Jake Halpern (Host)
Appearances
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Michelle and Sarah met at the gym. Sarah presented herself as a veteran, unemployed and struggling with some injuries. There were even a few times that Sarah wore these clunky hearing aids that looked like they were from the 1980s. Because she was partially deaf, or so she claimed to Michelle.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
One day, when Sarah was getting ready to start her workout, Michelle noticed that Sarah's sneakers were untied.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
So in Michelle's words, she became the primary shoe tier. On many occasions, Michelle got down on her hands and knees, just tied Sarah's shoes because Sarah didn't have the dexterity in her fingers to do it herself.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah would eventually tell Michelle a great many secrets about herself and her tragic past, secrets that would draw Michelle deep into Sarah's world.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Long before Sarah ever traveled out to Montana, long before she met Dex or Tom or Natalie, she had a life in Rhode Island. That's where she grew up, where she went to high school, where she had made a home for herself. Rhode Island is tiny. It's the smallest state in the nation. People like to say in Rhode Island, you can't go anywhere without bumping into someone you know.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And all of this was more than just a pet charity. It was a moment that seemed to clarify what this community was all about. It wasn't just some place where you did burpees and crunches. It was a place where people showed up each day with and for one another.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
a place where when someone was struggling, a hero, someone who'd served and suffered and still mustered a little bit of sunshine, then damn it, you did something about it. You rallied. Not just because it was the right thing to do, but because it was an affirmation of who this community was. It almost seemed like Sarah, with her needs, provided something that the gym itself needed too.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Now, in such a small place, it seems like it'd be hard for anyone to keep secrets. But that didn't seem to stop Sarah Kavanaugh.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
It all started one night when Sarah arrived unannounced at Kate and Mark's house.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The paperwork which she hands to them looks like an official military document, with Sarah's account of a sexual assault that Sarah claimed happened while she was in the military. According to Sarah, the military had covered up the whole thing and punished Sarah for it. Now she had the paperwork detailing the whole ordeal, and it was clear that Sarah wanted them to read it right then and there.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Mark and Kate thought it was odd that Sarah was sharing this paperwork with them. They hadn't asked for corroboration. But they felt Sarah's need to have someone be with her in this moment. So Kate sits with Sarah on the couch as Mark reads the report. Here's Mark.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
As the wedding date approached, Sarah pulled Mark and Kate aside and asked them for a favor.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Mark and Kate, they understood why Sarah had made this request. They both remembered so vividly that night when Sarah showed up at their door, when she showed them the paperwork with all the details about the sexual assault and how she was sharing it with them because her own family couldn't deal with it.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
According to Sarah, that whole incident was still extremely traumatic for her parents, so much so that any mention of the military at all would upset them.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah quietly made a similar request to others as well. She pulled aside Dave, her buddy from the VFW, the guy with the handlebar mustache. She mentioned that her father was a former general.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
As all of this was unfolding, initially, Dave wasn't too worried because... I have the proof that says she's a service member. And that proof was the DD-214, Sarah's discharge papers from the military. The document that Sarah first presented to Dave at the parade six years earlier, when she first joined his VFW post. And now, after hearing these rumors and this story from Sarah, Dave is like...
