In November 1985, Jo was devastated when her granddaughter Sarah Whitting was murdered by her business partner for The Caldwell House, Melvin Hibbard, who at the time was plotting to destroy Joanne and her bed and breakfast. With Sarah dead, Melvin kidnapped Jo for revenge and so that he could kill her too and then ruin the Caldwell House. After her ordeal with Sarah's death and her kidnapping situation, Jo went to confront Estelle Kendall (Domini Blythe) about her connections to Martin, the island of San Marcos, and Rivera (Lloyd Battista); afterwards, Jo blamed Estelle for all that she had done to Martin during their love affair. While still sad over the death of Sarah, Jo, Stu, Cagney, Suzi, Bela and Wendy all believed that Melvin Hibbard didn't kill Sarah, this coming to the conclusion that someone else did. It turned out there was a serial killer loose in the town of Henderson, the killer eventually murdered Stephanie Wyatt (Maree Cheatham, Louise Shaffer), in February 1986, right before the major flood that wiped out almost all of Henderson;