1
00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:05,920
Speaker 1: Seven weeks of searching for a missing New Jersey teenager

2
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:07,200
Speaker 1: turned up nothing.

3
00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:09,160
Speaker 2: Sarah was nowhere to be found.

4
00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,039
Speaker 1: Nineteen year old Sarah Stern was last seen emptying out

5
00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:14,000
Speaker 1: her bank account.

6
00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 3: She took out seven thousand dollars. What would a nineteen

7
00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:19,639
Speaker 3: year old be doing with this money?

8
00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,760
Speaker 1: No one knew what to believe, especially when one of

9
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:27,880
Speaker 1: her former high school classmates came forward with an unimaginable story.

10
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,960
Speaker 4: I did something really dumb when I planned it out

11
00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:31,800
Speaker 4: for half a year.

12
00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:36,560
Speaker 5: It was a chilling account with no remorse, no emotion.

13
00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:41,080
Speaker 4: Beat, throw off the bridge, and the body never showed up.

14
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,280
Speaker 1: Today, we're in Neptune City, New Jersey, for the conclusion

15
00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 1: of BFFs the Sarah Stern Story. My name is Sloane

16
00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:54,400
Speaker 1: Glass and this is American Homicide. A warning that this

17
00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,360
Speaker 1: episode contained some graphic content. Please take care while listening.

18
00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,680
Speaker 1: Neptune is the Roman god of the sea. It's where

19
00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:06,959
Speaker 1: Neptune City, New Jersey, got its name.

20
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,800
Speaker 2: Nephton City is a small town about five thousand people.

21
00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,320
Speaker 1: Michael Stern lived there with his family.

22
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,320
Speaker 2: It's just a stone's throw from Asbury Park and Belmar,

23
00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,760
Speaker 2: which is about halfway between Atlantic City, New Jersey and

24
00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:22,600
Speaker 2: New York City.

25
00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,520
Speaker 1: Neptune City is a short distance from the one hundred

26
00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,640
Speaker 1: and forty miles of ocean front property in New Jersey.

27
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:34,280
Speaker 2: They're just beach after beach and small towns that were

28
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,000
Speaker 2: set up hundreds of years ago, and they each have

29
00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:39,840
Speaker 2: their own little unique personalities.

30
00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:42,840
Speaker 1: The area is a place popular with tourists during the

31
00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:43,840
Speaker 1: warmer months.

32
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,200
Speaker 2: Basically all the short towns kind of share the same

33
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,520
Speaker 2: common theme, which is the beach and some of the

34
00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:55,640
Speaker 2: nightlife and restaurants and John bon Jovi used to hang

35
00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:56,880
Speaker 2: around the beaches here.

36
00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,760
Speaker 1: Michael raised his daughter Sarah Neptune City.

37
00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:03,360
Speaker 2: She loved the beach and she loved being down by

38
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:03,800
Speaker 2: the beach.

39
00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:09,240
Speaker 1: Yes, being outdoors, especially in the summer, was something Sarah

40
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:10,760
Speaker 1: loved about the area.

41
00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,799
Speaker 2: We had a swimming pool and a trampoline in the backyard,

42
00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:17,600
Speaker 2: so it was always a magnet for the kids to

43
00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,800
Speaker 2: come over and just hang out, and they would be

44
00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,200
Speaker 2: there from the morning until night. The kids liked their

45
00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:26,720
Speaker 2: the older kids, younger kids so and she got along

46
00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:27,519
Speaker 2: with everybody.

47
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,079
Speaker 1: As Sarah grew up, she got involved in photography and

48
00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:34,200
Speaker 1: the arts, but she also had no problem getting her

49
00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:35,280
Speaker 1: hands dirty.

50
00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,200
Speaker 2: I'm in construction and sometimes I would just need an

51
00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:41,760
Speaker 2: extra hand for a short period of time, and she

52
00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,640
Speaker 2: would always be there. She liked to get her work

53
00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:47,880
Speaker 2: boots on and her jeans and a flannel shirt and

54
00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:51,919
Speaker 2: come out with me and you know, work a little

55
00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:55,560
Speaker 2: get a little dirty, and so that was kind of

56
00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:56,959
Speaker 2: a fun thing with her too.

57
00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:02,480
Speaker 1: According to Michael, the two were on one another, especially

58
00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,160
Speaker 1: after Sarah's mother passed away from cancer.

59
00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,480
Speaker 2: She struggled at times. It's a tough, very tough thing

60
00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:13,200
Speaker 2: to deal with that, you know, just one day they're gone.

61
00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 1: And in early December twenty sixteen, Michael was the one struggling.

62
00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,119
Speaker 1: After Sarah mysteriously disappeared.

63
00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:25,280
Speaker 2: They found Sarah's car up on the bridge.

64
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:28,560
Speaker 1: At the time, there were different theories as to what happened.

65
00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:32,120
Speaker 1: One was Sarah was in a very bad place mentally

66
00:03:32,680 --> 00:03:36,520
Speaker 1: and took her own life. The other was she quietly

67
00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:38,800
Speaker 1: left town to start a new life.

