Murder With My Husband - 26. Sarah Stern - The Mystery on the Bridge

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

This week on Murder With My Husband, Payton tells Garrett the story of Sarah Stern. Sarah mysteriously disappeared in the middle of the night; her car abandoned on the side of a bridge. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: ABC 20/20 https://abcnews.go.com/US/liam-mcatasney-sentenced-life-parole-murdering-friend-sarah/story?id=63869375 https://www.distractify.com/p/what-happened-to-sarah-stern https://theblast.com/123658/the-murder-of-sarah-stern https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/03/sarah-stern-death-murderers/ https://www.chillingcrimes.com/blogs/news/sarah-stern Follow our socials: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer, PXU Energy is back with Ultimate Summer Pat, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings! Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest blood flow start guaranteeing to keep you cool. The savings for coming from inside the house! Ultimate Summer Pat, energy has been developed so cool.

Yes, you energy. Energy for everything. Captain Banner now to our podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Marlin. And I'm Garrett Marlin. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. Thank you so much to everyone who shared on social media this week. We also asked you guys on there what your name should be. Garrett wants all of his listeners to be called the haters, which I guess would make mine the lovers. But my favorite suggestions that we got were to call you guys are murder kids or offspring because me and Garrett are

got word to call you guys are murder kids or offspring because me and Garrett are mom and dad which I'm just cracking up at I think that's the funniest thing but I kind of like it I mean murder kids does sound a little bad but I don't know I mean I guess this is murder with my husband could be murder with my kids yeah it's kind of funny so listen up murder kids Garrett and I always play this game of how much money would it take for you to do this? Like how much money would it take for you to eat a spider? Or how much money would it take for you

to sell your favorite materialistic thing? Like Garrett has a baby blanket that he slept with. I have a pillow that I've slept with. How much money would it take for you to sell your blanket? Is in any amount of money, like you realistically think how much money would it take for you to sell your blanket? And I'll tell you how much money you would take

for me to sell my pillow. That's a good question. I think part of me wants to say nothing, but the other part of me wants to say, I don't know, like $10 million. That's it. Yeah, I think so. It's $10 million.

Oh my gosh, I don't think I'd sell my pillow. Oh, I don't know, $10 million. Yeah, that's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. That's a ton of money. Yeah, but I don't know about my pillow though. Yeah, like if someone came up to me, though, it was like $20,000 for that pillow. I'd say no. No, no, no, I'd have to be in the millions. See, yeah, me too. That's how much I mean, it's a lot of money, but I don't think I had no. Yeah, so people do weird and even sometimes horrible

things for money. But in our case today, the real question is, how much money would you kill for? This is the story of Sarah Stern. First, let me give you my sources. ABC has a 2020 on this, ABCNews.go.com, distractified.com, theblast.com, heavy.com, and www.chillingcrims.com. Keep in mind all of these sources will be linked

in our episode notes if you wanna check them out. Our case starts in Neptune City, New Jersey, which is a small sleepy, tight-knit town. Everyone knows everyone type of place. Now this is not like the Jersey Shore that we watch on MTV with Snooks and J.W. It's more of like a suburb place, so don't get in your head that we are, you know,

spending our summer on the Jersey Shore. This is more just like in New Jersey, but a suburban place. Okay. On December 3rd, 2016, at 2.45 AM, a call comes in from an Uber driver who states that a 94 Silver Four Door Olds Mobile 88 is abandoned on the route 35 bridge. Also, that was like a mouthful to say that car name. It didn't appear to have been in an accident.

No one was in it. It was just sitting there on the middle of the bridge keys in the ignition. Cops dispatched to the bridge and traced back the car to a 96 year old Lillian Stern. After further investigation, they discovered that it was actually Lillian's 19 year old granddaughter named Sarah Stern who frequently drove the car. 96. Yeah. That's old. Police call Sarah's parents to see if they know where she is.

They get in contact with her dad, Michael Stern, who tells them that he had been trying to contact Sarah all night, but he hadn't heard from her the whole night. He was on vacation in Florida, and she was at the house alone. Sarah's mom had actually passed away from cancer when she was 13, so she wasn't in the picture. OK. As things became clear, a possibility

that Sarah was missing the reality sank in. Sarah was well known in the tight-knit community, her family was well known. It was a big deal when people found out that this car belonged to her and no one, not even family knew where she was. And why was her phone off on a Friday night? Sarah is officially declared missing with her car left on the bridge, and an investigation immediately starts. Okay, so what year are we in again?

2016. Oh, so fairly recent. Okay, I didn't catch that. Yeah. So it is kind of strange that her phone's off. So in the early morning hours of that December 3rd 2016, police begin looking for any clues as to where Sarah is. They go to Sarah's house at 3am,

because remember she was missing around too, and they look around, they use body cams this whole time, which is cool, so you can actually go back and see the footage of them searching her home. They go in her back door, her lights are on, and her dog buddy is home in his cage, but she is not there.

Police wake the neighbors up and ask if anybody had seen her or know where she is. And I mean, this is kind of cool because this is literally just an hour after they've got the call that she's missing. And they've already contacted, well, figured out who the car belonged to found out it was the granddaughter that usually drove it, contacted the parents, went to the house, woke up the neighbors asked if anyone knew where she was, like they've already done so much to search for her.

And we know that those first hours are vital. So one neighbor comes forward and says that Sarah had actually stopped by her house earlier that day. She was dropping off a bin of her deceased mother's belongings to the neighbor's house. She wanted them in a safe place so she went and dropped them off. The neighbor didn't think it was suspicious at the time, but now that her car was found pulled off on the side of a bridge, she didn't really know. She doesn't think that Sarah would ever leave her dog buddy alone with no one to take care of him, but felt like maybe something was wrong with Sarah. That's the first question I was gonna ask

because about the dog. Yeah, this usually let him out. No, all the neighbors were like, this is really like she would never leave him home, even if even if she was leaving to go somewhere like she would have made sure he was taking care of. She wouldn't have left him in his cage. That's so strange, because right now it doesn't seem like there's any signs of break-ins though. Nope. Okay. But all the lights were on in the house.

So the neighbor also mentions that Sarah wasn't alone when she dropped the box-off earlier that day. She was with her good friend Liam McCansky. Liam lived just blocks away from Sarah, and they had been friends since they were six years old. They met in Sunday school. Liam lived in a mother-in-law apartment that was in the backyard of his mom's house.

So it was his mom's house who grew up in and then there was like a little mother-in-law shack apartment. Like a pool house almost. Yes, in the backyard. And he lived in that house because remember they're like 19. With his friend Preston, who was also good friends with Sarah. Okay, so they were all three friends. Yep, Preston had actually taken Sarah to her junior prom. Oh, okay. So Sarah, Liam and Preston all known to be good friends.

There was no romantic interest between any of them. They were all just buddies. At 4am, police go to Liam's house and wake him up. So now they were at Sarah's house. The neighbor says, oh, he came over with Liam. She came over with Liam to drop off the mom stuff. So now they go to Liam's house to say, were you with her? So they go wake him up.

He's all groggy in the body, cam footage, because like I said, you can watch it. Liam says that Sarah and him had hung out that day. They went to Taco Bell, which you can actually see on the Taco Bell security footage from that day them pulling up through the the drive through an ordering. And then they went back to her house to hang out. He tells the police that after that, he went to work at 4.30 pm, and he hadn't heard from her since. I was going to say there's, it's 2016, so there's a lot more cameras, but it's not, now,

right, 2020, we're like, everyone has a ring camera and everything. You can't even, you can't go anywhere. Yeah. Okay. I actually think about that all the time. Me too. I think about it so much. I just had a dream about it the other night.

Remember I told you that someone had like broken to our car and I went over to the neighbor's house and was like, can you please check your ring? And they were like, I don't want to get involved in it. I woke up about like so mad. I was like, the neighbors want to check their ring. But it's nice, everyone on our street, I mean, even us, everyone has a ring camera. Yeah, I have a ring camera, so don't plan on breaking into my home, okay?

Yeah, I had to make sure to sneak that in. We have a ring camera too. And I actually have motion detectors in every room and all of my windows are gigged and on my doors too, just because I'm a crazy crime junkie person. My wife likes true crime if you guys didn't know that. And I don't wanna die in the middle of the night. So Liam tells police that Sarah, you know, they're like, okay, so you went to work, how

was Sarah acting? And he goes, well, you know, Sarah's actually been going through it. She doesn't really get along with her dad. They fight all the time. He says that he thinks Sarah was depressed and that she would tell him all the time that she just wanted to, quote, get away. He says she wanted to go to Canada and she was packing all of her stuff up to go

hence why she was dropping off a bin of her mother's things to the neighbor's house. She was gonna run away to Canada. That's why she was getting rid of important things like, can you hold these for a while? At least that's what Liam thought. They were doing when they were dropping the bin off. Liam interviews like cause concern with local police because now they are worried that Sarah

actually isn't missing but rather she committed suicide off the bridge. I thought you were going to say that she ran away. No. Well, why was her car abandoned on a bridge? Yeah, okay, got it. They thought maybe she told Liam she was going to run away, got all of her stuff in order, and then actually committed suicide because she was depressed according to Liam. She had expressed to her friend that she was depressed and had been

getting everything in order. Then they find her car abandoned on the bridge. Police start searching the water underneath the bridge. Okay, the river that runs underneath this bridge is called Shark River. Is there sharks? Which I don't think that makes very much sense. Oh, I just asked a dumb question. It's Shark River. I'm sorry, I was thinking that. Maybe my dad lied to me, but every time we went like river raffes,

he's like, no, there's no way there's sharks in here. Stop freaking out you little Idaho girl. Yeah, so I just think that's ironic. I can't believe I asked that question. Keep going, I'm sorry. I'm keeping it in. So they find nothing in the water. The next morning, police go to Liam's house again at 1013 AM

