The “Florida Love Triangle,” The Murder of Sarah Ludemann
HAPPY DECEMBER!!!! I watched an episode of Snapped for this case. There are a lot of cases out there where someone will die as a result of being in a love triangle. Two girls fought over someone who really didn't give a shit (excuse my language) about either one of them. One girl was killed and the other ruined her life over a boy, and he’s still out there living his life.
Background
For this case, there are three main characters involved. Sarah Ludemann, who was the victim, Joshua Camacho, the boyfriend of Sarah at the time, and Rachel Wade, the killer.
Sarah Ludemann
Sarah was born on December 7, 1990. She was just 18 years old when she died.
Sarah’s parents didn’t like Josh at all, and noticed many changes in their daughter because of Josh’s “control.” Sarah even transferred schools to be closer to Josh. Sarah’s parents just thought it was a young love and that it would be over soon, but they were very wrong.
Josh and Sarah
Josh was dating Sarah at the time of this case, but he was still in frequent contact with his ex, Rachel.
Rachel Wade was born on February 27, 1990.
Rachel
Rachel was a happy person, until she turned 15. She apparently fought with her parents constantly. If Rachel didn’t get her way, she would runaway.
She ran away the last time before she was 17, and that’s when she met Josh. However, Josh was always cheating on Rachel, although they did live together for awhile.
Sarah and Rachel had gotten in several fights in the few months that Sarah and Josh were dating. Now, I am not victim blaming in anyway what so ever, but it has been proven that Sarah did harass Rachel at Applebees, where she worked. She taunted her relationship with Josh, but she should not have been murdered over it.
Josh was also abusive to Sarah, and I’m not sure whether he was abusive to Rachel, but I’m guessing he was. Josh also liked the attention he was getting from both girls and I believe he probably provoked a lot of the fighting that was going on.
Murder
On April 14, 2009, Rachel was at her apartment in Pinellas Park, Florida. It’s reported that she was in contact with Josh that night, but that Josh was with Sarah. Rachel said she felt threatened when she heard a honk from a car, it was Sarah and she said “stay away from my man!”
Rachel was “scared,” so she called he ex-boyfriend, Javier, and went over to his house. Before leaving her house, she grabbed a kitchen knife.
At 11pm, Rachel went over to Josh’s house instead. Josh and Rachel were sending messages back and forth, these were there messages:
Rachel- Now I know why you're not talking to me- you got her.
Josh- That's right, I don't like you no more, why don't you go home?
Rachel- No, I'll wait for her to go home.
The girls then began calling each other, and threatening one another. There were many witnesses who heard these threats. Sarah called Rachel, and said “I’m going to stab you, and your Mexican boyfriend.”
By this point, Rachel had let to go to Javier’s house, and Sarah went to a McDonald’s with Josh’s sister. Sarah then followed Rachel and went to Javier’s house, and called her again and said she was going to kill her.
Rachel would later testify that Sarah tried to hit her with her car, and she got out of her car and was very threatening. Rachel stabbed Sarah in the shoulder and chest. One of the stabs punctured Sarah’s heart.
Another witness said that Sarah never left her car, and that Rachel was the threatening one and walked up and stabbed her. Rachel then threw the knife and said “I’m done.” Sarah called Josh, as she was dying and Josh went to tell Sarah’s family.
Sarah was taken to the hospital, and died at 2:20am the next morning. Her cause of death was a puncture to the heart.
Arrest and Trial
The police arrived, and questioned Rachel. She apparently started crying when she found out that Sarah had died. I wonder if she was crying because she felt bad or because she knew she was going to prison. Rachel was arrested and taken to the Pinellas County Jail.
Rachel Wade’s mugshot
Rachel’s trial began on July 20, 2010, and was televised by TruTV’s In Session.
Rachel’s defense was that Rachel killed Sarah in self defense under the Stand Your Ground Law. Rachel’s attorney, Jay Hebert, brought up the past fights, including Sarah coming into Rachel’s work and threatening her.
However, there were several people who testified against Rachel, including Josh. The other witnesses were Josh’s sister, who was in the car with Sarah and one of Rachel’s friends. They testified that they heard the voicemails of Rachel being the one to say “I’m going to kill you,” and that Rachel was the one who walked up to Sarah’s car and stabbed her.
Rachel was found guilty and on September 3, 2010, she was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Other
In 2011, Rachel was interviewed by ABC News, she stated that she believed social media had a role in what happened.
On February 17, 2012, Rachel lost her appeal.
Rachel’s interview with ABC News
FINAL THOUGHTS
I personally think if it wasn’t for Josh’s frequent contact with Rachel, Sarah might still be alive today. Rachel was clearly troubled, and was one of those girls who couldn’t take a break up well. I also think she was just a violent person and lashed out at everyone who “wronged” her. I don’t believe it was self-defense, but both girls were being threatening that night, Rachel just ended up being the one with the knife.
Sarah didn’t deserve to die, but she was also not exactly innocent in this. That is the only thing I’m going to say because she died in a tragic way and Rachel deserves to rot in prison for life. I also wish Josh would have had some kind of consequence, but again he was not the one who did the stabbing.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Wade
https://discover.hubpages.com/politics/Murder-of-Sarah-Ludemann-Rachel-Wade
