The Inheritance | Fatal Fraud | Forensic Files

[audio logo] NARRATOR:<i> Every fraud</i> <i> begins with a promise.</i> MICHAEL STERN: They had planned this and plotted it
and practice it to how they were going to do it and what they were going to do, what they were going to say.
POLICE (ON VIDEO): [indistinct]. NARRATOR:<i> A quick fortune, easy</i> <i> money, or a life torn apart.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: When he saw Sarah and he heard that she had received this large inheritance,
he thought, here's a solution all of my problems. NARRATOR:<i> But behind</i> <i> these illusions</i>
<i> lie calculated</i> <i> deceptions, carefully</i> <i> hidden in plain sight.</i>
- Every word that came out of his mouth was to make the police look somewhere else besides him.
From that point on, we watched and we were like, lie, lie, lie lie, lie. NARRATOR:<i> Sometimes</i> <i> these criminals</i>
<i> are backed into a corner</i> <i> and feel their only way out</i> <i> is to kill.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: But for the inheritance, she would probably not be the target of this financial crime.
MEGHAN DOYLE: The 24-years that I was a prosecutor, I have never, ever experienced something
that was so cold-hearted and made for a TV movie. It was almost unbelievable. [exhilarating music]
[unsettling music] NARRATOR:<i> In December 2016,</i> <i> a promising young art student,</i>
<i> Sarah Stern, went missing</i> <i> in the leafy borough</i> <i> of Neptune City, New Jersey.</i>
- I'm Michael Stern, father of Sarah Stern. I've lived in Neptune City all my life.
It's a tight knit community. The population is just about 5,000, maybe a little bit less.
And everybody kind of knows everybody. The housing, everything is close together.
NARRATOR:<i> Sarah Lee Stern</i> <i> arrived in this world</i> <i> on March 24, 1997.</i>
<i> She was a much wanted baby.</i> MICHAEL STERN: We were very happy, very proud parents.
Sarah was just special. It was just the unconditional love for another person. And to me, it was just the kind of spectacular.
I mean, I loved every minute of it. She used to draw when she was in grade school,
but it wasn't until she got into high school where she was doing art, photography and media that she
just all of a sudden-- I would describe it as a-- as a flower that was kind of the bud
was just on the vine. And then all of a sudden, one day the sun came out and this bud opened up and it was Sarah being artistic,
and I can't tell you how proud I was of her talent and what she could do. NARRATOR:<i> On December 2, 2016,</i> <i> while Michael Stern was away</i>
<i> on vacation,</i> <i> Sarah's grandmother</i> <i> had become concerned that she</i> <i> couldn't get a hold of her.</i>
MICHAEL STERN: I talked to her the day before and everything was in good spirits.
Her grandma talked to Sarah every day. And on that Friday, unfortunately, she couldn't
get in touch with her. So she sent me a message and I said, well, it's early. I said, she may be-- she may be out or--
I tried texting her from 10 o'clock at night until midnight and had-- wasn't getting any word from her.
Everything was going to voicemail, and we just didn't know what was going on. 911 DISPATCHER (ON PHONE): <i> 911, where's the emergency?</i>
MAN (ON PHONE):<i> Actually,</i> <i> on the Belmar Bridge,</i> <i> heading south in the middle</i> <i> of the bridge.</i>
<i> There's a car that's abandoned.</i> 911 DISPATCHER (ON PHONE):<i> The Belmar Bridge</i>
<i> being the 35 Bridge?</i> MAN (ON PHONE): <i> Yeah, the 35 Bridge.</i> - My name is Meghan Doyle.
I have been a lawyer for 25 years. I was a Monmouth County prosecutor for 24 of those years.
There was a call at night that a car was abandoned on the Belmar Bridge, and it appeared that it
was a possible suicide. POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> 1-9-0-10, can</i> <i> you see if we have any contact</i> <i> info for the</i> [indistinct].
NARRATOR:<i> The car</i> <i> was registered</i> <i> to Sarah's grandmother,</i> <i> who told them</i>
<i> it was only used by Sarah.</i> <i> Police dispatched</i> <i> a unit to the home</i>
<i> Sarah shared with her father.</i> POLICE (ON VIDEO): [indistinct]. POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> Trying</i> <i> to locate the registered owner.</i>
<i> There's nobody</i> <i> in the house so far.</i> MICHAEL STERN: It was maybe three hours later,
I got a call from the police department that her car was found on the bridge, and Sarah was missing.
We just packed up our bags at 3 o'clock in the morning, got in the car and started driving back to New Jersey.
It's a 15-hour trip. In the meantime, they had already started search parties and water searches.
There were scuba divers in and nobody knew what happened to Sarah. We couldn't find her.
BRYANNA FOX: They searched the river up and down, trying to find a body, which in the middle of winter should
have been pretty easy to identify through a broken ice and to see her body, but they didn't.
