5 chilling details about Sara Anne Wood's murder 

It has been 30 years since 12-year-old Sara Anne Wood disappeared while returning home. Her body remains undiscovered even today. Her unfortunate disappearance triggered hundreds of Central New Yorkers to go out in search for her and the news quickly garnered national attention.

The story of Sara Anne Wood will be covered in the upcoming episode of CBS 48 Hours, which returns today with its 37th season. The season opens with the episode The Unending Search for Sara Anne Wood, exploring Sara's chilling disappearance and murder. It premieres today at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and also on Paramount Plus.

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5 details explaining the murder and disappearance of Sara Anne Wood

Before the CBS show returns with the story of Sara, here are five bone-chilling details about the case.

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1) Who was Sara Anne Wood?

Sara Anne Wood was only twelve when she disappeared while riding her bicycle home from Norwich Corners Church in Sauquoit, New York in August 1993. When she did not return home that day, her family went out looking before a neighbor discovered her bike hidden in a bush off the side of the road about half a mile from the Wood family's home, and the police were alerted.

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2) Another attempted abduction led to Sara's killer

In 1994, when 12-year-old Becky Savarese of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, was walking to school one morning, at one of the busiest intersections in town, a man came up beside her. He held a gun to her and threatened her to get into his truck. Luckily, Becky faked an asthma attack and managed to run away. After she ran into a man clearing snow off a sidewalk, Becky called the police.

Another witness by then had also called in with three digits from the fleeing truck's license plate. Investigations led to a 43-year-old handyman and former movie theater janitor Lewis Lent, who had been driving that truck. At first, Lent denied involvement but later confessed to trying to abduct Savarese. Further investigations led to evidence that this was not the only attempt Lent made.

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3) Disturbing evidence led to further revelations

When police searched Lent's truck they found Becky's backpack, a gun, and Lewis Lent's 'snatch kit' that included duct tape and a clothesline rope. It was clear he was using it to attempt to abduct kids.

Following the discovery Lent was arrested for the attempted abduction of Becky and the police managed to connect it to two more cases, Sara Anne Wood's disappearance from Sauquoit, New York, and Jimmy Bernardo's disappearance. All three victims were 12 years old at the time of the attacks.

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4) Sara's body still remains to be found

Until 1996 when Becky's case surfaced, Sara Anne Wood's case had remained unsolved. Lewis Lent who was arrested for the attempted abduction of Becky also confessed to killing Sara.

He claimed that he buried her body in the Adirondacks, near Raquette Lake, but after an extensive search of the area, police could not find her remains. Lent still refuses to give out the exact location of the body and the search for Sara continues.

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5) Sara's disappearance triggered an initiative to raise awareness

While Sara may no longer be with us, her legacy lives on within her community. Every year her memory is honored during the annual Ride for Missing Children, which helps raise money for The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Edward Suk, the executive director of NCMEC's New York branch, said via NCMEC:

"Sara was wearing teal and pink and was riding her bicycle when she was abducted. We honor Sara through our signature ride jersey."

In 1995, a small group of bicyclists rode roughly 400 miles from Utica, New York, to Washington, DC to raise awareness for Sara's case, and kickstarted the mission. Since then, it become one of the NCMEC's biggest annual fundraisers.

Sara's disappearance has also inspired the creation of the Sara Anne Wood Rescue Center in Utica, which helped create a system for the swift distribution of children's missing person flyers. This led to over 10.5 million posters of 11,012 children being sent out; of them, more than 7,500 children have been found.

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Catch the full story of Sara Anne in CBS's 48 Hours today.