Sarah Abbott

Sarah Abbott is a character in the Grinded series, first introduced as the Sheriff of Sunset Ridge, Colorado. She first appears in *Grinded*.

She is a closed-off woman, who always keeps her fronts up, not wanting to get close to many of her colleagues. Her determination comes through when she becomes driven to find the identity of Blank Face.

In the first story, she is shown as the hardened Sheriff of the town that finds herself in the thick of the murders while trying to solve them. She is later one of four survivors of the Sunset Ridge Murders.

While at first she comes across as a cold, work-driven woman, surviving the murders causes her to allow herself to open up more, especially with the other teen survivors. She develops a maternal bond over them, not wanting anything else to happen to them.

She appears in a cameo role in *Grinded Part II*, appearing in the prologue which picks up on the same night Part I ended with. In 2021, she is still the Sheriff of Sunset Ridge, and frequently texts the survivors to make sure they're okay, having developed a sort of maternal bond over them.

## Biography

### Early life

Sarah was born sometime in 1983, becoming the younger sibling to an older brother, Donnie. Throughout her childhood, Sarah was taught to defend herself from her brother, which inspired her want to become a police officer. When she graduated high school, Sarah joined the police academy where she quicky completed training, and landed a job at the Sunset Ridge Police Department.

After a rough start as an officer, Sarah learned the ropes and eventually was promoted to a deputy. Before she turned 30, she and her partner, Riley, were faced with an incident that ended up claiming Riley's life. Sarah never quite moved on from Riley's death, deciding to keep herself to herself as she climbs the ranks of the police department. On her 30th birthday, she was surprised with the promotion of becoming Sheriff. After becoming Sheriff, Sarah met Erica Rhodes, who had only just finished training at the academy. Over the course of the next five years before the murders, Sarah's parents moved out to Denver to stay with her brother, who promised to help look after them.

### The Sunset Ridge Murders

At Sunset Park, Sarah finishes up looking over Michael LeBeck's body, expressing how disgusted she is that someone did that to a kid. Her deputy and partner, Erica Rhodes, follows close behind as they talk about the pressure they're facing from the mayor and the townspeople to find the person responsible. After thanking Rhodes for offering her full support, Sarah and Rhodes are stopped when trying to get into their car, by reporter Yun-Jin Park. Sarah quickly puts Yun-Jin in her place, not in the mood for their typical dynamic. She then tells Rhodes they're next move is the school-wide interrogation.

A little later that morning and Sarah, Rhodes, and another deputy, Clint Denson, are deep into the interrogations. Sarah notices Rhodes seems to be a little shaken up and asks if she's okay. After Rhodes admits that it's a little intimidating and that she admires Sarah's own calmness, Sarah promises the outside doesn't represent what she's feeling inside. Principal St. John brings in Paul Beauregard for his turn for questioning, and Sarah is less than pleased to see him, not being fond of the Beauregard family in general. The questioning is blunt from both parties, with Sarah displaying a lack of compassion towards Paul. Sarah does inquire if he believes Michael was killed for being gay, but Paul dismisses the idea, believing that no one would care about something like that anymore. She then asks for a list of names of other gay kids in school and he names: August Thrombey, Quentin Vaughn, Freddie Blackwell, and Thomas Strode. Sarah makes a note before dismissing him.

She doesn't share her theory of the killer possibly targetting the kids, instead waiting to speak properly until the next student, Quentin, is brought to the office. She notices him to be a little on edge and makes a mental note of it. When Quentin reveals he and Michael never really got along, Sarah makes a guess that they liked the same boy, which Quentin confirms. Sarah begins to grow suspicious of Quentin, asking where he was last night. Her suspicions aren't soothed when he tells her he went for a night drive by himself, thus not being able to provide a proper alibi. Sarah eventually dismisses Quentin, believing that the teens Paul listed were either potential victims or potential suspects.

Later that day, Sarah, Rhodes, and Denson hold a safety assembly at the school. Sarah runs through some new rules, including the mandatory curfew that is put into effect as of that night, along with the cancellation of Friday's football game. She dismisses the students and heads off with her deputies.

The next day, after Paul's death, Sarah is in her office at the police department. She is going through the case, feeling an achor of guilt weighing her down due to them not finding the killer yet. Rhodes walks in unannounced, once again offering her support to Sarah, who is dismissive. Rhodes then tells her that someone wants to speak to her, and Sarah is irritated to find Yun-Jin in the department. The reporter mentions the pattern of the kids being gay and alludes to the idea the killer may be using gay dating apps to track down his victims. Sarah has Yun-Jin escorted from the building, but clings to her theory, getting the list of names Paul gave her. She now firmly believes if the next victim isn't on the list, then the killer is.

When night falls, Sarah arrives at Sunset Ridge Memoriam Hospital to talk with Thomas, August, and their friend, Lily Mason, regarding Thomas' attack and the fresh murder of Rhodes. She pushes Rhodes' murder to the back of her mind when she walks into Thomas' room. After a less than friendly conversation Thomas' mom, Christina, she manages to talk to the teens alone. As she asks them about their whereabouts, she goes on to say that she and deputy Paul Waitts will be accompanying them to Lily's house. She leaves the teens to make their preparations for the night.

After Thomas is discharged and taken to Lily's house along with his friends, Sarah and Waitts tail them lightly. Before they go inside, she reiterates that she and Waitts will be doing routine checks every thirty minutes around her house, and if they need anything to come for her. She watches the teens head inside before going back to her cruiser.

As the night grows on, Sarah and Waitts are talking, with Waitts bringing up Sarah's brother and asks if he's liking Denver. Before the conversation can go further, Sarah notices the time and realizes its time for her check. She grabs her flashlight and starts trailing around the side of Lily's house.

Shortly after her check, Sarah finds Marcus Winters, Lily's boyfriend, pulling up outside and immediately rushes over. She is quick to grill him about his presence at her home, when Lily comes to his rescue, explaining who he is. Sarah apologizes before letting the kids go. She radio's Waitts, who tells her that he's circling back around now, but unbeknownst to Sarah, he is killed off-screen after he puts the radio down.

Sarah isn't seen for a while until when August is scaling the window ledge of Lily's room, where he see's her supposedly dead body dumped on top of Waitts.

Back inside as August fights to escape from Freddie, who revealed himself to be the killer, Sarah appears at the front door, still alive. She demands Freddie to stand down, but realizes too late that he took her gun. She is subsequently shot in the shoulder, but luckily she wore a bulletproof vest. When Thomas and August manage to kill Freddie, Sarah coughs, confirming her survival once again.

### The Los Angeles Murders

Three years on from the massacre and Sarah still lives in Sunset Ridge where she continues as sheriff. She encourages August to reach out and strengthen his friendships with Sophie and Thomas, while making him promise that they will all be safe. As the murders rev up in Los Angeles, Sarah once again contacts August, warning him to look after each other.

## Relationships

#### Family

* **Unnamed mother**
* **Unnamed father**
* **Donnie Abbott** - Brother

#### Allies

* **Riley** **†** - Former partner and close friend
* **Erica Rhodes** **†** - Former deputy and friend
* **August Thrombey** - Close friend
* **Sophie Dlamini** - Close friend
* **Thomas Strode †** - Former close friend
* **Lily Mason** **†**
* **Quentin Vaughn** **†**
* **Paul Waitts** **†** - Former deputy
* **Clint Denson** - Deputy

#### Enemies

* **Freddie Blackwell** † - Attempted killer
* **Yun-Jin Park**

## Appearances

* ***Grinded - Appears in 11 of 31 Chapters***
* ***Grinded Part II*** (cameo)
* ***Grinded Part III***