I'm Dr. Bryanna Fox. I'm a psychological criminologist at the University of South Florida and
a former FBI Special Agent. When police are essentially raiding the missing person's
vulnerability, they look at things like age, mental capacity, financial victimhood.
They look at if they could be ransomed. All of that leads to them to think it was this person just gone unexpectedly
for a little while. Are they somewhere else, or are they in serious danger? MEGHAN DOYLE: Sarah's grandmother
indicated that the car was given to Sarah, and Sarah was the only one who drove it.
So Sarah would be the one who had left it there. POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> There's</i> <i> nobody in the house so far.</i>
NARRATOR:<i> The search revealed</i> <i> that the family dog had</i> <i> been locked up in a cage,</i> <i> but there was no other sign</i>
<i> that anyone was there.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: The police started talking to her friends.
Sarah had a very tight little group of friends, but I don't know if you would say she had a million
friends all the time. She was into what you would call like Comic-Con, and things like that.
So she traveled a lot up to Canada, to California, doing those types of things. MICHAEL STERN: She had a lot of friends,
a lot of acquaintances, and as she went through grammar school and high school, she developed a lot of different friendships
from different areas. NARRATOR:<i> Liam McAtasney was</i> <i> one of Sarah's friend group</i>
<i> from high school.</i> <i> Michael said he and Sarah</i> <i> had become closer recently.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: Liam grew up in Neptune, went to school with Sarah. They had grown up together, doing all kinds of things
at each other's houses, knew each other's families. MICHAEL STERN: She was a very warm person,
and if she liked you, she liked you and you were a friend. And she didn't, she just didn't-- didn't have
anything to do with you. She's just kind of happy go lucky. And, you know, she kind of went along with the flow.
So everything was-- was good with her friends and she enjoy being around her friends.
NARRATOR:<i> Liam was best</i> <i> friends with Sarah's prom</i> <i> date, Preston Taylor.</i>
<i> The three of them</i> <i> had become very</i> <i> close for the last few months.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: They were typical 19-year-old kids. Liam worked as a waiter at a restaurant in Neptune,
and Preston worked with his dad, I believe, doing painting. I think they were humble kids.
Most 19-year-olds, they're not driving around in BMWs or Porsches, or anything crazy like that.
They were just trying to find their way. Liam was the last person she was with. The police went to his house.
He seemed to be a very concerned friend. POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> You got a second,</i>
<i> can I come in and talk</i> <i> to you real quick?</i> LIAM MCATASNEY (ON VIDEO): <i> Yeah, no problem, officer.</i>
POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> Is</i> <i> Sarah here by chance?</i> LIAM MCATASNEY (ON VIDEO):<i> No.</i>
POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> When was the</i> <i> last time you talked to her?</i> LIAM MCATASNEY (ON VIDEO): <i> I was with her today.</i>
NARRATOR:<i> As the sun</i> <i> came up, the whole town</i> <i> was searching for Sarah.</i>
- The next day, when I got to work at the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, I was asked to do some search warrants to start
to see if we could figure out a paper trail or some type of trail from a computer or something
as to where she possibly was. NARRATOR:<i> As with any</i> <i> missing person case,</i>
<i> investigators had</i> <i> to understand who Sarah was.</i> <i> Until Sarah's dad</i> <i> returned, their best</i>
<i> witnesses were her friends.</i> - They then go to Liam and being like, listen,
we don't know where she is, if she went in the water, if she left. Liam said I was with her all day.
POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> What's going on with her?</i> <i> How's she been acting lately?</i>
<i> The same?</i> <i> Different?</i> <i> Liam, you've known her for</i> <i> since first grade, you said.</i>
<i> - Yeah.</i> POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> Has she been</i> <i> different than normal lately?</i>
<i> - Well--</i> POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> And for how long?</i> <i> - In the past, she</i> <i> has had a tendency</i>
<i> to have self-destructive,</i> <i> suicidal behavior.</i> <i> Over the past few months, she's</i> <i> been telling me-- excuse me.</i>
<i> How bad her relationship</i> <i> with her father is</i> <i> and how she just needs</i> <i> to get out of here.</i>
POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> Why was it bad?</i> <i> What made it bad?</i> <i> - Fighting.</i>
POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> Arguing, fighting?</i> <i> - Arguing, fighting.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: At that moment, we know that she's not
where she's supposed to be. She's not with Liam, who she was with all day. She's not at her house.
And they would be the only two places she would be. And she's not with her car. NARRATOR:<i> The working</i> <i> theory was that Sarah may</i>
<i> have jumped from the bridge.</i> <i> Her father, Michael, was still</i> <i> thousands of miles away and</i>
<i> growing increasingly worried.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: You can see the text messages
going from a daddy-daughter, like sweet moment, and then the panic starts to set in.
