Dr. Sarah Stein

Dr. Sarah L. Stein is an author, consulting investigator, and co-founder of The Center for the Resolution of Unresolved Crime. Stein was awarded her PhD in Criminal Justice in 2012; her dissertation was entitled, The Cultural Complex of Innocence: An Examination of the Social and Media Construction of Missing White Woman Syndrome.

She received a master’s in Forensic Science with a concentration in Advanced Investigation and a certificate in Computer Forensics in 2007. She earned a bachelor’s degree in 2004, with a self-designed major entitled The Victimology of Pedophilia.

Stein has authored two chapters on cold cases, and published several articles related to the topic. Recent literary contributions include the chapter, Politics of Murder & the Challenges of Cold Cases, in the book, Survivors: Shocking True Stories About America’s Pursuit of Police Transparency & Justice (2019), compiled by Dennis N. Griffin of The Transparency Project, and the chapter, Criminals: The Shadow Bearers of Society, in Map of the Soul: Shadow, Our Hidden Self (Stein, Buser, Cruz, & Stein, 2020). Who Took Molly Bish? is the first in Stein’s When Criminal Justice Fails series.

Dr. Stein’s areas of expertise include cold cases, victimology, suspectology, behavioral and crime scene analysis, missing persons, interviews and interrogations, the social phenomenon of missing white woman syndrome, and how the influence of politics can affect progress and outcomes of unresolved cases. She consults and teaches regularly for law enforcement agencies and provides guidance for families in the United States and internationally.

Who Took Molly Bish is the gripping and emotional story of the abduction of Molly Bish, and the social and political influences involved in the investigation surrounding her untimely death. Dr. Stein provides a deeply personal account filled with vivid, brilliant descriptions that make you feel as though you are living through each maddening circumstance with her.