NJ SARAH STERN: Missing from Neptune, NJ - 2 December 2016 - Age 19

Sarah Stern's Death: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Sarah Stern went missing in December 2016, and her childhood friend was later convicted of her murder. The case is highlighted on ABC News 20/20 tonight.

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Stern was last seen in Neptune, New Jersey on the afternoon of December 2, 2016. She has never been heard from again. Her vehicle, a silver four-door 1994 Oldsmobile 88, with the New Jersey license plate number WA337S, was found abandoned on the Route 35 Bridge in Belmar, New Jersey at 2:45 a.m. on December 3. It was in working order and the keys were inside it.

In February 2017, Liam McAtasney and Preston Taylor were charged in Stern's case. Photos of them are posted below this case summary. Both of them had known Stern since childhood and were friends with her in high school; in fact, Taylor had been Stern's junior prom date. They both had participated in the search for her.

Sarah L. Stern – The Charley Project

NamUs The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Media - SARAH STERN; Missing from Neptune, NJ since 2 December 2016 - Age 19

 

[GarAndMo39]

Stern was last seen in Neptune, New Jersey on the afternoon of December 2, 2016. She has never been heard from again. Her vehicle, a silver four-door 1994 Oldsmobile 88, with the New Jersey license plate number WA337S, was found abandoned on the Route 35 Bridge in Belmar, New Jersey at 2:45 a.m. on December 3. It was in working order and the keys were inside it.

In February 2017, Liam McAtasney and Preston Taylor were charged in Stern's case. Photos of them are posted below this case summary. Both of them had known Stern since childhood and were friends with her in high school; in fact, Taylor had been Stern's junior prom date. They both had participated in the search for her.

Sarah L. Stern – The Charley Project

Thank you SO much @kdg411 !I'll post as soon as I finish my grocery list and collect my thoughts...

 

[GarAndMo39]

I don't even know how to start here; I watched the 20/20 episode on this case last week, and I'm still reeling. I feel like I need to re-watch it, but I just can't yet. I'd read about the case and the "confession tape", but avoided watching the tape- I'm not able to be as detached as I used to be when it comes to true crime, and maybe that's good. Watching that tape was one of the most horrifying, vile, heinous experiences I've ever had. I cried, yelled, and had to work hard not to throw up (and I'm not a puker). Those boys- God, I literally can't find words. How do you do that to ANYONE, let alone a friend? I can't begin to imagine how Sarah felt; again, I have no words for the horror of it. And for what- MONEY? Was the money worth it, you little <censored> monsters? All the loss and heartbreak Sarah and her father had experienced, and you have the unmitigated gall to hatch this plan and go through with it? WTH is wrong with people? I try to be very careful in re: karma, and wishing bad things on people, but I hope they suffer brutally for the rest of their worthless lives.
I will post more cohesive thoughts on the case when I've calmed down (if that's possible), but I had to vent.
Thank you @kdg411 for starting this thread, and to @Paradise & everyone for your help...

 

[GrandmaBear]

I don't even know how to start here; I watched the 20/20 episode on this case last week, and I'm still reeling. I feel like I need to re-watch it, but I just can't yet. I'd read about the case and the "confession tape", but avoided watching the tape- I'm not able to be as detached as I used to be when it comes to true crime, and maybe that's good. Watching that tape was one of the most horrifying, vile, heinous experiences I've ever had. I cried, yelled, and had to work hard not to throw up (and I'm not a puker). Those boys- God, I literally can't find words. How do you do that to ANYONE, let alone a friend? I can't begin to imagine how Sarah felt; again, I have no words for the horror of it. And for what- MONEY? Was the money worth it, you little <censored> monsters? All the loss and heartbreak Sarah and her father had experienced, and you have the unmitigated gall to hatch this plan and go through with it? WTH is wrong with people? I try to be very careful in re: karma, and wishing bad things on people, but I hope they suffer brutally for the rest of their worthless lives.
I will post more cohesive thoughts on the case when I've calmed down (if that's possible), but I had to vent.
Thank you @kdg411 for starting this thread, and to @Paradise & everyone for your help...

I just watched it yesterday and I think as bad and heinous as everything else they did was what they tried to do to her father--spread rumors rampant of how she wanted to get away from him and how awful he was... At least he had a chance on the stand to show some of his relationship with his daughter and that they cared about each other. Watching him break down throughout was hard as well. I wanted to go in and attack these "boys"--BRUTALLY myself.

And then this perp's mother who can't bring herself to believe he did this?? I guess when your son does something that evil on so many levels and the world knows it, she can either hide or deny...

The one female I think it was a detective or prosecutor said she had seen much in her career and terrible things but nothing like this and the absolute lack of anything human in this perp/the perps (paraphrasing on my part).

I agree with you in that there are not words for this one. I wanted to hurt them at the same time as I wanted to hug her father...

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Never Before Seen Footage: Missing Neptune Teen The Focus Of 'Shark River Mystery' TV Special

Operator - "911 where is the emergency?" Caller - "Actually I'm on the Belmar Bridge. In the middle of the bridge, there is a car that's abandoned." And with one call, one of the Jersey Shore's most troubling and saddest stories began to unfold.

wobm.com

Missing Neptune, NJ Teen The Focus Of ‘Shark River Mystery’ TV Special​

This Sunday night we'll learn more about "The Shark River Mystery" as HLN's documentary airs nationwide.

Lies, Crimes, & Video on HLN (aka CNN Headline News) will explore what happened to Sarah Stern from Neptune Township in a new documentary this Sunday night (March 7th, 2021) at 10 pm. While this mystery has been profiled on Dateline NBC, HLN will share another angle, "terrifying 911 calls, police interrogations jailhouse recordings, body camera and surveillance video captured as part of a criminal investigation.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Sarah Stern murder: Accomplice Preston Taylor loses appeal to reduce 18-year sentence

The appeals court did set aside — on a procedural quibble — a $10,000 fine imposed on Taylor by the trial court for the robbery count of his crimes.

www.app.com

Sarah Stern murder: Accomplice Preston Taylor loses appeal to reduce 18-year sentence​

A three-judge panel has rejected an appeal from Preston Taylor to reduce his prison sentence for his role in the robbery and murder of Sarah Stern.

In the 26-page ruling, the state Superior Court’s appellate division did set aside — on a procedural quibble — a $10,000 fine imposed on Taylor by the trial court on the robbery count of his conviction.

“Taylor argues the trial court erred by not conducting an ability to pay hearing before imposing the $10,000 discretionary fine on the robbery count. We agree,” the appellate court wrote in its decision.


The appeal was the result of a decision made by Superior Court Judge Richard W. English in Freehold — who handed down Taylor’s sentence in June 2019 — to impose a longer sentence than the 15 years prosecutors recommended. That recommendation was based in part on Taylor's “substantial” cooperation with authorities.

However, the appellate court found no issues with the judge’s discretion to impose the longer sentence. Under the sentencing guidelines, Taylor is required to serve at least 15 of the 18 years of his term.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

I was making a movie, but then I filmed a real-life murder confession

While filming “Trap,” Anthony Edward Curry found himself playing a role in another twisted plot — the Jersey Shore murder case of Sarah Stern.

nypost.com

I was making a movie, but then I filmed a real-life murder confession​

After six exhausting years, filmmaker Anthony Edward Curry, 25, is finally premiering his movie “Trap” about the “real Asbury Park” on Saturday at the Queens World Film Festival.

The Jersey Shore native, who also stars in the film, describes it as an “underground tale of violent street kids I grew up with.”

While filming, which started in October 2016, Curry found himself playing a role in another twisted plot — a shocking Jersey Shore murder case that drew national attention and sent his childhood friend to jail for life.

In December 2016, artist Sarah Stern, 19, went missing and her car was found abandoned on a bridge in Belmar, NJ.

In the aftermath of her disappearance, Curry remembered his high school friend Liam McAtasney, who was close with Stern, pitching an idea for a movie in which he killed a girl. He came to the shocking realization that this wasn’t a tale that simply lived in his friend’s imagination — and he went to the police, who helped him set up a sting. Curry filmed McAtasney’s chilling confession — leading to his conviction and a life sentence.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Sarah Stern's killer Liam McAtasney's conviction upheld by appellate court

An appellate panel rejected convicted killer Liam McAtasney's arguments for a new trial in the murder of childhood friend Sarah Stern.

www.app.com

Sarah Stern's killer Liam McAtasney's conviction upheld by appellate court​

In a ruling Friday in the Sarah Stern murder case, an appellate court upheld the conviction and life prison sentence of Liam McAtasney, the Neptune City man who unwittingly admitted on a secretly taped video that he strangled his childhood friend and threw her body off a bridge in a robbery that netted $10,000.

In perhaps the most highly publicized murder case in Monmouth County in recent times, a three-judge panel with the Appellate Division of Superior Court rejected McAtasney’s arguments for a new trial, among them that the jury should have been precluded from watching his chilling videotaped confession.

Judges Heidi Willis Currier, Jessica R. Mayer and Avis Bishop-Thompson, in a 63-page opinion, let stand McAtasney’s 2019 convictions for murder, felony murder, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, desecration of human remains, tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension.