Sarah O'Keefe

Sarah O'Keefe is a major character in the Series 17 episode ''In A Lonely Place. ''She is the only survivor of a serial killer known as the Macroom Forest Killer.

Background
Sarah lived in Kirkhaven, Scotland or round about that area. Five years before the events of In A Lonely Place, Sarah fell into debt. She struggled to make ends meet and her parents couldn't help her financially either, so, out of desperation, she began stripping. She once prostituted herself with one of her punters, but it was a "disaster" and she never did it again. Sarah hated stripping, but felt she had no other choice.

One day, Sarah was abducted by the Macroom Forest Killer, who gagged and blindfolded her, took her to an unknown location and bound her hands above her head to a metal pipe with wire, before raping her. The next morning, he brought Sarah to Macroom Forest and ordered her to run. Sarah did as he bid and began running for her life, hands still bound, through the forest whilst her attacker shot at her with a gun. Sarah managed to hide, waited for the killer to go by and then ran in the opposite direction. She then spent hours walking through the forest to get to safety. Sarah, feeling ashamed because of her status as a stripper (and perhaps believing that the authorities wouldn't take her seriously because of it) never reported her kidnapping to the police; nor did she tell anyone else. She was left with permanent scars on her wrists where the wire dug into them.

Some time later, Sarah managed to turn her life around. She began a relationship with a man named Steve Boyd and they had a baby boy together.

In A Lonely Place
Sarah sees a report on TV about a woman's body being found in Macroom Forest. This appears to trigger her own traumatic memories of being pursued and nearly killed in the forest five years earlier. When Steve attempts to initiate sex between them, she rebuffs him. When he demands an explanation, Sarah becomes distressed and locks herself in the bathroom, crying and staring at the scars on her wrists. Sarah later confesses everything to Steve. Unfortunately, Steve appears to be more shocked about her stripping than the rape and says he needs time to think, walking off whilst an upset Sarah calls to him. When Sarah learns an unnamed man came to the house asking for her and sees another report about more bodies having been discovered in the forest, she decides to contact the police and tell them her own story. However, when she tries to call the hotline, it is busy. She decides to drive to the station instead, but upon entering her car, she doesn't realise the Macroom Forest Killer is hiding in the backseat.

He abducts Sarah again, with the heavy rain muffling her screams. Sarah fights furiously against the killer, at one point snapping off the window wiper of his van, but he ultimately succeeds in forcing her into the back of his van and drives off with her. Sarah is tied, gagged and blindfolded in an abandoned meat processing plant - the same place she'd been held before. Whilst the killer is out, Sarah manages to break the pipe she is suspended from and temporarily frees herself; unfortunately, the killer - revealed to be Jerome Nelson - arrives back and ties her up again. DS MacNeil arrives, having followed Jerome to the plant and hears Sarah screaming. Unfortunately, Jerome shoots him and bundles Sarah into the van, intending on driving her out to Macroom Forest.

On the road up there, Sarah manages to loosen her bonds, unties her feet and kicks open the van door, rolling out onto the road and making a run for it. She doesn't get far until Jerome gets out and begins stalking her with his gun, ordering her to run whilst he shoots at her. Sarah finally stops at the edge of a cliff overlooking a stream, physically and emotionally unable to go on and knowing there's no escape. When Jerome yells at her to run again, Sarah says "Screw you" before leaping from the cliff, apparently choosing to commit suicide rather than be tormented by Jerome any longer. She lands heavily on the rocks below and is apparently killed; however, she is later found alive by Jack Hodgson. She is presumably treated for her injuries and reunited with Steve and her son.