Episode 3: The Confidante

Summary

Deep Cover: Season 6, Episode 3 - "The Confidante"

Release Date: May 19, 2025
Hosts: Jake Halpern and Jess McHugh

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Introduction

In the gripping third episode of Season 6 of Deep Cover, titled "The Confidante," Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern and investigative expert Jess McHugh delve deeper into the enigmatic life of Sarah Kavanaugh. This episode unravels the complex web of deception spun by Sarah, exploring her relationships, the extent of her lies, and the profound impact on those around her.

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Meeting the Confidante: Sam

The episode opens with Jake and Jess recounting their road trip to Rhode Island, where they aimed to meet individuals closest to Sarah—those who might hold pieces of the truth about her double life. One pivotal figure is Sam, Sarah's long-time physical therapist, who becomes a central confidante in uncovering Sarah's fabrications.

Notable Quote:
Sam: "She was really kind. She definitely knew me and she knew, I think, what I wanted to talk about type thing, if that makes sense." (17:35)

Sarah and Sam's relationship had evolved from a professional one to a deep emotional bond. Their interactions were suffused with shared vulnerabilities, creating a strong sense of trust and intimacy.

Insight:
Sarah's ability to forge deep emotional connections played a crucial role in her deception. By presenting herself as a compassionate and empathetic social worker, she gained the unwavering trust of those around her, particularly Sam.

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The Web of Lies: Sarah's Deceptions Unveiled

Sarah's facade as a decorated Marine and cancer survivor begins to crumble as inconsistencies emerge. Through interviews and firsthand accounts, Jake and Jess reveal that Sarah fabricated her military service, family background, and even her medical condition.

Notable Quote:
Jake Halpern: "This was not it. This woman sounded more like a high school guidance counselor or the type of person you'd hope would be taking care of your grandma at the senior citizen home." (06:12)

Sarah's elaborate stories about her service in Iraq, her heroic acts, and her battle with cancer were entirely fictional. Her supposed siblings, including the tragic death of her twin brother Joel, were products of her imagination designed to elicit sympathy and admiration.

Notable Quote:
Nicole (Sarah's wife): "She literally stole money. And I said to her, I go, you're going to go to jail, Sarah. And she's like, you think." (47:45)

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Confrontation and Collapse

The turning point in the episode occurs in January 2022 when rumors about Sarah's fraudulent claims reach her closest confidantes. Sam, initially in disbelief due to years of trust and evidence supporting Sarah's stories, grapples with the possibility of betrayal.

Notable Quote:
Nicole: "I literally turned around and I was going to my work. I turned around and I went right to her house... like, asking her, is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real?" (44:37)

The revelation is devastating. Sarah confesses to never having served in the military, never having battled cancer, and fabricating her entire family history. This confession not only shatters the trust of her closest friends but also exposes the depth of her deception.

Insight:
Sarah's ability to maintain her lies for years illustrates the intricate psychological manipulation involved in long-term deceit. Her strategic manipulation of emotions and trust networks enabled her to sustain a double life without immediate detection.

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Impact on the Victims

The fallout from Sarah's deception is profound and multifaceted. Both Sam and Justin, another key figure who was financially and emotionally invested in Sarah's fabricated stories, find themselves navigating the betrayal and its repercussions.

Notable Quote:
Justin: "We veterans look out for each other, and I'm not gonna sit here and let a fellow... what I thought at the time was a fellow veteran die from lack of treatment when I know there's an alternative if I can help it." (40:09)

Justin, a fellow veteran diagnosed with lung cancer, had trusted Sarah implicitly, even financially supporting her medical treatments. Sarah's deceit not only exploited his vulnerability but also endangered his trust in his support network.

Notable Quote:
Sam: "When she kept telling me that she couldn't afford it... I said, look, I don't want you to die." (40:59)

Sam's role as both a caregiver and confidante underscores the emotional and financial toll of Sarah's lies. The betrayal extends beyond personal relationships, affecting the very support systems meant to aid veterans.

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The Aftermath and Reflection

In the aftermath of the confrontation, the episode delves into the lingering psychological impact on the victims. Sam grapples with fragmented memories and lingering doubts about the fabricated aspects of her relationship with Sarah, such as the existence of Sarah's family members.

Notable Quote:
Nicole: "I'm still coping with it. I don't want to be upset now. Memories will come up, and I'll be like, oh, did that really happen? And I think probably not." (46:32)

This internal conflict highlights the insidious nature of prolonged deceit, where victims struggle to reconcile their memories with the revelations of truth, leading to ongoing emotional distress.