68
00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,960
Speaker 2: We spent a lot of time looking everywhere, especially around

69
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,400
Speaker 2: the Marina area and all through the inlets every day,

70
00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,520
Speaker 2: hoping that something would turn up and we'd find a

71
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:53,280
Speaker 2: piece of something that belonged to Sarah, or God forbid,

72
00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,160
Speaker 2: that her body would show up, but we just we

73
00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:56,600
Speaker 2: didn't know.

74
00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:00,000
Speaker 1: Now, keep in mind these searches were happening right away

75
00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: round Christmas in twenty sixteen.

76
00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,880
Speaker 2: Holidays came and went, and we still didn't have any answers,

77
00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:10,320
Speaker 2: and it was it was a tough time for everybody.

78
00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:15,120
Speaker 1: Then the investigation took a turn. In January twenty seventeen,

79
00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:19,279
Speaker 1: Anthony Curry, a friend of Sarah's from high school, met

80
00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,159
Speaker 1: with detectives. He agreed to let them wire his car

81
00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:27,960
Speaker 1: for audio and video and secretly recorded a chilling story

82
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:34,080
Speaker 1: from one of Sarah's very best friends and confidants, Leah Mcatassney.

83
00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,960
Speaker 4: I pretty much hung her. I just I picked her

84
00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:41,599
Speaker 4: up and had her just like dangling off the ground,

85
00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,880
Speaker 4: and she just pitched herself. And then that was it.

86
00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:50,560
Speaker 1: You just heard Liam, Sarah's friend since the first grade,

87
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,840
Speaker 1: talking about how he strangled and then threw Sarah's dead

88
00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:57,599
Speaker 1: body into Shark River.

89
00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:00,320
Speaker 4: That's not even the worst part. The worst part it

90
00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:02,880
Speaker 4: is I thought I was walking out fifty grand, one

91
00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,400
Speaker 4: hundred grand in my pocket. She only had angrit.

92
00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:10,280
Speaker 1: Edward Kershenbaum worked for the Neptune City PD.

93
00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:15,599
Speaker 5: Liam mcintazzie was the mastermind of this entire crime.

94
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,560
Speaker 1: Police were tipped off by Liam's friend, Anthony Curry. Anthony

95
00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,359
Speaker 1: was an aspiring movie producer who dreamed of making horror films.

96
00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,159
Speaker 1: A few weeks earlier, Liam shared his idea for a

97
00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:33,359
Speaker 1: movie with Anthony, and it had chilling details that mirrored

98
00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,240
Speaker 1: what police thought might have happened to Sarah Stern.

99
00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:38,480
Speaker 5: He was one of the only few people that knew

100
00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:40,840
Speaker 5: what happened to Sarah and wanted to talk to law

101
00:05:40,920 --> 00:05:43,400
Speaker 5: enforcement to let them know exactly what he knew.

102
00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:49,599
Speaker 1: In their secretly recorded conversation, Liam admitted to purposefully feeding

103
00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:52,000
Speaker 1: false leads to detectives.

104
00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:53,600
Speaker 4: Like that was the whole part of my plant, would

105
00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:55,799
Speaker 4: make me look not guilty.

106
00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:01,080
Speaker 5: He tried to portray himself as a concerned friend and

107
00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,920
Speaker 5: continue to try to paint a picture of deception that

108
00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:10,440
Speaker 5: it was more or less a suicide or a poor

109
00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:14,160
Speaker 5: relationship with her father that led her to possibly jump

110
00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,039
Speaker 5: off the bridge that night, all along hiding the fact

111
00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,200
Speaker 5: that he was one that was responsible for her murder.

112
00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,599
Speaker 1: And in these recordings, Liam said he didn't act alone.

113
00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,800
Speaker 1: He recruited his roommate Preston Taylor to help dispose of

114
00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:32,599
Speaker 1: Sarah's body.

115
00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,240
Speaker 5: Preston Taylor was involved early on in the planning of

116
00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:38,559
Speaker 5: what was going to happen to Sarah Stern.

117
00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:43,159
Speaker 1: And get this, Preston didn't just know Sarah. He was

118
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:46,800
Speaker 1: actually her date to the junior prom.

119
00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,359
Speaker 5: Preston Taylor was the one person that could have saved

120
00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 5: Sarah Stern's life, but he chose not to be chose

121
00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:55,560
Speaker 5: to follow Liam mcintazzie.

122
00:06:55,880 --> 00:06:59,200
Speaker 1: So if this is actually true, and this is a

123
00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:03,080
Speaker 1: real confession, then it's just really hard to wrap my

124
00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,880
Speaker 1: head around what these so called friends of Sarah's were thinking.

125
00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:11,400
Speaker 5: That's what's so baffling. There's no indication of any type

126
00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,559
Speaker 5: of problem other than pure greed and evil.

127
00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:18,880
Speaker 1: Sarah had inherited money from her mother for months. Liam

128
00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,760
Speaker 1: had his eyes on this money. The afternoon she withdrew

129
00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,920
Speaker 1: fund from her bank, Liam went into action.

130
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:30,760
Speaker 5: Liam mctasti called Preston Taylor when they were at the bank.

131
00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:33,080
Speaker 5: Liam mctas told press Taylor that this was the day

132
00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:34,000
Speaker 5: it was going to happen.

133
00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:40,080
Speaker 1: On February first, twenty seventeen, detectives pulled Preston in for questioning,

134
00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:41,000
Speaker 1: we know.

