True Crime Vault: With Friends Like These
01:31:04 Share

Hi. Sorry, did I startle you? When you're used to hearing a certain type of commercial, something like this can, well, take you by surprise. That's kind of how it is with the Lexus RX, a vehicle that has continued to defy expectations for over 25 years. From the first luxury vehicle of its kind, to the first hybrid luxury vehicle, to the only plug-in hybrid worthy of the RX name, we understand you want more than the everyday SUV. And isn't being understood an amazing feeling? Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.

This is Deborah Roberts with 2020. For more than four decades, 2020 has brought you an incredible variety of compelling stories. Well, now we're going to bring you back to some of the most heart-stopping ones from the 2020 True Crime Vault. And we're going to give you updates on what happened to the people involved. Thanks for listening. Coming up. What, in fact, happened to Sarah Stern? Sarah's car was found early on a Saturday morning. She had just died.

Disappeared. Just vanished. What do you guys have this thing listed as, this car on a bridge? Is it a missing person? Hello? Police Department? There's nobody in the house. Has she been different than normal lately? And for how long? In the past, she has had a tendency to have self-destructive suicidal behavior. How could this girl just commit suicide? She did jump off the bridge.

What are the odds that she's not somewhere all the way out in the ocean by now? Something's not right here. Maybe this wasn't a suicide. Maybe she was murdered. This is the last time we see her face. And we still can't find Sarah. We don't know where Sarah is. They were Sarah's friends. They had been making this dark, bone-chilling plan. You are the only person on this planet that knows. When you saw the video...

What was your reaction? I'm gonna need a minute. I'm John Quinones. Sarah Stern, a vibrant 19-year-old growing up in a small tight-knit town. It seemed everyone knew Sarah and most say she was happy-go-lucky. But when she disappeared on a December night, one of her best friends said there had been tensions in Sarah's life, that she wanted to run away, had even been suicidal.

So what really happened? Had she jumped off that bridge to her death, fled to Canada, or was it possible that Sarah had been murdered? Surveillance video and tens of thousands of dollars in cash would provide clues. But as we first reported in 2019, the truth would finally be revealed in a story told by one friend to another. A tale so terrifying it seemed it could be the plot of a movie.

but it was all too real. So tell us about Neptune City, New Jersey. Neptune City is this small little sleepy tight-knit community right in the heart of Neptune Township. Everybody in that town generally knows everyone else. It's not just a small town in terms of population, it's a geographic small town. You can walk from one end to another in five, six, seven minutes. A couple miles from the beach, it touches on Belmar and some of the shore communities. So there's a lot of

There's a lot of kids growing up, a lifeguard. Neptune City more closely resembles Middle America than it does the Jersey Shore that's portrayed on television. This is Bruce Springsteen country. This is the area that Bruce Springsteen is singing about, writing about in Born to Run.

This case would rock any town, much less a county, but it's been especially impactful in a town like Neptune City because everyone is just so tight-knit there and close with one another. 911, where is the emergency? Not an emergency. Actually, on the Belmar Bridge, there's a car that's abandoned. It's off to the side of the road.

I kind of got a strange feeling like why would this older model car be completely dark late at night like that at 2:30 in the morning. So it prompted me to call 911 and to give the report. The car did not appear to have been in an accident and it was left abandoned. Was there anybody inside the vehicle? I looked, no.

There was a number of people we learned about later that had seen the car on the bridge. A couple people called it in later once they realized what had happened. Sort of up here at the crest of the bridge, like right about here was the car. It just looked broken down. It looked like he just popped the hood and was, you know, walking around the front of the car. That I thought he was going to, you know, look under the hood and fix his car.

And it started from there, tracking down who the owner of that vehicle was. This is a small town. Word travels fast. The cops know, obviously, a lot of people in this small town. They have a car parked on a bridge, and they quickly find out it's normally driven by a 19-year-old by the name of Sarah Stern. Phone rang around 3 o'clock in the morning. They said, "Do you know anything about the car, you know, gray Oldsmobile?" And I said, "Yeah, my daughter drives that car."

A million things go through your mind. You were in Florida? Yeah. You drove from Florida back to New Jersey? Yeah. At 3:30, 4 o'clock in the morning, there's no traffic, so you can drive pretty quick. Sarah Stern was very well known to the community due to the fact that her family was very well known. Sarah was a kid that everybody knew. She was always around.

kind of threw everybody off with that car just being left at the top of that bridge with absolutely no good rhyme or reason as to why. No one knew where Sarah was and they didn't know why they couldn't get in touch with her. She was attached to her phone like most 19 year olds are and there would be no reason for why her phone was off and she wasn't taking calls, taking text messages on a Friday night.

No answer on her phone. Police then immediately start investigating and this becomes not just an abandoned car on a bridge but a missing person. There's this 19 year old girl who has gone off the grid and no one knows why.

We're standing in the middle of a softball field because you have that in connection with Sarah as well. She was definitely a much better player than I was. But yeah, we played in our elementary school together and then we went on to play at Neptune High School where we went. She was an athlete. She played softball. But towards the end of her high school career, she became more devoted to arts and digital media.

I think Sarah was an artist. I think she was creative. I think she was a sweet girl based upon everything I've ever heard about her. People loved her. She knew who her friends were, and a lot of people cared about her. The school would go and do the windows for the holidays. Wow, she was really good. Isn't she awesome? Wow. This is probably...

2014, 15, I don't, you know, I'm not sure exactly, but probably the last couple of years. You are kidding. You could feel how much he loved being a dad to Sarah. Oh, it's gorgeous. Really. She just amazed me at some of the stuff she did. Wow.

Liam McIntosh was a childhood friend of Sarah's. He went to high school with her. They lived just blocks away from each other. Liam was my firstborn. He was 15 minutes older than his brother. He was just a very easygoing kid. Outgoing, loved to make friends. Liam started a

Woodrow Wilson School in seventh grade, that is the school that Sarah attended, and they were instantly friends. I think she saw someone she could trust and someone who genuinely wanted to be there for her and be her friend. Preston was another friend of Sarah's. They weren't as close as Sarah and Liam were, but they were friends. Preston actually took Sarah to the junior prom. Preston and Liam became friends freshman year in high school.

And, you know, they obviously maintained a close friendship even after high school. They wound up moving in together. I think that she definitely thought of them as really good friends and someone she could confide in and trust and talk to.

When you're leaping through the Neptune High School yearbook, 2015, the Trident, you really get a picture of this friend group and how it emerged. And then you see Sarah Stern. She was most artistic. Her quote, be yourself. Don't ever be what you think other people would want you to be.