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And Dave's proof had just vanished because apparently Sarah was one step ahead of him. Next time on Deep Cover.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Deep Cover, The Truth About Sarah was produced by Amy Gaines McQuaid and Tali Emlin. Additional production support by Sonia Gerwit.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Original scoring and our theme were composed by Luis Guerra. Our show art was designed by Sean Carney. Fact-checking by Annika Robbins.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And I'm Jake Halpern. My co-host, Jess McHugh, is currently researching a book on female con artists.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Just a few days after this interview aired, Sarah attended a dedication ceremony for the new Purple Heart Trail. I've seen a photo of this event. Sarah wore a Marine Corps uniform, pressed, neat, immaculate, medals gleaming, a sharp white cap framed her face, her eyes kind of hidden under the visor. She stood alongside the governor and made a speech about patriotism and sacrifice.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah told the assembled crowd, no one earns a Purple Heart alone. I earned mine amongst 11 other Marines. She added, I have long been one of those veterans, the ones who wish to fly under the radar, who merely did what was asked.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
But Sarah's lies survived, thrived in fact, even as she took risks, reckless risks, risks that seemed destined to backfire, especially within the tiny context of Rhode Island. But Sarah, she navigated well in small spaces. And as the walls closed in, they just keep getting smaller. I'm Jake Halpern.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And this is Deep Cover Season 6, The Truth About Sarah. Episode 2, The Poster Child. Sarah's lies didn't just happen overnight, but slowly over the course of many years. She gradually won people over, won their trust, won their admiration. And as far as we can tell, all of this really started back in 2016 with this guy.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
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+. You'll also get bonus episodes, full audiobooks, and binges from your favorite Pushkin hosts and authors.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
That's Dave Ainsley. He's an Army vet, served over 20 years, including time in Iraq, where he earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. In the Army, Dave always had to keep a close shave, so when he finally got out, he returned home to Rhode Island and...
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And that look worked for him, came like his calling card, as he put it. So that if you lived anywhere near his town in Rhode Island, you knew that Dave, the guy with the handlebar mustache, he was the dude in charge of the local VFW post 152.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
So many of the charities that help veterans in the U.S. operate just like this. They try to compensate for all the government's inefficiencies and shortcomings. And they do this by jumping in and helping veterans right away when they need it most.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
They were gathering in a parking lot when Sarah shows up to join them. It's all pretty informal, except for one bit of paperwork.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
A DD-214. It's actually a very important document in this story. You may recall us talking about it in the last episode. It's the official military discharge paper explaining how and when someone left the service. And it's what proves that Sarah is, apparently, a veteran.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Find Pushkin Plus on the Deep Cover show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm slash plus. All right, let's get into it.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
So right there on the spot in the parking lot with Sarah standing there, Dave calls for a vote.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And like that, Sarah was marching in the annual Veterans Day parade. I've seen a video of this parade from a different year, but the mood is timeless. People are waving flags. The members of a local high school band are playing their drums and trombones. Veterans are walking down West Main Street together, waving.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The Boy Scouts are there, too, marching past the package store and the antique dealer and the quilting shop. It's classic America. And right there, in the middle of it all, was Sarah Kavanaugh, the newest member of Post 152.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
A few months after she joined the VFW, Sarah got engaged to a woman named Nicole. Nicole was originally from New Mexico. She was very sporty, an avid hiker, played softball, loved the beach. The two of them seemed like a great match. And of course, Sarah's veteran buddies rallied to celebrate.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Dave invited a bunch of VFW members, including an old Vietnam vet. They all enjoyed a few brewskis together.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And for the record, these were rainbow-colored tutus. Once they were all tutued up, it was picture time.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And there it was. A modern day VFW celebrating in tutus. It was the sort of VFW that Dave had envisioned, and it seemed that Sarah had played a key role in making it happen. And the real proof of this, the crowning proof, was that a few years later, when Dave stepped down as commander of the post, it was Sarah who took over. She became the next commander.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
You have a distinct style when posing questions that really makes one think about the messages between the lines. Jess and I have spoken twice and emailed several times to talk about my actions and the consequences of It is important to me that you know, I know and knew several months before my arrest that what I was doing was wrong.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Remember Natalie, the third musketeer from the Montana retreat, the clarinetist? Yeah, well, Natalie also stayed in touch with Sarah. In fact, right around the time that Dex was visiting the cemetery in Arlington, Natalie and Sarah were actually hanging out in person. A bunch of vets, including a few from the Montana retreat, gathered at a CrossFit gym in California to have a little competition.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
