Jess McHugh (Host/Narrator)
Appearances
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Inside the VFW, there was an understanding that the awards Sarah had won, the sacrifices she'd made, were fundamentally about service, about doing her job, about having the backs of her fellow Marines. But in the civilian world, her acts of valor made her something of a hero. For people who'd never seen a battlefield, heroes were the stuff of Hollywood movies. People you praised and admired.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
They certainly weren't people whose credentials you questioned. And in the absence of that kind of scrutiny, Sarah could truly be that storybook hero. The perfect blend of valor, tragedy, and triumph. And that's who Sarah was, at her gym, a place called Training for Warriors in Rhode Island. We're going to take a deep dive here, into the world of her gym.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Because if you've been wondering, why would Sarah do any of this? Why would she take such risks? What was in it for her? Well, the story of her gym offers some very interesting answers. One afternoon last fall, I sat down with one of the gym's most passionate members.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Michelle is in her early 60s with spiky blonde hair. She reminds me a lot of the moms from where I grew up outside of Boston. When you first meet her, her attitude is kind of, what the hell do you want? But then she'll invite you into her home and make you a peanut butter ball, and you're in.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Michelle, along with other members of the gym, came to believe that Sarah was suffering from PTSD. Some days, out of nowhere, she'd drop into the fetal position. Once, when someone was taking pictures, Sarah was triggered. She told Michelle, you see a camera, I see a gun. Michelle stepped in and asked the person taking the pictures to move. This kind of thing became a habit for Michelle.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah had other triggers, too. Any surprises or loud noises could make her jump, literally, which is a real symptom of PTSD for vets. And for Sarah, kids were also a problem. Yeah, kids. She told Michelle that she avoided them, and there was a reason.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
At this point in the interview with Michelle, my jaw was on the floor because of course this isn't true. It's another fictional story Sarah told. But of all the lies I'd heard Sarah tell, that one stands out. If Sarah was going to make something up about killing someone in combat, why say it was a child? It just seems so bizarre, the kind of thing that would actually put people off from her.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
But maybe it's because it's the kind of story that really does not invite questions. Michelle grew attached to Sarah, and their friendship really deepened as they started spending time together outside of the gym. They'd go for weekly walks in the woods and meet for crepes. In those moments, Sarah opened up even more about her past.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
She said she'd been hit by an IED blast in Iraq, that she'd developed a traumatic brain injury and damaged her lungs. All of this came out piece by piece, one walk at a time. And despite all she was facing, Sarah remained resilient, upbeat even. Her nickname at the gym was actually Sunshine.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
But a few years into Sarah and Michelle's friendship, Sarah's health took a decisive turn for the worse. During their walks in the woods, she couldn't catch her breath. Sometimes she'd need to stop altogether. And one day, Sarah tells Michelle why.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The gym rallied to help Sarah. They raised thousands of dollars. They cooked her meals and peanut butter balls. One couple even got her brand new hearing aids. Whatever Sarah said she needed, the gym community tried to give it to her.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The gym buddies showered Sarah with many gifts. And perhaps the greatest of these was a wedding. Here's how it went down. Sarah told people at the gym that she was engaged to Nicole, and their main problem was that they couldn't find a wedding venue. But there was this couple from the gym, Kate and Mark Feudy.
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Episode 2: The Poster Child
They're in their mid-50s, both had worked at Dunkin' Donuts headquarters, where they met and fell in love. That's a New Englander's dream, if you ask me. They often took Sarah out for dinner, let her use their pool as part of her physical therapy. They became really close, almost like a set of surrogate parents. Kate and Mark also have a place up in Vermont.