There is a best friend section of the yearbook where you see Liam and his twin brother Seamus and Preston. Liam McIntosh has a quote. The question isn't what we are going to do. The question is, what aren't we going to do?

Sarah wasn't really interested in boys. She was very much doing her own thing, looking to pursue her art, start her career. She was never romantically involved with Liam nor Preston, and she was happy to have them as good guy friends. They bonded over things like movies and video games and comic books, the things that she was genuinely into.

Early in Sarah's life, when she was a freshman in high school, her mom passed away from cancer. She definitely learned to lean on her dad and her friends and use that support system around her when she needed it so she never had a reason to feel alone. Sarah and her dad were very close. They became even closer after her mother passed away.

She started to develop, started to blossom, and she had this passion for art, for the YouTube scene, and she just had plans and dreams. A reckless optimist was her favorite quote. A reckless optimist. Yeah, you know, always looking at the bright side of things and always marching forward no matter what. So later that day, the second Uber driver calls the police. I called Belmar's dispatcher and...

I explained to him I saw a car on the bridge and I saw a male. And the dispatcher said, "A male? We're not looking for a male, we're looking for a female." So that's where the first hint of something weird was going on for me.

After the 911 call was put in and police find Sarah Stern's car on the Route 35 bridge, they are frantic to find where she may be, anyone who was with her or who had last seen her. And so they are knocking on doors.

Sarah Stern has vanished. Her abandoned car left on the side of a bridge on a December night. What happened? And what secrets might the dark waters below hold? Those questions continue to haunt those left behind. So on this brisk, cold day, I can't even imagine what it's like to be on this bridge for you and knowing...

This was the last place your daughter was known to be. It's always been difficult. It was so emotional on that bridge with Michael Stern, Sarah's father. It's heartbreaking on so many levels and his pain is palpable. It's a feeling of emptiness and hurt. The Shark River runs underneath this bridge. It's not particularly deep, but it's very dangerous because the current moves quickly.

That water ultimately ends up in the Atlantic, which could potentially be important as you look at this case. By 3:17 a.m., that car is towed off the bridge. That's kind of where the investigation starts. The Neptune City Police goes to Sarah's house on Ridge Terrace.

Is there a dog in here? There's a really unique element to this case and a great one where the police, as they go and interview people, they have body cameras on. My camera's on. Which really provide a real-time window.

into exactly what the police are doing, what they're saying, even what they're thinking. There's a teenager that's supposed to be driving. It's parked on top of that bridge. We'll get no answer at the house. I have an open door at the house. I might go inside and make sure everything's kosher. I want to make sure we don't have a jumper. All right, man. Bounce yourself real well. F2C, boys! Hello? Hello? F2C, boys! Police go to her house. The back door is open.

and the lights are on and there is no sign of Sarah. The only thing home is her dog Buddy, who she loved more than anything, who normally has his run of the house. And now when they went to go look for her, he was locked in his crate. - But the dog's in a cage. Somebody put the dog in a cage. Hello? Police department.

She had so much love in her heart for her friends and her family and her dog Buddy. She loved that dog more than anybody I've ever known to love an animal before. Well, I guess Neptune's going to have to figure out what their mindset of this kid is. You don't see dog treats anywhere, dude. All right, right there. Oh, maybe. I'm looking for the doggie. Look at a good doggie. A little treat for the doggie. All right, let me call Neptune and let him know what we found. We went through the whole house. There was nobody home.

Sarah Stern lives with her father, Michael. And so he's somebody, logically, the police would reach out to. And they quickly realized that he wasn't in town. They found him in Florida on vacation. They were checking the house. They said, not in the house. Now we're kind of wondering what's going on. She would never leave without telling me. She would never leave fighting her dog. The dog was in the cage of the house. Her car was found with nobody in it.

Robin Draper is one of the Sterns' neighbors. Her daughter Carly and Sarah grew up together. Okay, she brought over today a bin. Can I bring my mother's stuff to your house? So she brought a bin of stuff of her mother's to your house? I said yes, I'll put it in the cubby.

And I tried texting her and nothing. We know that at some point, Sarah was taking personal belongings, putting them in bins and distributing them. And on that particular day, the day that Sarah went missing, Liam and Sarah went over to the Draper's house and left off some bins of some of her personal items. Is she depressed? I think she's depressed. Is she...

Police quickly find out that she was last seen with one of her best friends. And Sergeant Bradley Hines goes to his apartment and bangs on the door pretty furiously.

and opens to a groggy Liam who had seemingly just woken up, it was the middle of the night, and is asking him about where is Sarah. Liam, you're Liam? You got a second? Can I come in and talk to you real quick? Yeah, no problem, officer. Is Sarah here by chance? No. When was the last time you talked to her? I was with her today. Turn some light on if you don't mind. I mean, we went to get food today. And you went to work over time? Uh, 4.30pm.

Okay, so you haven't talked to her since 4:30? Do you have a cell phone you can reach out to her on? I actually haven't been able to find my cell phone. Any idea where it's at? She's calling all day. Liam tells him that they spent the afternoon and the early part of the evening together before he had to go to work at Bread and Steakhouse and he hadn't heard from her after that. What was her mindset last time you talked to her? I just know she's been trying to get away.

and tell me she's going to Canada. Liam starts to tell Sergeant Hines that she has been going through a lot, that her relationship with her father has become somewhat volatile over the last few months, and that she was looking to get out. Trying to get away, okay. Canada, she's been real depressed lately.

Her dad is crazy. And she's dealing with the loss of her mother. That she wanted to move to Canada, that she was packing up these things, and she was ready to go. And he freely shared, yeah, I was just with her last night. She wasn't very happy. She appeared depressed. It appeared like she wanted to leave. Wasn't getting along well with her father. You hear anything? Call the Neptune City or Neptune Township Police Department. Let us know. Thank you.

Hey, Sergeant Hines, Neptune City. What do you guys have this thing listed as, this car on a bridge? Is it a missing person? She's been very depressed. Her father's got a new relationship. She's not getting along with her father. There's all kinds of emotional issues with her. I woke up around 5 a.m. the morning of December 3rd. I heard my mom downstairs on the phone, and she was crying. And she was like, they can't find Sarah. And I was like, what? There's a sense of hopelessness when you have no idea. Sarah's my only child, and it's a hard...

feeling that we couldn't find her. She had just disappeared. Just vanished. On December 6th, 2016, Sarah's family organized a civilian search. There were hundreds of people at this search. The entire community, not just in Neptune City, but so many that knew her, friends and family from surrounding communities, and the McTasney twins, Liam as well as his brother, both participated in it. Hopefully we're going to find something today.