I could not have imagined the laws I was breaking, but know now that I was always guilty. What is your opinion about my crime? I ask this because no matter who we are, we bring biases and I'd like to know what you are bringing to the conversation. Also, I have not always thought about others before myself and will always be deliberately sensitive to other people for the rest of my life.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Yeah, pretty insane. This was like an ultra marathon for weightlifters. They broke down into teams of two. Now, at this point, Natalie didn't know about Sarah's cancer. And this is because Sarah had never told her. She just confided this to Dex, which, as we've come to learn, is kind of how Sarah operated. She shared details about her life one-on-one in these small, private moments.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And so the secrets remain compartmentalized. Natalie was aware that Sarah had some issue with her leg, but that was about all. Then, in the middle of the competition, during one of the breaks, they're all kind of just sitting around resting, Natalie, her teammate, Sarah, her teammate.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And the proof was, Sarah's team then goes on to beat Natalie's team in the competition. And Natalie, she's in awe. The two women went to another retreat together not long after this. And it seemed like Sarah's leg was in bad shape.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Looking back, Natalie still recalls the intensity of this moment with Sarah. The tenseness of her hamstring, the tremors in her muscles, the pain on Sarah's face. It all seems so real. In the coming weeks, Natalie texted Sarah about the amputation to see if it had been scheduled. And Sarah eventually gave her a date, January 26th. The date sticks in Natalie's mind.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
She keeps thinking about it as it draws closer. And then, the night before the surgery, Natalie can't sleep. She just keeps thinking about Sarah.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
I'm looking forward to meeting you, even if it's virtually. Sincerely, Sarah. This letter that I just read you, it's written on lined paper, the kind I used in grade school. And the penmanship is flawless. When I read it for the first time, I was in my car, outside my classroom at the university where I teach, and I found myself just sitting there, reading and rereading this letter.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
The next day, Natalie shot Sarah another text to see how the surgery went. And Sarah explained they had to call off the amputation.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
That guy she mentions, Tom, that's Tom Schumann. He's the founder of Patrol Base Abate, the nonprofit that organized those retreats up in Montana. Tom also knew Sarah, and now he was texting with an urgent message.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom says that Sarah has been lying about a number of things, and that she may have lied about her military service. Natalie didn't know who or what to believe.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
But it turns out Tom had his reasons. In the weeks leading up to this moment, he'd been digging into Sarah's story and he discovered a few red flags, some things that just didn't add up. More on that after the break.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
"'What is your opinion about my crime?' she asked. Now that was interesting to me. It was almost like, right from the jump, this woman, Sarah Kavanaugh, had flipped the script, like she was interviewing me.' And then there was this line. I'd like to know what you were bringing to the conversation. Funny because we weren't even having a conversation yet.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Within a few weeks, Tom hears about Sarah's cancer, and he feels like he's got to do something.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
At the time, Tom lived in Rhode Island, where Sarah also lived. So they met up for coffee and talked for hours. He learned how she'd seen combat in Afghanistan, how her convoy was blown up, and how she'd been seriously hurt in the blast. And how, despite it all, she still managed to save some of the guys in her patrol, dragging them to safety, even with her own crushed hip.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
How she'd gotten a bronze star for her bravery. And now she had cancer in her lungs because of the toxic chemicals in that explosion.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
She told Tom that her plan had been to get a PhD in English literature. She'd even been accepted into a program at Johns Hopkins. But then the VA delivered some shattering news. They told her that she couldn't use her GI Bill. Why? Because her life expectancy was shorter than the time it would take to finish the program. It was devastating. All of it.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
But looking back, I understand now that the conversation had already started and she was already sussing me out, tuning in to me. And Sarah, she's really, really good at that. I know that now. Months before I got that letter, I got a call from my friend, Jess McHugh. She's my co-host this season. Jess is a journalist and an author.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom, being a guy of action, was like, maybe I can create a salaried position for you at Patrol Base Sabate. At the time, the organization was run entirely by volunteers. There were no paid positions. But the organization did have donors, some with deep pockets. And Tom thought, maybe one of them would be willing to pay for this.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom even had a particular donor in mind, a woman who lived up in New Hampshire.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Around this same time, something else very important happens. Remember how Dex, the friend from the Montana retreat, tried to help Sarah with her medical bills? How she contacted a charity called Hunter 7? Well, that charity had also started digging into Sarah's backstory. And what they discovered prompted them to alert both Tom and the FBI.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
But what no one realized, not Tom or Dex or NCIS or even the FBI, was just how deep this deception went. None of them could begin to fathom it. Lies tend to be fragile, temperamental things. Small ones may flourish, but the big ones die, wilting under their own weight. Except in this case, the bigger it grew, the more real it became.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
In fact, you may have noticed in Sarah's letter, she makes a reference to Jess. And that's because Jess is the one who found this story.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
To this day, much of this story is shrouded in mystery. There's no detailed public record of what really happened. What's more, most of the people caught up in all of this haven't spoken publicly or even to each other. So the story itself remains compartmentalized, like rooms in a mansion with no doors between them.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Jess and I have spent the last year or so finding our way into these rooms and listening. Coming up this season on Deep Cover...
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Deep cover The Truth About Sarah was produced by Amy Gaines McQuaid and Tali Emlin. Additional production support by Sonia Gerwit.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Original scoring and our theme were composed by Luis Guerra. Our show art was designed by Sean Carney. Fact-checking by Annika Robbins.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And I'm Jake Halpern. My co-host, Jess McHugh, is currently researching a book on female con artists.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
There's so much that we've learned since we first started talking to Sarah. So much else that she's told us. And we've spent the last eight months trying to figure out how much of her story is true. And what, if anything, we could trust. Because this story is all about trust. It's about what it means to know someone or think you know someone and what happens when reality itself seems to dissolve.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
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+. You'll also get bonus episodes, full audiobooks, and binges from your favorite Pushkin hosts and authors.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Part of the ethos of this retreat was you didn't brag about the past. You focused on now. And you exercised a lot. The whole point of this retreat was actually strength building. The vets built a platform that became their outdoor gym. They lifted weights here, did squats, deadlifts, power cleans. And apparently, they were also carrying giant slabs of rock up a mountain.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
That woman you can hear saying, push it, that's Sarah Kavanaugh. We found this video of her on YouTube from this same retreat. She's in a sweaty gray tank top, has on these mirrored sunglasses and leather workman's gloves. She has blonde hair and a runner's build, slim and athletic.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And that soft, inspirational music, that's in there because this is a promotional video for Patrol Base Abate. And in that video, we see Sarah giving an interview with the wild mountains of Montana in the background.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Find Pushkin Plus on the Deep Cover show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm slash plus. All right, let's get into it. Hey, I'm just recording here because I'm in the car outside the English department and I just got this letter. which was sent to me by Sarah Cavanaugh. Okay. October 12th, 2024. Dear Jake, thank you for sending me the articles and book that you've written.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
That's Natalie Markham. She was a clarinetist in the Marine Corps band, a self-described band nerd. At the time of the retreat, Natalie was struggling. She owned a CrossFit gym that had been hit hard during the pandemic, and she was worried that it might go bust. So for her, to be here in Montana, doing something she loved under the open sky with new friends, it was like she could breathe.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
She asks someone to take a picture of her with Dex and Sarah to commemorate the moment.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
In the picture, the three of them are standing against the backdrop of the mountains, all flexing, biceps and triceps bulging. Natalie and Sarah are smiling. Dex is all business, serious as can be. And looking at the photo, I could kind of feel their energy. I'd never guessed they'd just met.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
They look like they could be sisters, joking, competing, giving each other shit, like the Three Musketeers or something. Dex told us that this kind of camaraderie is not a given.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Dex was especially impressed with Sarah. She was somehow doing all these really intense workouts while also dealing with what seemed like a pretty serious leg injury.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Because Sarah was so modest, because she didn't boast or advertise about who she was and what she'd done, there was an air of mystery about her. Sarah said she was a cryptolinguist. She'd served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. She came from a military family. Her brother had been a Marine, too. He was killed in combat and buried at Arlington Cemetery.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
As Sarah told it, her hip never healed properly. From the knee down, her leg was basically dying. But that's not all.
Deep Cover
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
This is a story all about trust and about a woman named Sarah Kavanaugh.
Deep Cover
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
She was a decorated veteran, a Marine who saved her comrades, a hero.
Deep Cover
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
Deep Cover, The Truth About Sarah, coming May 12th from Pushkin Industries.
Deep Cover
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
There were also moments when she said things that seemed a little off or just didn't add up. But no one called her on it. At least, not at first.