135
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,560
Speaker 3: What happened to Sarah, we know what your involvement and

136
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:46,840
Speaker 3: it was right.

137
00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:48,360
Speaker 2: We want to know why it happened.

138
00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:50,680
Speaker 3: We want to know why Liam did what he did.

139
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:53,080
Speaker 6: I got home justice.

140
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:55,920
Speaker 1: I know it's really hard to hear Preston in this

141
00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,240
Speaker 1: interrogation audio, but let me tell you, Preston full it

142
00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,360
Speaker 1: like a chair, like within a minute.

143
00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:08,800
Speaker 5: He participated, not the actual murder, but the steps taken

144
00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:09,840
Speaker 5: to cover up the murder.

145
00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:14,040
Speaker 1: Preston said Liam believed Sarah had upwards of one hundred

146
00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,280
Speaker 1: thousand dollars and killed her for that money, a portion

147
00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,000
Speaker 1: of which Preston was supposed to get for helping to

148
00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:22,080
Speaker 1: move Sarah's body.

149
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:27,440
Speaker 5: Preston Taylor goes over, takes Sarah's body and puts it

150
00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:32,640
Speaker 5: over by a hedgerow, covers it with leaves. Once Liam

151
00:08:32,679 --> 00:08:36,880
Speaker 5: mcintoze gets off the work, they pulled down the street

152
00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:42,560
Speaker 5: behind Sarah's yard. They take Sarah, they throw her over

153
00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:48,040
Speaker 5: the fence. They put her in the past your seat

154
00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:48,720
Speaker 5: of her car.

155
00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:52,120
Speaker 1: See. I keep going back to this idea that this

156
00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:56,160
Speaker 1: is their friend and they're treating her body like it's

157
00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,280
Speaker 1: a thing. They buckled Sarah into the passenger seat of

158
00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: her car, and then Liam drove sitting next to the

159
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,439
Speaker 1: dead body while Preston followed in another car.

160
00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:12,760
Speaker 5: The immactas he would study Sarah the way she would

161
00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,920
Speaker 5: back out of her driveway in her car, so his

162
00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:19,000
Speaker 5: plan was to pull out the same way after he

163
00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:19,560
Speaker 5: murders her.

164
00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,640
Speaker 1: A neighbor surveillance camera caught the car pulling out, but

165
00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:27,040
Speaker 1: it was too dark for detectives to see anyone in

166
00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:32,520
Speaker 1: the grainy footage, so they didn't know who was driving. However,

167
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,600
Speaker 1: the time stamp matched up with Preston's story.

168
00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:41,640
Speaker 5: She was thrown into the Shark River on an outgoing tide,

169
00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:46,400
Speaker 5: and they then left and continued on with their lives.

170
00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:50,480
Speaker 1: Preston cooperated with detectives and led them on a play

171
00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:54,719
Speaker 1: by play reenactment of the crime, including where he and

172
00:09:54,760 --> 00:10:00,000
Speaker 1: Liam buried two safes filled with nearly ten thousand dollars.

173
00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:03,800
Speaker 5: In It was just a pure active betrayal. Nobody saw

174
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:06,959
Speaker 5: a coming. Liam mcintazzie wasn't on the police department's radar at.

175
00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,120
Speaker 1: All, yet here they were Sarah's one time prom date,

176
00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,720
Speaker 1: along with her best friend who she met in Sunday School.

177
00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:18,400
Speaker 1: Both arrested for her murder.

178
00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,400
Speaker 5: Preston Taylor was charged with desecration of human remains and

179
00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:27,280
Speaker 5: hindering apprehension, and Liam was charged with murder, felony, murder, robbery,

180
00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,600
Speaker 5: hindering apprehension, a secretion of human remains.

181
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:33,920
Speaker 1: The emotional roller coaster was about to take another dive

182
00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,079
Speaker 1: as detectives had to share the news with Sarah's father, Michael.

183
00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:42,640
Speaker 5: How do you tell a father who has hoped his

184
00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:46,560
Speaker 5: daughter's going to come home that she's not coming home,

185
00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,280
Speaker 5: that she has been murdered and in fact murdered by

186
00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:50,960
Speaker 5: her friends.

187
00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:54,520
Speaker 1: Whenever you have a missing person's case, there is always

188
00:10:54,679 --> 00:10:58,000
Speaker 1: hope that the person you're searching for will come home.

189
00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:02,560
Speaker 1: That hope extends from the family, to the reporters covering

190
00:11:02,600 --> 00:11:06,920
Speaker 1: the story, and law enforcement trying to find them. When

191
00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,520
Speaker 1: that hope extinguishes, there is nothing harder.

192
00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,800
Speaker 2: I sat down at the kitchen table and he told me,

193
00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 2: and I just, I don't know. I was just a

194
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:23,600
Speaker 2: kind of shock after that. I just I just remember

195
00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:28,600
Speaker 2: staring at the table and in disbelief that you know,

196
00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:35,000
Speaker 2: they knew what happened. They had the confession. Worst day

197
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,600
Speaker 2: of my life. It hurts. She was such a good person.

198
00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,000
Speaker 2: Just finding out that whatever friends killed her, It's this

199
00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:45,120
Speaker 2: horrible thing.

200
00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,120
Speaker 1: After the arrest of Leah Mcatasney and Preston Taylor for

201
00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:56,839
Speaker 1: the murder of their longtime friend, Sarah Stern. Law enforcement

202
00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:58,079
Speaker 1: held a press conference.

203
00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:01,600
Speaker 7: Our efforts to recover Sayarah's remains do continue.

204
00:12:01,679 --> 00:12:06,000
Speaker 1: That's right. Even with the two behind bars, the police

205
00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,240
Speaker 1: continued to search for Sarah's body.

206
00:12:08,679 --> 00:12:10,160
Speaker 7: We're not going to give up that search, and that's

207
00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:12,400
Speaker 7: one of the most important things we hope we can

208
00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:16,439
Speaker 7: do is bring some closure by recovering Sarah. For mister

209
00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:18,520
Speaker 7: Stern and knows it loved her still.

210
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:23,840
Speaker 1: Sarah's Bonnie never turned up, which wasn't good for prosecutor's arguments.

211
00:12:24,679 --> 00:12:27,600
Speaker 5: The lack of a body is always a hurdle with

212
00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:29,320
Speaker 5: any type of homicide investigation.

213
00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,640
Speaker 1: Edward Kershembam worked for the Neptune City Police Department and

214
00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:36,880
Speaker 1: he knew without a body it would be tough to

215
00:12:36,920 --> 00:12:38,079
Speaker 1: secure convictions.

216
00:12:38,520 --> 00:12:44,200
Speaker 5: So prosecuted officer felt it necessary to offer a deal

217
00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:47,199
Speaker 5: with President Taylor for his cooperation a trial.

218
00:12:47,679 --> 00:12:50,840
Speaker 1: Part of Preston's plea deal, he pled guilty to a

219
00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:57,320
Speaker 1: series of charges and in exchange, agreed to testify against Liam.

220
00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:01,160
Speaker 5: He was crucial because he was there.

221
00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:04,440
Speaker 1: When Liam went on trial in twenty nineteen. It was

222
00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:08,560
Speaker 1: the county's first attempt to convict someone of murder without

223
00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:13,600
Speaker 1: a victim's body since nineteen seventy five, and to prove

224
00:13:13,679 --> 00:13:18,079
Speaker 1: their case, prosecutors relied heavily on that testimony, pressed it

225
00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:23,520
Speaker 1: was going to give against Liam.

226
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:26,840
Speaker 3: Said that he killed Sarah and ultimatetal me he needed

227
00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:29,800
Speaker 3: me to go over to Sarah's house to no Sarah's body.

228
00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:34,680
Speaker 1: That's Preston Taylor. He testified that Liam Mcatazzne believed Sarah

229
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,760
Speaker 1: had upwards of one hundred thousand dollars, an amount he

230
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:40,719
Speaker 1: said somebody would kill for.

231
00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:46,400
Speaker 2: It started off as plan instead Fergizer house or to Robert.

232
00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:48,400
Speaker 6: Personally, and.

233
00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:55,240
Speaker 3: Over time the conversations progressed to to killing her.

234
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,360
Speaker 1: Now Liam's defense attorney was listening to this, but they

235
00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:02,840
Speaker 1: were about to take a different route, and suggested that

236
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,480
Speaker 1: Sarah Stearn was still alive.

237
00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:12,160
Speaker 8: She wanted to go to California with Canada.

238
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:13,400
Speaker 7: If any word for.

239
00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 5: Here, Lilliam's defense was nobody found a body. Sarah was

240
00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:18,360
Speaker 5: not murdered.

241
00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:23,000
Speaker 1: In addition, Liam's lawyer tried to suppress the recorded conversation

242
00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,680
Speaker 1: between Liam and Anthony Curry, where he confessed to the murder,

243
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:31,280
Speaker 1: but he was unsuccessful. Then he pivoted and explained to

244
00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,600
Speaker 1: the jury that the tape was nothing more than a

245
00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:35,640
Speaker 1: movie audition.

246
00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:38,680
Speaker 9: It was fantasy that it was an audition.

247
00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:44,160
Speaker 2: Leah mcpatney made it up for Anthony Curry, the horror

248
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:44,960
Speaker 2: film director.

249
00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:48,880
Speaker 9: What well, I think Anthony Curry gave me.

250
00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:53,720
Speaker 8: The answers to what may this is like a movie?

251
00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,400
Speaker 1: If you remember, Anthony Curry kept repeating, man, this is

252
00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:01,880
Speaker 1: like a movie throughout that talk with Liam, and Liam's

253
00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:05,720
Speaker 1: attorney said Liam had simply made up the story about

254
00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,680
Speaker 1: strangling a friend to impress Anthony, and that Anthony had

255
00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:14,400
Speaker 1: pointed the finger at Liam in an attempt to further

256
00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:15,320
Speaker 1: his career.

257
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,440
Speaker 5: The heart film got who says, by the way they're recording.

258
00:15:19,320 --> 00:15:21,360
Speaker 2: You should move out to la with me, and you

259
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,240
Speaker 2: should be Leonard of DiCaprio to my market Scorsedes.

260
00:15:26,040 --> 00:15:30,000
Speaker 1: So imagine your jur hearing this tape of Liam for

261
00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:33,560
Speaker 1: the first time. What do you think he was acting?