Have you ever felt a sense of unease when you leave your home, wondering if everything will be safe while you're away? Safety and security at home can give you the peace of mind you need to get out there and dig into life's adventures. We all want to make sure we have the best security system for ourselves and for our family. And that's where SimpliSafe comes in. Trusted by experts, SimpliSafe has been named in U.S. News & World Report's Best Home Security Systems for five years running and ranked Best Customer Service in Home Security by Newsweek.

You'll never be locked into a long-term contract, so you can cancel at any time. Pricing is transparent and affordable at less than a dollar a day with no hidden fees ever. With FastProtect monitoring and LiveGuard protection, SimpliSafe agents can act within five seconds of receiving your alarm and can even see and speak to intruders to stop them in their tracks because in a crisis, every moment counts. It's easy to install and activate your SimpliSafe system in less than an hour or

or choose professional installation to have a pro do it for you. Protect your home with 50% off a new SimpliSafe system plus free indoor security camera when you sign up for fast protect monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash abc. That's simplisafe.com slash abc. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.

This episode is brought to you by Lifetime. Imagine a mother so consumed by love, she's driven to the extreme. In this Lifetime original movie, an overbearing mother's quest to save her daughter's innocence takes a sinister turn from bribery to murder for hire. This is a story of obsession and dark family loyalty. Inspired by true events, watch Nobody Dumps My Daughter, premiering tonight at 8. Part of truly unbelievable movies, only on Lifetime.

The morning after Sarah Stern's disappearance, investigators and rescue crews are fanning out, searching for answers. But in the small town of just 5,000, for some, this search is taking on a very personal meaning. We were about an hour into the search when we discovered who we were looking for. Kind of sent a tingle down my spine. Sarah was our neighbor for her entire life.

I've been on a lot of searches for a lot of people, but this is the first time we were searching for somebody that we knew, so it made it a little more difficult. Liam, I've got to throw something in here, okay? You know what's going on here? You know why we're standing here talking to you? Yeah, I have a pretty good idea. We had gone to Liam's mother's house over on Bradley Street here in Neptune City to see if we could locate him and just kind of talk to him about what he might have known. Early in an investigation, police are trying to rule people out.

They're talking to people who maybe they have questions about, they want to follow up. The goal is rule this person out as a possible suspect.

The resources that are out there right now looking for her. The amount of manpower. We have people swimming in the Shark River in this cold water. We have boats. We have helicopters. Dude, if you know anything about where this girl is or have had any contact with her, you need to let us know. Believe me. And exactly what it was that you had spoken to her about yesterday afternoon before you went your way and she went her way, you need to open up and let this detective know everything. Yeah.

Did Liam cooperate with police and investigators? He was willing to talk with police as a friend of hers who was a witness. We're not looking to get you. We're not even looking to get her. We want to find her and make sure she's safe and okay. They're just generally trying to get as much information as they can. They ask Liam about, you know, was she ever depressed? Did she say anything to you about where she may be?

Has she been different than normal lately? And for how long? In the past, she has had a tendency to have self-destructive suicidal behavior. I actually know that... How long ago? Years ago. Started talking to us about how Sarah was miserable living with her father. She talked about running away to get away from her dad. Over the past few months, she's been telling me... Excuse me. How, uh...

Liam answered every question. I mean, he was explaining and giving great detail about things they had done.

I worked until...

When the police interview Liam, they were able to sort of timeline where Sarah was because that becomes very important as you try to sort out fact from fantasy in investigating a case.

My roommate. Just your roommate? Yeah. She didn't come back? No. She didn't text you or call you or nothing like that? I mean, I didn't have my phone, so I wish I could tell you. Nothing caught me off guard or out of the ordinary in that conversation. Again, you know, Liam, we've said it a couple times. I'm going to throw it at you one more time, dude. We just want to make sure she's okay. Nobody's going to get in any trouble here. We just got to make sure that Sarah's all right. Thanks.

On December 6, 2016, Sarah's family organized a civilian search. There were hundreds of people at this search, people from the community, people she had gone to school with,

friends of her family, her friends. Well, it's been a full week since 19-year-old Sarah Stern of Neptune was last seen, and now her family and friends are organizing a search party. Family going to, if you will, take matters into its own hands, get a search party together. The entire community, not just in Neptune City, but so many that knew her, friends and family from surrounding communities, all went out searching for her. You had Mr. Stern out there, Sarah Stern's dad.

And the McTazney twins, Liam as well as his brother, both participated in it. - She's pretty strong, so hopefully we're gonna find something today. - The detectives did spend time looking at different routes from her house to the bridge to see if we could find surveillance or anything, and there was nothing. Police are searching for any evidence, and then they think they get a break. They find out there is a surveillance camera under the Route 35 bridge.

and another camera on the neighboring railroad bridge. So they go out to the scene and they think, "Yes, we're finally gonna see what happened on that bridge that night." Only to find out that both of the cameras hadn't been working for years. You know, unfortunately, we didn't have any cameras that were working on the bridge. Those may be the only broken cameras in this story because there were a lot of other cameras that were working.

Some of the evidence, at least, happened right here because you had a neighbor with a camera. Right. I knew that they had cameras, but I didn't know if they caught anything. But when I got back Saturday night, we started looking at the, you know, reviewing the tape and stuff, and we saw Sarah and Liam coming and going during the day. Sarah Stern's neighbor has a surveillance camera that actually caught Liam leaving late afternoon, which sort of corroborates his story that he was going to work.

So much later, after Liam leaves late afternoon, Sarah's car is witnessed with this camera backing out of her driveway, but they can't determine who's actually driving the car. Her car left that house close to 1145, and then it ended up on the bridge. He was always cooperative. He answered all their questions. During his interview with detectives, Liam also...

asks them this question. What kind of question is that?

Three days after her disappearance, hundreds of residents of Neptune City, New Jersey, have turned out to search for Sarah Stern, among them Sarah's friend, Liam McIntasney. Well, that afternoon, police asked Liam to help in another way. They want him to come down to the station for more questioning. And what he has to say this time may move the investigation in a new direction. ♪♪

So it is pretty much the same thing. Like I said, you know, the detective from the county is going to come in and talk to you. Hey, Liam, thank you for coming in tonight. My name is Brian. I'm a detective with the prosecutor's office. Nice to meet you. The goal of that interview was for me to get to meet Liam and also speak to him directly in an effort to find Sarah. He was being cooperative with police. He was helping in the search efforts. He was always cooperative. He answered all their questions.

He had been questioned at this point several times and was looking to give any information he could. Was she ever your girlfriend? No.

Sarah's friends and family portray her as this happy-go-lucky girl that never had any reason to say she would hurt herself or hurt someone else. But Liam portrays a different picture. Does she ever talk about, like, guys or... Not that I know of girls, no. She has been known to obsess over girls in the past, though.

