Inside harrowing case of murdered teen Sarah Yarborough - who was strangled with her own STOCKINGS on her way to drill team practice and found with hot curlers still in her hair... sparking 30-YEAR search for her killer

A new documentary is set to lay bare the horrific details of the chilling case of Sarah Yarborough - a 16-year-old old girl who was brutally murdered in the parking lot of her high school just yards away from her fellow students and the nearly 30-year hunt for her killer.

On Friday the 13th in December 1991 in the small town of Federal Way, Washington, Sarah's parents said goodbye to their daughter and headed away for the weekend for her brother's soccer tournament - unknowing that it would be the last time they'd see the teenager.

The next morning, she rushed out of her home with her curlers still in her hair so that she could make it on time to her drill team practice. 

But after she arrived at the school, Sarah, a 'talented, creative, and kind' honor student, was viciously strangled with her own stockings - and left in the bushes a stone's throw away from where her teammates were practicing.

The devastating murder sent shockwaves around the community - and left everyone worried that the 'monster' who had killed her might strike again.

Police desperately searched for answers, but despite multiple witnesses seeing a man standing over Sarah's body and a slew of DNA evidence being all over her clothes, it would be decades before detectives were able to close the case.

And when they did finally catch the killer, his gruesome history of violence only made the tale even more chilling. 

Now, CBS's 48 Hours has dove into the atrocious murder in a new special, entitled The Hunt For Sarah Yarborough's Killer, which will premiere on Saturday at 10pm on CBS and Paramount+.

'Just the innocent nature of this young woman in her school drill team uniform, with her hot curlers still in her hair... This was just pure unadulterated evil,' Scott Strathy, one of the detectives who worked on Sarah's case, told the publication in the documentary.

'Even for experienced investigators, this scene was really hard to deal with.'

In a preview for the special, Sarah's mom, Lori, recalled being 'reluctant' to leave the teen alone for the weekend, but she said she figured it would be fine because her friend was going to stay with her.

'I was reluctant to leave Sarah but she didn't want to come because she had her whole weekend planned out,' she explained. 'She had a friend come over and stay with her that weekend.' 

The pal, named Amy Parodi, explained that they spent the first evening eating 'junk food' and watching a 'basketball game' together. 

'We were just 16, we were carefree. There was absolutely nothing that would make any of us think that the next morning everything would change,' she said.

Early on Saturday, Amy remembered Sarah 'running out the door' for practice because she had overslept. 

But when she didn't return home afterwards, Amy began the search for Sarah - frantically calling her teammates and anyone else who may have a clue about her whereabouts.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't take long for her to receive the shocking news that Sarah had been killed - because within an hour of her disappearance, two young boys noticed a strange guy lurking in the field next to the school's parking lot.

One of the boys, Drew Miller, who was 13 at the time, told CBS in the special, 'He was just staring at us from the bushes. That was pretty jarring.' 

After meeting eyes with the mysterious man, he walked away - and when they approached the area that he had been standing, they discovered Sarah's body.

'Her body was still in the parking lot, it was approximately 100 yards away, still on the school property,' one man, whose identity was not revealed in the trailer, described.

'Part of her clothing was removed, she had nylon stockings tied in a ligature around her neck.'

Sarah's mom Lori said as she held back tears: 'I remember thinking, "Not Sarah. Not Sarah. Not Sarah" over and over again.' 

At first, it seemed like it would be easy to catch the killer. Not only was Drew and his friend able to give the police thorough descriptions, but his DNA was on her clothes.

'They had evidence, they had everything, they had witnesses,' Amy explained. 'For a short while it felt like, "Of course they're gonna catch him."'

According to CBS, investigators looked into more than 4,000 leads, but they weren't able to figure out who had been behind the murder - baffling law enforcement officials and leaving the entire town terrified. 

'You don't know if it's your next door neighbor or some random stranger. There was that constant fear of, is this gonna happen again,' another woman in the documentary said. 

'We literally had a monster in the community and we didn't know who it was,' Scott added. 

But in 2019, 28 years after Sarah's mysterious death, police got a break in the case thanks to a match made by new forensic genetic testing.

The DNA on her clothes lead them to Patrick Nicholas - a man who had a long history of raping and attacking women, and had recently been released from prison when Sarah was killed.  

By the time she was murdered, Patrick had already been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women and attempting to rape a third - but was out of jail on parole. 

'The system failed. It really failed,' Anne Croney, who was held at knifepoint by Patrick eight years prior to Sarah's death, told CBS. 'He should have been locked up.'

Anne was left fearing for her life when she crossed paths with Patrick in June of 1983. 

She told police at the time that she was sitting on the hood of her car when he approached her and struck up a conversation with her.

After she noticed him acting suspicious she said she got up to try to get in her car and leave - but he pulled out a knife, pressed it against her throat, forced her to take off her clothes, and put her underwear down her throat to stop her from screaming for help.

He then brought her down to a riverbank but thankfully, she was able to get away by diving into the water and swimming as fast as she could. 

Patrick was found guilty of Sarah's murder in June, and sentenced to 45 years behind bars.