Sarah, is everything OK? Sarah, they found your car. Sarah, you're not answering.
And they escalate and escalate, and the panic is so obvious. NARRATOR:<i> By December</i> <i> 5, Michael Stern</i>
<i> was still racing back from</i> <i> a vacation in Disneyland,</i> <i> unaware of what was</i> <i> happening at home.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: The first few days of this, we did not have a lot of contact with Michael Stern.
It was with Liam because Michael Stern was driving back from Florida. We were beginning to believe that maybe
she had a problem with dad. NARRATOR:<i> While the authorities</i> <i> waited for Michael to return,</i>
<i> the police, led</i> <i> by Detective Brian Weisbrot,</i> <i> continued to talk</i> <i> to Sarah's closest friends,</i>
<i> including Liam and his</i> <i> roommate Preston.</i> BRIAN WEISBROT (ON VIDEO):<i> Hey, Liam.</i>
<i> Thanks for coming in, man.</i> <i> - Yeah, no problem.</i> <i> - Do you have to work</i> <i> or you're off?</i>
<i> - I'm off.</i> - You're off. <i> - No, I actually have--</i> <i> supposed to have school all</i>
<i> day, but I emailed</i> <i> all my professors,</i> <i> and they said it's fine if I</i> <i> don't come in this week.</i>
<i> - OK.</i> <i> - Yeah.</i> <i> - Why aren't you</i> <i> going to go in?</i> <i> - This whole thing is still on.</i>
<i> I don't know.</i> [indistinct speech]<i> to be</i> <i> taking finals this week.</i>
<i> - OK.</i> <i> Did you go to school</i> <i> with Sarah as well?</i> <i> - Yeah, they were all</i> <i> in a friend</i> group.
<i> That was essentially who</i> <i> I started hanging out</i> <i> with when I was high school.</i>
<i> - Now, is she near or is she</i> <i> older or younger than you?</i> <i> - She's a same age.</i>
<i> - Same age.</i> <i> You guys graduated together.</i> <i> Our police officers from</i> <i> the state police, the divers,</i>
<i> to us, to the other detectives</i> <i> that you met over the weekend</i> <i> trying to find Sarah.</i>
<i> And there's a lot</i> <i> of resources involved here.</i> - Now, remember, this is supposed to be his best friend.
And Brian says, do you have any questions for us? Do you have any questions for us
regarding this investigation? And Liam says, I only have one. <i> - She-- she did</i> <i> jump off the bridge,</i>
<i> what are the odds that she's</i> <i> not somewhere all the way</i> <i> out in the ocean by now?</i>
- She would be super far out at sea. And he does that with his hands. I was like, that's your question?
You've been talking about how abusive our father is, and the only question you have is that--
so Brian walks out and Brian says, he's lying. Something else is going on. NARRATOR:<i> When Michael</i> <i> Stern finally arrived back</i>
<i> in Neptune City,</i> <i> he faced questions</i> <i> about his relationship</i> <i> with Sarah.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: Well, when you met Michael, he was not any of those things. He was quiet, but he was immediately heartbroken.
And he would call the detectives every day to be like, I know my daughter did not kill herself.
And the pain you would hear in his voice, the determination in finding her, made it very clear that this was not
a man who abused his daughter. BRYANNA FOX: So when it appeared that Sarah had parked
her car at the top of this bridge and had theoretically committed suicide, investigators are looking
into this, but she had a dog that she had just done surgery. $2,000 worth of surgery on because she was so hopeful that
her dog was going to survive. It shows that she had much to live for. MEGHAN DOYLE: Michael Stern said
right away, Sarah never would have left that dog in the cage. Something is wrong.
MICHAEL STERN: Sarah and Buddy. There she is. She was quite young there, and Buddy--
Buddy lived to be a little over 12 years old, and he was pretty cool. Sarah loved them.
MEGHAN DOYLE: I was at that time assigned to major crimes, so we started treating it as an investigation
of a possible homicide. NARRATOR:<i> In the town, everyone</i> <i> was still searching for Sarah.</i>
MICHAEL STERN: When Sarah went missing, we arranged a week later a search party.
And that was done through Sarah's cousin. We got together. We started doing thousands and thousands of flyers
were distributed all over the state. They went nationally. One of her friends in the social media.
Within three days, he had 300,000 hits, you know, to help to find Sarah. So that's the kind of people that Sarah knew.
NARRATOR:<i> One thing that soon</i> <i> became clear to prosecutor</i> <i> Meghan and the police was</i> <i> that there was a lot talk</i>
<i> about Sarah's inheritance.</i> MICHAEL STERN: Well, Sarah's mom, you know, she had cancer for a little over five years.
It was bad at first, and then she was in remission. And when it came back, it came back with a vengeance.
