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Rachel Wade Gets 27 Years in Teen Rivalry Murder

By Laura Strachan, Esq. on September 07, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

The deadly love triangle between three Florida teenagers has finally come to an end. Rachel Wade has been sentenced to twenty seven years in prison for killing her rival, Sarah Ludemann, on July 23. Wade was convicted of second degree murder, according to CBS News.

The complicated teenage rivalry pitted Rachel Wade and Sarah Ludemann competing for the affections of the same boy, Josh Camacho, over a period of months. The jury heard testimony about the many confrontations between the two girls, including profanity-laced text messages and voicemails leading up to their final encounter.

Ultimately, neither girl got the guy, and the deadly rivalry between the two girls ended in a violent stabbing with a kitchen knife, in which Ludemann ultimately bled to death in the street outside her house, just weeks before her senior prom. The judge in the case, Joseph Bulone, did not see the events as an accident: "The murder was no accident. It took a lot of force to plunge that knife through skin, through fat and bone, through someone's heart." In her defense, Wade contended that on the night of the fatal stabbing, Lundemann and her friends were planning on "jumping" her, and that her actions were pure self-defense.

Bulone also chose not sentence Wade as a juvenile offender -- a decision that explains that twenty seven years behind bars. There is no report as to whether Wade will appeal her conviction. In his final words addressing the court, Bulone hopes that charging Wade as an adult will help with the healing process, "The actions of Rachel Wade have caused a lot of pain. I hope now, healing can occur."

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