easton. Although she had been transported to the rideout hospital in Marysville, the incident actually occurred across the river in Yuba City, which meant the case fell under Yuba City Police Department's jurisd. And when Sutter county officers went to the hospital and spoke with Sarah's husband, they explained they would be securing a search warrant for the residents. He was initially taken back by that which the report acknowledges, but ultimately he said he understood. And yet detectives then gave him a ride back to the house. He did voluntarily hand over his cell phone at that point. But later that afternoon, a detective documented being present for an interview with Sarah's husband. And the details of that interview were supposed to be in a separate supplemental report. We'll come back to why this matters. And there's one more thing to note about how Aaron Easton appeared that morning. When he arrived at the hospital. He was neatly dressed. There was no blood on him, and keep in mind, his wife had just been shot in the head in their bedroom. He. He reportedly moved her from the bed to the floor and also removed the gun.
- [07:48]
E
And what makes that even more telling is what we later learn about the calls made before 911 was contacted. According to multiple reports, Aaron Easton called Brian and Amanda Hopper and a colleague named Jason Gehringer before he called 911. The Hoppers declined to come to the scene. Gehringer was one of the first to arrive.
- [08:08]
D
Yeah. So why did he call these other people before calling 911 on August 18, 2015? It was supposed to be Sarah's 32nd birthday, but instead she was on the autopsy table. The examination confirmed a single entrance wound on the left side of her head. The bullet had fractured her skull, lodged between the scalp and had not exited. The trajectory was documented as left to right, downward to upward, and. And front to back, meaning that the angle pointed slightly upward and toward the front of her head.
- [08:44]
E
And what makes that trajectory worth noting is the wound classification. There was stippling present, those small pinpoint abrasions caused by unburned gunpowder striking the skin. But there was no soot around or inside the wound. That puts the gun somewhere between a few centimeters and potentially several feet away from Sarah's head when it was fired. In contact wounds, which are most common in self inflicted gunshots, to the Temple, you typically see soot and sometimes tearing from gas expansion. Stippling without soot tells you that the barrel was not pressed against her skin,
- [09:19]
D
and that makes things interesting. And the autopsy also noted that Sarah's right hand had very fine specks of dried blood, and her left hand had blood smeared across both the palm and the back. There were also bruises on her left anterior foreleg, in the right posterior foreleg. The autopsy also noted that investigators later measured Sarah's arms, presumably to assess whether the angle and distance of the gunshot were even physically possible, given the length of her limbs. That alone tells us investigators were already raising serious questions.
- [09:53]
E
The smeared blood on both sides of the left hand is worth focusing on. Smearing means that the hand was placed into wet blood and then moved, which suggests contact with the wound or a surface or another person. That's different from a passive spatter. The bruises on her legs are not automatically suspicious on their own, but investigators have to ask whether they were fresh, whether they lined up with a fall or kneeling or being grabbed.
- [10:20]
D
Yeah, those are good things to point out. In later forensic experimentation by investigative journalist Gavin Fish. He used pig skin, which is commonly used in ballistic testing due to its similarity to human tissue. And. And he reportedly demonstrated that the closest distance at which stippling appeared without soot was approximately 8 inches. Experts have stated that it would be extremely unlikely for someone to shoot themselves in the head from that distance, particularly given the physical difficulty of a right handed person reaching across their body to fire a gun at their own left temple. At this point, the official cause of death was listed as a gunshot wound to the head, with the manner of death pending toxicology. And something else worth knowing, A restoration company was called to clean the scene. This was like a specialized emergency response team who are skilled technicians to remove contaminants and debris and other things like that. So related to the incident, they were brought in to clean the scene, and in the process, the soiled sheets and the pillows that were covered in blood, they were just thrown away. Those items, they could have contained critical forensic evidence. And what remained were only low resolution photographs, which became some of the only visual evidence Sarah's family ever saw. On September 29, 2015, toxicology results came back, and Sarah tested positive for benzodiazepines, specifically Zolpidem, commonly known as Ambien, at 0.03 milligrams per liter, and Alprazolam, better known as Xanax. No specific amount of Xanax was quantified at that time.
- [12:05]
E
The Ambien level was within a normal therapeutic range, consistent with a prescribed sleep dose. But assuming Sarah had not built up a significant tolerance, that dose would have hit her hard. Xanax compounds that effect considerably. Combined, the two would have left Sarah significantly sedated, raising a real question about whether she was even conscious enough to do this to herself, or whether she was already asleep when it happened. It's worth noting that despite these questions, her toxicology showed no alcohol and no substances outside of prescribed medications.