And it was only a matter of less than a year that she passed away. MEGHAN DOYLE: The family had another home
in Sea Girt, which is another beach town in Monmouth County. Sarah was at that house, and as she was walking up the stairs,
there was a wall that had the sheetrock or plaster taken off of it, and you could see the wooden planks
that were behind it. When she looked, there were boxes of money that her mother had been storing away for her.
She had told very, very few people about it. NARRATOR:<i> There was a rumor</i> <i> that Sarah could have</i>
<i> inherited as much as $100,000.</i> BRYANNA FOX: Sarah being the person that she was, she didn't act like she
had this large inheritance. She certainly didn't go around telling people the amount that she inherited.
So it was sort of word of mouth through this small community that Sarah had received a large sum of money
when her mother had passed away a few years earlier. MICHAEL STERN: Her mom had saved money over the years.
Money from her aunts and uncles. Not too many people knew about it, including me.
Had I known about it, the money would have been in the bank. And I think when it was discovered,
someone told Sarah, don't tell your dad because he'll try to take it from you. That's pretty far from the truth
because we already established a life fund for Sarah. - Sarah, when she found the money, she deposited some of it
into the bank and put most of it in safe deposit boxes so it would stay in cash the way it was.
I think some of it was to hold on to a little bit of her mother, because she had touched it.
Her mother had hit it. It was her mother's that that emotional part of it was important to her.
When she told her friends, she told three friends that we know of. I don't know if she gave an amount.
She did, at point, say it was not hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was about, I think, $38,000 and change-- maybe a little
more, maybe a little less. But it was all cash. - But unfortunately, this led to some untruths
about the amount of inheritance, but that was actually unfounded. NARRATOR:<i> While Sarah</i> <i> was still missing,</i>
<i> Liam became the center</i> <i> of the police investigation.</i> MICHAEL STERN: Sarah's relationship
with Liam McAtasney went back years. Not only going to school together in high school,
but also in the community. They were involved in the volunteer fire department. McAtasney was in the same church as Sarah was,
and they made their confirmation together. And that was an important step in, you know,
her growing in her religion. Although she wasn't a highly religious person-- she did believe in God.
And for some reason, that led to trust amongst people. MEGHAN DOYLE: The police did keep
going to talk to him because he was the last one with Sarah, and I believe, they all thought he was lying to us.
We thought that he knew where she was and just wasn't telling us. LIAM MCATASNEY: I've been friends with her
since first grade, so we have a pretty good friendship. BRYANNA FOX: Liam McAtasney was facing
a lot of financial hardship. He was making poor life decisions, so he had a lot of struggles.
And when he saw Sarah and he heard that she had received this large inheritance, he thought, here's the solution
all of my problems. Liam McAtasney had wild dreams about how this money was going to come into his life,
and it was going to solve all his problems, things he was going to buy and what he was
going to spend the money on. NARRATOR: <i> The authorities involved</i> <i> in the search</i> <i> for Sarah suspected</i>
<i> that Liam and his best</i> <i> friend Preston were</i> <i> not being straight with them.</i>
<i> Sarah's last movements</i> <i> linked them with her.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: Liam and her ran a bunch of errands.
They went to Taco Bell. They went to a neighbor's house to drop off some holiday stuff.
They also went to the bank. Neptune City being such a family-oriented town. Everybody at the bank knew who Sarah was.
You see her walk into the bank smiling, waving at people. You could tell the greeting was just so warm.
Liam stayed in the car. When they got home, she went upstairs and put that money in a safe.
Got a girlfriend named Carly who lived across the street that they were planning on going to Canada,
but not in a point where it sounded like they were going that morning or that week.
MICHAEL STERN: She liked Canada. She got a little Canada pin. And I-- I-- I can't even tell you what some of this stuff is.
Set no path. Never-- never lose your way. And then don't forget to be awesome. NARRATOR:<i> Whenever</i> <i> Liam spoke to anyone,</i>
<i> he would talk about</i> <i> Sarah's plans for Canada</i> <i> and how she had</i> <i> family problems.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: And they're interviewing him, asking if he knew anything about Sarah's disappearance,
and he proposes several ideas. These are sort of face value theories that are very easily disproven.
I mean, it shows that he didn't really think this through. Somebody who runs away and goes to Canada
doesn't have no cell phone usage, have no financial transactions whatsoever. That would be very easy for police
to dispel almost immediately and yet, he thinks this is going to quell the police,
and then they'll just say, oh, great. MEGHAN DOYLE: His story pretty much stayed the same,
and it was all a lie. Every word that came out of his mouth was to make the police look somewhere else besides him,
to look somewhere else besides it being a murder. Every single thing he and Preston did from that point on,
we watched and we were like, lie, lie lie lie lie. NARRATOR:<i> While</i> <i> investigators were convinced</i>
<i> Liam wasn't being</i> <i> straight with them,</i> <i> there was no evidence</i> <i> of wrongdoing.</i>
<i> They needed a break.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: So the Thanksgiving before Liam had a friend who he spoke to about a movie idea--
Anthony Curry. And he said, wouldn't it be a cool murder movie if somebody was killed?
We threw her off the Belmar bridge, making it look like a suicide, and then stole all her money.
Anthony didn't think anything of it. He didn't really like the story, I guess. And that was it.
I'm going to not call it anything but luck. Anthony Curry seeing something on Facebook about Sarah missing
and that her car was found on the Belmar bridge. He called his father and said Sarah's not missing.
She was murdered and Liam did it. They then called a friend who was a detective at the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office
who called us and said, I think this missing girl is not missing. I think these kids murdered her.
NARRATOR:<i> The police</i> <i> had long suspected</i> <i> Liam had been</i> <i> lying to them, but</i>
<i> they couldn't prove</i> <i> anything till his friend</i> <i> Anthony agreed to help.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: The police were already interviewing Liam McAtasney before this additional information came forward,
so they already had reason that they were talking to him. Anthony heard about this case and thought,
is it really possible that he was involved? And so it was Anthony that went to the police
and told the story to them. NARRATOR:<i> Anthony, an amateur</i> <i> filmmaker, agreed to meet Liam,</i>
<i> with the aim of getting him to</i> <i> admit what he did by secretly</i> <i> recording their conversation.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: When Anthony agreed to wear the wire, it's the first time in my career,
I have ever seen a confession that was not gotten by police. It was just a friend talking to a friend about what he did.
- She had one safe and she took money out and she only had $10,000. NARRATOR:<i> Unaware</i> <i> he was being filmed,</i>
<i> Liam proceeded to describe</i> <i> to Anthony how he had planned</i> <i> to rob Sarah of her money.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: When you heard his tone, his tone was no different than my tone is right now.
The parts of it that would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up was how he talked about how he planned it, how
he would watch what Sarah did. - I pretty much hung her, like I just-- I picked her up and had her just,
like dangling off the ground. MEGHAN DOYLE: At some point, Liam decided it was going to be a murder,
and him and Preston had talked about it. MICHAEL STERN: They had planned this and plotted it
and practice it to how they were going to do it and what they were going to do, what they were going to say,
and how they were going to lie about things and try to make it look like Sarah committed suicide.
And she had a bad relationship with me. And that was the farthest thing from the truth.
MEGHAN DOYLE: One day, Sarah was with Liam the entire day. He convinced her to go to the bank.
When they were at the bank, he texted Preston and said, this is the day it's going to happen.
And they went back to Sarah's house. And according to Liam, he strangled her. It took her about 23 minutes to die because he
timed it on his phone. - And it took me a half an hour to kill her. I thought I was going to be able to choke
her out and have her out in like a couple minutes. NARRATOR:<i> The police now</i> <i> had a confession from Liam</i>
<i> that he had brutally</i> <i> killed Sarah.</i> <i> However, they needed more</i> <i> proof, so they questioned</i>
<i> Preston Taylor again.</i> <i> - We know what</i> <i> happened to Sarah.</i> <i> Ever since she was</i> <i> reported missing,</i>
<i> the Neptune City</i> <i> Police Department,</i> <i> the Belmar Police</i> <i> Department and</i>
<i> the Monmouth County</i> <i> Prosecutor's Office</i> <i> has been working tirelessly to</i> <i> find out what happened to her.</i>
<i> And we did, OK?</i> <i> We know what</i> <i> your involvement in it was.</i>
<i> All right?</i> <i> We want to talk</i> <i> to you about that.</i> <i> All right.</i>
<i> What we're most</i> <i> interested in knowing,</i> <i> not necessarily what happened</i> <i> because we already know that.</i>
<i> We want to know</i> <i> why it happened.</i> <i> All right.</i> <i> We want to know why</i> <i> Liam did what he did.</i>
<i> - What'd he do?</i> <i> - He killed Sarah, OK?</i> <i> And we know you</i> <i> know that, right?</i>
<i> You know that.</i> <i> Correct?</i> <i> - Yes, correct.</i> - I think that the way Preston was manipulated by Liam
was out of fear. And at some point, Preston realized, if I don't go along with this, I could be next.
Not that he ever said that. That's just my perception, based on the totality of all of the evidence we had.
