Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
“With Friends Like These” is an episode of The Interrogation Tapes on ABC that aired on Monday, April 1, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET. It will delve into the disappearance and murder of 19-year-old Sarah Stern.
Stern was last seen alive on December 2, 2016, after which she was reported missing. Police then found her car with keys in the ignition on the Route 35 bridge over the Shark River Inlet in Belmar. Her body was reportedly never found. However, the investigation revealed that Stern was killed for the inheritance money that she got from her mother after her death. Anthony Curry, an amateur filmmaker, reported to the police that Stern’s childhood friend, Liam McAtasney, presented him with a plan to kill Stern the previous Thanksgiving, ABC 7 reported.
According to Curry, McAtasney had been planning to kill Sarah Stern for months before and also asked Curry to join in. However, Curry declined the offer. McAtasney reportedly expected at least $100,000 in the safe he stole from Stern’s residence. NBC New York reported that he only got nearly $8,000 in cash and even expressed disappointment about it in a video recording that Curry presented to authorities.
After Sarah Stern disappeared, Anthony Curry recorded a video secretly in his car. The clip reportedly showed McAtasney confessing to killing her. However, he pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence since he was charged for the first time.
Who killed Sarah Stern?
In 2019, Liam McAtasney was found guilty on seven counts, including first-degree murder, robbery, conspiracy, desecration of human remains, and hindering apprehension. His former roommate and Sarah Stern’s prom date, Preston Taylor, pleaded guilty to conspiring with Stern’s murder to access the money she inherited. He also admitted to helping McAtasney throw her body off the bridge, reported Asbury Park Press.
The prosecution argued that Liam McAtasney killed Sarah Stern by strangling her for half an hour. According to the video recording that Curry presented, McAtasney strangled her. He then dragged her to the edge of the bridge when three vehicles approached him. Fearing they would see what he had done, McAtasney put her back in the vehicle. He then threw her off the bridge later, with the help of Preston Taylor. Taylor and McAtasney reportedly left her car behind at the scene to make it seem like a suicide, reported People Magazine.
Liam McAtasney was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. Meanwhile, Preston Taylor was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The defense reportedly argued that there was no solid evidence to prove that Sarah Stern was dead. This was because her remains were never found. Officials conducted an extensive search of the river and the areas around it.
“With Friends Like These” aired on ABC on April 1, 2024. The episode is one of the six episodes in the true-crime docuseries The Interrogation Tapes. It will dig deeper into the evidence that led to convictions in the Sarah Stern murder.