262
00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:41,200
Speaker 4: I pretty much hung her like I just I picked

263
00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:44,000
Speaker 4: her up and had her just like dangling off the ground,

264
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:47,200
Speaker 4: and she just pissed herself and it just did my

265
00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:49,680
Speaker 4: name and then that was it. I thought I was

266
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:51,520
Speaker 4: going to be able to choke her out and have

267
00:15:51,600 --> 00:15:53,800
Speaker 4: her out in like a couple of minutes.

268
00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:57,200
Speaker 1: Journalist Tom Davis was in the courtroom throughout the trial

269
00:15:57,400 --> 00:15:59,880
Speaker 1: and struggled to make sense of what he heard.

270
00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:03,400
Speaker 10: For somebody to almost walk into a car and right

271
00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,560
Speaker 10: after hello, just basically start talking about what he did

272
00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,640
Speaker 10: and how he murdered her, and then you do just

273
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:10,720
Speaker 10: almost like wondered, if is he still acting here?

274
00:16:10,840 --> 00:16:11,680
Speaker 6: What was he doing here?

275
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,120
Speaker 1: He and the others who listened were surprised by how

276
00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,400
Speaker 1: nonchalant Liam sounded.

277
00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,320
Speaker 6: There was so monotone about it.

278
00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,920
Speaker 10: I expected, actually somebody to be much more anxious. I

279
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:25,640
Speaker 10: expected to be somebody to even show some remorse, because

280
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:27,640
Speaker 10: I believe that's how humans react.

281
00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:32,120
Speaker 1: So if indeed Liam was auditioning for a role in

282
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:37,200
Speaker 1: a movie, then what happened to Sarah Stern? Well? The

283
00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:41,400
Speaker 1: defense claimed she left town. They even called a witness

284
00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:45,080
Speaker 1: who claimed he saw her the morning after she went missing.

285
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:46,280
Speaker 2: There was a girl.

286
00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:48,440
Speaker 5: Walking down the street, and I said to my son,

287
00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:49,240
Speaker 5: I said, that is.

288
00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,160
Speaker 7: An awfully good looking girl to be walking on the

289
00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:52,840
Speaker 7: street at five.

290
00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:53,520
Speaker 9: O'clock in the morning.

291
00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,720
Speaker 1: This witness testified that he saw someone who looked just

292
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,280
Speaker 1: like Sarah Stern two and a half half hours after

293
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,800
Speaker 1: police discovered her abandoned car on the bridge, or about

294
00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:10,040
Speaker 1: five hours after. Preston Taylor said he helped Liam mcintasmy

295
00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:12,040
Speaker 1: throw Sarah's body into the river.

296
00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:14,920
Speaker 2: I got a good look right in her face, stared

297
00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:16,560
Speaker 2: right into her eyes away and look kind of you

298
00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:19,439
Speaker 2: right out, and she turned her head and duck down

299
00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:21,880
Speaker 2: an alleyway, And well.

300
00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:23,080
Speaker 6: I thought she was well dressed.

301
00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:23,880
Speaker 5: That's why I said.

302
00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:25,960
Speaker 2: It was just so unusual to see.

303
00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,000
Speaker 6: Somebody well dressed in that.

304
00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:30,679
Speaker 2: Early in the morning.

305
00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:32,800
Speaker 7: And just before the top of the bridge it was

306
00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:34,320
Speaker 7: a car broken down on the side.

307
00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:34,520
Speaker 2: Of the road.

308
00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:38,439
Speaker 1: It was the same bridge where Sarah Stearn's car was found.

309
00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:43,680
Speaker 1: But there was a problem. According to the police, Sarah's

310
00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:46,120
Speaker 1: car had already been towed away by then.

311
00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,400
Speaker 10: His testimony didn't seem the jive with the timeline and everything.

312
00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:52,520
Speaker 6: It just felt like that there was this nola that

313
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:53,679
Speaker 6: Liam was going to get out of this.

314
00:17:54,119 --> 00:17:58,320
Speaker 1: And then Liam and his defense caught a huge break.

315
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:00,360
Speaker 6: One of the jurors that actually.

316
00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,879
Speaker 10: Posted something on Facebook that was a bit of a

317
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:06,800
Speaker 10: wise ass thing to say about the trial.

318
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:11,040
Speaker 1: The judge learned that jur Number thirteen posted a comment

319
00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:14,280
Speaker 1: to Facebook in response to an article about the trial.

320
00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:20,600
Speaker 1: She wrote, quote sitting on the jury laughing my ass off. Well,

321
00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,919
Speaker 1: the judge was furious and stopped the trial.

322
00:18:24,440 --> 00:18:27,720
Speaker 10: And actually there was some fear of the time, you know,

323
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:30,040
Speaker 10: that maybe the sexual whole thing could be retried or

324
00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:31,760
Speaker 10: something even declared miss trial.

325
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,280
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what Liam's attorney asked the judge to do,

326
00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:41,680
Speaker 1: call a miss trial, something Sarah's father, Michael Stern, could

327
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:42,720
Speaker 1: not fathom.

328
00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:45,200
Speaker 10: Father was very upset about it, and he was talking

329
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:46,760
Speaker 10: about how he just didn't want to have to go

330
00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:47,439
Speaker 10: through this again.