He talks about an ex-girlfriend of his, Maggie, who Sarah became obsessed with. She just would always say stuff like, "Maggie, if you don't come here right now, I'm gonna kill myself." During his interview with detectives, Liam also asks them this question. One thing I want to talk to you guys about was if she did jump off the bridge, what are the odds that

She's not. Some are all the way out in the ocean by now. What kind of question is that? I don't understand what the fascination is about that particular statement. He's asking a question because this is a boy in a room with two men who are trying to figure out what happened to his best friend. What was interesting, when he asked the question, he also waved with his hand. He gestured. I found the question very odd.

I would have expected him to ask us questions like, "What are we doing to find her?" Liam didn't ask any of those questions. Did she tell you she was going to jump off the bridge? No. If she had told me that she was going to jump off the bridge, there would have been no way that I could have gone to work that night. She's just been saying she needed to get away, go to Canada, get away from her dad. I think Canada was a place that she had been, that she had a great experience at, and it was something that she talked about potentially moving there.

Is she in Canada? I couldn't tell you. I can honestly tell you that. I'm one of her closest friends and I have no idea why she wouldn't tell me anything before she left. When did you last see Sarah? When I was leaving her house to go to work. It's interesting because Liam is very chatty in these initial first interviews but eventually time runs out, he hires a lawyer and he stops talking.

I just thought to reach out to my aunt, who is a lawyer, and she said, "You really shouldn't have Liam meeting with any detectives or police without a lawyer present." So your mom contacted an attorney on your behalf, and your dad contacted an attorney on your behalf. We're not going to talk to you any further today. We do appreciate you coming down. Any good lawyer is going to tell a client in this situation

Stop talking. Don't talk to the police. Liam McIntasney stops talking with police, and so investigators turn to his friend and his roommate, Preston Taylor, to try and get some answers. You all right? Yeah. Thanks for coming down to talk to us. What did Liam tell you about his day that he spent there? Nothing really. He didn't die. He was in there.

Everything that Liam had told us Preston had confirmed. There were no real inconsistencies that they presented. At one point in the interview, police asked Preston what he thinks happened to Sarah Stern. What do you think's happened? And if you watch and listen closely, you'll hear his voice slightly crack and his hand reaches up to wipe something from his eye. I think she jumped. Okay, why do you think she jumped?

I went down that night and watched his statement. When Brian came out of the statement, he said, "Something's not right here at all." I did not have a good feeling about the information that both Liam and Preston had told us. I wasn't satisfied that something didn't happen to her. Now the police are into a number of days of this investigation, and they don't really know what happened to Sarah.

Is she dead? Is she alive? They have no body. But here's the thing that really gets the detectives' attention. Sarah has a safe deposit box at the bank. The bank in and of itself became a big deal.

It's another day of searching for the New Jersey team. The search for her remains is focused on the Shark River Inlet. Her car, 1994 Delta 88, was found on the bridge over the Shark River. A reward is now being offered in this case. Of course, police are saying if anyone has any information on the whereabouts of 19-year-old Sarah Stern from Neptune, please give police a call. She seemed very happy and she asked me to hang out that night.

Carly Draper had an encounter with Liam and Sarah the day Sarah went missing. And she was telling me that she wanted to move to Canada. She hugged me and I was like, "Love you." She was like, "Love you too." And that was the last time I saw her. As if her disappearance wasn't mysterious enough, it turns out there's another big twist in this case. Sarah appears to have come into a large sum of cash.

Sarah, her family had a second home in Avon-by-the-Sea. A couple months before she disappears, she's with Liam, apparently, and discovers a shoebox full of cash left by her late mother. She had spent about $10,000 of it and put the rest in a safety deposit box at Kearney Bank in Bradley Beach. In the hours before she disappeared, Sarah went to the bank.

One of her cousins got a message from the assistant manager at the bank who said just, you know, by the way, Sarah was here yesterday afternoon. That's when the police get told and then we send the subpoenas and we get the surveillance footage and then the bank records. We of course wanted to know what time she accessed the box and what the contents of the box was, if there was anything that had remained in there.

The bank has a two keyed system. So the bank maintains the key and the customer has a key. Pull the box out, open the box up and find $25,250 in 20s, 50s and 100s. My first thought was, wow, this is a lot of money. And then it was, this is old, old currency. And it was in a very bad condition.

After finding this money, Sarah immediately called her aunt, Linda Stitely. Linda told her, don't tell anyone about this. Sarah, unfortunately, didn't listen to that advice. Police learn that she has a safety deposit box with a lot of cash in it. Does that tell them

where to go or who the suspect is, no, but certainly something they're going to want to follow up on. Before Liam had stopped talking, detectives had asked him about the bank. Liam had failed to tell us that he had gone to the bank with Sarah. Liam had only told us about the fact that they left the house one time. I'm Sarah, and I, uh, was a Taco Bell. Which Taco Bell did you go? The one in Neptune. Okay. Did you eat there? No, we went back to her house. Okay.

We were able to view surveillance video recordings captured from across the street. And what we saw was that Sarah and Liam had actually left the house in a car two times. So we, of course, were interested in knowing where did they go that second trip. Why did she stop at the bank?

What did she tell you she was stopping the night for? Something to do with her money. I don't know. She had found money in that one house a few months ago. And she has a lockbox full of money in there. I don't know. She was taking money out, putting money in there. How much money? I couldn't tell you. She never told me. She said it could be... She told me it ranged. She said it could be from 20 grand to 100 grand. She wasn't sure. Did she give you any of the money?

Police find bank surveillance video of the day Sarah went missing, and she's inside the bank, seemingly very happy, lighthearted. She even waves goodbye to the bank manager. And this is the last time we see her face. In my mind, it eliminated everything.

the possibility that she ran away. You know, at 19 years old, if you have access to $25,000 in cash and you're running away, I would think that you would want to take that with you. At that point, we had also located her social security card, her passport, as well as Canadian and U.S. currency inside her bedroom. Finding that currency inside of her safety deposit box told us that it was highly unlikely that she would have left. Police continue to search.

There are numerous police departments working on this missing persons case and they continuously come up with nothing. We didn't have any answers. No sign of Sarah Stern anywhere. No sign of a body.

Marine units are really good at what they do. They have sonar, they have radar capabilities, they have divers, and we didn't find anything. We didn't find clothing that washed up, a wallet, a purse, you know, a scarf or anything like that. Nothing. That might ultimately dislodge from somebody who jumps into water, a shoe. We never found anything like that. My impression was is that this would just end up turning into a cold missing persons case.

