Evil Lives Here is examining the decade-long harassment of Sarah Garone by her stepfather Gary Hardy. Garone had been unaware that her abuser was someone so close to her and someone she was supposed to trust.
In 1996, Sarah Garone was just 13-years-old when a parcel arrived at her home in Chandler, Arizona, that was addressed to her. Excitedly, she tore open the package, only to find that it contained a selection of pornography sent from an anonymous individual.
Garone told her mother and stepfather, Gary Hardy, about the parcel, and they reported it to the police. At the time, Garone had hoped it was a one-off incident, but unfortunately, it marked just the start of decade long campaign of harassment by someone she was supposed to trust.
Over the following years, the harassment increased as she went through high school and even when she moved away to college. She was sent more and more pornography, often accompanied by explicit notes. Her email was hacked, and her friends were sent copies of private emails she had written to her fiance.
When she returned to Arizona after college, the harassment seemed to take an even more disturbing form when she noticed items of underwear began to go missing. Was her abuser now breaking into her house?
Gary Hardy was exposed by a sex toy
The incidents were reported to the police and the investigators finally got a breakthrough after Garone was sent a sex toy through the mail. Gary Hardy’s secretary had spotted the sex toy in his possession before he posted it. The secretary connected the dots and contacted the police.
Garone later told Today that: “For so long, all the evidence had pointed to him even though he was really good at denying it and gaslighting me… I truly believe he is a very cunning sociopath.”
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelHardy was arrested and charged with harassment and breaking into his stepdaughter’s home, as well as possessing child pornography. The cops also discovered that he had been stealing from his business. He also admitted to Garone’s mother that he regularly visited prostitutes.
Garone later wrote in The Hamilton Spectator: “It turned out Dad had been living a double life: upstanding churchgoer on one face; larcenous, adulterous predator on the other.”
After a failed attempt at suicide Hardy was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
More from Evil Lives Here
Follow the links to read about more disturbing crimes examined on Evil Lives Here.
Cameron Todd Willingham was accused, convicted, and executed for the murder of his three young daughters in Corsicana, Texas. However, there’s a theory he may have been innocent all along.
Gary Green stabbed his wife, Lovetta Armstead, and then drowned her daughter Jazzmen Montgomery before her two sons managed to persuade him to spare their lives in this particularly horrible case of anger and jealously.
Evil Lives Here airs at 8/7c on Investigation Discovery.