Morbid - Episode 121: The Murder of Sarah Stern Mini Morbid

Episode Date: February 24, 2020

Tonight in an Ash-centric Mini Morbid, we dive into the tragic case of Sarah Stern who was brutally murdered by her best friend Liam McAtasney. How far will someone go for money?  Visit our Sponsors! Hunt A Killer Right now just for our listeners you can go to huntakiller.com/morbid and use promocode MORBID at checkout for 20% off your first box.  HelloFresh Get the most meal for you moolah with hello fresh! Go to hellofresh.com/morbid10 and use code morbid10 for 10 free meals including free shipping!  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie has made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Whether it's routine maintenance and emergency repair or a dream project, Angie lets you browse home on her reviews, compare quotes from multiple local pros, and even book a service instantly. So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that and start getting the most out

of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash and this is another mini morbid because you're getting three episodes this week. Many, many, many, many, many more bed, many more bed, many more bed, many more bed! But don't get used to it. This is the last week. We just wanted to catch up because we had to miss the week when my little babe was in the hospital for two weeks, so we wanted to catch up and make sure you got all the content, all of it. Even more content than we normally give. Every content you could ever have.

Yeah, we just wanted to over content you, that's all. So this is your third episode. Yeah, oversaturate. We're just going to barge you with us. Okay, but not next week, we're going to be back to just a mini and a mini. I'm going to say it next week. So we'll be back to two from three. So really not that different. It's fine. It's different. It's fun.

It's fun. It's fun. All right, well, it was my turn to get together many. So this is a mini. So we're just gonna jump right in. Yeah, okay, let's get it. So let's do this. Strap in because it's strapped.

Okay, I'm glad. Because this case starts with one of the most like freaky things in my opinion. Oh, damn, which is an abandoned car. Ooh, we hate an abandoned car, genius. Yes. So on Saturday, December 3rd, 2016, at about 2.46 a.m., nothing good happens then. An Uber driver calls into Neptune City Police and says, hey, this car is abandoned, not

an emergency, you just thought you should have. That was nice. Yeah. And actually a couple people called the car. So the police go and check it out and they're like, what the fuck, like the keys are in the ignition of this car. It's completely operable. How do you say that?

Operable. Operable? Operable? Operable. Sounds good. The car works. I was gonna say it can drive. You can drive it.

So the keys are in the ignition. You can drive it. There's nothing wrong with this car. It's straight up abandoned. Perfectly good car. Yeah. So who's fucking cars this? Who's fucking cars this? They look and it's registered to a 96 year old woman named Lillian Stern. Oh, no. But she'd actually given her car to her granddaughter. 19 year old Sarah Stern. Okay. Okay. But now Sarah Williams, okay. Chloe and Z. Okay. But Sarah is nowhere to be found. Oh no.

So like I said before, Sarah was 19. She lived in Neptune city, New Jersey with her father, Michael and her dog buddy. She fucking loved that dog. Like that dog was her Bay. Oh, she was a good person when you love a dog like that. Oh yeah. And she was a good person. Yeah. She was absolutely beautiful, creative, and insanely talented artist, like insanely talented.

Um, and athlete, and by all accounts, just like one of the nicest people that you could ever meet. What the fuck, man? And like, she's a 19 year old girl. It reminds me of your many episodes. Yeah. Like, she's just this normal teenager, the it reminds me of your many episodes. Yeah. Like she's just this normal teenager, the twilight of her, no not the twilight, the dawn of

her life. Yeah, exactly. That's what it is in the twilight of her life, but she's in the dawn of her life. That was beautiful. Yeah. So Sarah was super into YouTube and actually a few people emailed us asking us to cover this. And one of those people who emailed us was in this YouTube community with Sarah. Oh, okay.

See, I was just, I'm in the age group that like YouTube was like not what it is now. Yeah, I was like not so much into this whole explosion of YouTubers. Yeah, I was like, right into it. Yeah, you definitely were. Like I liked, I liked a lot of like the English ones, like the European YouTubers. I was like, somewhat into it. Yeah, you definitely were. Like I liked, I liked a lot of like the English ones, like the European YouTubers. Yeah, so we didn't know any YouTubers. Yeah, they were, there weren't actual YouTubers. Your thing was like my space. Yeah, it was like, yeah. And YouTube was watching. Ready? Ready, my oldies? Are you ready?

It's for watching salad fingers. I need to trust it. Tales? Let's see if anybody knows tales of the blow. I know that because of you. You know, yeah, but like, get at me if you know those. I think my friends might have known about tales of the blow. I think we watched it once at like a get together. Did you really? Yeah. I'm impressed.