- [12:40]
D
Then, on October 26, a Sutter county officer documented a formal request for answers to several specific questions. Was Sarah right handed? Where was the body located? Where was the gun, and did anyone move her? Yuba City Police Department's response confirmed Sarah was right handed, verified through interviews with her parents. Officer Cornwell was the first to arrive on the scene after the 911 call, and his report stated he arrived to find Sarah's husband, flagging him down outside the residence wearing basketball shorts, no shirt and no shoes. Inside the master bedroom, Cornwell found Sarah lying on her back on the floor along the north wall next to the bed and in front of a nightstand. On top of that nightstand was a Glock Model 26 semiautomatic pistol, the slide locked open. Cornwell noted he could both see and smell gun smoke in the air, and per his statement to Officer Cornwell, Sarah's husband said he found her on the bed, removed the gun from her, cleared it, placed it on the nightstand, performed CPR, moved her to the floor, and then called 911. Both the officer and the husband later moved Sarah further into the middle of the room. She was still breathing at this point. That same scene documented a large amount of blood on a pillow on the bed and also a shell casing on the bed. Next to the pillow and on the other side of the bed was one unfired round, consistent with Aaron's account of ejecting the chamber when he cleared the gu. The firearm was on the nightstand with the slide locked open and the magazine still loaded. That physical evidence accounts for one shot fired at the scene, not two, as Erin reported hearing. There was also another report that referenced an interview with Aaron Easton that said see attached but that attachment was not included, and a Sutter county officer reviewing Yuba City reports noted there was no no separate report on file from Sergeant Runyon, who was the officer who reportedly arrived between the first and second officers on the scene.
- [14:54]
E
Missing reports in a death investigation are a problem regardless of the circumstances. An interview that is referenced but never attached. A responding officer with no report on file. Those are gaps that matter in any case, but especially in one this sensitive.
- [15:11]
D
Yeah, it definitely raises a lot of questions. What was supposed to be attached to this report? There is one more detail from the scene worth flagging. There's a photo available of the location showing what appeared to be a pile of dirty clothes like a pair of pants, a shirt and shoes that were sitting in the bathroom. Sarah's husband had flagged the first officer down outside wearing no shirt, no shoes and basketball shorts, and a lot of people have pointed to this combination and wondered whether he had changed before calling the police. So now that we have laid out the initial facts, let's go back to the beginning and understand who Sarah was and why this case has never stopped demanding answers. Sarah Lynn Easton she was born on August 18, 1983, the only girl in a family of four kids, and she grew up in the Yuba Sutter area, learning early how to hold her own with two older brothers. Quiet was never really her style, her family said. She didn't care who was around. She would say whatever was on her mind. She was bright, spunky, the kind of person who would walk into a room and immediately change the energy. Friends described her as a fireball, someone who laughed loudly, sang confidently even while joking about her own voice. And and she wasn't afraid to be the center of attention. She joined the marching band at Yuba High School her freshman year, playing clarinet and music ran in the family. Her parents even owned Matthews Music on Fifth street in downtown Marysville, and her brothers also played multiple instruments. She grew up in a structured household. Five days a week she woke up early for Mormon devotional classes before school, and Sundays meant three hours at church, but she balanced that with real responsibility at home. While her mom commuted back from California State University in the evenings and her dad worked two jobs, Sarah often cooked dinner for her little brother Johnny. And then she met Aaron Easton. Sarah was a freshman, just 15 years old. Aaron was 17 and dating one of her friends. Eventually, he broke things off with that friend and started dating Sarah instead. And her parents weren't typically thrilled. They thought their 15 year old was too young for a serious relationship, especially with an older boy outside of their Mormon faith. And since most of Sarah's friends were also devout Mormons, she had to keep the relationship largely hidden from the people closest to her. One morning before school, Sarah woke her little brother Johnny up just to tell him she loved him. And that afternoon when Johnny came home, Sarah was gone.
- [17:56]
E
She stayed missing for weeks before finally reaching out. Reportedly to demand that her mother sign a permission slip. Her mother relented. That permission slip was consent for Sarah to marry Aaron Easton. She was 16. He was 18. On October 4th of 1999, they married and moved to Oklahoma.
- [18:15]
D
And Sarah called home occasionally during that time. But before long, the two returned to California. Sarah was 17 and pregnant with her first child. And when her son Oliver was born that fall, she was overjoyed. In 2002, she gave birth to her second son, Adam. Friends said Oliver and Adam were Sarah's entire world. The boys were always dressed neatly and went everywhere with her. And when she found out she was pregnant again in 2005, she was excited in a new way. She said that at 22, she finally felt old enough to have a baby. But on November 29, 2005, Sarah had a miscarriage, and she was devastated. She sought counseling and was prescribed Trazodone, an antidepressant now commonly used as a sleep aid. And to honor their unborn son, Sarah and Aaron arranged for a burial plot in the section of Sutter Cemetery devoted to babies. They named him Isaac Aaron Easton. Sarah's parents attended that funeral, and they said that physical place mattered deeply to her, which is part of why it struck them as strange when Erin insisted on having Sarah cremated after she died. That decision also permanently closed off the possibility of further forensic examination.
- [19:33]
E
That is one of the many decisions surrounding her death that didn't sit right with people who knew her. And as the years passed, the version of Sarah that friends saw in public didn't always match what they were hearing in private.
- [19:45]
D
Right. There were multiple friends and family members who would later describe a marriage that felt volatile and, at times, frightening. One friend recalled Sarah breaking down in tears over an affair her husband had, telling her she felt trapped, but still loved him and didn't know what to do. Another said that watching Aaron interact with Sarah was unsettling, that he never had anything kind to say to her. One woman became so concerned that she directly asked Sarah if she was safe. At first, Sarah made excuses. She was stressed. He was in a bad mood. But over time, she stopped defending him. At church, Erin would openly make comments about her body after pregnancy, asking in front of others when she was going to lose the weight. Sarah's brother, who's also named Aaron and is a nurse in the army, said that he noticed dark bruises on her arms nearly every time he saw her in various stages of healing. And when the family asked about them, Sarah would laugh it off and say that she and Erin were roughhousing Those bruises would come back to everyone's mind when the autopsy report was released years later. In February of 2007, Sarah gave birth to their third child, Josie, and she was overjoyed to finally have a daughter. But that didn't stop the affairs, the manipulation, or the slow erosion of joy from Sarah's life. Friends urged her to get help, but suspected that speaking up openly would only make things harder for her, given who Aaron was becoming in the community.
- [21:20]
E
By the time Sarah was In her early 30s, Aaron Easton was the Marysville police chief. He was publicly known for championing body cameras and transparent community focused policing. So here's the detail that will stop you. Both officers who responded the night that Sarah died reported that their body cameras were faulty. Now, it doesn't prove anything, but it definitely stays with you.
- [21:43]
D
Yeah, makes things very interesting. In years earlier, Sarah and Aaron, they had separated briefly after an alleged affair before reconciling. When he landed the police chief position, Sarah proudly shared the news article on Facebook, calling him a good man. On the surface, it looked like like stability had returned. But people close to her continued to notice changes. She began canceling plans last minute, pulling back from the people around her. She had even booked a flight to Washington to visit her brother Aaron's newborn. And the night before she called it off, she told him that if she left, something bad would happen to her kids. And when he pressed her, she just said to trust her. And her brother was scared. He knew she had been struggling with depression and anxiety and that she had been drinking more than usual in recent months. She was going through changes in her personal life, including stepping away from the church and getting tattoos. All things that were simply part of her finding her own path. But he could sense something deeper was wrong that he couldn't get clarity on. So when he got the call on August 16, 2015, he was immediately suspicious. Now, usually when someone dies a sudden death, the process moves forward relatively clearly. But in Sarah's case, almost nothing was simple. Two separate investigations were running at the same time. Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker was handling the death investigation since the hospital was in his jurisdiction. Yuba City Police Department was leading the criminal investigation since the home was in Yuba City. But Yuba City was a small agency, and this was the death of a wife of the neighboring town's police chief. The question of whether a small department could objectively investigate someone connected was unavoidable from the start. And the district Attorney's office had its own entanglements at the time. The elected DA Of Sutter county was Amanda Hopper, who had been personally close with Sarah through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and her husband, Brian. Hopper had worked with Aaron Easton at the Yuba County Sheriff's Department. And because of those ties, Hopper recused herself from the investigation.
- [24:00]
E
And what that decision to step back means in practice is that overlapping relationships were already shaping the investigation before it got off the ground. Nobody has been accused of acting inappropriately, but the perception alone is a serious problem. It helps explain why a man was driven back to his house right before it was searched, why a service weapon may not have gotten the scrutiny it deserved, and why those calls made before 911 may never have been fully looked at.
- [24:28]
F
Right.