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Episode 2: The Poster Child
Kate told us that one day, Sarah just kind of dropped the hint, told them, Well, we want to get married.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
They're underselling it, but it's a gorgeous farmhouse originally built in 1851. Kind of classic Vermont charm.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
So problem solved, right? Sarah and Nicole now had a picture perfect venue for free. But for Sarah, there was actually potential for disaster still lurking. In an act of true boldness, Sarah had created a guest list that included both people who believed her to be a war hero and people who knew damn well that she wasn't one. You had her buddies from the gym and VFW.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And then you had people like her own parents who knew she'd never served a day in her life. And if people started mingling and chatting, as wedding guests tend to do, Sarah's lie would quickly be outed. Sarah's saving grace, her insurance policy, if you will, hinged on yet another lie, which she'd set in motion months before.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah passed herself off as a veteran, specifically a former U.S. Marine who'd served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who'd been injured, a decorated war hero. But none of this was true. was a story she told about herself. A sprawling lie she lived for six whole years. You might think that to pull this off, she'd play it safe.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The day of their wedding, Mark and Kate played the role of wedding coordinators, basically. Mark actually cut down a birch tree so he could build a pergola for Sarah and Nicole to get married under. They set up the benches in the backyard and draped tulle over the pergola as an altar. The wedding colors were blue and gold, the Marine Corps colors.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
The veterans might appreciate this understated touch, but it wouldn't tip off anyone else. And there were sunflowers, Sarah's favorite, in maple syrup buckets along the aisles. And sure, people talked and chatted and joked and laughed like they do at weddings when things start to get rowdy. But somehow, Sarah's world stayed separate or just separate enough that her lies held.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And if this seems hard to believe, it is. This moment, this wedding, was something that Jake and I were both obsessed with. How was it that no one's drunk uncle asked Sarah about her time in Iraq? That no cousins started chatting too much to the VFW guys and figured out Sarah's charade? But none of this happened. It was a pretty perfect summer wedding. Sarah emerged from it unscathed.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
She lived those two lives for another three and a half years, until January of 2022. That's when charities started getting suspicious of Sarah's claims and reached out to the authorities to investigate. Rumors started circulating that Sarah was an imposter. Word quickly got back to Dave that the commander of his VFW post might be a fraud. And right away, Dave picks up the phone.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
But the rumors kept going. Online, there was chatter, people speculating, questioning Sarah's credentials. It started to snowball.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Avoid attention, like not advertise the lie because that'd be a great way to get caught. Seems logical, right? Instead, she did this.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Our show is edited by Karen Shikurji. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Mastering by Jake Gorski.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Special thanks to Sarah Nix, Izzy Carter, Daphne Chen, Jake Flanagan, and Greta Cohn. Additional thanks to Vicki Merrick. I'm Jess McHugh.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
This is Sarah giving an interview on the local news. She's speaking about the state's new Purple Heart Trail, a network of roads dedicated to veterans who were injured or killed in service.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
So, yes, Sarah really did this. She stood next to the governor and talked about the meaning of the Purple Heart. A Purple Heart, by the way, that she bought online. Part of me wonders, if you're Sarah, why agree to do this? Because Sarah grew up in Rhode Island and still had family there, classmates from high school, people who knew full well that she was no war hero.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And if any of them had seen her making this speech or watched her on the local news, they could have started asking questions. And Sarah's lies could have unraveled so easily.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
VFW, by the way, stands for Veterans of Foreign Wars. It's kind of like a club for veterans where they can kick back, swap stories, and support each other. Dave was the commander of this post, and his ongoing goal was to modernize the place. He says when he first arrived in 2010, the vibe was kind of like what you might expect. As he put it, smoky bar, bunch of old guys.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Dave loved those old guys, but he also wanted to open up the doors, create an environment where any and all veterans would feel welcome, especially the younger generation. So he upped their game on social media. He focused on doing community service, and he set the tone with his welcoming personality. Then, in 2016, he meets Sarah Kavanaugh, and apparently, she was struggling.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
In other words, Sarah said there'd been some kind of delay, that she was supposed to be getting financial support from the VA, the Department of Veterans Affairs, but there was a holdup. And Dave, he understood this kind of thing.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
As far as Dave was concerned, the day was a win-win. He got to help a vet in need, and he also got a new member, a fresh face, and a woman, too.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
And it wasn't just that Sarah was a woman. She had a great energy about her. She seemed to embody the new, younger VFW that Dave wanted to build.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Not to mention, she was also a wounded combat veteran. This didn't come out right away or in a super public manner. She would make references to her injuries and later to the medals that she'd won. Eventually, she showed up to VFW meetings with Purple Heart license plates. And she seemed remarkably resilient.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
When folks actually talked to Sarah, she was relatable, even to the other veterans, the old school guys.
