Kidnapping of Sara Anne Wood in “48 Hours”

The tragic kidnapping of Sara Anne Wood from a country road in central New York State attracts national attention.

The kidnapping over 30 years ago is addressed in the premiere of the 37th season of “48 Hours”.

Sara disappeared on August 18, 1993, while riding her bicycle home from Norwich Corners Church Bible School on Roberts Road. Her abductor, Lewis S. Lent Jr., eventually confessed to kidnapping and murdering Sara while in custody for another crime against children. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole and refuses to release the location of Sara's body.

Lent claimed he buried Sara's body in the Adirondack Mountains, but when he drew a map of the burial site, extensive searches turned up nothing. Sara's body has still not been found, but the search continues more than 30 years later.

She was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt with “Guess Who” printed on the front, turquoise shorts and brown sandals.

Trip for missing children

Sara's heartbreaking story sparked a movement. A small group of cyclists, seeking to raise awareness for the Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center, rode in teal and pink jerseys from Utica, New York, to the U.S. Capitol on May 25, 1995, National Missing Children's Day.

What began as a small group of cyclists seeking to raise awareness has grown each year, with thousands taking part in The Ride for Missing Children and raising funds for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Two colors have been added to the Ride for Missing Children campaign jersey – white to represent all missing children and purple to salute the police officers who continue to search for Sara.

48 hours

The CBS broadcast shows footage of police press conferences, searches in the forest and pleas from Sara's parents for help in finding her.

The kidnapping occurred two weeks before Sara's older brother Dusty Wood turned 17. “I can't think of anything that could be more life-changing,” he tells 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty.

“The Never Ending Search for Sara Anne Wood” airs Saturday, September 21 at 9:00 p.m. EST.

“It's important to find the body because then my mother might know where she is.”

Check out the first episode of “48 Hours.”

Missing: Over 60 children disappear from homes in New York State