Thank you. So this specific community called themselves cream puffs. For my understanding, the cream puffs are like a fandom of this YouTube series. Your face looks so concerned. I just like, I don't understand. YouTube confuses me. Yeah. The only thing I use it for, like true crime. Yeah. That's about it. I love those. So the cream puffs, basically from when I gather were a fandom of this YouTube series called Carmilla. Okay. And basically Carmilla was like a web series like drama, comedy, like show, and it was based in Canada. Alright, that's cool. Now this is kind of a big deal

because Sarah fucking loved Canada. Like she... Who doesn't really? She loved Canada. I'm with her on that. She actually even traveled there at one point to go to this YouTube VidCon convention. Oh wow. And she met pretty famous YouTube stars, like Jenna Marbles. Oh, Jenna Marbles. Yeah, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, missing, like to help bring awareness to the case. Sarah had plans of like moving to Toronto someday. Or not. She went to Toronto for this convention, but she wanted to live in Canada. Wow. Alright. So as we know, when people have been missing, the police interview, the people the closest around them. So they contact Sarah's dad trying to figure out like

if she with you, like what the fuck were Yeah. Her poor father was in Disneyland with his new girlfriend. You're in the happiest place on earth and you've got a call from police like, Hey, do you know where your daughter is? Your way from your child's, you know, like 16, a 16 hour drive away. To be exact. Where is this? This is in Neptune city, which is a new Jersey. Oh, okay.

And he was in, there's like multiple Disney lands, isn't there? Well, there's one in California and this Disney land. And then there's Disney World. Oh no, Disney World is in California. Disney Land is in Florida. I'm assuming he was probably in Florida. Yeah, probably. And then how to drive to back to New Jersey.

If it was a 16 hour drive, he said that he was definitely in Florida. Yeah, shut up. So, I was like, wait a second. I don't know if there's like another fucking Disney land in like Nebraska, whatever. I don't know geography. So he immediately hops in the car and starts the 16 hour drive back to Neptune city to figure

out what the fuck is going on. Of course. Yep. So the last person to see Sarah before she went missing was her best friend Liam McAthasney I think is how you say it. Well, yeah, McAthasney. McAthasney. So they had hung out pretty much all day until Liam had to go to work at a local stay-house. Robin Draper, who was Sarah's neighbor, also saw Sarah that day. Okay. And she had something pretty big to tell police that she didn't really think much of before Sarah had gone missing. Earlier that day, Robin got a text from Sarah

asking if she could drop off a bin of her mom's old things to leave at Robin's house. Okay. So Robin, like I said, didn't think too much of it at the time. She'd been neighbors with the stirons forever. She'd seen Sarah grow up. She was friends with her mom. Sarah's mom had passed away from cancer. Oh, so she was like 15 when her mom passed away.

That's awful. It was really sad. So she figured that Sarah was just cleaning house, needed somewhere to put her stuff. So Sarah that day, pretty sure it's like morning-ish time. She walks across the street with Liam, walks right into the house because she's like friends with them, doesn't matter. And she's like, yo, like, hey, what's up, Robin? Like, I'm here to drop this off, like, yells out to Robin, but Robin wasn't home. Her daughter Carly was. So, Carly was Sarah's friends and childhood again. So she ran down to help Sarah and Liam would have been, and then after that, she and Sarah made plans to hang out that night and then Sarah and Liam had it out.

So it was like a pretty normal exchange, but now that Sarah's missing, she's like Robin Draper is like, you know, like it was weird that like she just dropped her mom stuff off here. Like because they're almost treating it like it was a runaway, like, maybe she was trying, like in the bright box piece of case. Yeah, like it's gonna get rid of all this stuff before she leaves. It's alarming when people start to give away stuff. For sure. And then they go missing. Yeah.

So authorities go to Liam's house pretty early on in the investigation. Actually, the very morning, that Sarah went missing. Good. In the video, they have a video of the exchange and you can tell it's early. It's not even light out yet. And Liam definitely just wakes up and answers the door and is like super confused.

Oh geez. So they ask him if he's with Sarah like a Sarah in the house and he's like, no, she's not last time I saw her was this afternoon. We hung out. I had to go to work like I haven't heard from her. And they're like, so you haven't heard from her since like you left to go to work. And he's like, nope, actually And they're like, she hasn't texted you anything like that. Like you're her best friend. Yeah, and he's like, nope, actually, and there like she hasn't texted you anything like that, like you're her best friend. And he's like, I actually can't find my phone. Like I don't even know where it is. So, I've got you to that.

Because I'm watching this documentary and I'm like, being a judgey bitch. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm sorry, you're like 19, 20 years old. I just don't know where my phone is. 2016, you don't just casually lose your phone. No, and whenever they say, you know what, it's weird. I don't know where my phone is. 2016, you don't just casually lose your phone. No, and whenever they say, you know what, it's weird. I don't know where my phone is.

It's like, fuck you, you know where your phone is. And I'm sorry, I don't think that you go to sleep, not knowing where your phone is. Yeah, you know where your phone is. How are you gonna wake up tomorrow? You have a fucking alarm clock? You know what, Liam? Not on your phone?

Liam, Liam. You know where your phone is. Where's your phone, Liam? Where's your phone, Liam? We're gonna find out later. We are. So, that's neither here nor there right now. Where's your phone, Liam? Where's your phone, Liam? We're gonna find out later. We are. So, that's neither here nor there right now, it's always what I wrote.