- [24:29]
D
And if it's true, why would he make those calls before calling 911 to those people specifically? Now, as far as the investigation goes, outside help was eventually requested. Investigators brought in assistance from Calusa county and also from the California Department of Justice, which was led at the time by Camilla Harris. Colusa County District Attorney John Poynter was the one who authorized the search warrant for the Easton residents, and he would later publicly state that based on the evidence he reviewed, he would have arrested Aaron Easton for homicide. But the state's Bureau of Forensic Services was also dealing with serious internal problems at the time. Funding for equipment was scarce, experienced criminalists were leaving for higher paying private sector jobs, and internal budget reports noted that delayed justice was a genuine risk. A deputy district attorney named Brendan Farrell in a neighboring county later reflected on two details of the case that stayed with him. The wound was on the left side of Sarah's head, and she was right handed. And Aaron Easton, a trained law enforcement officer, had handled and cleared the gun before officers arrived. He would have known better than almost anyone how critical it was to leave the scene intact. Now, Sarah was still breathing when he found her. This was a chaotic and terrifying situation, and performing CPR was a reasonable response. But that context is also part of why this case has never been resolved cleanly. Okay, real talk. Before we get back to the episode, I need to tell you about something that has genuinely changed how I sleep. And you guys know I don't say that lightly. This episode is sponsored by Miracle Made. And listen, I know, Ashley, it's just sheets, but hear me out because I thought the same thing. Here's a fun gross fact for you. Since we're all crime style listeners and we love gross facts, traditional bed sheets can hold more bacteria than a toilet seat. Yeah, really? The thing that you snuggle with every night as you sleep. Miracle Maid sheets are designed with silver infused fabric that actually prevents up to 99.7% of bacterial growth. So you're sleeping cleaner, your skin isn't getting clogged with all this bad bacteria buildup and your sheets stay fresh up to three times longer than regular ones. That means less laundry and I don't know about you, but I am always looking for reasons to do less laundry. They are also inspired by NASA technology and they help regulate your body temperature overnight. So if you're someone who wakes up sweating at 2am or freezing cold and can't get comfortable, these sheets genuinely help with that. Hot sleeper, cold sleeper, doesn't matter. They keep you in that sweet spot all night long. And the comfort level? Think five star hotel but in your own bed at a fraction of the price. I'm obsessed. Right now you can go to trymiracle.com Crimesalad that's T R Y miracle.com Crimesalad and use promo code Crimesalad at checkout. You'll save over 40% off and you'll get an extra 20% off and also score a free three piece towel set. Plus there's a 30 day money back guarantee so there's literally zero risk. They also make an incredible gift if you're looking for something people will actually use and something different. Again, that's trymiracle.com crimesalad code crimesalad in the months after Sarah's death, her brothers Johnny and Aaron Matthews refused to let the case go quiet. About once a week, they would take turns calling the Yuba City Police Department asking for updates. And at first the detectives took the calls and they explained they couldn't share the details. When the brothers asked for police reports, they were told reports are public record only if a crime has been committed and suicide isn't a crime.
- [28:35]
E
But her death had never been officially ruled a suicide. So when they pushed back, investigators said no charges had been filed, so no crime was present. So there were no records to release. It's circular reasoning that kept the family in the dark regardless of which direction they were pushed.
- [28:52]
D
Yeah, I mean, imagine how frustrating this would be. You're fighting for justice for your sister and they insist that this was a suicide, yet there's no proof of this. So after about six weeks, the brothers started getting their voicemail instead of someone picking up the phone, and their voicemails were never returned. Investigators declined to comment to local reporters, and this included the first officer on the scene, the former Yuba City police chief, and the two DOJ investigators assigned to the case. That level of collective silence is difficult to understand if the outcome was as straightforward as a suicide. One investigator who did speak was Robert Brokenbra, a former top investigator with the Sutter County Sheriff's Office, and he said he truly hoped the family could find peace and closure at some point. And Sutter County Sheriff J. Paul Parker, who had authority over the autopsy, acknowledged directly that the case troubled him. He said there were things he wasn't satisfied with, that he knew the mechanics of suicide and things didn't sit right with him. He was suspicious immediately. He also mentioned that something found at the scene, possibly a journal or a drawing, suggested Sarah may have been distraught, but he wouldn't say what it was exactly.
- [30:16]
E
And what stands out about that is the vagueness. In cases where a clear suicide note or obvious written evidence exists, it tends to be prominent in reports and widely cited. The way Parker described it suggests it was not a clean, obvious indicator. He himself said the case might need to go in front of a grand jury because the forensic evidence alone was never going to resolve the doubt in either direction.
- [30:42]
D
Meanwhile, Aaron Easton took four weeks of leave to grieve. Then he returned to work and also the headlines it was around Christmas after Sarah died and an unhoused family posted on Facebook that their car had been broken down and their two children were now walking more than two miles to school each day. And Aaron Easton saw this post and according to his account, he told his own children the situation and said helping would mean using their Christmas fund. His kids told him to go ahead and do it, and so he bought the family a discounted 2011 Nissan. The story went wide. On the one year anniversary of Sarah's death, Aaron appeared on Dr. Phil as part of a series about officers doing positive work in their communities. And he said Sara was his motivation to help others. In her memory, he was wearing his wedding band and a week later the International association of Chiefs of Police named him one of the top chiefs under 40.
- [31:42]
E
And what Sarah's brother Johnny made sure people knew is that he contacted Dr. Phil's producers before the taping. He told them he believed Aaron was responsible for his sister's death and that the Christmas story wasn't accurate. He said Aaron had received thousands of dollars in donations and gifts after Sarah died and had not sacrificed anything to help that family. Whether or not producers acted on that information, the episode aired and we're not
- [32:09]
D
discounting that this was an extremely positive gesture in his community. It's just the background behind it. And as we'll find out a lot more was happening in the background On May 10, 2016, a former Yuba Police Academy cadet claimed to have been the victim of a sexual assault while she was a student at the college. The victim was currently incarcerated in the Sacramento County Jail where she disclosed the assault and according to her, listed as Jane Doe in the report, the alleged assault took place around 2008 or 2009 and the suspect was listed as Deputy Easton. The officer investigating the case was later able to confirm that Easton had put in formal letters requesting he be allowed outside of the employment at the Yuba College Police academy as a PT instructor for the year of 2007 through 2009. Jane Doe said she lived in the area while she was at the police academy and she was sent there by Veteran Affairs. As part of her training, Jane Doe was required to complete three ride alongs with a law enforcement agency and participated in daily physical exercise with PT instructors. One of the instructors was Deputy Easton, who she interacted with on a regular basis through the morning training sessions and Jane Doe completed all three ride alongs with Easton while he was employed at Yuba County Sheriff's Office and according to her interview, the first two ride alongs were completely fine and she didn't have any problems. But during the third, Easton parked in a rural area during the graveyard shift and while they were there parked with no other vehicles around, Easton reportedly leaned over and kissed Jane Doe and attempted to touch her.