331
00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,240
Speaker 1: Jur Number thirteen explained to the judge that she couldn't

332
00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,760
Speaker 1: have posted the comment to Facebook because it happened while

333
00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:59,000
Speaker 1: the court was still in session. She blamed her fifteen

334
00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:02,360
Speaker 1: year old sister, who she said, logged into her account

335
00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,439
Speaker 1: and posted the comment. The judge then stopped the trial

336
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:08,760
Speaker 1: while he decided how to proceed.

337
00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,199
Speaker 6: So it was really everything was really kind of inn

338
00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:12,359
Speaker 6: a limbo, you know.

339
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,560
Speaker 1: Leah Mcatazzney's murder trial came to a screeching halt when

340
00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:25,520
Speaker 1: one of the jurors allegedly posted about the case to Facebook.

341
00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:30,760
Speaker 1: After considering a mistrial, the judge opted to simply dismiss

342
00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:33,200
Speaker 1: the jur and then allowed the trial.

343
00:19:32,960 --> 00:19:33,560
Speaker 2: To go on.

344
00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:37,760
Speaker 3: It was a fairly long trial. Sometimes it felt daunting

345
00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:42,040
Speaker 3: and exhausting hearing these horrible details of what had happened

346
00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:42,880
Speaker 3: to Sarah.

347
00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,840
Speaker 1: Journalist Alex Napoliello was in the courtroom.

348
00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:48,919
Speaker 3: On one side of the room, you had Liam's family,

349
00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,000
Speaker 3: and on the other side of the room you had

350
00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:54,359
Speaker 3: Sarah's family. And this is a family that knew each other,

351
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:57,000
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, they're on opposite ends of

352
00:19:57,040 --> 00:19:59,879
Speaker 3: each other, and there's a lot of animosity towards you

353
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 3: each other. So there was a lot of tension in

354
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:02,520
Speaker 3: the courtroom.

355
00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:08,399
Speaker 1: That tension only intensified after prosecutors played that tape confession

356
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:09,800
Speaker 1: of Liam mcintasney.

357
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,080
Speaker 3: To see Liam mctasney talk about what he did to

358
00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:17,399
Speaker 3: his friend in such detail and to talk about it

359
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,239
Speaker 3: so casually, I had never seen anything like that as

360
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 3: a reporter covering crime for many years.

361
00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,480
Speaker 1: But the defense called the tape nothing more than an

362
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:29,919
Speaker 1: audition by Liam mcintasney.

363
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,240
Speaker 3: You could hear a pin drop in that courtroom while

364
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:34,159
Speaker 3: that tape was playing.

365
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 1: In fact, that was the only time the jury heard

366
00:20:38,000 --> 00:20:41,920
Speaker 1: from Liam because he did not take the witness stand. Instead,

367
00:20:42,040 --> 00:20:45,200
Speaker 1: his lawyer told the jurors that without a body, there's

368
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,760
Speaker 1: reason to believe that Sarah Stern was still alive.

369
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 7: That in and of itself is enough to create the

370
00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:54,480
Speaker 7: reasonable doubt that quits my mind.

371
00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,119
Speaker 1: But prosecutors fought back and said Liam Mcatazsney was not

372
00:20:59,359 --> 00:21:02,240
Speaker 1: an act He was a murderer.

373
00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 9: This is not a movie, it's not a story. This

374
00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:14,399
Speaker 9: defendant didn't frame himself for mert, he committed Merton.

375
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,719
Speaker 2: The fact that her body wasn't recovered is not reasonable

376
00:21:19,800 --> 00:21:22,320
Speaker 2: that Sarah Stern is dead.

377
00:21:23,080 --> 00:21:25,840
Speaker 1: The case went to the jury and very quickly they

378
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:29,359
Speaker 1: asked to see the video of Liam Mcatasney confessing to

379
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:34,600
Speaker 1: Anthony Curry. Meanwhile, Liam's mother went on ABC's twenty twenty

380
00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:38,680
Speaker 1: to defend her son. In every bone in my body,

381
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:41,919
Speaker 1: I did not belave Liam is capable of killing Sarah Stern,

382
00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:43,320
Speaker 1: who he loved and adored.

383
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,240
Speaker 5: I do not believe Liam is capable of killing anybody.

384
00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:50,960
Speaker 1: Liam's mother also addressed the fact that Sarah Stern has

385
00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:57,160
Speaker 1: never been found. He says seriously affected our entire family,

386
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:00,160
Speaker 1: and poor Mike Stern doesn't know where his daughter is.

387
00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:02,160
Speaker 1: I mean, everybody is affected by this.

388
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,520
Speaker 6: This is a horrible, horrible, horrible situation.

389
00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:09,320
Speaker 1: Liam's mother may have thought her son was innocent, but

390
00:22:09,520 --> 00:22:12,359
Speaker 1: ultimately it would come down to what the jury thought.

391
00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,439
Speaker 1: And with no body and Sarah's mysterious behavior leading up

392
00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,760
Speaker 1: to her abandoned car being found, it was anyone's guess.

393
00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 1: And then after just one day of deliberations, the jury

394
00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:29,000
Speaker 1: returned with a verdict.

395
00:22:29,680 --> 00:22:31,000
Speaker 3: How do you find a count.