He also tells police right away, Sarah has a bad relationship with her dad. She's been talking about moving to Canada to get away from everything. Yeah, trying to set it up, Liam. No, no. Seems like you're trying to set it up. So very early on, there's a search party

put together to look for Sarah. Neptune City's one of those super close knit communities where everybody knows each other. So everyone got together. They had people like diving, they had boat captains looking for her. People from surrounding towns were joining and they come up with nothing. Are you Sarah? Hi, I'm Lindsay Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American Scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U.S. history, presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud.

In our newest series, we look at the Kids for Cash Scandal, a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were being sent away to jail in high numbers, and often for committing only minor offenses. The FBI began looking at two local judges, and when the full picture emerged, it made national headlines.

The judges were earning a fortune, carrying out a brazen criminal scheme, one that would shatter the lives of countless children and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder App. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? or are they made to kill? I'm Candice DeLong and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon

music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music Exclusive Podcast Killer Psychie Daily

in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today! Liam, his twin brother, Sheamus, his roommate Preston, who actually Preston took Sarah to the junior prom. Wow, it is some names. I know. Liam Preston and Sheamus. Sheamus, they're great names.

Liam and Sheamus are probably Irish, I would say. Yeah, and then Preston's probably just. She's just Preston. Yeah, he's just a little bit of his life. Just a little bit of his life. Hello. So he took her to the junior prom. So obviously he's like her Preston. Yeah, he's just a little bit like his Preston. Hello. Whoa. So he took her to the junior prom.

So obviously he's like her good friend. Yeah. They went just as friends, like not romantic, but they're all looking for her. This is their friend, their good friend. Yeah, but I'm starting to get, I'm getting a little suspect here. Yeah, it's, they're such good friends.

It's a little tough. It's going on here. So police speak to Liam again that day, just to see if there's anything he can let them know that is gonna lead them to find Sarah. They're a little suspects. They're probably actually at this point. I don't know how sus they are. They're just like we need to I think they're pretty much thinking she ran away. Yeah, that makes sense because there's there's just nothing. There's no evidence. There's a condo trace of her. So he again tells them she has she has this bad relationship with her dad lately. She was talking about getting away moving to Canada. He tells police exactly what they did that day.

He goes over the whole day. They went to the draper's house to drop that bin off. They went to Taco Bell. Fuck yeah. They went back to the house, played video games together. And then he left to get to his shift at the steakhouse. Sounds like a day. Yeah, sounds. I mean, it Sounds like a day. Yeah. Sounds.

I mean, it sounds like a very casual, like typical Friday Saturday, very normal, 18, 19 year old day. Yeah. Those were the fucking days. Those were the days. Cleaned your house a little bit. Just rolled around. Rolls around.

Made some Taco Bell, played some video games. So he says that he was supposed to work until midnight, but he ended up getting out early at 10 and he just went home. And everything adds up. His story adds up because the across the street neighbors, the drapers have a security system. So and you can see Sarah's house is like a adjacent right across the street. So you can see all the times they left throughout the day in Sarah's car and then you can see

Liam's car leaving when he said he left. Never comes back again. So they have Liam leaving when he said he did like I said and then the last car to leave the driveway is Sarah's house around 1145 presumably headed toward the bridge. Okay. But where is she? Did she jump off? Did she fucking like hop on a getaway car? Yeah. Like what the fuck? So Liam does say that she did have some pretty self-destructive behavior in the past. And maybe she was suicidal. He at one point had this girlfriend named Maggie.

And like he says that if Maggie didn't text Sarah back right away, Sarah would be like, I'm going to kill myself. Like text me back. Like, a lot of the things. She was convenient. I don't know. Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Um, I'm really on Liam's shit. And then, but then you have her giving the bin of her mom's things to the draper's. Yeah, that's that. So Liam says maybe she did jump off the bridge. And then he asks authorities while he's speaking to them at the station. So this is like on camera. If she did jump off the bridge, what are the odds that she's not off in the ocean by now? Oh, you're trying to make sure? Yeah, you're trying to make sure Liam. And you just coldly ask about your best friend since first grade.

These two had been friends since first grade. And you're asking some kind of weird ask ski-vy question about whether you fucking floated into the ocean. Well, if she's dead, like, is she in the middle of the ocean right now, and he just coldly asked the question. Yeah.