<i> - Sarah just found a bunch</i> <i> of money and that was it.</i> <i> And then it wasn't until</i> <i> about a month or two later,</i>
<i> he said that he was</i> <i> coming up with the idea.</i> <i> - OK.</i> <i> What did he-- what did he</i> <i> tell you he planned on doing?</i>
<i> - Taking her out</i> <i> and then find somewhere</i> <i> to dispose of the body.</i>
<i> - When you say taking her</i> <i> out, what do you mean?</i> <i> - Strangling her.</i>
<i> - OK.</i> - Preston Taylor, he actually participated in the cover up of the murder, so he helped Liam
to dispose of Sarah's body. This was after she was brutally murdered, strangled, and very--
almost tortured, psychologically, if not physically. NARRATOR:<i> Following</i> <i> the confession,</i>
<i> both Liam and Preston</i> <i> were arrested and</i> <i> charged with Sarah's murder.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: He was charged in February of 2017 with murder, robbery, conspiracy,
desecration of human remains. The sentence could be life to 30 years if it was determined he killed Sarah with his own hands.
There's a bunch of stuff to get like-- if my office had suggested he plead guilty to anything
but life, I might have quit. I don't know if I would have been able to do it. That's how terrible I thought the homicide was
and how manipulative and horrible he was that he would go out and do it again. BRYANNA FOX: Police knew that Preston Taylor was involved
in this scheme and the cover up of the murder with Liam McAtasney, but essentially, they
do what they often do, which is of the two people that were involved. One of them can flip on the other.
And as they say, there's no loyalty among thieves. Literally, that applies to this case
where the same betrayal that Preston was willing to show to his good friend Sarah Stern.
He was just as willing to betray his other friend, Liam McAtasney, and turn on him to try to save his own skin.
NARRATOR:<i> Police then took</i> <i> Preston back to Sarah's house,</i> <i> where he told them</i> <i> the whole story firsthand.</i>
<i> - Liam went to grab the safe</i> <i> from Sarah's bedroom,</i> <i> and then we moved</i> <i> Sarah's body from where</i>
<i> it was hidden in the bushes,</i> <i> through the backyard</i> <i> and over the fence into her</i> <i> car parked on Midwood Street.</i>
<i> - OK.</i> <i> - I was informed beforehand</i> <i> that the back door</i> <i> would be left unlocked.</i>
<i> - Who</i> told you that? - Liam. <i> - OK.</i> <i> - And I entered.</i> <i> When I entered, this</i> <i> door was closed.</i>
<i> This one I couldn't</i> <i> get open, but I was</i> <i> able to push this one open.</i>
<i> Enter.</i> <i> And Sarah was slumped</i> <i> in this corner right here.</i> <i> - OK.</i>
<i> How was Sarah's body</i> <i> positioned in this bathroom?</i> <i> - She was sitting like</i> <i> this, tucked into the corner</i>
<i> and leaning over the toilet.</i> - The doing and the undoing of these two men
was all because of betrayal of an innocent woman and then each other. POLICE (ON VIDEO):<i> Did you</i> <i> help him put Sarah in the car?</i>
<i> - I helped him keep her in</i> <i> while he got the door closed.</i> <i> Yeah.</i>
<i> - OK.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: They then went to the Belmar Bridge. Preston following, waiting at the foot of the bridge.
Liam drove with Sarah in the passenger seat, like she was sleeping. POLICE (ON VIDEO): <i> What was the purpose</i>
<i> of traveling to the bridge?</i> <i> - To dispose of Sarah's body,</i> <i> throwing it off the bridge</i>
<i> into the Marina.</i> <i> Liam had lifted Sarah's</i> <i> body by the shoulders</i>
<i> and gotten her partially</i> <i> up onto the curb,</i> <i> where I then grabbed</i> <i> her by the legs.</i>
<i> Liam had her by the shoulders</i> <i> and hoisted her up</i> <i> onto the railing,</i> <i> and then I pushed</i>
<i> her feet over so that she was</i> <i> going over the rest of the way.</i> - And then they left Sarah's car and left.
NARRATOR:<i> Neptune</i> <i> City and New Jersey</i> <i> was shocked by the arrest of</i> <i> two local teens, Liam McAtasney</i>
<i> and Preston Taylor,</i> <i> for the murder</i> <i> of their friend Sarah Stern.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: I think for Sarah, they were genuinely her friends. I think for Liam, he was friends
because he knew she was an easy target, because she was so trusting. And for Preston, I think, he kind of was along for the ride.
MICHAEL STERN: After McAtasney, Preston Taylor were arrested, there was a lot of motions filed.
So basically for a year, it seemed like every month or so, there was a motion filed.
They had a set dates. They had to have presentations. And going back and forth to the-- the court.
MEGHAN DOYLE: Was very obvious that Preston was controlled by Liam. Preston needed a place to live.
They lived in Liam's family's back house. I think Preston was afraid not to help him,
because I think he realized how dangerous he could possibly be. We met with him a number of times.
