Who is #Sarah and why is her name being painted across Nashville?

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:02]This is WSMV 4 News.

[00:00:07]>> Well, good evening, everybody. That didn't work [music] very well. Let's go like that. How are you?

[00:00:12]>> Well, yeah, you're covered by the Let's get you your box.

[00:00:15]>> are we going to get us a box?

[00:00:16]Oh, thank you.

[00:00:17]>> Teamwork makes the dream work over here at WSMV.

[00:00:20]>> Yeah, I'm Tracy Kornet. I'm Hunter Hoagland.

[00:00:23]>> Hi.

[00:00:23]>> We're back together.

[00:00:24]>> 9:45. Tracy was off for a little bit, enjoyed some much-needed R&R on the beach. And then you took over last night on your own. You were solo in here.

[00:00:32]>> Oh, yeah. Here. It's >> So, dynamic duo back by unpopular demand. Uh, we're getting ready for the 10:00 news. A lot of big stories.

[00:00:38]There's a crazy one that we're following. Uh, police are searching for a graffiti artist who kind of did a number on some different downtown buildings.

[00:00:45]>> Yeah, so he's spray painting #Sarah across multiple buildings and then in lots of different places on the pedestrian bridge.

[00:00:52]The most bizarre part of this is that the guy like is caught smiling at the camera multiple times.

[00:00:58]>> It's bizarre. You'd think >> trying to hide his identity.

[00:01:00]>> No mask at all. This guy's out broad daylight. You can totally see his face.

[00:01:04]Spray painting all over the pedestrian bridge, and that's what struck me when I watched this. You'd think someone doing that would wear a mask. Obviously, he doesn't care if people know who he is.

[00:01:12]Uh, but he What did he paint? Was #Sarah? Who's Sarah? What does that mean?

[00:01:16]>> almost like loving messages. Like, I love you. Like, why but why I mean, if you're going to spray paint graffiti, you wouldn't anybody know that you're not supposed to paint graffiti, no matter what?

[00:01:26]>> Not this guy.

[00:01:27]>> Not this guy. Either he's totally in love or he's totally wackadoodle.

[00:01:30]>> Right. So, we >> But either way, he's going to get in trouble.

[00:01:32]>> We thought it was fitting to send our new reporter, Sarah Allen, uh, to crack the case on who this actual #Sarah is.

[00:01:38]Watch.

[00:01:42]>> Calling all Sarah's.

[00:01:43]>> Oh, let's try that again.

[00:01:45]>> [laughter] >> Calling all Sarah's. Do you know this guy? Metro police are looking for this man that caught on video Saturday afternoon vandalizing the pedestrian bridge downtown writing #Sarah.

[00:01:59]>> And this isn't just in one spot. The yellow spray-painted Sarah is all over the pedestrian bridge. And while they all seem to be rather kind messages about this mystery Sarah, it's still illegal.

[00:02:10]>> He was even able to deface a Metro police car, and police say they're now pursuing active leads from the footage they got. But I thought given my name is also Sarah, it was only fitting for me to go down to the bridge and talk to others who noticed it. One group was visiting Nashville all the way from England, and they say unfortunately vandalism is everywhere.

[00:02:29]>> It's worldwide, isn't it?

[00:02:31]You know, no matter where you go in the world, you'll see you know, this. And it's >> We have it >> part of our culture now, you know.

[00:02:38]>> But they say at least the message wasn't inappropriate.

[00:02:41]>> Uh and it's very polite here.

[00:02:43]It's I love Sarah.

[00:02:46]In the UK, it'd be something else, Sarah.

[00:02:48]>> [laughter] >> But the group agreed that even though the message is nice, it's still nice art.

[00:02:53]>> I think it just ruins the the look of the towns. It just makes it look scruffy.

[00:02:58]>> The burning question I got from people passing by was if I recognized the culprit caught on camera. And that answer is no. But if you do, police are asking you to call 615-742-7463 in Nashville. Sarah Allen, or should I say #SarahAllen?

[00:03:23]>> So who is #Sarah? That's the big question tonight. We see his face. Look at him just look back. That's the guy who did it. Not a care in the world.

[00:03:31]But a Metro police car, that'll get you in trouble.

[00:03:33]>> Yes. I mean, who would do that, no matter how much you're into somebody.

[00:03:37]And you just tried to check it out Twitter?