Deep Cover
Episode 2: The Poster Child
Sarah says... that she's gonna have to have her leg amputated. And I was blown away.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
So the retreat in Montana comes to an end and the three musketeers say goodbye to one another. They stay in touch. And this, by the way, is exactly the goal of this program. Veterans forming real bonds that last long after the campfire goes out. A few months after the Montana retreat, in December of 2021, Dex happened to be in Virginia visiting Arlington National Cemetery.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And suddenly, Dex remembers that Sarah's brother was a Marine who was killed in action. So she sends Sarah a text and says she'd like to lay a wreath at his grave. Within minutes, Sarah texts back with a plot number. But when Dex gets to the grave, she notices that this Marine, he has a different last name than Sarah's.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And when she looks up his obituary, she sees that they're not even the same race. When she sends Sarah a picture of the grave, though, Sarah confirms that, yes, this is him.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
You can hear Dex trying to make sense of this, but she said she didn't ask Sarah too many questions about it.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
So Dex just didn't say anything. Besides, at this point, Sarah was fighting lung cancer. And from time to time, she'd mention to Dex that her medical bills were piling up, that the VA wasn't covering everything. Dex wanted to help, even from far away. That's when she heard about this charity called Hunter 7. Hunter 7 helps veterans who struggle to pay their medical bills.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
The reality is many veterans face huge gaps in the health care the VA provides. Long wait times, denied claims, and charities like Hunter 7 come in as a stopgap. So Dex tells Sarah she should apply for financial assistance. At first, Sarah seemed reluctant. Maybe she was just underwater with everything she had going on. So Dex offered to step in and submit an application for Sarah.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
She couldn't know this then, but this simple act of kindness would set something in motion. Something that would forever alter the way Dex saw Sarah.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom Schumann first met Sarah Kavanaugh in the snowy mountains of Boulder, Colorado, at a patrol base Abate retreat.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
This retreat was similar to the one in Montana we told you about. Hang out, work out, talk, connect. That was the goal. That's why Tom founded PB Abate in the first place. He's a Marine, and when he returned from his tours overseas, he watched his comrades struggle. He told us three of his fellow Marines died by suicide over the course of one month. And that is what led him to start PB Abate.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
In Colorado, Tom and Sarah started to get to know each other. Sarah told him she was a professor, which appealed to him. Tom himself taught literature at the U.S. Naval Academy. Sarah also told him that she had a kid who just crashed her pickup truck. She seemed down-to-earth and genuine.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
On the last day of this retreat, a guy named Brian Shantosh led them on an adventure workout. Shantosh is a former Marine and a leadership guru famed for his wilderness programs. And his workouts have a reputation for pushing people to their limits. So everyone, even Tom, was nervous. They were told to break down into teams of two. Sarah and Tom partnered up.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
They get to it. They start pushing this weighted sled up the mountain and then back down the mountain on this mile-long loop again and again and again. And remember, this is the Rockies in December, so it's freezing, and the wind is whipping them as they trudge through.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom's not a very effusive guy, so this is basically his version of gushing. He didn't know about all of Sarah's health issues, the cancer, and the leg amputation. Sarah had never told him about this, though he would soon find out.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
So he wants to get all his ducks in a row. He asks Sarah for a copy of her DD-214. That's the official military discharge paper that all service members receive explaining how and when they left the service. Sarah sends him the paperwork. He says he remembers vividly the moment he received it. He was sitting in his car, in a parking lot, about to get a haircut.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
He starts scanning through the documents on his phone and something catches his eye. The DD-214 says Sarah retired as a corporal, which is weird because she'd made it all the way up to staff sergeant. In fact, he'd seen a picture of her with a staff sergeant insignia. So he calls her up.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Suddenly, Sarah's whole story, with all its drama and all its heroics, is feeling very shaky. Tom knew he needed backup, so he reached out to a friend who had access to personnel records. The friend, he punches in Sarah's DOD number, the military equivalent of a social security number, does some more digging. That friend gets back to Tom with what he's found.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
It looks like she'd taken someone else's records and doctored them, inserting her own name and other details. This, by the way, is not a small thing. This isn't forging your mom's name on a sick note. This is a huge deal. Felony level huge. Tom is in a state of shock.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Tom goes home and tells his wife. His wife, she's pissed. She knows how hard Tom has been working for this woman, trying to help her. And now she seems to be a fraud? She's like, not on my watch. So she goes over in person and reports this whole thing to NCIS. That's the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Maybe you've seen the TV show.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
They're the badass investigators for the US Navy and Marine Corps. Anyway, the NCIS folks, they're like, OK, we'll look into this.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
This season is about a betrayal writ large, a deception that played out over the course of more than six years, not just in Montana, but in Colorado and Texas and Tennessee, California and Rhode Island too.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
I first heard about Sarah when I read a few articles about her online. Just snippets, really. But what I read about her was so bizarre, so unusual. I had a million questions. So I tracked her down. We started sending emails, talking on the phone, getting to know each other. And right from the start, she felt familiar to me. We have a few things in common, actually.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Our show is edited by Karen Shakerji. Our executive producer is Jacob Smith. Mastering by Jake Gorski.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
Special thanks to Sarah Nix, Izzy Carter, Daphne Chen, Jake Flanagan, and Greta Cohn. Additional thanks to Vicki Merrick. I'm Jess McHugh.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
We're about the same age, both from small towns in New England. But also, I've become a bit of an expert on women like her. I've spent years digging into historical research, reviewing court documents, and immersing myself in the world of women who managed to live multiple lives. I've found so much that I'm now writing a book about it all.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
So yeah, Sarah felt familiar to me, but in the most unsettling way. I clearly remember one of the first things I wrote to her after reading those headlines. I told her, I suspect that there is so much more to your story. I had no way of knowing just how true that would turn out to be.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
One of the first people we interviewed for this story was Catherine Dexter. She goes by Dex. Dex initially met Sarah Kavanaugh in the mountains of Montana at a retreat for veterans.
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Episode 1: The Warrior
Dex had served in the Marines as military police in Japan and a couple other bases. When she got out, she felt a bit lost.
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Episode 1: The Warrior
The retreat was organized by a nonprofit called Patrol Base Abate, also known as PB Abate. The founder started the organization because he was concerned about the mental health of veterans and their difficulties readjusting to civilian life. And this was kind of the exact crossroads Dex was at. So she applied to go on one of their all-expense-paid trips to Montana.
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Episode 1: The Warrior
And that's how she ended up drinking her coffee in Big Sky country with all these other vets and meeting Sarah. What were your first impressions of her at the time?
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Episode 1: The Warrior
person who started these retreats was concerned about all the challenges that vets face as they transition back to civilian life. And he wanted this time in the woods to be healing, transformational even.
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Episode 1: The Warrior
Dex says that on this retreat, there were just a few female vets. It was her, Sarah, and another former Marine named Natalie. The three of them worked out together.
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Episode 1: The Warrior
So just to recap, here's this woman, Sarah, who at the time was just 30 years old, already a decorated war veteran, strong, modest, quietly brave, sprinting down these mountain trails and giving herself these injections to stem the pain. And on top of it all, she also has stage four lung cancer. Dex had to coax it out of her because Sarah's story came out in dribs and drabs.
Deep Cover
Episode 1: The Warrior
And it got more tragic incrementally, like a kettle on a stove that heats up slowly until all of a sudden it starts to boil.
Deep Cover
Introducing Deep Cover: The Truth About Sarah
She was stoic, modest, tough. Someone who inspired people.