Page 20 of Saltwater

New Sources Come Forward in Sarah Lingate’s Death

Los Angeles Times

November 17, 2007

Fifteen years after the death of Sarah Lingate, two anonymous sources have stepped forward to provide additional information about the playwright’s death on July 19, 1992. Since then, the Lingate family has declined to give interviews or speak publicly about the events of that week.

One source reports having seen Sarah Lingate, on the night of her death, injured and walking with a man close to the villa where the family was staying. “I was with friends,” the source said, “and none of us wanted to come forward because we were all drunk that night, and most of us couldn’t remember what happened clearly, but in the intervening years, I’ve become certain that it was Sarah Lingate we saw that night.” The source says Lingate was “bleeding” and “nearly unconscious.” The man who accompanied Lingate that night has not been identified, but the source describes him as “a fairly tall, big guy, white, about her age.”

The second source claims to have been a guest at the dinner party the playwright and her husband, Richard Lingate, attended the evening of her death. It was widely reported at the time that the couple may have argued or become physical, but a new source claims she overheard Richard complaining that “Sarah had tried to kill him earlier in the day.” The vacation represented a turning point in the couple’s marriage.

“Everyone knows they were fighting that night,” Stan Markowitz said in an interview on the 10th anniversary of the death. “It wasn’t a happy marriage.”

Markowitz has been a vocal advocate for reopening the case, arguing that local law enforcement in Italy did not work closely enough with the LAPD to investigate the Lingate family. “I have no direct knowledge of who killed Sarah, but I would like to see justice for her. The timing of a suicide simply doesn’t make sense. I know she was excited about her work. I also know that there were many questions the family and the staff at the villa never answered, including whether or not anyone was awake when Sarah returned home, what happened to the project she was working on, and why certain staff refused to return to the house.”

The Lingate family did not respond when asked for comment.