Fucking Liam, man. So that same day, his mom and dad hire him in a tourney who advises him to stop talking to the police. Hey, smart attorney. And Liam goes quiet. Oh, there you go. When Liam stops talking, though, his friend and roommate, Preston Taylor,

oh, Preston, remember Sarah's the junior brown date. He's brought in to speak with authorities just to give any information he might have. friend and roommate, Preston Taylor, old Preston, remember Sarah's the junior, proud, proud date. He's brought in to speak with authorities just to give any information he might have. He says, maybe she jumped off the bridge because of the issue she's been having with her dad. Sounds kind of rehearsing me. And as he's saying this, he starts to cry,

which is like, a little weird, because it's like you're saying maybe she jumped off the bridge, like you're just like cooperating the same story but you're crying for something. Yeah, and it's like you're saying maybe she jumped off the bridge like you're just like cooperating the same story but you're crying for something. Yeah, and it's like are you crying because you're sad because you think she jumped off the bridge? Are you crying because you know you're bullshitting. Exactly. And it left police with this like weird feeling about the interview, but still there's not a lot to go on. Yeah, and they're like maybe she jumped maybe she ran away. And it's like, we just joked. And you hold them on. It's like, you don't really have anything.

You don't have any. Yeah. So then it's discovered that there was a missing piece to this story. Uh-oh. Sarah went to the bank the day she went missing. Ah. Pretty unassuming thing, but remember

that she had been with Liam, and he only mentioned the Draper's house, Taco Bell, my favorite place in the whole entire world, and video games. Never know anything. Did he mention stopping at the bank with Sarah? Uh-oh. So why would you leave that out?

Why, Liam? It could have had something to do with the fact that Sarah had a lot of fucking money in this bank. Do you wanna guess how much money she had in this bank? How much did she have? 19 year old Sarah had about $25,000 put in this bank. Holy shit. Yep.

And Liam knew that she had that much money because he was with her when she found this money. What the f**k. So the two of them were together cleaning out a second home that her family had and I think it's pronounced Avan. Like we have an Avan here. Avan by the sea is what I was called. So that's where their second house was. And they stumbled upon the shoebox of like super old money. And basically Sarah's mom had left it to her. And her Sarah's dad says that like Sarah's mom was a planner and this money

was to basically set Sarah up because her mom, her mom knew that she was going to pass away. Yeah. Man. So the money was going to pass away. Yeah. So the money was like, like I said, worn. It was in really bad condition, but nonetheless, shit, ton of money. Yeah. Sarah spent some of it, because she's fucking 19 years old, and then she can.

And then she put the rest $25,000 in the bank. Holy shit. So the security footage at the bank shows Sarah super happy, super cheerful. She chats with the teller. She chats with the bank manager, she chats with the bank manager, who was actually a super long time friend of her families. She waves goodbye to him, she's smiling. And later he's like testifying at her trial and he's like sobbing on the stand.

Oh, this makes me so sad. Because he said it was the last time he saw Sarah. He blew her kiss, waved at her and he said, I love you. And that's the last time he saw her. He blew her kiss, waved at her and he said, I love you. And that's the last time he saw her. Man, what a last thing to do though. Yeah, I know. Blow you a kiss, she loves them and waved. And you can see her leaving like, and she's like, bye. Like, you can like see her waving.

And like, she's just hurts my heart. Yeah, it's really sad. That's one of the, like, you were saying in the page delirity, one where you can see her going into the deli for the last time. Exactly. Those kind of moments where you like, you have no idea what's going into the deli for the last time. Exactly. Those kind of moments where you like, you have no idea what's going to happen to you. Yeah.

And it's like those, those are chilling as well. Why would you, like especially in this case, you're just hanging out with your best friend. I hung out with my best friend this morning. I never assumed that she was gonna murder me. You know, and it's like, you're up breakfast. Oh man. So at this point police are like, this isn't a runaway. This really doesn't look like a suicide. Why would she leave if she was if she was running away? Why would

she leave $25,000? Yeah, and then a search of her room shows that her passport, her security card, and Canadian currency are in her room. Yeah, so she didn't fucking away. She didn't even know way to come. No way. And they realized that they're working on a homicide. Oh no, Sarah. So back to when she found the money. So Sarah called her aunt to tell her that like,

yo, I found all this money. And her aunt advised her not to tell anybody. Like, don't tell anybody that you have this much money. Yeah. Like, it's a lot of money. Be careful. Obviously, it was already too late because Liam McA-Tasney, Sarah's best friend was with her.

She probably didn't think too much about the fact that he was with her. Of course not. I would never think that my best friend would do anything. That this would be a problem. Right. Liam, on the other hand, couldn't fucking stop thinking about it. Go earn it then, you little turd.

Tewat, yeah. God. So he was thinking this money could change somebody's life, that it was the kind of money somebody would kill for. No. So pressent Taylor. Pressent Taylor later testified that's exactly what Liam said when he told Preston about finding the money with Sarah.

And he pretty much made up his mind, like then in there that he needed some of that money. And maybe he would rob Sarah for it, maybe he would kill her for it. Or she's your best friend and you can be like, hey, can I borrow some of that money? Exactly. Or like work at the steakhouse. I'm sure you make pretty good tips at a steakhouse. You want that kind of life-changing money, then go work for it.

So the original plan was to get her drunk and steal the money, but that didn't work because I already want to punch this kid in the face. Well, he's an asshole. First of all, take out her drunk. He brings over Mike's hard lemonade, which like really, wow, I don't think that's going to work. Wow. I started drinking Mike's hard lemonade when I was 14 years old.