Because we had nothing. No indication that she committed suicide, no indication that she did, in fact, leave the area willingly. No indication that she was murdered. It definitely never made sense to me. She loved everyone, so for her to leave without a trace and not say goodbye to her friends and family, that's not Sarah. That wasn't Sarah. Her ability to disappear and move to Canada and create some fake identity was never really plausible before.

The suicide angle of it was a little bit more believable. One detective, Brian Weisbrot, told me the first time I met him that he wouldn't stop looking for Sarah. He wouldn't stop until he found out what happened to her. And then police started to realize that maybe this wasn't a suicide and Sarah didn't run away. That's in safe place!

This girl that we thought had killed herself, all of a sudden there was a major break in the case. The entire theory of our investigation changed right then and there. I got a call one night, it was the detectives. Just sit down, we want to tell you something. And the person who turns this whole case upside down, jumping right out of the Neptune High yearbook, fittingly voted most likely to become famous.

Spoiler alert:

A two-word warning that we're about to ruin the end. But sometimes, spoilers can be worthwhile. And so, we designed the Lexus NX to reveal many things. Like taking the mystery out of how close you are between parking space lines. Or the time you'll arrive at your dinner reservation. Technology designed to remove surprise endings. It's just a better story that way. Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer.

Meaningless stuff. Why do we gift so much meaningless stuff? Tired of generic gifts and hollow trends? Shutterfly allows you to create meaningful photo gifts for your family and friends, whether it's a cozy fleece blanket for grandma, a stunning canvas print for mom, or a mug to make dad smile. Enjoy 40% off with code MAKE40 at Shutterfly.com and make something meaningful this year. See site for more details.

It's almost two months since Sarah's gone missing. Her car's been found. No other real sign of her. And no concrete leads. Can you describe for me as a father what it was like during those two months, the not knowing? It's horrible. It's a sense of hopelessness when you don't, you just, you have no idea. Sarah's my only child. And, you know, that's a, it's a, it's a hard thing.

feeling that we couldn't find her. Michael Stern was trying to find his daughter. He was very persistent. Michael Stern was not sitting by without checking in with law enforcement and demanding to know what we were doing. It's breaking my heart not to know where she's at. Police have hit a wall.

Until they get a phone call from a former classmate, someone who went to high school with Sarah Stern, and he has quite the information to share. Anthony Curry is an aspiring film director. And he went to high school with Liam and Sarah.

So tell me when you first became friends with Liam. We didn't get real close to like junior year of high school. He liked the Sopranos. We played music together. Why did you go to police? I was doing the right thing.

Anthony told us that he had wanted to talk to us about the information that he had. Anthony had told us that on Thanksgiving evening, which was November 24th, that he had went to Liam's house in Neptune City. And while there, Liam had informed him that what he planned to do to Sarah Stern. He tells you it's a...

An idea for a movie? Yeah. I make movies, I'm a filmmaker. He used to tell me ideas all the time about, you know, films I should make and all that stuff. And he, like, told me about this idea he had to, like, kill this girl. He was gonna, like, strangle her and throw her over the bridge with his friend. Did he seem excited about this idea? Yeah, he was, like, hyped. He was an energetic kid. He was like, yeah, he's a little nuts, but I don't know, I just thought it was a movie.

What are the chances that McIntasney would float this story earlier and then Sarah Stern would end up being murdered in precisely the same terms? So Anthony doesn't really give it another thought until it comes up on social media or the news that she's missing. If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of 19-year-old Sarah Stern from Neptune, please give police a call.

January 2017. He had started receiving Snapchat messages from Liam McIntasney. How often was he trying to contact you when Sarah went missing? Almost every day. What was he texting you? What was he saying to you? That he wanted to see me. That it was urgent. We saw Anthony Curry's demeanor when he provided us with the information. We saw the concern that he had. He was scared.

So police hatch a plan to catch Liam McIntasney, and they cast Anthony Curry in the starring role. Detectives equip his car with a video recording device, and this is going to be their sting operation.

The person's car you wired usually has to drive a distance. They'll sing, they'll hum, they'll turn on the radio. They're nervous. I mean, this is a big deal. They're actually going to try to get a person to talk about a murder they committed. Liam had traveled in his own car, parked his vehicle in a parking space several down from Anthony.

and had gotten into Anthony's car. What's good, man? What's happening, bro? How you doing? We were listening live through electronic equipment. You want a cigarette? Nah, I'm good. I quit that . Were they telling you what to say? They did say, "You gotta act sort of like Donnie Brasco. You gotta, you know, you gotta ask him questions." As soon as he got there. He fell me down for a while. Dude, you can't blame me for doing this, right? I gotta feel you up real quick, all right? You good?

No disrespect. What were you thinking then when he did that? It's real. And he just spills his guts. I didn't really have to do much work. Like, he wanted to tell me, you know? I think he wanted to get it off his chest. Yeah, I got the FBI on my ass, too. About what? About killing Sarah. They've been, uh... They were up my ass...

First it was just normal police. They were on my ass and I had to go in and get interrogated by them multiple times. But then it kept moving up levels and now it's a federal case. That's not even the worst part. The worst part of it is I thought I was walking out 50 grand, 100 grand in my pocket. She had one safe and she took money out and she only had 10 grand. And this money, I don't know if it was burnt or something, it's old money.

Terrible quality. I don't even know if I can put any of it in the bank. So what, do you have it hidden? Yeah. Where'd you hide it? It's in a hook. First it was in my house for a long time, but then I stopped trusting Preston. We threw her off the bridge. Not only does he implicate himself in this, but he mentions somebody else who helps him dispose of the body. Police didn't know about that. They didn't even suspect that. She goes to walk out the front door,

I choke her out, drag her. My biggest problem was the dog and her dog laid there and watched as I killed her. Didn't do anything. Dog. I'll never forget the way that he talks about how her dog just laid there as I killed her. That was to me the most disturbing thing I'd ever heard in my life. I picked her up and had her just like dangling off the ground and she just pissed herself.

and said my name and then that was it 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 it's heartbreaking in a sense you know somebody who's your good friend you don't think they would do something like that as an innocent person you know it's disappointing disappointing i got a shirt and i just shoved it down her throat so she wouldn't throw up or anything and held my

finger over her nose and set a timer. It was nauseating how anyone could talk the way Liam spoke about Sarah and Sarah's death was very disturbing. You are the only person on this planet that knows besides Preston. And Preston doesn't know that you know. You're not no rat, bro. It could be anyone. And I don't want Preston to think that he has to kill you and take you out because you are the only person that knows.

The most egregious thing that I heard was how Liam said he didn't feel any different after doing this. What were you thinking? When you saw

the video. What was your reaction? I head hung. I have children. The first thing I thought is how Michael Stern's going to feel about this when he finds out exactly how his daughter died. The second thing I thought, being a career prosecutor, is great evidence. It's good talking to you, bro. Good talking to you. Take it easy, bro. Safe travels, all right? You too. You got everything? Yeah. All right. Peace out. Peace.

Detectives in Monmouth County, New Jersey, have just recorded what they say is an undeniable confession to murder.

After the consensual recording had concluded, we listened to the recording that night. I choked her out and then she was just laying there having a seizure or something. He literally gives a blow by blow of how he killed her, where he killed her, how long it took him to kill her. And it took me a half an hour to kill her.

how they moved the body, where they hid the money. First it was in my house for a long time, but then I stopped trusting Preston. He also mentions his roommate and his partner in crime, Preston Taylor. And then I had to go straight to work. So Preston came over, took the body, put it in the bushes. We made a decision to locate Preston first.

We had learned that Preston would be traveling to Brookdale Community College in Linkroft. We had conducted a motor vehicle stop of his vehicle and once we stopped his car, we transported him to the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. We know what happened to Sarah. We know what your involvement in it was. Alright? We want to know why Liam did what he did. What did he do? He killed Sarah. Okay? You know that? Correct? Yes, correct. Okay. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone confess that quickly.

I mean, that's really the reality of what happened with Preston Taylor. I got home just as he was getting ready to run out the door for work. He was like, dude, I did it. What did you take that to mean? I took it as he killed Sarah. Okay. He said that he's still at the house and that he needs to get rid of it tonight.

Preston takes police back to what he says is the scene of the crime, Sarah Stern's house, and he reenacts what he says he and Liam did that night. We're here for the purpose of doing a walkthrough of Sarah Stern's residence. Is that correct? Correct. I mean, it's powerful. He was willing to go back there to this place where he had done some pretty awful things and show the detectives how they did this and how they did that. This door was closed.

This one I couldn't get open, but I was able to push this one open and enter and Sarah was slumped in this corner right here. She was sitting like this, tucked into the corner and leaning over the toilet. So Liam has

Preston go back to Sarah's house and move Sarah out of the house to the bushes. How were you positioned when you were taking her out? She had been facing away, and I had my arms under her shoulders like this. So were her feet dragging on the ground? Yeah. And then I carried her over here and kind of sat her under the bushes right here.

It's interesting because he's basically like a flat line. It comes across as very matter-of-fact and cold as to, you know, exactly what they're doing, which is a very, very gruesome crime. Now, why did Liam come back here with you? What was your purpose in being here? To move Sarah's body, too. Okay. Liam went inside the house to get the safe, and he gave me the safe. Okay. And I put the safe back over by where we...

Jump the fence. They drag Sarah's body out from under the bushes, drag her to the fence. It almost brings you back to that point where you can see him dragging her and they just tossed her over like nothing. Hoisted her up and over, threw the safe over, the two of us jumped over and I got in my vehicle and Liam got in Sarah's vehicle.

He only took responsibility for assisting with disposing of Sarah's body over the bridge. But he was very cooperative in the fact that he had taken us to, you know, multiple locations where the safes were buried. I'm buried in Charlie Ruvon. Did you bury him? I buried him. Liam did? With the money?

Preston had viewed some maps and was able to identify general areas where these safes were buried. Detective Weisbrot had called me and said, hey, you wouldn't believe this, but we got some new information on the Sarah Stern case. This is what's going on. This is where you need to go. We ended up caravanning to Sandy Hook. The area that that safe was buried, it was pretty nondescript.

It was all overgrown, so as we were going down, we'd stop, photograph some more video. Preston was handcuffed and shackled, and he was directing the forensic detectives as to where the safe was buried. We just happened to look just a little bit to the left of where we were digging, and there's the corner of the safe just sticking out of the ground.

So detectives find, buried in the dirt, a small gray sentry safe with the number 002 stamped on it. And just a short time later, another set of police officers make the arrest of Liam McIntasney and they search his car. And on his keychain he had a sentry safe key and on the backside of it it had 002.

The fact that Liam had the safe key for the safe that was buried with Sarah's money and Sandy Hook is an amazing piece of evidence. And lo and behold, he used one of them to open the safe. And then inside the safe was $9,350 in cash, 100s, 50s, and 20s. Police now have enough evidence to charge Liam with murder. I just want to go over a couple things with you. Obviously, you know you're under arrest, right, Liam? Yeah. Okay.

Liam is arrested while we are with Preston. We had went in and made an effort to speak to him. We had asked him if he was retained by an attorney and he had indicated that he was. As a result of that, we did not interview Liam at that point. Okay. And I'd rather not speak to anyone. Okay. Perfect. Great. Thank you very much. Walked in and the detectives, they were there and said, just sit down, we want to tell you something. This was someone who said he loved Sarah, was in your home.

That was not Liam to me describing an actual murder. I had planned Sarah's situation for me to be interrogated by cops. That was an act. What are they watching if not a confession? He was making things up, trying to impress that horror film director. Bro, this is like a f***ing movie, bro.

Imagine what's possible when learning doesn't get in the way of life. At Capella University, our game-changing FlexPath learning format lets you set your own deadlines so you can learn at a time and pace that works for you. It's an education you can tailor to your schedule. That means you don't have to put your life on hold to pursue your professional goals. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at capella.edu.

Hey, Prime members. Are you tired of ads interfering with your favorite podcasts? Good news. With Amazon Music, you have access to the largest catalog of ad-free top podcasts included with your Prime membership. To start listening, download the Amazon Music app for free or go to amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts. That's amazon.com slash ad-free podcasts to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads. ♪

February 2017. Police have finally learned what they believe really happened to Sarah Stern. And now another child's parent is about to come to grips with Sarah's fate. And also with the role her son may have played in an unimaginable murder.

It's now exactly two months to the day since police found Sarah Stern's abandoned car up on that bridge. She seemingly had vanished without a trace. This girl that we thought had killed herself.

