Source: Suzy Chase-Motzkin
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Suzy Chase-Motzkin wanted only the best for her grieving father. After her mother passed, Phil Chase sat alone in his North Carolina lakefront home, watching television. The retired psychologist desperately needed companionship. Suzy suggested he try eHarmony. She never imagined where that simple advice would lead.
Philip Chase, 85, followed his daughter’s guidance and created a profile. The dating site matched him with Sarah Kahn, an 80-year-old woman from Pennsylvania. They shared the same birthday and similar interests. Phil found her well-read, funny, and engaging. Hours melted away during their phone conversations and Skype sessions.
After weeks of virtual connection, Phil drove north to meet Sarah in person. Their brunch went wonderfully. Phil felt something he claimed he’d never experienced before. Sarah packed a suitcase and drove back to North Carolina with him that same day. Within one week of meeting face-to-face, she moved into his home permanently.
Something felt off to Suzy. When an online search for Sarah Kahn returned nothing, she asked her father more questions. He mentioned Sarah’s ex-husband worked at RKO Pictures. Suzy searched for that name alongside Sarah Kahn. What appeared on her screen made her hands shake violently. She screamed into her brother’s voicemail in panic.
Sarah Kahn was Sara Jane Moore. On September 22, 1975, she fired a revolver at President Gerald Ford outside San Francisco’s St. Francis Hotel. A bystander deflected her second shot. She served 32 years in federal prison before her 2007 parole. Phil’s new girlfriend was an attempted presidential assassin.
Sara Jane’s life before the assassination attempt was marked by chaos. Born in 1930 in West Virginia, she married five times and abandoned several children to her parents. She worked as an accountant but struggled to maintain employment. One former boss told Time magazine she couldn’t keep quiet and do her job properly.
During the 1960s and 70s, Sara Jane became involved with radical political groups in San Francisco. She volunteered at a food bank connected to the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped Patty Hearst. Sara Jane also worked as an FBI informant, leading a dangerous double life that eventually unraveled spectacularly.
President Ford’s visit to San Francisco came 17 days after another woman tried to shoot him. Sara Jane bought a revolver that morning after police had confiscated her previous weapon the day before. Standing in a crowd of 3,000 people, she raised the chrome-plated gun and fired, missing Ford’s head by five inches.
Sara Jane pleaded guilty and received a life sentence. She spent most of her incarceration in isolation. In 1979, she escaped by scaling a barbed-wire fence but was recaptured within four hours. After serving 32 years, she walked free in 2007, showing little remorse about her actions against the president.
Suzy and her brother Cru faced an impossible question. How do you handle your elderly father falling for someone who tried murdering a U.S. president? Phil knew about Sara Jane’s past and didn’t care. He was a trained psychologist who believed he could handle the situation. He was in love.
Phil defended his relationship fiercely. He diagnosed Sara Jane as emotionally fragile during the assassination attempt. She’d paid her debt to society, he argued. Sara Jane showered him with attention his sexless marriage had lacked for years. She called him her “Dazzlin’ Amazin’ Dude” and praised his accomplishments constantly.
Sara Jane told Phil they were violating North Carolina law by living together unmarried. She claimed it broke her parole terms and could send her back to prison. The law had actually been ruled unconstitutional four years earlier. In December 2010, just five months after matching on eHarmony, they married.
Sara Jane’s presence created immediate friction. She told Suzy that Phil’s children should receive nothing from his estate since they already had so much. She claimed Marion’s landscape paintings as her own. When family members questioned her, Phil defended his new wife and refused further discussion about the matter.
Phil requested that his family keep Sara Jane’s criminal history secret from others. She seemed friendly with her Secret Service monitor, even introducing him as her nephew. Sara Jane controlled access to Phil, listening to all his phone calls and inserting herself into every conversation with his children.
In 2014, Phil’s health declined after surgery complications. Sara Jane discovered Cru had a 1983 felony drug conviction and banned him from visiting. She claimed associating with felons violated her parole. Phil sided with his wife over his son. Father and son didn’t speak for three painful years.
When Sara Jane underwent back surgery in 2018, Phil finally had time alone with his children. He reconnected with Cru, sharing emotional conversations. He admitted to Suzy that remarrying had been a mistake, saying he’d learned an important lesson about not getting married again. The family reunion felt hopeful.
Four months later, Phil suffered a fatal stroke at age 93. His will had been repeatedly modified during his marriage to Sara Jane. She received roughly a third of his $700,000 estate, plus his pension and annuity. She kept family heirlooms, their mother’s paintings, and even Phil’s ashes.
Sara Jane acknowledged in a deposition that Phil had asked her to return family items after his death, though he hadn’t written this into his will. She refused to give them back. Suzy and Cru filed a lawsuit challenging the will. The case settled, returning some possessions and their father’s remains.
In February 2019, Sara Jane was arrested at JFK Airport. She’d traveled to Europe and Israel with another man without notifying her parole officer. At 89 years old, she returned to jail for six months. Even after Phil’s death, her life remained marked by drama and rule-breaking.
In 2023, Suzy received a startling phone call from Nashville. A man’s family had discovered his father-in-law, known as Papa, was matched on SilverSingles with Sally Chase from Pennsylvania. The woman spoke with Papa daily, charming him completely. The family grew suspicious and researched her background online.
Sara Jane Moore died in September 2025 at age 95 in a Tennessee nursing home. She’d been bedridden for 15 months after a fall. Her life exemplified manipulation and chaos from beginning to end. She left behind devastated families, unresolved questions, and a legacy proving that some patterns never truly change.
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