For years, Dryden, New York was known as the kind of small town where everyone knew everyone—a close-knit community built around families, schools, sports, and familiar faces.

But between 1989 and 1996, a series of devastating tragedies would forever change the town. In Part One of A Decade of Darkness: Dryden, New York, we focus on the cases connected to Dryden High School and the families whose lives were changed forever. Drydenp1

We begin with beloved Dryden teacher and varsity football coach Stephen Starr, whose daughter Amber was being relentlessly stalked by her former boyfriend, J.P. Merchant. After months of escalating threats, Merchant entered the Starr family home on December 30, 1994. Stephen confronted him in an effort to protect his daughter and was killed—an act the Starr family would later describe as the ultimate sacrifice for his family. Drydenp1 Drydenp1

Nearly two years later, tragedy struck Dryden High School again when 16-year-old best friends and varsity cheerleaders Sarah Hajney and Jennifer Bolduc disappeared. Their absence from school and a Friday-night football game immediately alarmed their friends, and investigators soon discovered evidence of a violent struggle inside Sarah’s home. Drydenp1 Drydenp1

The investigation eventually led police to Sarah’s next-door neighbor, John Andrews, and to a remote hunting cabin in Otselic, New York. The discovery there confirmed the community’s worst fears and became one of the darkest chapters in Dryden’s history. Drydenp1 Drydenp1

This episode remembers Stephen Starr, Sarah Hajney, Jennifer Bolduc, and the families and friends whose lives were forever affected by these events. As the episode makes clear, Dryden was not a “cursed” town—it was a community where terrible things happened to good people. Drydenp1

Part 2 of A Decade of Darkness: Dryden, New York arrives October 19.

⚠️ Content Warning: This episode discusses stalking, domestic violence, murder, sexual violence, and suicide.

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 in the United States to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

Research for this episode also draws from “The Cheerleaders” by E. Jean Carroll, which includes interviews with several people directly affected by these cases. Drydenp1

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