He definitely had a lot of guilt about it, which I using a phrase my grandmother used would be
crocodile tears, because you could have stopped it and you were either afraid to or were so greedy
that you really thought you were going to get $100,000. NARRATOR:<i> One of the major</i> <i> problems with the investigation</i>
<i> was that Sarah's body</i> <i> had not been found.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: I think what makes the case unique
when you look at it, initially, people would say there was no body. She was never recovered.
It was determined that she was dumped into the water and based on the waterway there, its proximity
to the ocean and the tides. They believe that within the first 10 hours, she would have been out to sea by miles.
But I think what makes it unique, especially for a Monmouth County, was the fact that this was a premeditated murder
amongst friends. It was not something that was a crime of opportunity. It was not a drug deal gone bad.
It was not a domestic violence situation. This was just a girl who got targeted.
In my opinion, because Liam wanted to know what it was like to kill somebody. BRYANNA FOX: Getting a murder charge when there's no body
is difficult enough. But the fact that they were willing to move forward with this case when they didn't even
offer any location of the body, is really something that's unusual. For some offenders, they really relish in the fact
that they keep some information from authorities. It allows them to feel like I'm better than you.
NARRATOR:<i> Liam McAtasney</i> <i> and Preston Taylor</i> <i> finally went to court, but they</i> <i> had very different approaches.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: Liam pled not guilty to murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, desecration of human remains,
and I believe conspiracy to commit murder. And Preston pled guilty to robbery, conspiracy, and
desecration of human remains. The key pieces of evidence in getting the conviction
were his statements to Anthony Curry and the detectives being able to find all of the evidence that
corroborated that statement. That-- that was it. NARRATOR:<i> With Preston</i> <i> pleading guilty,</i>
<i> the prosecution took</i> <i> the decision to use him</i> <i> to testify against his friend.</i>
- We had a confession. We had the video. It was how do we present it to a jury where they understand it.
Because when you watch it and you see it in real life, like as it was happening, Liam and Preston both appeared
to be worried about Sarah. It's not to know they were lying and that was all premeditated, that you
see how calculated it was. The only thing we needed to do was get it in front of a jury
and know the rules to get all of the evidence in, but they did a phenomenal job.
All of them. NARRATOR:<i> In court, Preston</i> <i> Taylor took the stand</i> <i> and gave evidence</i> <i> against his best friend.</i>
BRYANNA FOX: Preston Taylor ultimately did cooperate with police, and in addition
to a full confession, he led police to two safes that had both the money they had taken
from Sarah's safe deposit box, but it also had her clothes in it. MEGHAN DOYLE: It took those safes.
There were two of them. Took them and buried them in Sandy Hook. So I don't know if they ever had planned
to go back to get them. BRYANNA FOX: So that conclusively linked Preston and Liam to Sarah's death,
but I think this was done not because he felt guilty or any remorse about the crime.
I think it was just to try to get a lighter sentence for himself by turning in his friend.
NARRATOR:<i> Once the jury</i> <i> had heard Preston's story,</i> <i> Liam's horrifying confession</i> <i> to Anthony was played in court.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: Legally playing in court was very difficult. It was very difficult for Anthony to watch.
It was difficult for the victim's family to hear it because it was so calculated,
and you knew at that point that this had been something that was planned by a friend for at least six months before it happened.
- The worst part of it was going to court and finally seeing the videotape that was recorded by the Monmouth County detectives was the most
gut wrenching feeling I've ever had in my life knowing what happened to Sarah. And-- and being-- being described by the person that
put her hands around her and choked her to death, it was-- was just the most devastating.
I can't even explain how numbing the feeling is. <i> - I picked her up</i> <i> and had her just</i>
<i> like dangling off the ground.</i> - Knowing that's what happened to your only child
who had so much to live for and was so into life herself. And through greed and planning, it was just a horrible thing
to go through it. BRYANNA FOX: When Liam was discussing the crime with Anthony, he was discussing it in vivid detail.
However, later in court, he said it was just emphasizing and detailing more about his movie
plot and that he was just so into it and he was discussing this film he was making.
So he was trying to convince the jurors that, in fact, he was not responsible. He just so happened to have this movie
script that was so eerily close to the way Sarah had died. MEGHAN DOYLE: It's very hard to determine
what Liam's motive was. If it was to steal a shoebox under her bed, if it was to get more money, he did
take her to the bank that day, where she removed about $10,000. That money was put in a safe in her room
if it was not something that was hard for them to take. MICHAEL STERN: If you look at some of the interviews
that were done, especially the initial interviews with the police department in Neptune City and
the detectives, that his answers were-- were planned out and purposeful to try to keep the pressure off
of him and any involvement. <i> - In the past, she</i> <i> has had a tendency</i>
<i> to have self-destructive</i> <i> suicidal behavior.</i> - But as things develop and you look back in retrospect,
there was a lot of signs and signals that he should have been under more scrutiny
and probably should have been questioned much more intensely. <i> - What are the odds that she's</i> <i> not somewhere all the way</i>
<i> out in the ocean by now.</i> - And possibly arrested prior to the two months
that it took before they actually arrested him. NARRATOR:<i> After</i> <i> all the evidence,</i>
<i> the jury considered</i> <i> their verdict</i> <i> and came back with</i> <i> a unanimous verdict.</i>
MEGHAN DOYLE: No matter how well we thought we prepared, no matter what we thought the evidence
was, we still never know what people are going to do. There's 12 jurors who have to decide what's
going to happen in a closed room so you don't know what they're going to do. So that was a great feeling.