All of a sudden, there was a major break in the case. Two people have been arrested for the murder of Sarah Stern. And they are not just two random people, they are two people who grew up with her and knew her well. Leah McIntasney and Preston Taylor. They were childhood friends. I came home from work and I started making dinner.

and I noticed there was a bright light coming from my backyard and I looked out the back window and I thought Liam and his friends were shooting a movie or a video and I decided to go back there and say hi to everybody. And then a detective yelled at me to

stand back and at that point I realized that people were going through my son's trash they had gloves on they were raiding my son's home I asked where my son was and I was told ma'am you have to get back it was a two-bedroom one-bath small house the living room kitchen dining room all one area Liam's bedroom was pretty neat and orderly Preston's on the other hand was not

There was nothing of any significance found. Typical teenager, a lot of booze around and things like that. So while all of this is going on, Liam's mom, Megan McIntasney, has no idea where her son is. She hasn't been in communication with him. She can't talk to him, and she's not getting any answers from police. It was 2.33 a.m. that I got the call and was told...

what Liam was being charged with and my head was just spinning because I didn't understand what was happening. I grew up at the beach and when somebody goes in the water they wash up somewhere and when Sarah had not washed up onto any of our shores it gave us hope that Sarah

had maybe run away. And so in my head, I was thinking that Sarah needed to get away and for some reason she felt she couldn't tell any of us. And that's why she was moving all of her belongings into different people that she trusts' homes. And that's why she had gone to the bank and all of these things were making sense and for whatever reason she felt she couldn't tell us. And that's what I had been thinking up into that moment so I didn't understand why my son was being charged.

I got a call when I wasn't home and they said, "Well, we'd like to talk to you at the house." The detectives, the police department, they were there and said, "Just sit down. We want to tell you something." That was not the news you wanted to hear? No. And that was after the taped confession that they had. And I never, I actually didn't hear that. They just told me what was on there and they said it was just, "You don't want to hear the details."

Even though prosecutors have this so-called confession tape by Liam McIntasney, they still want that ace in the hole. To be able to put on the only other person that saw her dead body prior to putting her in the water, like, I just thought that was important. So Preston Taylor takes police on another field trip, this time to the Route 35 bridge. It's the last known place Sarah Stern's body ever was.

We wanted to bring Preston to the bridge so he could identify the exact location where they threw her over the bridge. We had put a life jacket on Preston Taylor. We wanted to ensure that we took all necessary safety precautions in the event that something were to happen on the bridge. Liam was going to...

throw the body over himself and then run across and jump over the median and get in the passenger seat of my car. But he wasn't strong enough to pull Sarah up and over himself so he radioed me on the walkie-talkie and told me to loop around and to come help him get her over.

Liam had her by the shoulders and hoisted her up onto the railing and then I pushed her feet over so she was going over the rest of the way.

We heard loud metallic bang and that was all. And so they decide to make a deal with Preston Taylor to turn his testimony against Liam. Pleading guilty to counts two through seven of the accusation. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Preston Taylor accepted responsibility, agreed to cooperate with the state. He pled guilty to disposing of Sarah's remains. Preston wishes he had acted differently.

Preston has cried with me. Preston has now tried what he could to try to atone for himself. He knows whatever he does, he can't bring her back. Preston, I always thought of him as a storyteller. I never thought him to be credible. So to see him confessing towards Liam, I just didn't, I didn't believe it. None of it made sense to me. I don't have anything nice to say about Preston.

We sat down and spoke with Liam's mom about the case and about watching that chilling videotape, that so-called confession that her son made. 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 and like...

A couple minutes. Liam doesn't speak about things lightheartedly. That was not Liam to me describing an actual murder. That's not the tone Liam uses when he speaks about something serious. That was an act. He was doing an audition. He was making things up.

trying to impress that horror film director. They were making movies together. Liam was writing scripts for him, Liam was gonna star in some of Anthony's movies. That wasn't a movie audition. That's real life. Trust me, I worked in film for years. I know the difference between reality and fiction. That's reality.

What did you make of the defense's assertion that Liam was auditioning? He was acting and not confessing on that tape. I don't even know how, unless you go into total fiction, that's all that was. I don't know what he was auditioning for. The only movie being made was that videotape describing a horrible murder.

Does Liam deny having that conversation with him earlier around the Thanksgiving time? He absolutely denies that. I think that Anthony Curry, he's pointing a finger at my client and trying to make stories up so that he can better his career because it's not that great. Did Liam McIntyre, your client, kill Sarah Stern and throw her body over the Route 35 bridge? No. And I could say that because I...

Just based on the evidence that we have, he's maintained his innocence from the beginning. This has seriously affected our entire family and poor Mike Stern doesn't know where his daughter is. I mean, everybody is affected by this. This is a horrible, horrible, horrible situation. And we still can't find Sarah. We don't know where Sarah is. I just stopped looking.

I'm here because I want justice for Liam and I want justice for Sarah Stern. There's not enough pieces to put together to make heads or tails of anything. And the fact that Sarah just disappeared and no body's been recovered or anything is just, it's terrifying. In every bone of my body, I do not believe Liam is capable of killing Sarah Stern, who he loved and adored. I do not believe Liam is capable of killing anybody.

But what really matters is what those 12 jurors who are about to hear the entire case, what will they believe? This is the trial of the matter. State of New Jersey versus Liam McIntosh. I'm so sorry. Sarah's still missing. I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish every day, every day that we could find her. I can't imagine being a fool and not knowing where my child was.

Ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Stern will not be walking through those doors into this courtroom at any point. Her friends and family will never get to enjoy her company, her smile, her laugh. That's not because she disappeared to Canada. It's because this defendant murdered her. You are going to hear that Sarah Stern wanted to leave New Jersey. She wanted to get away, not only from her dad,

So the prosecution comes out swinging. Its first witness is Liam's friend, Preston Taylor. It was the type of money that somebody would go for. Part of the big headline was that Preston Taylor went to the prom with Sarah Stern. Do you guys ever begin to talk about specific plans about this money? Yes. He ultimately admitted to having a large role in all this.

Yes, ma'am.

The key for prosecutors here was ruling out the two other possibilities, that she fled to Canada or that she committed suicide. And they called witnesses to try to prove she wasn't suicidal and she wasn't going to Canada. I told her she couldn't run off without a plan. She needed to save some money. Do you have any reason to believe that she was sad or depressed? Absolutely not. ♪

There was a real heartfelt moment at court when the bank manager took the stand and talked about his last exchange with Sarah Stern on the day she went missing. And it was an emotional moment that everyone in the courtroom felt. Do you remember seeing Sarah on that day? I do. I blew her a kiss, waved goodbye. And what did you say to her? I said I love you because we have that friendship.

Testimony resumed this morning in the Sarah Stern murder trial. Stern's father testified about her sudden disappearance. Her remains have never been found. At some point on December 2nd, do you receive a phone call from somebody in New Jersey? Yeah, I got a call from my mother who said she hadn't been able to get in touch with Sarah for the whole day. So what do you do?

I sent her a text. Sent another text, "Hello." Sent another text that says, "Sarah, what's going on?" What was it like being up on the stand? It was a little nerve-wracking, but I had to be there. You took the stand, and you could look right at Liam from where you were testifying. Did you look him in the eye? I tried. He wouldn't look at me. I looked at him, and he just stared away. Sociopath? Obviously. Evil? Definitely.