Okay. Wow. I'm sure Sarah didn't because she seems a little more respectable than I was. But Mike's hard lemonade is probably not going to do the trick. Maybe Mike gets you a little goofy. Mike gets you real sick with all that sugar. You're not gonna black out and be like, take my money, take all that cash.

And she's not a fucking idiot. She doesn't have the cash in the house you moron. Seriously. To the bank, because she's responsible. Here do you think this is exactly you idiot? So that didn't work. So he was like, he starts to put this plan together. Like we're gonna kill Sarah.

I'm gonna kill Sarah. I want that money. That escalated quickly. Oh yeah. He's a fucking idiot. So, apparently. So in his mind, he's gonna walk away with like 100 grand. He, Liam only told one other person about this money

other than Preston and his elaborate plan to make it his money. Anthony Curry. I hate thieves. I do just a lot. We were just talking about the way we were. I'd go fucking work for it. Even like, people. It's hard earn money. Anthony Curry. I hate thieves. We were just talking about that. Yeah, go fucking work for it. Even like people. It's harder and money. Right, even people who steal little things like piss me off. Yeah. Make some yours. It's not yours. And you're taking

out of it. Whether you're stealing money from somebody or you're stealing something like from their store, you're taking money out of their pocket. Yeah, exactly. And it's like just a noise fuck off. So anyways. So anyway. Anthony Curry was a filmmaker from Neptune City who had went to high school with Sarah Preston and Liam. He was actually pretty good friends with Liam. And he said that Liam often pitched him ideas for horror movies, which were normally the

kind of movies that Anthony liked to direct. Yeah. This kind of adorable. I love this good. I feel Anthony on that. So Anthony came forward to police seven weeks after Sarah disappeared with the groundbreaking information. Oh snap. It was information that sounded straight out of a horror film like the ones he produced. This time it wasn't a film idea Liam had pitched to Anthony. It was an actual plan about a real girl with a lot of money and her real last best friend who wanted to just kill her and steal her money. Wow. So Anthony tells police that he goes over to Liam's house on the night of Thanksgiving and

Liam told Anthony all about the money, all like that, that Sarah had and that he was planning to kill her and I'm just supposed to give thanks on Thanksgiving. No, not hatch a plan to murder your best friend. Well, he did that money. It's Thanksgiving night only. God damn it, Liam. He said he planned on catching her off guard, strangling her, stealing the money, tossing her body over the bridge. That is so stealing the money, tothing her body over the bridge. That is so brutal. And I know you said it like to strangle times. This is her best friend since the first grade. That I can't wrap my brain up.

The first grade. And that his method of doing this, he's like, I'm gonna strangle there. The most personal thing ever. That's like the most intense way to kill someone. Oh, just wait, it gets horrible. Oh no. So police are like, we need to get Liam confessing to this on tape

because other than it's huge. This is huge and we have nothing. Yeah. So like we need this confession. Yeah. So and there's no body. Sarah's body still hasn't turned up. I bet. So they set up this sting operation where Anthony meets up with Liam. First they tried to get it done over the phone and like Anthony calls Liam and he's like, because they were like bros kind of. Yeah. It's like friends. Yeah. Um, Anthony is like, I broke my camera.

Can I borrow some of that money you have? Like, you know, all that fucking money. You know that money. And Liam is like, oh, like, I, yeah, let's meet up. And he, cause he fucking knows he's not gonna talk about it. Yeah, the phone So I wrote a little asshole Sorry, oh, I wrote in my notes. I said now. I'm sorry, but what innocent mother fucker can't briefly talk to you on the phone Other than me because don't ever call me for anything. I hate talking on the phone. Yeah, you and I don't call each other Nope, I don't call anyone but fuck Liam. I don't care

I can you can have a fucking phone conversation. Yeah. So anyway, they meet up in this parking lot and Anthony's car is wired. So you can hear and see the entire exchange. Oh shit. I love when there's video. I love when they say video. I love the visual.

I love a visual. What is that? Like a visual means a visual. Just a visual. No, I'm trying to think of a word. It's a visual. It's all you need no I'm trying to think it's Word visual I don't know Markey no I'm Wow, what's happening? I don't know what's the word a visual don't think it's Markey. It's not edit that out. So do it. Oh, won't do it. So okay, so this makes me mad. So they mean in this parking lot Anthony's car is wired like I said so you see Liam get into the car And he fucking greets Anthony and he goes what's good money?

No, he freates me. I want to take a bat I'm like a kid right now. Well, it's like you know like you you greet all your oldest pals like of course you do I was good money. I often walk into your home and say what's good money? What's good money like fuck you After I just hatched a plan to kill someone for the Macatazni. You're fun, fucking Ireland. Nobody says that in Ireland. Fuck off.

I hate that. So I just, he's an arrogant prick in the end. I'm still like him. So before Anthony really gets to say much of anything, Leo's like, yo, I'm sorry, no disrespect, but I gotta do this. And he fucking pats down Anthony looking for a wire. He literally pats him down from head, or pats him up sort of, because he starts at his

ankles. That's not guilty at all. No, not about this. No, no suspect there. Like looking for a wire. So please tell me this kid is innocent. It makes no sense. Yeah, absolutely not.

So Liam, obviously the thank God, he doesn't look any further than like Anthony's body And there's nothing on Anthony So then he just dives right into it. He's like yo man. Sorry the FBI is on my ass First it was the police, but now there's money involved so the FBI is like talking to me a ton I just can't be too careful and then what the fuck did did you do? Right, so Anthony's like, hey man, like what happened? So Liam dives into the entire account of the night he murdered his best friend without an ounce of emotion. He says he thought, he had killing Sarah, was only going to take a few minutes. But actually he timed it.

He literally, he put a timer on his foot. What? And when he started killing her her and it took a half hour What the fuck he says he strangled her and when that didn't work He shoved a shirt down her throat and held her nose while timing the entire thing I'm That's a nightmare. It's the most terrifying thing that I've ever seen That just made me had a take of deep breath

I'm that makes me so sad for and this is if this already wasn't a trigger warning Just like an animal trigger warning. He says that he killed her right in front of her dog And he says that her dog didn't do anything. He just like laid there and watched the whole thing. Oh my god Okay, that like really hurt my it's so it's like that hurts my and you know what? I think he's lying I think the dog probably did try to do something I heard it or like scared it probably and if he didn't he's probably just fucking terrified Yeah, are you kidding me? He's like I did what's going on pretty sure he was like in his crate or like something

So that makes me so upset. That's awful. Oh, and I think I feel like he just said that to sound like a badass Like I'm a dog, but it's like, that just makes you sound like the biggest piece of Garden asked because you know what and that dog did do something because John can't you've seen John can't even like pretend to tickle me no without Bailey Bailey losing and Bailey loves John and would literally yeah like move heaven and earth for him. Like that dog loves John. But the second he goes to even pretend to tickle me, Bailey will eat him alive. Like I was thinking, I almost wrote it in here. Like I will be like dancing with the girls in the kitchen. And if I'm like twirling with like one of them,

Bailey gets like pissed off and she thinks like I'm trying to hurt them. She protects like hard. She does. Yeah. So he's just being an asshole. Oh, that just makes me so sad. Well, and he says that the worst part is that he thought he was gonna walk out of this with like 50 to 100 grand,

and all he got was 10 grand. Jesus Christ. Yeah, so that's the worst part of this. Yeah, and he goes and I wasn't gonna say like a lot of this. I'm gonna like skip some of the things he said because they're just fucking awful and like senseless. But he says that like the last thing that she said was his name. And it's probably because she's like Liam, like my best friend.

Yeah, Liam, like what the fuck? I don't believe she said your name. Well, I don't think so either. I don't believe that you little shit. Yeah, he talks about her. Like it's this girl that he's like he didn't know. Best friend since first grade. That's fucking unbelievable.

So CEO, that is unbelievable. Um, and oh, and he says he goes, it's not really like like my life hasn't changed that much. Like since she's, since she's passed away, like since I killed her. What the hell? He's like, you know, I thought that I was going to have all this money, but like 10 grand isn't really much more than what I had already all I've done is like throw better parties I Hate this kid and then he goes what am I gonna do live a boring ass life? Oh?

I hate this fucking kid okay. I hate this kid. I've never killed anybody But I'm willing I like I don't think my life qualifies as boring because I haven't killed somebody yeah Like holy shit. That's his excuse for this. What the hell? So Anthony's like, yeah dude, where's the money? For his, like, I want the camera fixed, but also I want you to get the fuck out of my car. So I really want to end this right now.

It's so sad. You can see obviously hit the exchange before Liam gets in the car on the way. They have a little clip of it and he's so nervous. He's singing along to his music and like like smoking a cigarette because he's got to act like he's not He's unflappable like he's not I mean like he's like with a Yeah, totally murder fun. So he asked where the money is and Liam tells him it's in Sandy hook and that he doesn't even know if He can put it in the bank because the quality is so bad. Because remember, like, that's like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like the only other person that knows about this all. And actually Preston doesn't even know I'm telling you this because if Preston knew that you knew this,

he'd probably kill you. Oh fuck you, Preston's not doing shit. Oh, Preston is a little bitch. Yeah, like fuck you, Preston would kill you, like fuck that. So he had the knees like, yeah man, like good talk, like safe travels. Cool, this was great. It literally happened to be you.

Because safe travels, safe travels. He gets out of the car and he probably pealed out of that Foggy We're in and so fast Can you imagine after that you're like yeah, this has been great Yeah, super glad to see you again friend. Alright, see you later cool cool cool. Bye bye. Bye So they have a taped confession, but it gets better than that. Oh no So they go to arrest the shit out of Preston because just arrest the shit out of him because also Liam says that Preston helped him dispose of Saras body

I'm in this whole thing was an asshole. So Preston confesses to everything and literally less than two seconds. I knew Preston. He's like I did it I'm sorry, of course this is what happened He tells police every last detail his transcript is 52 pages long. Good. 52 pages. Sing like a canary person. He agrees to go back to the Stern House where he went after Liam called saying the job was done. Liam had to get to work serving murder stakes. Oh yeah, of course. Can you imagine if he was your waiter that day? No. It's like the deli. Oh, you might just be thinking like, oh, like that was a murder stake. Yeah, that was a murder stake. It's fucked up. It's not the deli. Like, you might just be thinking like, oh, like that was a murder steak. Yeah, I was a murder steak.

It's fucked up. It's not funny. So Preston goes, I'm pretty sure Liam had left Sarah's body in the bathroom. So Preston walks back to the bathroom and he moves the body to the bushes to hide it until he and Liam could come back that night together to finish their plan and drive to the bridge, throw her over.

He says he shows them exactly how he picked Sarah up. She was slumped over in the corner. He carried her under the shoulders and he dragged her outside so her feet were dragging in front of him. Almost like a trust fall. Yeah, that makes sense, which is like a really bad comparison in the situation. But so So he grabbed so so he leaves her there and then he later grabs Liam after Liam gets off work and then they go back to the house back to Sarah's house So remember how Sarah's car pulled out of that driveway one last time. Oh, that was not Sarah. At 1145. Nope, it wasn't Sarah. That was Liam and Sarah's lifeless body was in the back.

Oh. And Preston was following behind him. From what I assume, they don't ever really go into like great detail of like how this whole setup was. But what I'm assuming is, because there was bushes, I think, and either the side or the back of the house. Okay. And they, um, they like put her body over the fence,

like they passed it over the fence. So I think you couldn't see from the draper's camera, like Preston's car. Okay. I think, yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah. So the original plan was for Preston to be,

so they drive to the bridge and the original plan is for Preston to be waiting on the opposite side so that after Liam threw Sarah's body over, Preston would be waiting and Liam could hop over the median, jump in the car and they could leave. Jesus. Sorry, I lost my place. But Liam Scranias couldn't get Sarah

over the bridge himself. So he walkie-talkies Preston. What? They bought walkie-talkies for this. For this? Jesus Christ. They bought walkie-talkies for the fucking murder. And actually, they bought walkie-talkies before that because when they were going to do that whole thing where they got her drunk, they needed walkie-talkies. Me, I'm walkie-talkie Preston. I was like, never mind. We're not going to be able to rob her but come over anyways. Can you imagine these assholes being like 10-4? Like 10-4 over come help me do this? Over and out you're fucking squid. Like you're the worse. Um so police also took Preston out to

Sandy Hook so he could show them where the safe was with the money in it that Liam had buried there. He leased them to this like wooded area and the safe is literally sticking out of the ground like when they get to where it is It makes sense barely cover. Yeah, that makes total sense. I would expect nothing more. Yes, it's locked and it's engraved in It's engraved with the numbers 0 0 2 the lock is engraved. Okay, so at this point they have like way more than they need to Arrest Liam. Yeah, So they go to arrest Liam. He's, I don't even remember who he was, fuck that. Who cares? Being dumb.

Doing something stupid. Being dumb, doing dumb stuff. Driving his ugly fucking car. Yeah. And on his person, when he's arrested, on his key chain, there's a key with an engraved 002. Oh, I mean, come on. There it is.

It's on his fucking key chain. Wow. Like a unit an idiot? What a brazen fuck. Yes, you are. So obviously trucking Leon locks the safe. Crazy. We're revealing $9,350. Okay. It's hard to read numbers. Numbers are hard. And it's in old, worn money, all in like 50s and hundreds, just like Sarah's money was. So the case goes to trial, the trial last six weeks. The defense's biggest thing is that there's no body. They also try to bring up Sarah's relationship with her dad. Like they try to be like, oh, he was just like horrible, dude. But there's texts between the two of them while he's in Disney.

And he's like sending her pictures of the castle and she's like, oh, it looks so pretty. Like, what day are you coming home? Like normal. Yeah, it seems pretty normal. Like, yeah, exactly. And then there's also like the panic text messages that he was sending Sarah the whole time driving home.

Like, where are you, please answer me. I'm okay. And actually, I listened to the date line podcast on this and her friend Carly was saying that like every day Sarah was missing, she would message her on Instagram. Like because they thought she ran away at first. So Carly was like, if you ran away like it's okay, make a Disney account and like like one of my pictures so I know you're okay.

That's smart. Yeah, super smart. It's really smart. Obviously that never happened. No, that's a really smart way of doing this sad so Then this whole like douchebag guy comes forward and says he totally saw Sarah on Saturday morning at 5 a.m He was driving a center work super early, but he's literally the worst witness ever

He changes his story and was like actually. No, it was Friday. No way to watch Saturday No, fuck. I think he's just like a dickhead. He like wanted what the name of this. Yeah. I did it for like the fun of it. The defense team also comes up with this bullshit explanation for the confession tape saying that Liam was auditioning for one of Anthony's horror films. Get turn around and get right the fuck out of here. Um, that just doesn't make any sense at all. Stupidest shit I have ever heard my life. So Liam's mom believes this too.

Of course she does. And I'm not one to like go after the victim, like, or like the murderers family at all. Like they normally had nothing to do with this. But this woman is a fucking asshole. Yeah, she sits there in the 2020 interview. And she's like, you know, I hope that Someday like Sarah turns up like Michael deserves that her father deserves that

You know, I wish she could have come to us and let us know that like whatever she was struggling with like treating it Oh, shut the fuck up. Like she either killed herself right away. Yeah, stop. And she's like, come on. That is not a confession tape like she she's like, when Liam talks about things, he doesn't talk about them that way. He uses a very serious tone most of the time.

I'm like, honey, no, your kid gets into cars and it's like, what's good money? Yeah, like he's not a very serious guy. You don't know your kid. Yeah, obviously. And then this woman, it's a very confusing thing because she starts to cry and puts her hands into her hands and then when she comes up, there's no tears on her face.

Oh, look at that. And she's pretending to cry, but there are no tears on my eye. Like, over face. Are you auditioning as well? Yeah, it's a very confusing viewer experience. It's very weird. And I just really think of you.

Very weird lack of visuals there. Because the thing is, I'm very sorry if like something like like your kid Like does something like that, but you owe it to the victims. Yeah father and mother or stepmother They're family to be like I am so sorry for what my child did to you are not to sit there and put it right back on their their kid Exactly, like to sit there and be like well, they probably killed themselves are ran away and don't fake cry you don't do that come on man so the jury comes back and finds Liam guilty on seven counts good including first-degree murder tampering with evidence the desecration of human remains which he gets an extra 10 years for damn so overall he sentenced to life in

prison plus 10 years without the possibility of roles. Yeah. Which is amazing. Yeah, justice system. Honestly, in my fucking opinion, it's not even enough. I wish there was more. You murdered your best friend since first grade. Seven life sentences.

And I literally wrote in here like we said earlier, make your own money. Make your own money, man. Preston Taylor accepted a fucking plea deal. Of course. Of course. Because he was cooperative. He cried every five seconds. He was like, I did it, I swear. Um, so he pled guilty to first degree robbery,

second degree conspiracy to commit robbery, and second degree disturbing or desecrating human remains. Uh, he was sentenced to 18 years, and he'll have, it's not enough. The only plus, I guess, is that he'll have to serve at least 15 before he's eligible for Pearl. Okay. The judge reminded Preston in his sentence saying that he had multiple opportunities to stop this

and he never did. Good, I'm glad he said that. Like he was like just make sure that this weighs on you for the next 15 years. That's what you want. Do you think about this for 15 years? And he could've stopped it. Absolutely, he could've. But he just wanted the money. William told him well before this was happening.

What he wanted to do. Like you took this girl to prom. Like these kids grew up together. Their families knew each other. Like I think Michael Stern like car pulled them. Like at some point. As shit. Like they all grew up together. That's beyond. Who the fuck in you dressed? Nobody. So Sarah's dad, Michael, was never able to give her a proper funeral, because her body's still never been found. That's awful. He did set up the Sarah Lee Stern Memorial Scholarship to keep her memory alive and to help students looking

to go into the arts because she loved the art so much. And she was so fucking talented. If you're interested in donating to the scholarship, you can send funds. I'm gonna post when we post that episode exactly where you can send them. If you don't see the post for some reason, you can send them to the Sarister and Memorial Scholarship Fund PO Box 2301 Neptune City, New Jersey, 0-7-7-5-3. I love that. And that is another fucking senseless murder. That's a terrible murder.

It's so sad. And thank you to everybody that wrote in and asked for that one. Yeah, that's a crazy case. It's crazy. It's the fact that they have not found her yet makes my heart hurt. They just threw this girl, like Liam spent many many days like hanging out with her talking with her friend. Yeah, and then he he once like kills her times it like does all this awful thing and then just disposes of her like, like, is nothing and talks about her like it's nothing. That's horrific. Yeah. Wow. Thanks for ruining my soul.

You're welcome. You ruined mine earlier. Anytime. So if you want to, if you do want to donate to that, the Memorial Scholarship Fund, I'll post it on the Instagram and you can follow us at Morbid Podcast. Hit us up on the Twitter. It'll be there too. A morbid podcast, uh, like the Facebook group, join it. What do we do? morbid colon at your crime podcast Facebook group. And guys, please write to our email suggesting us more cases, because it's always fun when you suggest them. Yeah, morbid podcast at gmail.com.

We hope you can listen to me. And we hope you keep it weird. I don't really want to do one for this one. Yeah, so it was a real bummer. It was huge bum. Yeah, thanks for that. You're welcome. Bye don't really want to do one for this. Yeah, that's all. It was a real bummer. It was huge bum. Yeah, thanks for that. You're welcome. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. an Apple podcast. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.