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Justin's Journey and Revelation

Parallel to Sam's story, Justin's personal narrative provides a compelling backdrop to the broader impact of Sarah's deceit. His battle with cancer and subsequent relationship with Sarah, built on mutual understanding and perceived shared hardship, exemplifies the depth of Sarah's manipulative reach.

Notable Quote:
Justin: "No one really was in my shoes except her. At least that's what I thought." (38:38)

Justin's unwavering support for Sarah, even in the face of financial strain, underscores the vulnerability exploited by Sarah. The eventual revelation forces him to confront not only the loss of faith in Sarah but also the broader implications for his trust in fellow veterans.

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Conclusion: The Thin Line Between Empathy and Manipulation

"The Confidante" serves as a poignant exploration of how trust and empathy can be weaponized in the hands of a skilled deceiver. Sarah Kavanaugh's ability to manipulate those closest to her underscores the fragility of trust and the profound consequences of betrayal.

Notable Quote:
Jake Halpern: "What if that very person takes your most personal struggles and uses them to their advantage, sees them as an opportunity? Then the line between empathy and manipulation is thinner than we'd care to admit." (12:09)

This episode not only unpacks the specifics of Sarah's deception but also invites listeners to reflect on the broader themes of trust, vulnerability, and the complexities of human relationships in the face of betrayal.

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Looking Forward

As Deep Cover continues to uncover the layers of Sarah Kavanaugh's double life, listeners are left anticipating the next episodes, which promise to further explore the ramifications of her deceit and the journey of healing for those she wronged.

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Credits:
Produced by Amy Gaines, McQuaid, and Tali Emlen
Additional Production Support by Sonia Gerwitt
Edited by Karen Shakurji
Executive Producer: Jacob Smith
Original Scoring by Luis Guerra
Show Art by Sean Carney
Fact-Checking by Annika Robbins
Special Thanks to Sarah Nix, Izzy Carter, Daphne Chen, Jake Flanagan, and Greta Cohn
Executive Producer: Vicki Merrick

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Hosts' Note:
Jess McHugh is currently researching a book on female con artists.

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For ad-free episodes, early access, bonus content, and more, subscribe to Pushkin+ via Apple Podcasts or visit pushkin.fm/plus.

Transcript

[Jake Halpern]

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[Jess McHugh]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

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[Trey Farrow]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

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[Trey Farrow]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

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[Justin]

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[Sam]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

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[Jake Halpern]

Head over to get started.TikTok.com TikTok ads hey, it's Jake. Before we get into this episode, I wanted to let you know that you can hear more ad free episodes from this season of Deep Cover before the release to the public. By signing up for Pushkin plus, you'll also get bonus episodes, full audiobooks and binges from your favorite Pushkin hosts and authors. Find Pushkin plus on the Deep Cover show page on Apple Podcasts or at Pushkin FM plus. All right, let's get into it. Previously on Deep Cover.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

She explained to me that she just got out of the Marine Corps and.

[Dr. Patrick McGrath]

She needed help with some car payments.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Because she was waiting for VA disability to kick in. She was very likable, she was very charismatic. And then on top of it, she was a veteran and badass and had these injuries. We would kind of quietly make sure that when she was in our environment.

[Nicole]

At the gym, she was protected.

[Dr. Patrick McGrath]

So I call up a records keeper and I say, hey, I need a copy of her DD Form 214.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

He said, oh, she just left my.

[Dr. Patrick McGrath]

House two hours ago. She came here to the house to come get it. That's when I start thinking, something's not right here.

[Trey Farrow]

So like here, right when I get up in the morning, I make it a point to go outside.

[Jake Halpern]

This is Sarah Kavanagh. She's the person you've been hearing about for the past two episodes.

[Trey Farrow]

And like step outside by myself, see the sunrise, look at the view because the view behind overlooks the mountains and really enjoy that and just let that be the start of my day versus some of the intrusive thoughts about the past that would come up before and I would let that dictate my day. So I've really changed how I let the past affect my moods so I don't become just a continuous repetition of them.

[Jake Halpern]

Jess and I spent the better part of several days interviewing Sarah. We talked about her past and her life now and a great many other things too.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

How we found her, where we found her, we'll get there. You're going to hear from her throughout the rest of the season, but for now, we just want you to hear some of the very first things that she said to us in person so that you get a read on her just like we did. We started with small talk, like, read any good books lately?

[Trey Farrow]

Right now I am reading the Secret History by Donna Tartt, which is interesting. I had read Goldfinch, the Goldfinch, and I loved it. So now I'm reading this one and I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Jake Halpern]

This was just a few minutes into our first conversation. At this point, I knew a fair amount about Sarah Kavanaugh and what she'd done about all the people she'd deceived and hurt. I had a pretty good picture in my head of who she was, and this. This was not it. This woman, well, she sounded more like a high school guidance counselor or the type of person you'd hope would be taking care of your grandma at the senior citizen home. In fact, she told us working with seniors, that was her first job.

[Trey Farrow]

So I was in undergrad working at an assisted living. I worked there for five and a half years, and I loved it. I did everything from serving in the dining room to running activities to housekeeping. I did anything they asked me to do to basically pay my rent and pay my tuition and kind of survive undergrad at all costs. But I developed really meaningful relationships with the. With the residents. Right.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

As I sat there listening to her, I noticed Sarah was doing this a lot, Ending a sentence by saying, right. It's kind of subtle. She doesn't yank you through her version of events. It's more like she was feeling around for things that we might have in common. And if we nodded along, she'd say, right.

[Trey Farrow]

A lot of people don't like older people. I remember a lot of people I worked with who were like, she's grouchy or she's this or she's that. And I thought, well, they've had 50 years to practice. Right? Type thing. And also, like, I always think about our moods as a product of something else. Right. I know that personally. And so I just think there was an appreciation there for me, but I didn't really know where that was going to go. I think I thought I was going to be like an activities director or something like that.

[Jake Halpern]

But instead, she got her master's and became a social worker. Eventually, she got a job at the local VA in Providence, Rhode Island. That was her job, helping veterans in some pretty tough situations. And this is 100% true, by the way. Many of these people coming to Sarah for help, they showed up maybe on a Saturday, kind of reluctantly. And it was Sarah's job to put them at ease.

[Trey Farrow]

I would just say, hey, how are you? Like, it's Saturday. You know, what's. How do you feel about this? How do you feel about being here? And if they were like, I really don't want to be here. I had to get up early, and I had to drive to Providence, and I'd be like, yeah, I understand.

[Jake Halpern]

When her clients did open up, Sarah took this approach.

[Trey Farrow]

When someone said something like, I'm struggling with. I might be homeless, or my wife and I are fighting or something like that, I wouldn't respond with surprise. I would just be like, yeah, those things happen. Those things happen. And, okay, what do you think you need right now because of that?

[Jake Halpern]

What she never wanted to do was send veterans elsewhere to some other program, you know, push them off on someone else.

[Trey Farrow]

I know that when I've opened up and told people things, if they've turned away from it because it makes them uncomfortable, I've then kind of thought, oh, this makes other people feel uncomfortable. I shouldn't talk about this, right? And I don't want to do that to them. But you have to be present in a way that silently says, I get it.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

When she talked about her old life as a social worker, I got this strange sense that I was seeing the Sarah Kavanaugh that won over everybody's hearts. Because, let's be clear. The people we interviewed for this story, once upon a time, they all loved Sarah. And listening to her talk, started to understand why. She knew, in her own words, how to be present in a way that silently says, I get it. It's weird to say, but I found her really likable. By the time we met in person, I'd been talking to her over the phone for nearly a year, and I'd been hearing about all the terrible things she'd done for just as long. Sarah, she seems pretty aware of her effect on people then and now, of all the ways, big and small, said and unsaid, that people come to trust each other, to trust her.

[Trey Farrow]

I've always been told I'm a really good listener, right? And I maximized that while I was lying, right? People, when you create space, people fill that space. And I had always been really. I had always been able to kind of keep my mouth shut and be quiet and not share anything. I'd really learned that really well.

[Jake Halpern]

Sarah went on from there, talking about her old job and who she once was, because, as you might have guessed, she's no longer a social worker. She has another life now, very different life, one in which she has a great deal of time to think about what she did and the people she hurt most.

[Trey Farrow]

I don't think it's ever going to be easy to think about the people I hurt. And because these are people that even before they knew, I hurt them, right? I was hurting them, right? Because I was lying to them, and they were People I called every day, that I spent most of my weekends with, that they were my friends, some of them my best friends. And I think about that now, and that's really hard.

[Jake Halpern]

When Sarah says this, she's really talking about two people who trusted her deeply. In this episode, we're going to hear from both of them. And these aren't just stories about friendship. They're about what happens when you meet someone. A confidant who seems to get you and understand what you're going through. Someone who listens quietly with what seems like empathy. But herein lies the danger. What if that very person takes your most personal struggles and uses them to their advantage, sees them as an opportunity? Then the line between empathy and manipulation is thinner than we'd care to admit. And sometimes the people who know us best are the ones we should fear the most. I'm Jake Halpern.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

And I'm Jess McHugh.