396
00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 8: One of the indictment as toward than the defendant Liam

397
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 8: mcintasne committed the crime of murder by purposely or knowingly

398
00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:39,720
Speaker 8: causing the death of Sarah's Starn, or purposely of knowingly

399
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 8: causing serious quantity injury to Sarah Starm which resulted in

400
00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 8: the death guilty.

401
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:52,320
Speaker 1: They found Liam Mcatazsne guilty of six felonies, including first

402
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:56,880
Speaker 1: degree murder. Leah Mcatazsney was sentenced to life in prison

403
00:22:57,080 --> 00:23:01,560
Speaker 1: without parole. Journalist Alex And was in the courtroom.

404
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:05,919
Speaker 3: I remember almost falling off my chair. Her two closest friends,

405
00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 3: one being her junior prom date, are charged with her death.

406
00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,399
Speaker 3: I mean, I was speechless.

407
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:19,760
Speaker 1: Leam Mcatasne was also speechless. He didn't react to his

408
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:24,520
Speaker 1: conviction and continued to stare straight ahead, while Sarah's father

409
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 1: lowered his head and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

410
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 3: I can't imagine what Michael has gone through over these years.

411
00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:36,800
Speaker 3: I mean from the moment his daughter was reported missing

412
00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:41,560
Speaker 3: till Liam was convicted. That was years, and just my

413
00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,080
Speaker 3: heart goes out to him that he had to suffer

414
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 3: because of this.

415
00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:50,240
Speaker 1: At a press conference after the trial, Michael Stern unloaded

416
00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,520
Speaker 1: on Sarah's former best friend.

417
00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:57,679
Speaker 2: Makes me sick, absolutely sick that somebody would do something

418
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 2: like that, and you heard the test money that it

419
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,760
Speaker 2: was all a setup. He was never Sayerah's friend, and

420
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:10,120
Speaker 2: apparently you know, his evil thoughts and his motives are

421
00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:14,840
Speaker 2: just beyond anything, any realm of anything that I could

422
00:24:14,880 --> 00:24:16,840
Speaker 2: imagine being so evil.

423
00:24:17,320 --> 00:24:19,679
Speaker 3: There were no reports that Liam and Sarah were at

424
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:22,400
Speaker 3: odds with each other, that there was any stripe between them.

425
00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:25,159
Speaker 3: They were close and they remained close up until the

426
00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:26,760
Speaker 3: day she disappeared.

427
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:30,160
Speaker 1: And he was grateful the case was blown open thanks

428
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,520
Speaker 1: to nineteen year old Anthony curry.

429
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,919
Speaker 2: On behalf of our family to the Curry family. I

430
00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,320
Speaker 2: really appreciate what they did. It took a lot of

431
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 2: courage for him to come forward. I know it was

432
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 2: hard for him, but he knew he had to do it.

433
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:49,080
Speaker 3: Anthony Curry was a game changer for this investigation. Without

434
00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 3: Anthony Curry, police don't have the investigation and the case

435
00:24:52,760 --> 00:24:53,399
Speaker 3: that they had.

436
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:59,320
Speaker 1: Anthony Curry graduated from aspiring movie producer to actual movie producer.

437
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,320
Speaker 1: His first film premiered in twenty twenty two. The movie

438
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,040
Speaker 1: was about the violent street kids he grew up with

439
00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:10,920
Speaker 1: and was in the works years before Sarah Stern's murder.

440
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:16,439
Speaker 1: With Leah Mcatasney and Preston Taylor in prison, the community

441
00:25:16,560 --> 00:25:20,159
Speaker 1: tried to move forward, but it hasn't been easy.

442
00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:21,440
Speaker 6: It's a tragedy.

443
00:25:22,520 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 5: What happened to Michael Stone's family should happen to no one.

444
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,920
Speaker 1: Edward Kirshenbaum worked with the Neptune City Police Department.

445
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,240
Speaker 5: True justice would be having his daughter back. That would

446
00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,000
Speaker 5: be true justice, but that'll never happen. Sarah's still not

447
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:39,159
Speaker 5: coming home, so that's that's a sad part of this

448
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:39,879
Speaker 5: all scenario.

449
00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:44,360
Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen, Michael Stern lost his wife to cancer,

450
00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:49,359
Speaker 1: and three years later, he lost his only child to

451
00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:53,360
Speaker 1: murder by her friend, Liam mcintasne.

452
00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:59,880
Speaker 5: How do you wrap your mind around so so called friends,

453
00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,440
Speaker 5: child of friends, that they're the ones responsible for the

454
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 5: murder of your daughter. How do you I don't know

455
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:07,560
Speaker 5: if you ever wrap your.

456
00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:07,679
Speaker 6: Head around that.

457
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 5: Michael is a unique nanny carries us with them every

458
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:17,719
Speaker 5: single minute, hour, day, week, month and year. It's just

459
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 5: something that never goes away.

460
00:26:19,680 --> 00:26:26,120
Speaker 1: Despite countless searches, Sarah Stearn's body has still never turned up.

461
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,880
Speaker 1: It's something that continues to keep her father up at night.