[00:03:38]>> I did. I was like, I wonder if there's a #IloveSarah. I didn't see anything on there. But I'm intrigued now. Maybe he's trying to get this girl back or >> Exactly.

[00:03:47]>> I don't know. It's bold. It'll get her attention, that's for sure. I want want know what you did in the first place to have to go to such lengths to >> And did you I don't know if you guys follow comedians and I don't know if you know our coworker Lydia and how she's engaged to this comedian named John Crist, but that picture him looks like John with like 20 lb on him. [laughter] >> I thought so, too. I was going to say that. I was like, I don't want to put that out. It does. It looks just like John. Hang on. Is it going to come back?

[00:04:10][laughter] John Crist, is that you?

[00:04:12]>> kind of your >> fat suit?

[00:04:14]>> It is kind of a person who is a quite a trendy look with a short haircut. And he is in like trendy clothes.

[00:04:20]>> Right.

[00:04:20]>> And hopefully we'll see him in a second.

[00:04:22]And he looks like he's got a well-shaved, you know, well-kempt beard.

[00:04:25]>> Sure. Sure. Somebody knows this guy, whatever his reasoning was. Uh not the way to go about it. Again, we had mentioned police are looking for this guy. Obviously, he vandalized one of their patrol cars. So, it is a big issue. Uh there he is again.

[00:04:39]>> You know?

[00:04:40]>> And certainly too, such a public spot there.

[00:04:42]>> I do wonder and we should have checked this before we came on this OTT show.

[00:04:45]So, we'll have to bring this up tomorrow. What are the consequences for vandalism?

[00:04:49]>> That's a good question.

[00:04:50]>> and I don't know if you're Uh it would be an easy fix, an easy catch. So, is it a misdemeanor? I I don't know.

[00:04:56]>> I also don't know how you get that off.

[00:04:59]>> I know.

[00:04:59]>> You know, if it was a wall, you could paint over it, but if it's still like that on the bridge, I'm looking at it. I don't know how you get that off.

[00:05:05]>> yeah, do you pay to have it removed? Are you're on the hook for it?

[00:05:08]>> We may see him out there scrubbing it off. I don't know how.

[00:05:11]>> I hope that's tomorrow night's hit.

[00:05:13]>> All right.

[00:05:13]>> So, if you know who that is, let police know and let us know same time.

[00:05:17]>> For now, signing off a #hunter and #tracey. We are getting ready for the 10:00 news here in 10 minutes. Uh actually, a lot of big stories. So, luckily, we had a nice little break in the rain today. It was so hot out there, though.

[00:05:28]>> hot and muggy.

[00:05:29]>> Yeah.

[00:05:29]>> It's feeling better a little bit by tonight. So, Dan Thomas is in the house with that. And then, when it comes to Chris Harris and our sports tonight, we're still waiting to find out if the guard at Vanderbilt, Tyler I've already forgotten his name.

[00:05:41]>> Is it Taulia Tagovailoa?

[00:05:42]>> Yes, thank you.

[00:05:43]>> Yeah.

[00:05:43]>> You've been to a couple games.

[00:05:44]>> I love Vandy. Anchor down.

[00:05:46]>> I love that you love them. Uh to see if he decided he was going to go to the draft or if he was going to come back to college. We're still waiting to hear he has until midnight tonight.

[00:05:53]>> Sure, we'll see about that and then obviously the big story tonight is about NES. A quarter of a million of you were without power back in January. So NES is trying to fix that by this new pilot program burying some of those power lines out underground. Huge price tag on that. It cost I think it's like 10 times what it is to put those things above ground but >> It would be so much more attractive. I'm a little jealous cuz it's not my neighborhood listed. There are four only four neighborhoods listed. The only one I can remember is like off Robertson in the Nations in the new part of the Nations kind of Charlotte Park area actually. But that's it. So we'll see how much that actually cost and if it ends up being, you know, productive and if some of the dangers of that or the I guess inconveniences or simply that yeah, you could have flooding and and the water, you know, but come on. We've buried power lines all across this country. I have a feeling >> And the goal is to not be exposed to ice or wind or just different storms if they're underground. Hopefully they aren't falling and then your power stays on. So we'll see.

[00:06:48]>> Yeah. All right, so we'll see you for all the stories and more coming up at 10:00.