[Jake Halpern]

And this is Deep Cover. Season 6 the Truth About Sarah Episode 3 the Confidant.

[Sam]

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[Dr. Patrick McGrath]

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[Amy]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

Scratch.

[Amy]

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[Sarah Kavanagh]

Last fall, Jake and I, along with our producer Amy, went on a road trip to Rhode Island. We wanted to meet the people in Sarah's inner circle, people who were closest to her, who each knew some part of the truth. One morning, Amy and I went to meet someone named Sam. We're just going to use her first name to protect her privacy. We spoke at her boyfriend's house, sitting around the kitchen table. Sam is in her 50s with short blonde hair. She's a physical therapist and for years she was Sarah's physical therapist.

[Nicole]

She was really kind. She definitely knew me and she knew, I think, what I wanted to talk about type thing, if that makes sense.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

What was it that drew you to her, especially in those early days?

[Nicole]

It definitely was her intelligence. I mean her intelligence just sparked something in me.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sarah and Sam first met in the fall of 2018, just a few months after Sarah's wedding to Nicole, the wedding attended by all her VFW friends. By this point, Sarah was fully immersed in this veteran role. Sam told me about the moment when Sarah first came in for a consultation.

[Nicole]

She was really quiet and reserved. You know, she answered questions, but very kind of matter of fact, definitely seemed like things were she was uncomfortable with, like she didn't want me to look at her hip.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

This was the Sarah who, in her own words, had always been able to, quote, keep her mouth shut and be quiet and not share anything. Someone who let the silences do the talking. But Sarah did say she had been injured in Iraq.

[Nicole]

She said they had an IED and she got hit with a door that got blown in and hit her in the hip. She wasn't really limping. This because this wasn't a brand new injury. This is something that had happened a long time ago. So it was more like a chronic thing.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sam had worked with trauma patients before, so when Sarah didn't want to show Sam her scar, she didn't push. Plus, she already knew a little about Sarah's supposed military past because one of Sarah's gym buddies had connected them. Sarah got into a routine of twice weekly PT with Sam, and eventually the Wounded Warrior Project started paying for it. Sarah was part of their independence program. It's super selective program for the most severely wounded veterans, usually people with traumatic brain injuries, which Sarah claimed she had over many months. At these weekly appointments, these two women became friends. They talk about nature, gardening or books. They both love reading. They also talked about more intimate things. Sam was recently divorced and Sarah told her and that way she does so well. I get it. My marriage isn't working out either. Yeah, that's right. Sarah told Sam that she was also getting divorced.

[Nicole]

It was less than a year after they got married that she said that just the marriage wasn't working out and they were separated. But they also. She also said they did have an open marriage.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

None of this was true, at least not according to Sarah's wife, Nicole. At the time, they were still living together, still married, and not in an open marriage. But that's not what she told Sam. This, by the way, is also classic Sarah, as we've learned. And it's a pattern I've seen with women scammers in general. They often find emotional common ground with victims, even when that shared trauma is totally made up.

[Nicole]

And it worked, I think, like anything, basically, you just, you spend more time with someone and then you just appreciate who that person is and then you Find yourself wanting to spend more and more time. We just like enjoyed our time together and then it just turned into more.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

And by more, Sam means Sam and Sarah went from having a professional relationship to a friendship to a love affair. One that was really romantic. They started going on a ton of trips together.

[Nicole]

Let's see, we went to Florida, we went to Vail, we went to the Bahamas. Oh, we went to California. And then like, you know, little driving around New England type stuff.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

And it wasn't just a fling. Their lives became really entwined. Much of this I actually learned from other interviews. Sarah would talk about Sam as her partner so much that it got really confusing for us as we reported this. There were times I would talk to someone for this story and they'd mention Sarah's significant other and I had to double check. Who did you think was Sarah's wife? A woman named Sam or a woman named Nicole? Oftentimes people said Sam. Sarah was living a full on double life with Sam, a second double life because she was still living with her actual wife at the time, Nicole. Still, Sarah found a way to spend lots of time with Sam. In fact, Sarah and Sam would socialize with Sarah's VFW pals. Sam met Sarah's mom and a brother. Sarah told Sam she was really close with her five siblings and talked about them all the time.

[Nicole]

She told me that she had a twin who was also Marine and died in combat. And then she had two older brothers and they were all like in the military.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Wow.

[Nicole]

Yeah. And she said that her dad was a two star general.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sarah would show Sam pictures of her five brothers with their wives and kids. Brody, Joel, Oliver. She'd tell her about their marriage spats or what they were dealing with at work. About their childhood growing up in Georgia. One brother in particular was worrying Sarah. Joel. She told Sam that he was also a vet who now did private military contracting.

[Nicole]

He decided that he was going to do this mission because they would make a lot of money for these missions.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sarah told Sam that while Joel was on this mission, he got shot and ended up in a coma. And that her mom flew to the Middle east to bring him back to the U.S. but the doctors couldn't revive him. They told Sarah that he would never wake up. One day Sarah tells Sam, I need to fly to Georgia now. I have to be the one to take him off of life support.

[Nicole]

I said, I'll go with you. This is going to be a really hard thing. I'll go with you. You know, we can fly down there and you know I can support you. And she's like, no, no, it's fine. I'll do it. And she called me at 2 o' clock in the morning. I'll never freak. She called me at 2 o' clock in the morning and said that it's done. And he was gone.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sam was devastated for Sarah. Here was this woman dealing with all of these injuries and now this. And just to zoom out for a second, because it can be easy to get lost in Sarah's world. The people in those photos that Sarah shared, they were real people with real lives of their own. They just weren't Sarah's brothers. This version of Sarah, the person with the big military family from Georgia, it's someone only a few people saw. And my take is that maybe it's because she couldn't really let Sam into her family life because her whole family had watched her marry Nicole. They'd been to the home that she and Nicole still shared. But I think it's deeper than that. Sarah seems to have understood something fundamental. Tragedy brings us together, whether it's a friendship or a romantic partnership, being vulnerable enough with another person to let them help you through a crisis, stand by you at a funeral or a hospital bed. This is where real intimacy is created. And Sarah seems to have taken this idea and just run with it. Same, of course, didn't know any of this at the time. She continued bringing Sarah deeper into her world, her real world.

[Nicole]

She was very, very meshed into my life. She knew my family intimately.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sam's mother has been battling stage three ovarian cancer for years. So while Sam drove her mother up to Boston for treatment at Dana Farber, Sarah would help out. She'd help Sam's kids with their homework, plan meals for the family, walk her mother's dog. And get this. While Sam was taking care of her mother's illness, holding her hand through chemo, she was also doing the same for Sarah. Sarah had told her the cancer lie too, said she had lung cancer. Sarah told Sam, I'm terrified. I'm overwhelmed with medical results. I just can't take any more bad news. So Sam started receiving Sarah's test results, and then she would be the one to relay those results to Sarah. More than once. Sam remembers sitting anxiously in her PT practice, refreshing her email, waiting for results to come in.

[Nicole]

I remember crying in my practice, getting bad news, but then I remember getting really, really great news and then being able to tell her and that kind of stuff. It was a big roller coaster. It was awful. It was awful. Yeah. There Was a lot of emotional strife on my part, you know, a lot.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

As both Sarah's partner and her caregiver, Sam was in Sarah's world twice over, totally enmeshed. Fast forward to January 2022, the moment when everything started to spiral out of control. News was getting around that Sarah may have lied about a great many things, including her service in the Marines, her medals, possibly even her claims of having cancer. When the news first reached Sam, she was in total disbelief. She'd seen a pile of proof over the years. Her enrollment in the Wounded Warrior Independence Program, Years of blood work that she'd received directly from the va. Sam was trying to wrap her head around this, so she hopped on the phone with one of Sarah's VFW buddies, a guy named Justin. They'd gotten to know each other over the years. She wanted his perspective.

[Nicole]

Can you believe this? This is crazy. Someone's making this up, you know, like, why would they do this? Why would they make this up about her? This is insane.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sam told Justin. I've seen years of medical documents, Even her cancer diagnosis. There's no way Sarah's lying. How would someone even make that up? More after the break.

[Sam]

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[Dr. Patrick McGrath]

What if I told you that right now millions of people are living with a DEB debilitating condition that's so misunderstood, many of them don't even know that they have it. That condition is Obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. I'm Dr. Patrick McGrath, the chief clinical officer of NOCD, and in the 25 years I've been treating OCD. I've met so many people who are suffering from the condition in silence, unaware of just what it was. OCD can create overwhelming anxiety and fear around what you value most, make you question your identity, beliefs and morals, and drive you to perform mentally and physically draining compulsions or rituals. Over my career, I've seen just how devastating OCD can be when it's left untreated. But help is available. That's where NOCD comes in. NOCD is the world's largest virtual therapy provider for obsessive compulsive disorder. Our licensed therapists are trained in exposure and Response prevention therapy, a specialized treatment proven to be incredibly effective for OCD. So visit NOCD.com to schedule a free 15 minute call with our team. That's N O C D.com Are you.

