Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 11 ended with the shocking murder of Jamie Dutton’s lover and partner in crime – but who killed Sarah Atwood, and why?
Sarah’s murder is just one of many shocking deaths in Yellowstone. In Season 5 Part 2 alone, we’ve already witnessed the brutal assassination of John Dutton, but everyone from here to Montana knew that was coming.
On the other hand, Sarah’s attack came out of the blue in broad daylight. With multiple people on her tail for her part in John’s murder, some would say she had what was coming to her. But there are still questions that need answering.
Namely, who killed her? As far as we’re concerned, there are three main suspects.
Sarah’s own hitmen
Of all options, this theory is the most likely. Let’s look at the facts: Sarah Atwood hired a prestigious top-secret company to put a kill out on John Dutton. When she initially met with them in Season 5 Episode 9, their representative (a man with the fake name “Grant”) made it clear just how high the stakes were.
Clearly, this company was willing to go to extreme lengths to protect their own interests and prevent anything from getting out about the exchange. If that means killing off the very person who hired them in the first place, then so be it.
In Episode 11, Kayce convinces the medical examiner to classify John’s cause of death as “undetermined”, meaning a police investigation could commence. When Grant watches this on the news, he looks visibly irritated, and goes about making moves to straighten this out. When Sarah sees the same news report, she panics.
She buys a burner phone, runs home, and attempts to call Grant. The line, however, is disconnected. She destroys the phone just before Jamie gets home. The two argue, with both freaking out about the potential connection back to them. However, it’s really all on Sarah’s shoulders. She was the one who hired the company, after all.
When she leaves Jamie’s house, she’s shot in the head and chest while waiting at a stop sign. The two people that kill her (disguised as a lost couple asking for directions) look like efficient and seasoned killers. More than anything that links them back to Grant and the company, and it seems incredibly likely that they would have made the decision to kill Sarah, who was their main connection to the hit.
Kayce Dutton
While Grant and the killer-for-hire company seems to be the most likely scenario, there’s always Kayce. After being swayed by Beth’s belief that Jamie had something to do with John’s death, he spends Episode 11 playing detective. He gets an autopsy performed on John (which reveals signs of a struggle), and most notably, gets in touch with his old pal from the army.
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Clearly, this friend has ties to some black ops agents, who may be able to help find out who killed John. However, they may also be able to help Kayce put out a hit on his own.
Now, this is Kayce we’re talking about. The man isn’t afraid of dealing with (or killing) his own problems. However, the game has clearly changed, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Kayce resorted to hiring out for this one in order not to be directly tied back to anything.
Also, earlier in the episode, Beth told Kayce about Sarah, meaning his focus would have been on her just as much as Jamie. And with Kayce having a little more willingness to believe Jamie’s side of things too, it may be that he decided to take out Sarah first in the hopes of giving his brother another chance.
Beth Dutton
If there was a candidate for the most vengeful and impulsive character on Yellowstone, Beth Dutton would be in the lead. From the moment she learned about John’s death, Beth was intent on convincing everyone around her that it had been Jamie.
As such, she’s out for blood. In Episode 10, she even goes to Jamie’s office and tells him that she will be the last thing he sees before he dies.
On the way out, she encounters Sarah and slams her against the wall while choking her. Beth lets her go, but it’s clear she knows Sarah has something to do with it. And with Jamie being as weak as he is, Beth likely has no doubt who was the brains behind the murder plot.
It may be the case that Sarah’s death is priming up viewers for a big twist. Instead of Sarah’s hitmen turning on her, it could be that Beth actually organized her murder as a brutal act of revenge. Beth is more fixated on Jamie, but it’s not an impossible theory.
For more, find out where to watch Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2. You can also learn more about Beth and Jamie’s feud, and find out why Kevin Costner isn’t in Yellowstone anymore. Don’t miss all the other new TV shows out right now, either!