- [33:59]
E
Jane apparently pushed him away and even asked about his wife. Apparently he replied that they were separated and it was okay. This could have been during the time that they were separated during his affair, but given that this is a sexual assault report, it doesn't really matter.
- [34:16]
D
Exactly. Jane Doe then reported that Easton experience exposed himself to her and forced her head down to perform oral sex on him. She tried to say that she was uncomfortable with all of this, but eventually she did what he asked to get out of the situation. But it didn't stop there. According to the report, Easton then wanted to have sex and Jane Doe said she didn't even want the previous incident to happen, so she told Easton no, but he kept pushing her. Fortunately, they received a call and had to leave. The investigator asked Jane Doe why it took her so long to report the incident and she said she was afraid no one would believe her. She said that she had only told her mother in law who had recently passed away and another academy student, but she couldn't remember her name and that person was kicked out soon after. Jane Doe said that she herself was kicked out soon after the incident, Easton questioned her to see if she had told anyone about the incident. The investigator was able to find that Easton was on the graveyard shift on the night Jane Doe described and matched her description of the call they took after the incident to the reports. He also confirmed that Jane Doe was a student at the academy at the same time Aaron Easton was a PT instructor there.
- [35:34]
E
Jane Doe spoke with investigators a second time in June of 2016, where she disclosed that she recently remembered a conversation with a fellow police academy cadet that unsettled her. According to Doe, the cadet had once gone on a ride along with Aaron during the academy, and when she returned, she appeared distraught. When Doe asked her what happened, apparently the cadet initially refused to talk about it. She only said that she would never go on another ride along with Easton.
- [36:04]
D
So there you go. It seems like there's a pattern here. Now. Eventually, the cadet told her that during the ride, Easton had been flirtatious, made comments about taking her out, and used sexual innuendos. Jane Doe also believed that the cadet later developed a UTI after the ride along, but there were no allegations of sexual assault. Investigators later spoke directly with the cadet, and she described consistent flirting and sexual innuendo during the ride along, but there was no assault. And detectives also uncovered text messages between Easton and Sarah that reportedly contained the same sexual innuendos that the cadet reported that he used during their interactions. And as the investigation expanded, Aaron Easton was interviewed directly. He denied having any sexual contact with the cadet, but when the questions shifted toward his personal life, he became visibly agitated, and the interview ended shortly afterward. But the time the interview concluded, the investigative team had spent 18 months on the case, interviewing 55 people and compiling a report over 2,000 pages long. And they submitted it to the Yuba county district attorney, Patrick McGrath, laying out what they believed supported criminal charges against Erin Easton.
- [37:25]
E
Meanwhile, a woman named Chanel Cheney had moved in with Aaron Easton. The two had become a couple roughly nine months after Sarah's death. By mid-2017, the couple married, and she changed her name to Chanel Easton. During this time, it seemed that some movements were being made in Sarah's case, since a Yuba police detective contacted Toxicology to ask whether a retest could be performed on any of the remaining specimen specifically to quantify the amount of Xanax found in Sarah's system system.
- [37:55]
D
And it's a good thing they checked on this, because In November of 2016, toxicology confirmed the quantified levels, including 31 nanograms of Xanax per liter. This is A high therapeutic dose, but not above anything that would be prescribed. But still, this in combination with Ambien would have made Sarah pretty out of it that night. Still begging the question whether she was lucid enough to do this to herself. I want to take a second to talk about something that I think a lot of us in this Crime Salad community can relate to. Because honestly, between the stories we cover on this show and just life in general, sometimes things pile up. And I've had moments we all have where, you know, you need to talk to someone. Maybe it's after a really hard season or anxiety is just taking over and you're carrying something heavy and you just. Just don't want to keep putting it on the people around you. And you finally decide, okay, I'm going to look into therapy. And then you hit a wall. The wait lists, the confusion, the biggest one, finding someone who actually takes your insurance. It feels impossible. So a lot of us just don't. And that's why I genuinely love what Rula is doing. Rula is a healthcare company that partners with over 100 insurance companies plans. So the average patient pays just $15 per session. Some people pay even less. Think about that. You use your insurance for your physical health without a second thought. Your mental health deserves the same access. And it's not just affordable. Rolla actually matches you with the right therapist for you based on your goals, your preferences, your background, not just whoever is available. They have a network of over 15,000 licensed therapists and psychiatrists nationwide. And appointments can be available as soon as tomorrow. No month long wait list, no endless back and forth. And they don't just connect you and then disappear. Rula stays with you. They check in, they track your progress. They make sure the care is actually working for you. That kind of support matters. And if you've been putting off therapy because it felt too hard to get access, maybe it's too expensive or it's just too much to get involved with. Let this be the sign you deserve care that works with you, not against your budget. Go to rula.comsalad to get started today. That's r u l a.comsalad after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Please tell them Crime Salad sent you. It really does help our show. Thousands of people are already using Rola to get quality therapy that they actually covered by insurance. Again, that's rula.com salad r u l a.com salad you got this. At around the same time period turmoil was unfolding inside the Sutter County District Attorney's office. So In March of 2017, there was a lawsuit titled Chopra versus Sutter county, and it laid out allegations of a hostage hostile work environment. There was discrimination based on race and national origin, retaliation and failure to prevent harassment. When District Attorney Amanda Hopper recused herself from what many believe to be Sarah's case, though it's not explicitly stated in the court documents, a prosecutor named Anu Chopra, a deputy district attorney of Indian descent with a decade of experience, was assigned to replace her. According to court filings, Chopra insisted that Hopper disclose communications she had previously had with the defense, the very communications that necessitated Hopper's recusal. The lawsuit alleges Hopper became irate and reassigned Chopra to junior cases. And it further alleges that racist remarks were tolerated inside the office in that Jason Parker, the same chief investigator, engaged in repeated harassment.
- [42:01]
E
The complaint says that Parker threatened to post a video of Chopper's young children on an ISIS website, downloaded a ringtone mimicking a Middle Eastern accent, and linked it to Chopper's contacts so it would play every time she called him. Playing it publicly over the course of months, sent a text message to Chopper's husband telling him Parker hated his wife, left a voicemail attempting to mimic an Indian accent, and stated that all Middle Easterns are animals and rapists during a prosecution discussion. It's pretty gross behavior.
- [42:33]
D
And this lawsuit says Chopra made repeated complaints that were ignored, and she was eventually placed on leave, accused of insubordination, and terminated by Amanda Hopper, with Hopper allegedly appointing herself as the hearing officer in the matter. So the same leadership and investigator were operating in the same environment while decisions were being made about whether to file charges against a police chief that Hopper knew personally. And at this point, it just screams chaos. And on November 9th of 2017, news broke out of the sexual assault investigation involving Aaron Easton. And by 5:30pm that same day, Aaron Easton resigned as Marysville police chief. Three months later, the District Attorney said that Jane Doe's allegations were determined to be credible and more likely than not to have occurred. But despite that conclusion, Easton was never criminally charged in the case. Investigators couldn't prove exactly what happened in the 2008 ride along. There just wasn't enough admissible evidence to secure a conviction for sexual assault.
- [43:42]
E
The detective on the case said he believed that Jane Doe deserved better from law enforcement. He said he knew Easton had been tipped off that she had spoken to investigators, meaning she no longer had any shield of secrecy. So, according to him, she couldn't trust the one agency that was meant to Protect her. Which kind of sounds like another case we've been talking about a lot lately.
- [44:03]
D
Right? So after leaving the police department, Erin and Chanel, they relocated and they moved to Oklahoma. According to reports, Aaron gave up primary custody of his teenage sons, Oliver and Adam, and he moved to Oklahoma with his daughter Josie, while the boys remained in California with Sarah's parents. Since around that time, Sarah's father was diagnosed with cancer. Johnny, their uncle, ended up caring for the children most of the time. But Erin Easton still didn't stay out of attention. In 2021, nearly six years after Sarah died, her oldest son, Oliver, finally heard from the California Department of Justice. He spoke with investigators who had taken the lead on the case, and it was the first time they had contacted him. They were still trying to conduct some sort of investigation. Later that same year, a petition circulated online outlining concerns about the investigation. Investigation. And according to the petition, the district attorney from Colusa county who authorized the search warrant for Easton's home back in 2015 publicly stated that based on what he knew, he believed he would have arrested Aaron Easton for homicide. But to this day, the official case still says that it's a pending investigation.
- [45:24]
E
But another headline involving the Easton name surfaced In May of 2022, when Chanel Easton was indicted on 22 counts of wire fraud, two counts of identity theft, and criminal forfeiture related to her role as an administrator at a church. The indictment alleged financial misconduct while she oversaw church funds. Sounds like a winner.
- [45:47]
D
Yeah. So more patterns of dishonesty and breaking the rules. Meanwhile, in 2022, journalists at the Sacramento Bee uncovered what they described as breakdowns in communication between the agencies investigating Sarah's death. Some of Sarah's friends told reporters that they had never been interviewed by police at all. In February of 2022, Johnny Matthews finally received the autopsy report from the Sutter County Sheriff's Office seven years after her death. And as he combed through it, he found that next to the words suicide, there was a check mark. And beside it, handwritten by the investigator, were the words versus homicide. It was confirmed that what the family had long suspected, that investigators were not treating this as a straightforward suicide behind closed doors. But according to Aaron Matthews, Sarah's oldest brother, between August of 2015 and July of 2022, the California Department of Justice had never contacted him directly. On July 18th of 2022, the Sacramento Bee first reached out to the Department of Justice for comment on their reporting. And shortly after that inquiry, Aaron finally heard from investigators. Both the Yuba City Police Department and the California Department of Justice have declined to release records or speak publicly about the case, since it's still open and active.
- [47:15]
E
Apparently, Johnny also tried to reach out to Aaron Easton over the years, but he never received answers. By August of 2022, online supporters began sharing details about the ongoing investigation, about unanswered questions that they shared with Sarah's family. At the same time, developments involving Erin Easton's current wife, Chanel, added fuel to public opinion of him. So they sent a message the best way they knew how in the Sutter county district attorney election, where Amanda Hopper lost the race to her challenger Jennifer Dupre. Seven years is a long time to wait for a manner of death determination, when in normal cases it usually takes a couple months, and the longer it sits, the louder the question of why becomes. So the election sent a message, sure, but messages only matter if someone is actually listening, right?
- [48:09]
D
And that's the thing. It didn't move the needle at all. So By June of 2024, frustration from Sarah's supporters had not faded. Questions circulated online about Aaron Easton's professional trajectory after leaving law enforcement, including how he later became affiliated with legal work in Oklahoma. Public critics even questioned whether sufficient due diligence had been conducted during the license process. And at the same time, continued dissatisfaction with the pace of the investigation led Sarah supporters to reach out to the California Assemblyman James Gallagher, seeking assistance in prompting action. And that's where this stands. People are still pushing for answers. Psychiatrist Amy Barnhost, vice chair for Community Mental Health at the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and a nationally recognized expert on suicide and gun violence, reviewed the details of Sarah's case. Given the circumstances, she described the scenario as highly unusual. Sarah was image conscious, she died from a gunshot wound to the head, and she wasn't known to be a gun person. She hadn't been drinking the night that she died, and toxicology showed only therapeutic levels of prescribed medication. She had previously sought professional help during periods of depression or anxiety, and there wasn't any evidence of a severe untreated mental illness.
- [49:39]
E
She was in her pajamas. To take her own life, she would have had to get out of bed, retrieve the firearm, return to the bed, and shoot herself while laying on the bed. Not to mention her three children were sleeping across the hall. Barnhouse said that killing yourself while you have kids at home would be a big thing to do and not something that seems feasible for Sarah.
- [50:01]
D
According to Barnhorst, women who use firearms are usually familiar with them, like veterans, law enforcement officers, or individuals with regular exposure to guns. Alcohol use is also frequently a factor. Sarah, although drinking in recent months did not fit that profile. She reportedly refused to shoot pellet guns as a child and skipped family hunting trips. Multiple friends and family members said that they never saw her express any interest in firearms, and her brother Aaron even said that he didn't think she ever knew how to use a gun in the first place. Barnhost said that even when mothers experience persistent suicidal thoughts, they usually tough it out, seek help for their kids. And Sarah loved her children more than anything. So to her, it just doesn't make any sense that she would leave them all behind in such a brutal way. It was nearly a decade after Sarah's death in January of 2025 when her brother Johnny Matthews described what he called false hope. He was hoping that Sacramento Bees in depth investigation into the stalled case would move something, that it would get the ball rolling or something would happen. But six weeks after that reporting ran, he still hadn't received any contact from the California Department of Justice. And when the Bee followed up with the agency about the lack of updates, a spokesperson responded saying that this matter remains open and they don't have any updates they could share and I would
- [51:33]
E
understand that kind of statement if it hadn't been almost 10 years since this happened. It just feels ridiculous to say that at this point. Johnny said that he hoped the renewed media attention might prompt people to come forward. Anyone who had information about Sarah's marriage or the night that she died, right?
- [51:51]
D
He and his brothers have said repeatedly that they just are desperate for closure. They don't even care anymore what really happened. They just want to know the truth. Johnny said even being told by investigators that they simply don't have enough evidence would provide him with some measure of peace. But he doesn't believe after all of this time that they don't know anything. To this day, the official death certificate still says that the matter of death is still pending investigation and the cause of death is pending toxicology. Even though the toxicology report was already completed, several officers who were involved in the early hours of Sarah's death said that they were surprised that the state never followed up with them directly. They had written reports in the hours and days after August 6, 16, 2015, and you've heard what they say. Investigators expected more follow up, especially if it ventured into something so high profile like involving a nearby police chief. They also suggested there may be others with relevant information who have never been formally approached by the state.
- [53:02]
E
It just seems like so many people dropped the ball on this and didn't follow up on the things that they should have. And for so many reasons. The new district attorney, Jennifer Dupre, said that even though it's unlikely her office would take the case back from the California Department of Justice, she did say that obtaining information about the status of the case would be a priority.
- [53:25]
D
And Sarah's oldest son, Oliver, is living with the possibility that either his father killed his mother or his mother killed herself. He said in his mind, he hopes it was a suicide because it might be easier to carry than the alternative. He first learned that members of his family suspected his father may have murdered his mother when he was around 18 years old, the same time that his father moved to Oklahoma without him. And that just has to be so traumatic for him, and not knowing makes it even worse. But the unsolved question has created a lot of distance between Oliver and his father, and they rarely speak, according to him. Oliver still lives in Yuba City, and he described to reporters seeing his mother through rose colored glasses remembering the hardest he ever laughed while catching her mid performance singing into a hairbrush like it was a microphone. And she locked eyes with him just as she finished a dramatic twirl. She used to make him Dutch apple pies for his birthday and now he avoids birthday cake altogether because it just feels wrong without her.
- [54:33]
E
For Johnny, there's just no version of events that brings peace. And I hate that for him. And that goes for the rest of the family too. Every Christmas, every Easter, Johnny and Sarah, they had their ritual. They would find each other, drift to some corner and sit together quietly rolling their eyes while relatives fawned over their aunt's deviled eggs, which were apparently legendary.
- [54:55]
D
And Sara wasn't allowed to bring her own version to the gatherings because it would, as you Johnny put it, cause a ruckus. And that became part of the joke. So a few weeks after each holiday, Sarah would make her own batch just for the two of them. And Johnny says even stuff like that is painful to think about. Now. Johnny moved to Kentucky, but before he left, he said he stood in the park where he and Sarah had played as children and reflected on both the good and the bad memories he had with her. She should have been there when her sons graduated high school and when her father passed away from cancer in 2021, she should have been there at the holidays making fun of deviled eggs. But they're just memories now. With a case that still doesn't say what really happened to Sara lynn matthews on August 16, 2015, Sarah is more than just a true crime case. She was a girl who taped hair under her arms to make her friends laugh, who heckled deviled eggs from the corner, who made Dutch apple pie instead of birthday cake. Instead, her family is left asking for something simple, an answer about what happened to her.
- [56:03]
E
If you have any information about Sara Lynn Matthews death, her relationship, or her state of mind or anything that could help investigators, we encourage you to contact the California Department of Justice. Cases don't move forward without people speaking up.
- [56:19]
D
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. If you would like to support our show, please check out crimesaladpodcast.com we have merch on there and you can kind of look at some pictures and things like that. And also check out our Patreon if you would like. Ad free listens. We will see you next week.
- [57:00]
G
Oh, please, not that music. That music gives me nightmares from my childhood.
- [57:04]
H
Could we get something a little bit lighter? Some lighter music here?
- [57:07]
G
Are you a fan of of true crime TV shows?
- [57:10]
H
And what about Unsolved Mysteries, the show that jump started all of our love of true crime?
- [57:15]
G
I'm Ellen Marsh.
- [57:16]
H
And I'm Joey Taranto.
- [57:18]
G
And we host I Think Not, a true crime comedy podcast covering some of the wildest stories from your favorite true crime campy TV shows all the way to Unsolved Mysteries.
- [57:28]
H
Baby, you will laugh, you will cry. You'll think about true crime in a whole new way. And you'll also ask yourself, who gave these people mics?
- [57:36]
G
New episodes of I Think not are released every Wednesday, with bonus episodes out every Thursday on Patreon.
- [57:42]
H
And every Monday, you can listen to our True Crime rundown where we go over the top true crime headlines of the week.
- [57:49]
G
So come and join us wherever you listen to your podcasts.
- [57:54]
I
For eight years, we've been asking the same question over and over again. How did this happen? My name's Mandy.
- [58:01]
F
And I'm Melissa. And we're the hosts of Moms and Mysteries, the true crime podcast. With over 50 million downloads, we're two
- [58:08]
I
Florida moms who are obsessed with mysteries. Each week we do deep dives into fascinating true crime stories.
- [58:14]
F
We cover everything from infamous cases like
- [58:16]
I
Casey Anthony to the bizarre and complex crimes right here in our home state, like the shocking murder of FSU professor Dan Markel.
- [58:24]
F
We bring you the facts, but with warmth and width you'd only get from two friends who have been hooked on mysteries since childhood.
- [58:29]
I
Join us for new episodes of Moms and Mysteries. Every Tuesday and Thursday, listen to Moms
- [58:34]
F
and Mysteries on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Podcast.
- [58:40]
J
The world of Sonic the Hedgehog has been thrust into a not so dark, not so stormy, hard boiled detective story that probably nobody saw coming. Follow Sonic and the intrepid Chaotix Detective Agency as they take on their biggest case yet. This high flying, action packed adventure will take them across the world, fighting for every clue they can find. It's one heck of a tale, which is good because this story might be the only thing that can save their lives.
- [59:17]
E
Well, if that's all, I can just dispose of you.
- [59:19]
H
Wait, what?
- [59:24]
J
All will be revealed in Sonic the Hedgehog Presents the Chaos Chaotix Case Files. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.