Part of the evidence that was presented at trial were text messages Michael Stern was sharing when he first realized his daughter went missing and you could see the panic he was experiencing during those moments. And then I sent another one right after that that says, call me as soon as you get this message in caps. Are you starting to get nervous? Yes. All right. December 3rd at 1230, do you text her again? Yeah, I sent another message that said, call me with a couple explanations. Did she answer? No.

When you interview people, one of the important things to understand is do they have agendas in telling you a particular bent to a story? I've been friends with her since first grade, so we have a pretty good relationship.

He wanted to picture Sarah as having this abusive relationship with her father. And then if you look at the text messages the police found, her relationship with her father was nothing like Liam had painted it.

Hey dad, good afternoon. What day are you coming back from Florida? And there's a waving hand, sunglasses on a smiley face, a palm tree, and a little red car. I sent her a picture of a rainbow that had just appeared right around that time.

I think being able to present their relationship was also very, very important because it takes away from that notion that this little girl would disappear

because her father was so horrific she had no other choice. The defense's strongest argument is that some of the details don't match with some of the evidence. There was no vomit recovered from the interior of the house, correct? Yes, sir. And there was no urine recovered from the interior of that house, correct? No, sir. It's a very typical defense argument, which is not everything fits. The problem for the defense is that if you look at it in its whole, together,

It all does kind of fit. - Testimony resumed this morning in the Sarah Stern murder trial. - Do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you give shall be the truth, and will strengthen the commitment to the truth? - Yes. - Why are you here? - Doing the right thing. - Anthony Curry seemed like a reluctant but incredibly important witness.

Anthony Curry says that he goes to Liam McIntosh's house at approximately 11 o'clock on Thanksgiving night and all of a sudden Liam turns to him and says, "Hey, I got a great idea." He told me he was going to meet up Sarah. She found this money and they were going to count it together. He was going to choke her, choke her out, bring her to the bridge, throw her off, impress her and was going to drive the escape vehicle and they were going to bury the money.

He is this sort of artsy guy who didn't have any real interest in implicating his friend. But when he sees what's happening, decides to do the right thing. Now, when you meet with police, what did you specifically agree to do?

We're recording the license card. Your Honor, at this time, the state would like permission to play court exhibit two. Okay. The worst part is we threw her off the bridge and the body never showed up. I want to ask you because this isn't just a stranger. This was someone who said he loved Sarah, was a part of her life, someone you trusted. How do you reconcile the Liam you thought you knew with the person who was sitting in that courtroom? There's nothing I can say

that would make me feel good about knowing what happened and that he did it. And his callous and cavalier attitude of how he described to his friend Anthony Curry what happened is, I can't imagine it happening to anybody. She called out his name because I guess she didn't know what was going on. He just choked the life out of her. Having Liam talk about this to Anthony Curry and presenting that to the jury

is about as incriminating a piece of evidence as you can have. There's a reason that Sarah Stern's father breaks down in court when the video is played. I spent five years in sex crimes, so I had horrific cases. I have never, ever seen a piece of evidence or heard an individual be so dismissive of another human being's life that it was overwhelming.

Do you think it was brave, what Anthony Curry did? I think so. It was a tough decision for him. He didn't have to come forward. Changed his life, too. Had he not come forward, we probably never would have got an answer. People are like, do you think he's a hero? Absolutely he is, because he put himself in a situation where if Liam had shown up with a gun, even though the detectives were across the street, they would not have been able to save him. And he appreciated that and still did the right thing. ♪

In the 11th hour, the defense calls an eyewitness and his testimony could turn this case upside down.

A local contractor, Craig Hetzel, says as he was driving his son to work in the wee hours of the morning, he says he saw Sarah Stern and he says he's 100 percent sure. If Craig Hetzel's right that he saw Sarah 12 hours after the time she was supposedly killed, that's an incredibly powerful piece of evidence for the defense. There was a girl walking down the street.

I said to my son, I said, "That is an awfully good looking girl to be walking on the street at 5 o'clock in the morning." I got a good look right in her face, stared right into her eyes the way I'm looking at you right now, and she turned her head that way and ducked down an alleyway. A couple days later, there was a picture of a girl. I said to my son, I said, "That's who we saw. That's who I saw that day." How sure are you that that is the same person? In my mind, no doubt.

The problem is the details of his story start to change. First, he says he saw Sarah Stern Friday morning, and then it's Saturday morning. There was definitely something to be skeptical about. I don't even know if it's worth speculating on why. It just, to me, factually, it just, it is inaccurate. The Monmouth County cops investigated this case. They did not find any signs inside that residence that would corroborate

What he's saying, what he's making up, the it's a story or it's a movie makes no sense. This was the ultimate cheap shot. Sarah had plans. She wasn't killing herself.

She wasn't going off the grid to Canada. This is a textbook felony, murder, armed robbery. Their intention was to rob her, but they knew that in order to rob her, they were prepared to kill her. She's lying there having a seizure. He puts his finger over her nose and he ends her life. That, ladies and gentlemen, is murder. It's now been six weeks. Closing arguments are in.

The judge has instructed the jury, and now the people impacted most, the defendant, his family, the victim's family, have to wait for the verdict. Sarah was committed to her art, to fun, to her friends and family.

She had a real talent for creating art. It was her calling, it was her gift. She would call it practicing reckless optimism. She did these beautiful drawings that she would gift to people and then she would light up from their reactions to her artwork. Talking with Michael Stern, she was so real to him and her artwork is still there and through her artwork, Sarah lives on with Michael.

So this is just coming in, an email from the courthouse, and Liam McIntasney has been found guilty of murder. We begin with breaking news. A guilty verdict in the Sarah Stern murder trial. Liam McIntasney now facing life in prison. How do you find us to count one of the indictment as to whether the defendant, Liam McIntasney, committed the crime of murder by purposely or knowingly causing the death of Sarah Stern guilty?

I remember sitting there and I just kept hearing guilty, guilty, guilty. And then you're like, okay, great. Like he won't be out in the world to go harm any other people. But you're like, Sarah's still gone. She's never going to come back. What would you say to Liam McIntosh if he were sitting here? You're an evil person. You shouldn't exist on this earth. It plays in my mind what happened over and over again. How many times can you watch your daughter die?

I know that you visit the bridge. You have a memorial there for Sarah. It's my daughter. Smart kid, good kid. So how do you want the world to remember Sarah Stern? As an artist, a friend that was just a good person. She was just a wonderful, wonderful child.

Liam McIntasney was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Preston Taylor was sentenced to 18 years. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. You can watch all new broadcast episodes of 2020 Friday nights at 9 on ABC.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Mielke, host of ABC's daily news podcast, Start Here. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with AutoQuote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try it at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy.