Sarah Dutra

Names

• Sarah Dutra (defendant)
• Larry McNabney (victim; Sacramento, California attorney)
• Elisa McNabney (wife of Larry McNabney; later identified as Laren Sims)
• Laren Sims (alias/identity of Elisa McNabney)
• Haylei (daughter of Laren Sims)
• Jesse Sims (parent of Laren Renee Sims)
• Jackie Sims (parent of Laren Renee Sims)
• Hernando High School (school attended by Laren Sims)
• Jesse and Jackie Sims (parents of Laren Renee Sims)

Timeline

• March 5, 2002 — Larry McNabney’s body was found buried in a vineyard.
• February 5, 2002 — Larry McNabney’s body was discovered in a vineyard.
• March 18, 2002 — Laren Renee Sims was arrested in Destin, Florida.
• March 20, 2002 — Elisa was staying at her daughter Haylei’s friend’s house in Fort Walton Beach when she was turned in for reward money.
• April 1, 2002 — Laren Renee Sims hanged herself in her Florida jail cell.
• March 19, 2003 — Sarah Dutra was sentenced to 11 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.
• April 2003 — Sarah Dutra began serving her sentence at Chowchilla’s Central California Women’s Facility.
• December 4, 2007 — A judge ordered Sarah Dutra back to prison to serve out her 11-year sentence.
• August 26, 2011 — Sarah Dutra was released from the Central California Women’s Facility.

Background

Sarah Dutra was convicted for her role in the death of attorney Larry McNabney, whose body was found buried in a vineyard. Sarah Dutra later served an 11-year prison sentence.

Laren Sims—who was later identified as Elisa McNabney—was described as having used many aliases over time. Sarah Dutra worked with Elisa McNabney when Elisa met Larry McNabney and helped run his law office.

Laren Renee Sims was born to Jesse and Jackie Sims on January 3, 1967 in Brooksville, Florida. Laren was described as a cheerleader and an excellent student at Hernando High School, with an IQ of 140. She dropped out of high school, had two children with two different fathers, and started stealing.

Laren Sims was arrested for stealing L’Oreal hair color kit from Woolworth’s in Tampa, Florida. After being released on that charge, she violated probation by illegally using a credit card. She cut off her ankle monitor and headed to Las Vegas, Nevada with her daughter Haylei.

Laren Sims had a total of 38 aliases, including:

• Melissa Godwin
• Tammy Keelin
• Elizabeth Barasch
• Elisa Redelsperger
• Shane Ivaroni

Elisa Redelsperger was the name she used when she met Larry McNabney. Shane Ivaroni was the name she used while she was on the run.

Elisa met Larry McNabney in 1995 when she applied for a job at his Las Vegas law office. She worked as his office manager and settled large cases. In late 1995, Larry’s law firm was investigated by the Nevada State Bar, which determined that Elisa embezzled more than $74,000 from clients. Larry closed his office in Nevada and moved to Sacramento, California. Despite this, Elisa and Larry married in 1996.

The offence

On September 10, 2001, following a horse show, Elisa McNabney and her friend Sarah Dutra injected Larry McNabney with the horse tranquilizer drug acepromazine at a Los Angeles hotel.

Elisa later confessed that she drove to Yosemite National Park to bury Larry, but he was still alive. Elisa and Sarah kept Larry’s body in the refrigerator in their garage for months. His body was later moved to a nearby winery where it was discovered on February 5, 2002.

During this period, Elisa liquidated the couple’s assets, totaling more than $500,000, and disappeared.

In a related account of the conviction and sentencing, a judge described testimony including that Dutra helped drag the victim’s body down stairs in the Woodbridge house, stuffed him into the refrigerator, and duct-taped the refrigerator shut, leaving him in the refrigerator for about three months or so. The judge also described that Dutra invited McNabney’s son Joe to the Woodbridge house to party even as his father lay dead in the refrigerator.

Investigation

After Larry McNabney’s body was discovered, Elisa was the subject of a nationwide manhunt. She was going by the alias Shane Ivaroni and was hiding out in Destin, Florida.

Investigators believed the body was preserved by refrigeration between September and between the three to six weeks before it was found. Investigators also recovered a refrigerator once belonging to the McNabneys and given to a Clements family acquainted with the couple in late December or early January.

Authorities described that after Larry McNabney’s disappearance, Elisa gave differing accounts of his whereabouts, including that he was in drug rehab in Southern California, that he had moved to Costa Rica, and that he joined a cult in Florida.

A statement from a sheriff at a news conference described Elisa McNabney:

• San Joaquin County Sheriff Baxter Dunn said: “Elisa McNabney ... has (woven) an extensive web of deception,” and “She's probably one of the most deceptive people we've ever seen. She is not what she appears, and she appears differently over and over and over, depending on who's dealing with her at which times.”

Authorities believed Larry McNabney died shortly after he was last seen alive on September 10 at a horse-show competition in Industry, in northeastern Los Angeles County.

A search warrant account described that Sarah Dutra accompanied the McNabneys to the horse show and later said she saw Elisa wheel her apparently intoxicated husband to their red truck and drive away with him, then return without her husband about twenty minutes later.

The prosecution also described drugging with acepromazine and burying later due to a burial plan that changed.

Arrest

Elisa McNabney was captured after she was turned in for the reward money.

• On March 20, 2002, Elisa was staying at her daughter Haylei’s friend’s house in Fort Walton Beach when she was turned in.

Laren Renee Sims had been held without bail in the Hernando County jail in Brooksville, Florida, since her arrest on March 18 in Destin, Florida.

Trial

Sarah Dutra went on trial for the murder of Larry McNabney in 2003. She faced life imprisonment without parole if convicted of first-degree murder, but a jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

In sentencing proceedings and related descriptions, Dutra was also characterized as being convicted of voluntary manslaughter and being an accessory to murder.

During the trial period, prosecutors argued that Dutra helped carry out the plot with Elisa Sims.

A quote from a prosecutor in a sentencing-related hearing described a dismissal of a defense request for probation:

• Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa said: “She is a murderer,” and “She should have been convicted of murder, but unfortunately, we have to respect the jury's verdict. ... I implore the court, do justice in this case. Throw the book at Sarah Dutra.”

A description of the judge’s remarks during the sentencing hearing included the following quotations:

• Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber said: “The defendant, along with (Sims), drags the victim's body down the stairs in the Woodbridge house, stuffs him into the refrigerator ... (and) duct-tapes the refrigerator shut,” and “And then they leave him in that refrigerator for about three months or so.”
• Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber said: “If that's not callousness, I don't know what is,” and “Probation is denied.”

A resentence-related quote included:

• Judge F. Clark Sueyres said: “I just suggest that somehow you ... reconcile these two parts of you, which we know exist, so that you can truly live the better side of yourself for your future,”

In describing Dutra’s characterizations during court, Judge Sueyres was described as telling Dutra to come to terms with dual personality, while court characterization included that she was at times described as loving and artistic and at other times as a calculating killer.

Sentencing

Sarah Dutra received a maximum sentence of 11 years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

The sentencing proceedings included an order that Dutra serve restitution and a stay on an eight-month sentence for a lesser charge. The judge ordered Dutra to pay more than $157,000 in restitution to McNabney’s clients as well as attorney fees for her representation.

Appeals

An appeals process is described as involving reversal and resentencing. A Third District Court of Appeal overturned the original sentence and later reversed itself to allow Judge F. Clark Sueyres to decide if Dutra should serve the maximum term.

A description of the appeal and resentencing included that attorneys began preparing for a convoluted sentencing trial, but then the state Legislature changed the law that gave judges more discretion in sentencing.

Outcome

Sarah Dutra served her prison sentence and was later released.

In the aftermath, a parole transfer was granted so she could serve her parole in Solano County.

• Sarah Dutra was released from the Central California Women’s Facility on August 26, 2011.

She had been sentenced on March 19, 2003 to 11 years for voluntary manslaughter.

Aftermath

In Elisa McNabney’s suicide note, she asked her lawyer to sue the Hernando County Jail for not preventing her suicide. She also asked that her children receive any funds raised from the lawsuit.

The suicide note included the following verbatim text:

"This is all I can give to my children... My actions now will allow them to move into the future without this heavy burden. They won't have to watch my trial on Court TV. It should all die with me,"

A 2005 made-for-TV movie based on the case aired on Lifetime, titled Lies My Mother Told Me. The film starred:

• Joely Richardson as Elisa
• Kailin See as Sarah
• Hayden Panettiere as Haylei

A later report described that Sarah Dutra was initially charged with capital murder, but a jury convicted her of voluntary manslaughter and being an accessory to murder.

A quote from Luis Patino, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, was included regarding the parole transfer:

• Luis Patino said: “A parole tranfer was approved from Sacramento County to Solano County in order that she be able to maintain strong family ties to aid in her successful reintegration,”

In addition, family statements were included. McNabney’s adult son and daughter said they were still coming to terms with Dutra’s release.

• Tavia Williams told The Record: “We, as his children, are working on forgiveness for our health and well-being,”

A resentencing-related characterization included:

• At a resentencing hearing in 2007, a judge said Dutra showed “unparalleled callousness” in helping to carry out the crime.

Another quote from the resentencing hearing included:

• Deputy Public Defender Keith Arthur said: “She is secondary victim of one of the most evil people this court will ever see,” and “She was a coward, and because of that, Larry died.”

Other details

Sarah Dutra was described as a 21-year-old art student at California State University, Sacramento, when she befriended Laren Sims. Dutra was also described as a former high school class president.

Prosecutors described a plot to poison McNabney with a horse tranquilizer and steal money from his law practice. A confession letter by Sims implicated Dutra and left her to stand trial alone.

Dutra was initially charged with murder and conspiracy charges and was held in the San Joaquin County Jail.

At a later hearing, Deputy Public Defender Keith Arthur described that Dutra had no criminal record until the case.

A quote from a juror was included:

• Juror Garey Zimmer said: “I wish we would have done our job,” and “The judge did his. But we just didn't have all the information that would have made it possible for the murder conviction. Jailed mistery widow hangs self”

The case was described as one of the first in California to be sent back by the Third District Court of Appeal after a Supreme Court decision found problems with the state's sentencing rules.

A news report described that the judge at a resentencing hearing sent Dutra back to prison to serve out her 11-year sentence, and described her as needing to reconcile aspects of her personality.