[Dave Ainsley]

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[Jake Halpern]

While Jess was meeting with Sam, I was just a few miles away meeting with Justin. He's the guy that Sam called to get a reality check. When the rumors first started, Justin was one of Sarah's buddies from the vfw. And initially, like Sam, he was very much in disbelief. Even now, knowing everything he knows about Sarah, Justin still struggles to wrap his head around everything that happened.

[Justin]

I'll be honest, I was a little hesitant to kind of relive this, but I think if we're going to tell a story, I think it needs to be told fully. And so that's that's why I'm here.

[Jake Halpern]

Justin is in his early 50s. He's fit. He looks like he could be part of a marketing campaign for Peloton or something and he has this really disarming, gentle energy about him. Feels like an old soul to me. I wanted to talk to Justin for a whole bunch of reasons, but mainly because Justin's story, it's really compelling in its own right, which is probably why Sarah was drawn to it. Justin spent most of his career as an officer in the Navy, as an aviator. And when he looks back on his life, on all the dangers, all the near misses, all those moments that quietly change the course of things, he often thinks back to 2008, when. When he was in his mid-30s, stationed in Iraq. And what he remembers is the fog. The fog came every night, thick and heavy with the wind. It got so bad some nights they could barely breathe. This fog, it would stay with Justin in the years to come in ways that he could never have foreseen. It would lead him right into the haze of Sarah Kavanagh's deceptions. The fog in Iraq, it started like this.

[Justin]

We were in a. On a base called Taji, which is outside of Baghdad. And where we lived, we had this kind of compound area. It was about 50 yards from a burn pit. And at night the wind would shift and our whole living area was enveloped in what was a fog. You could barely see in front of you, a fog of what smelled like burning plastic every night.

[Jake Halpern]

This fog that Justin's talking about, it's really a miasma of smoke and fumes. It came from a burn pit, which is how the military disposed of waste in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Justin]

Like, when you eat, there's nothing. There's no water to do dishes. So when you go eat, everything is off plastic, and that all gets thrown away. They dig a big pit. They throw all this stuff, plastic, medical waste, batteries, whatever, into this giant pit. They throw jet fuel on it, and they light it on fire.

[Jake Halpern]

Justin was responsible for nearly 500 service members. Their safety was on his shoulders, and he and his leadership team were worried about the long term effects of the fog.

[Justin]

We knew this wasn't going to be good. And the contractor kept claiming that they did air tests and it was okay, but I didn't buy that for a second.

[Jake Halpern]

Then one day, it all kind of came to a head.

[Justin]

My master chief and I actually drove out there to the burn pit because we just saw this thick black smoke coming out, and we're like, what the hell's going on? And we went out there and, you know, just like, yelled at the guy, basically, like, what the hell are you doing?

[Jake Halpern]

Justin says the contractor just shrugged and said, that's what I was told to do no explanations, just business as usual. It would be more than a decade later before Justin learned the real consequences of those burn pits. By then, he was living in Rhode island with his wife and three kids. He was happily retired from the military. All was good until he started to feel this small ache.

[Justin]

I felt like, what it was a slightly pinched nerve in my left chest. And, you know, I exercise, so I get pinched nerves and stuff every once in a while, so I'm like, oh, it'll just go away.

[Jake Halpern]

But it didn't go away. And eventually, Justin's doctor at the VA suggested that he get a CT scan just to be safe. That's when they found the mass in his lungs. At first, the doctors told him not to worry. It probably wasn't anything too serious. I mean, he was so young, so healthy, so fit. But then he went to see a pulmonologist at the VA and learned he had stage four lung cancer.

[Justin]

It was a huge shock. I'm working out, I'm healthy, everything's going great, and then someone tells you you're about to die. I just, like. I couldn't wrap my brain around it. My wife was with me. I just kind of, like, broke down.

[Jake Halpern]

Justin says his wife had always been his lifeline. Even so, this cancer diagnosis was uncharted territory for Justin and his family.

[Justin]

When you know you're dying, it's a very lonely thing. I mean, it's very comforting that I have a family around me and a wife to support me and everything. But at the same time, you're the one that's dying, and you're the one going through this personally, and it feels like you're very much alone.

[Jake Halpern]

But he did have someone who seemed to get it on a personal level, and that was Sarah Kavanagh. Sarah and Justin knew each other from the vfw. They'd been close for several years, ever since Justin joined the post back in 2017. And that whole time, Sarah herself claimed that she had been fighting cancer, lung cancer. Sarah claimed the cancer came from her military service, Claimed her vehicle had been hit by an IED and she'd inhaled the metal particles in the blast. For some people, cancer is now a chronic condition, something you can manage and live with. And that seemed to be the case with Sarah.

[Justin]

So I immediately went to Sarah thinking, okay, well, there's someone going through the same experience I am. I don't feel so lonely anymore. I was still scared. But when she was sharing what her experience was, someone who's already started this journey is telling Me, you know, things are going to be okay. That definitely helped.

[Jake Halpern]

Sarah had always been a friend, but in this moment, their friendship seemed to take on a deeper meaning.

[Justin]

No one really was in my shoes except her. At least that's what I thought. Here's another veteran that's going through the same thing I'm going through, so at least she knows we can, like, support each other. And then we started actually opening up more about our treatments and how our treatments were going.

[Jake Halpern]

Sarah told Justin she was on an experimental dose of an immunotherapy drug, and it was working. But according to Sarah, the VA was cutting back on her treatment. This story hit home for Justin. He'd faced his own bureaucratic roadblocks within the va. In fact, he'd eventually gone outside the system to Dana Farber in Boston to get the experimental treatment that he needed. And it seemed to be working, which gave Justin an idea.

[Justin]

I thought, well, Dana Farber's this amazing place, and I know that they can help her. And I said, well, do you have private health insurance? Because you need to go to someplace like Dana Farber and get real help, because the VA is not going to help you. And she said, well, I don't have or I can't afford it. She just kept saying, like, she couldn't. That was too much for her.

[Jake Halpern]

The whole thing was frustrating for Justin, and he felt like he couldn't just sit there and do nothing.

[Justin]

We veterans look out for each other, and I'm not gonna sit here and let a fellow. What I thought at the time was a fellow veteran die from lack of treatment when I know there's an alternative if I can help it. So I said, look, I will at least begin by paying for this insurance for you to be able to go to Dana Farber.

[Jake Halpern]

It was an incredibly generous offer, which Sarah turned down.

[Justin]

She initially said, no, I can't ask you to do that. No, no, no. But then she kept telling me that, you know, she wasn't doing well. And eventually, you know, I said, look, I don't want you to die.

[Jake Halpern]

At last, Sarah agreed. In the months that followed, the Justin gave her money to pay for private insurance, over $5,000 in total, all in the hope that it would keep her alive. Then one day, Justin gets a call from Dave Ainsley at the vfw. You know, the guy with the handlebar mustache? He was the previous commander at the post before Sarah.

[Justin]

Dave told me, like, hey, you know, like, I gotta tell you something about Sarah. And she's, you know, she's fake She's. She's not a veteran. And I was just in shock and trying to just, like, wrap my brain around it.

[Jake Halpern]

Dave explained how he tried to retrieve Sarah's discharge papers, her DD214, and how Sarah had been one step ahead of him, absconding with the paperwork before Dave could get his hands on it. Justin says that he believed Dave, but part of him resisted. Part of him was in denial. He kept asking himself, who would do something like this and why? Around this exact same time, rumors began to swirl about Sarah being a fraud. And then Justin heard from Sam. Her head was also spinning, trying to make sense of all this.

[Justin]

Sam and I talked on the phone, and Sam was still in. I think, still in denial, and said, this is not true. She actually does have cancer. I've seen the record, her medical records.

[Jake Halpern]

Because remember Sam, she'd seen all the proof. The Wounded Warrior enrollment forms, stacks of medical records. Someone claiming to be Sarah's VA caseworker had even sent Sam official documents, blood work diagnoses, intake forms. It all looked legit. It was enough to give Justin a moment of pause.

[Justin]

There was a little bit of a question in my mind. I'd say, if she's actually seen medical records, what does that mean?

[Jake Halpern]

Like, was there some other explanation here? A story that made sense of it all, that turned the world right side up again and somehow transform Sarah back into Sarah? And if not, well, then so many other questions bubbled to the surface. Like, where did that stack of medical records come from? And what if the rumors were true? What did that mean for Justin? If the one person who got it, who'd been through it, what if that person was just performing, mimicking his own pain? Where did that leave him?

[Sarah Kavanagh]

In the days after that phone conversation with Justin, Sam still held on to the hope that maybe this was just some terrible misunderstanding. Sarah kept maintaining her innocence, saying she had the paperwork to prove it. Sam says she believed it, maybe because she wanted to believe it. At one point, Sam was driving to work and talking to Sarah on the phone about all of this. She got frustrated. She asked, Sarah begged her, really, where's the paperwork?

[Nicole]

And she's like, I can't find it. I'm like, what? What do you mean you can't find it? You're the most organized person I know. And she's like. Then she said, it's all a lie. And I was like, wait, wait, were you ever in the military?

[Sarah Kavanagh]

And that's when Sarah finally said it. A one word confession. No, she'd never been in the Military.

[Nicole]

I literally turned around and I was going to my work. I turned around and I went right to her house.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

What was that drive like?

[Nicole]

I don't even remember. I don't even remember, like, that drive. I don't remember walking into her house. I remember sitting on her couch and, like, me, like, telling her, asking her, is this real? Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? You know? And she was like, no, no, no, no, no.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

It was an avalanche of betrayals. The cancer, the military service, the family down in Georgia, the brother she'd taken off life support. None of it was true. Sarah had been lying to her every single day for years about nearly everything, even things unrelated to her stolen valor scam, like still being married to Nicole. And in doing so, she had made Sam the other woman. We actually talked to Sarah about this very moment.

[Trey Farrow]

I remember her coming to my house and having that conversation, and her sitting on the couch across from me and telling her the truth, like, watching it hit her, you know, watching it overcome her. It was like watching her heartbreak, you know? And she started to cry and told me she couldn't do this and how could I do it? And all of those things.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Sarah had spent hours and hours with Sam and her family in their home, nursed. The wounds of Sam's divorce helped her find happiness again. Sarah hurt Sam in all of these intimate, profound ways, and then she made that pain dirty, shameful.

[Nicole]

I'm still coping with it. I don't want to be upset now. Memories will come up, and I'll be like, oh, did that really happen? And I think probably not. It was probably a lie, because I'll still, like, be, like, driving or whatever, and then memory will come, and I'll think. I'll be like, oh, I wonder how Brody's doing. Like, things like that, you know, like, it's so crazy to me.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Brody, one of Sarah's fake brothers. Memories like this come back to Sam even now. And then there was the fact that Sarah was also Sam's patient, that she'd been getting physical therapy from her for years, and some of those bills had been paid for by a wounded warrior. That meant that the very basis of their relationship was a theft, a crime. As she sat on the couch confronting Sarah, the implications became crystal clear.

[Nicole]

I was like, oh, my God. I was like, you basically stole money. And I said to her, I go, you're going to go to jail, Sarah. And she's like, you think.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Next time on deep Cover.

[Jake Halpern]

I said like, hey, we are at your house. It's the Police. Are you in the house? We need you to come to the door. Deep Cover the Truth About Sarah was produced by Amy Gaines, McQuaid and Tali Emlen. Additional production Production support by Sonia Gerwitt.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Our show is edited by Karen Shakurji. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Mastering by Jake Gorski.

[Jake Halpern]

Original scoring and our theme were composed by Luis Guerra. Our show art was designed by Sean Carney. Fact checking by Annika Robbins.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Special thanks to Sarah Nix, Izzy Carter, Daphne Chen, Jake Flanagan and Greta Cohn. Additional thanks to Vicki Merrick. I'm Jess McHugh.

[Jake Halpern]

And I'm Jake Halpern. My co host, Jess McHugh is currently researching a book on female con artists.

[Jess McHugh]

As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of clocking out early. Your business is on your mind 24 7. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you do. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place. Here's how it works. First, post your job. LinkedIn's new feature can help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Second, either post your job for free or pay to promote it. Promoted jobs get three times more qualified applicants. Then get qualified candidates. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of the candidates you attract. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best then Data. Based on LinkedIn data, 72% of SMBs using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates. And last, share with your network. You can let your network know you're hiring. You can even add a hashtag hiringframe to your profile Picture and get two times more qualified candidates. Find out why more than 2.5 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com Gladwell Fake that's LinkedIn.com Gladwell Fake to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

[Jake Halpern]

Welcome to AutoZone. What are you working on today? My car is making this noise. Sometimes it's like. And sometimes it's like. Do you have a dash light on?

[Jess McHugh]

Oh yeah.

[Jake Halpern]

And we don't have to listen for clues. With the free Fix Finder service, we can read a check engine ABS or maintenance light to find the likely fix and even recommend a local shop if you need one so you don't need to hear the grunt. Not with fix finder every everything you need. Nothing you don't get in the zone. Auto zone restrictions apply.

[Sarah Kavanagh]

Does friendly have a taste? If it does, it's probably like hello's Peppermint flavored Anti plaque and Whitening toothpaste. Brush away plaque, show tartar who's boss and remove surface stains to naturally whiten. Hello's thoughtful and flavor forward products make brushing your teeth feel like a confetti filled bathroom dance party. So say hello to hello with the always cruelty free, never tested on animals toothpaste that's made to spread smiles. Visit helloproducts.com and let hello add some everyday yay into your life.

[Jake Halpern]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.