462
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 2: I don't sleep very well. I have nightmares, which is

463
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:39,239
Speaker 2: a horrible thing, waking up at two o'clock in the

464
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 2: morning and thinking that Sarah's still alive and she's calling

465
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,640
Speaker 2: for me. I just can't get over that. It becomes

466
00:26:48,640 --> 00:26:53,240
Speaker 2: harder as every day and month goes by, and every

467
00:26:53,320 --> 00:27:00,359
Speaker 2: year goes by, doesn't get any easier. I can't. I

468
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,399
Speaker 2: just can't get over the loss of my beautiful daughter.

469
00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: The only thing that comforts Michael is the scholarship fund

470
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,560
Speaker 1: he set up in Sarah's name at her high school

471
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:11,960
Speaker 1: and the college she attended.

472
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 2: So we want to keep Sarah's name out there as

473
00:27:18,160 --> 00:27:23,320
Speaker 2: an artist. Now. My mission for Sarah is to promote

474
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:28,560
Speaker 2: the arts fine arts media for other students who wish

475
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:33,200
Speaker 2: to pursue that career, seeing it blossom, and Sarah, I'd

476
00:27:33,200 --> 00:27:36,200
Speaker 2: like to see it blossom with other people that may

477
00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 2: be able to use the scholarship to continue their careers.

478
00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:45,960
Speaker 2: I love my daughter, I miss her, and I just

479
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 2: hope she's a piece somewhere in heaven.

480
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:53,080
Speaker 1: Preston Taylor, who was Sarah's date to the Junior prom

481
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,200
Speaker 1: was also charged in connection with Sarah's death. As part

482
00:27:57,240 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: of his plea deal with investigators, Preston was eighteen years

483
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,800
Speaker 1: in prison. He will be eligible for parole in twenty

484
00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: thirty two, when he is thirty five years old. Meanwhile,

485
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:14,639
Speaker 1: Preston's roommate Liam Mcatasne continues to maintain his innocence.

486
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:17,159
Speaker 10: There's such a big part of this case that I

487
00:28:17,160 --> 00:28:18,280
Speaker 10: feel like is unsolved.

488
00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:23,240
Speaker 1: Journalist Tom Davis remains completely baffled by Liam's motive.

489
00:28:23,600 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 10: Why would anybody ever go through that effort and to

490
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,119
Speaker 10: kill somebody for what period to be about seven thousand dollars,

491
00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 10: and in the fact that the person's not even a

492
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,679
Speaker 10: stranger as a friend of theirs, they're best friends, you know,

493
00:28:33,760 --> 00:28:35,920
Speaker 10: that they were like their own little clique. You would

494
00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,920
Speaker 10: think that maybe something would have stopped him before he

495
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 10: even got to the house, that maybe something inside him

496
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:45,239
Speaker 10: would have actually some sort of moral compass would have

497
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 10: just stopped this.

498
00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: You know, in cases like this, we always want more

499
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:53,920
Speaker 1: answers in the hope they'll help us understand why these

500
00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,880
Speaker 1: things happen. But we'll never know.

501
00:28:57,640 --> 00:28:59,560
Speaker 10: We need to actually go back at this and actually

502
00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 10: find out what happened there, what drove them, what was

503
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:04,520
Speaker 10: there something that happened to them when they were smaller,

504
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,360
Speaker 10: when they were kids, when they were teenagers. I mean,

505
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 10: we saw this happen with Timothy mccvey when he bombed

506
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 10: Oklahoma City. It was another thing where there was a

507
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,320
Speaker 10: history there where we didn't actually fully expect it to

508
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 10: be what it was. When he eventually got to jail

509
00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:18,760
Speaker 10: and he got the prison, he then eventually gave up

510
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:20,360
Speaker 10: what his motives were.

511
00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:22,960
Speaker 6: We need that moment, you know, to find out what happened.

512
00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 1: You know, next time on American homicide, when a married

513
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 1: man leaves his wife or another woman and then vanishes,

514
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: police have to figure out if it's infidelity or something

515
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:49,640
Speaker 1: much darker, I'm slung Glass, That's next time on American Homicide.

516
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: You can contact the American Homicide team bye emailing us

517
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,640
Speaker 1: at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com. That's American

518
00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: Homicide Pod at gmail dot com. American Homicide is hosted

519
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,200
Speaker 1: and written by me Sloane Glass and is a production

520
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group, in

521
00:30:10,640 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 1: partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by

522
00:30:15,360 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 1: Nancy Glass and Todd Gans. The series is also written

523
00:30:19,160 --> 00:30:22,640
Speaker 1: and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing by Ben

524
00:30:22,680 --> 00:30:27,720
Speaker 1: Fetterman and Andrea Gunny. Our associate producer is Kristin Melcurie.

525
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:32,960
Speaker 1: Our Ihearty is Ali Perry and Jessica Crimecheck. Audio editing

526
00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: and mixing by Matt Delvecchio, Dave Seya, and Britt Robashow.

527
00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 1: Additional editing support from Nico Ruka Tanner Robbins and Patrick Walsh.

528
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:46,960
Speaker 1: American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Bains of

529
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:53,320
Speaker 1: Neiser Music Library, provided by My Music. Follow American Homicide

530
00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide.

531
00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:00,640
Speaker 1: Your five star review goes a long way towards helping

532
00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:04,800
Speaker 1: others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit

533
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:10,200
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.