But within seconds of hearing guilty, you heard her father burst into tears. BRYANNA FOX: Well, this is every parent's worst nightmare
to have a child that was so well raised, had to deal with so much difficulty in their life
and overcome it. Have something so tragic occur to them unnecessarily, especially by a friend, someone
that she trusted. NARRATOR:<i> Preston was</i> <i> sentenced to 18 years.</i> <i> Liam was sentenced</i> <i> to life without parole.</i>
<i> Both lost appeals.</i> MEGHAN DOYLE: When it first happened and people were talking about him getting life
and how great that is, and he'll never get out, it's hard not to think, well, there's
a father who's never going to get to see his daughter. A grandmother who passed away before the verdict came back.
Friends who are never going to get to do the things they wanted to do. And a 19-year-old girl who didn't get
to live out her dreams. So I feel like when you look at it that way, life in jail
is, what is that? Like, is it gratifying? Not really. MICHAEL STERN: It's hard to describe
the feeling I had for the people that helped along the way, both the prosecutors.
But Meghan was, I think, as a woman and realizing what happened to Sarah and how it happened,
I think she-- she felt emotionally attached. BRYANNA FOX: But for the inheritance
that Sarah had received from her mother, she would probably not be the target of this financial crime.
People that she trusted, that she knew in the small community growing up ultimately turned
against her and used what they thought was this big income they were going to get and use that as the motivation to kill Sarah.
- When you look at this case and the huge community outreach and the searches and Liam's involvement in the searches
and talking to news cameras when these searches would happen, and cooperating with the police,
saying this is where she is, this is where she could be. This is why she left. It is infuriating because you see how manipulative and
calculated he was. MICHAEL STERN: Remember Sarah, you know, and I keep her in my heart.
But we have plenty of photographs. And the people around us, the neighbors, they understand.
And people come up to me that I don't really know. And they may see me out maybe shopping or at a food store,
and they just come up to me and they know the story. And we had a celebration of life for Sarah,
which about 1,200 people attended, maybe more. We didn't-- we lost count after a while,
but it went on for about nine hours, 10 hours, and it was just a nice celebration.
BRYANNA FOX: Sarah Stern was really an all-American girl. She was about 19 years old at the time of her demise.
She was well-liked, very sweet, loving. She had some struggles in her life. Her mother had passed from a long struggle of cancer.
This was a girl that really was trying to overcome all of the defeat that she had felt in her life,
but she was all-American story and somebody that we all were rooting for. MICHAEL STERN: We did start a scholarship after we found out
what happened with Sarah, and we've been doing an art scholarship, basically art media photography
through Neptune High School. We've done nine years so far. The arts are important, you know, in all parts of life.
And I think to honor Sarah with the memorial is-- is important. [somber music] [exhilarating music]

Teenager Sarah Stern disappears after her car is found on a New Jersey bridge, and rumors swirl about a hidden inheritance.

This true crime series delves into cases where financial schemes spiral into betrayal, violence and murder, exposing the deadly cost of lies fueled by greed.

For More FilmRise Check Out Our Other Channels: FilmRise Television: https://www.youtube.com/⁨@FilmRiseTelevision⁩ FilmRise Movies: https://www.youtube.com/@FilmRiseMovies Highway to Heaven - Full Episodes: https://www.youtube.com/@HighwaytoHeavenFullEpisodes

Brief Summary

The episode details the murder of Sarah Stern, her friends' involvement, and the chilling confession that led to their arrest.

Key points

The Disappearance of Sarah Stern. In December 2016, promising art student Sarah Stern went missing, sparking a community search.
The Inheritance Mystery. Rumors swirl about Sarah's potential inheritance, leading to questions about her disappearance.
Betrayal Among Friends. Preston Taylor's cooperation with police leads to crucial evidence against Liam.
The Shocking Discovery. Authorities uncover the brutal truth behind Sarah's disappearance and the involvement of her friends.
The Emotional Toll. The impact of the murder on Sarah's family is devastating and profound.
The Confession. Liam McAtasney's chilling confession reveals the premeditated nature of Sarah's murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It was almost unbelievable.

MEGHAN DOYLE

1:16WatchFeb 16, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.