Sarah Stern
Nineteen-year-old Sarah Stern was murdered by childhood friend Liam McAtasney for inheritance money. Her body was thrown off a bridge. McAtasney was convicted after being secretly recorded confessing.
On December 2, 2016, nineteen-year-old Sarah Stern disappeared from Neptune City, New Jersey. Her car was found abandoned on the Route 35 bridge over the Shark River, initially suggesting suicide.
The investigation took a turn when authorities received information from Anthony Curry, a friend of Liam McAtasney, who had been Sarah's childhood friend. Curry had secretly recorded McAtasney confessing in graphic detail to strangling Sarah in her home and then, with the help of Preston Taylor, throwing her body off the bridge into the Shark River.
McAtasney's motive was money—Sarah had recently received a cash inheritance from her late mother, and McAtasney planned to steal it. The recording captured McAtasney describing the murder in chilling detail.
McAtasney was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, and other charges in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison without parole plus additional years. Taylor pleaded guilty to robbery, desecration of human remains, and other charges and received an 18-year sentence. Sarah's body was never recovered from the river.
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