and ask him for more info. He's the last person to have seen her alive is what they're assuming, because they can't find anyone after that. So they go back to him and ask for more info from earlier that day They ask him you know if she mentioned anything about leaving town that day instead of later on like she was planning and In the the body cam footage they do start to get like a little stern with him Okay, he tells them once again that she was suicidal and wanted to run away,

but he has no idea if she left yesterday or where she is. He answered every question that the cops ask him, and in the recording, he really does seem genuine. Keep in mind, I watched a lot of body cam in a irrigation footage, and Liam is not being sus at all. Like, he seems super genuine. I'm surprised he didn't never ask for an attorney or anything. Well, they're just going to his house. They haven't even taken him into the station yet. Just asking him for information.

But they do get a little sun with him. So I mean, if that was me, I'd instantly be like, well, but yeah. So the police actually timelines Sarah's whole day with Liam. So they figure out what she did that whole day based off of Liam. A civilian search is started very soon after by family and friends. Liam and Sarah's father all attend and they just get everyone in the community go out and search for her. Police look for surveillance cameras from every route that she could have taken from her house to the bridge that night. There's no cameras on the route, but there's one camera under the bridge that was over Shark River,

and one on a railway that was next to the bridge, but both cameras actually happened to not be working that day. Of course. This is when police figured out that Sarah Stern's neighbor had a camera that shows the corner of Sarah's house. So they went to all the neighbors and only one of them had security footage and you can see Sarah's driveway house in the corner of it. They go through the security footage and it aligns completely with Liam's version of events

for Sarah that day. The only new thing that the camera sees that Liam didn't know about was Sarah's car left her own house at 11.45 pm and then somehow ends up on the bridge later that night into the early morning. But he was working, so. But yeah, and they don't see who's driving it. They bring Liam in for an official interview at this point, three days after Sarah went missing.

Okay. So I wrote, why? Like when I was reading this and looking through it and watching the footage as I was going, they were focusing so much on him in an effort to find Sarah, but he was so cooperative, and in my opinion was not raising any red flags. Yeah. My guess is that they don't have any other leads. So the only thing would be to keep questioning.

And he was the last one seen alive. Yeah. Or the last one seen with her. So in this interview, Liam goes into further detail about Sarah. He claims that she wasn't in a relationship with him or pressed in ever, but she, but she doesn't know if she liked any boys. He said that she would get weirdly obsessed with girls, one of them being his ex-girlfriend, like as friends, like you need to call me, you need to come over here, you need to do this. He then asks the cops after they've kind of finished their questions. So if she did jump off that bridge, what are the odds, you know, that she's not just in the ocean by now?

So that's what he asks. Like if she jumped off when she just be in the ocean by now, like why are we still searching the river? Well, I'm kind of confused why he's asking that. Well, so police make a big deal about this question. This is the first weird act that we've seen from Liam. Uh-huh. Like why isn't he asking what more are we doing to find her?

Why is he asking, isn't she just in the ocean by now? If she jumped off. Okay, yeah. And I mean, it's not too alarming to me because, I mean, we just don't, maybe he is just like frustrated with what's the point of searching for my friend if she's probably already in the ocean by now. Yeah, I'm also surprised. It's a negative outlook.

I'm just I'm also surprised too. This is kind of going back but that he never got an attorney being questioned so much. But anyways. So at this point in the interview Liam's mom contacts their attorney and so police have to stop the interview because technically he he was over 18 so she couldn't come and be like you can't question my key without so once she found out he was getting questioned she called their attorney and they turned he stopped the interview in the middle got it you were jumping the gun you were right there okay so they stopped talking to him but next they turned to his roommate Preston Taylor, who's

also her friend to see if he knows anything. So Preston comes in, he tells police that Liam said nothing that seemed out of the ordinary that day. He confirms basically everything Liam had said, police asked Preston what he thinks happened to Sarah, and he says that he thinks she jumped because of what goes on between her and her dad and all the fighting. And police at this point just do not have a good feeling still about Liam impressed in. So maybe that's why they kept pushing.

It was it was at this point in this case that police discover that Sarah actually had a safety deposit box at a local bank. Okay. She needed it because when she was going through her mother's things one day, she found a shoe box full of cash. Oh, wow. The cash was old, raggedy, torn up, maybe not even usable. She called her aunt after who told her that she needed to put it in a safety deposit box

at the bank and not tell anyone because it could be dangerous to let people know you know that you found that much money. It was so much that she was like I haven't counted it like it would take me too long. I don't know how much is in there. You know how much it was. Okay. So Sarah said okay I won't tell you one but actually I've already told Liam There was rumors that he was with her when she found the money. But she either way she told him or he was with her. She was like, he already knows about it, but he's one of my good friends, so we won't tell anyone else.

When police find out this info, they go to the bank, they go through the surveillance footage. Turns out that Sarah had actually visited the bank the day that she disappeared and it was during the time that she was hanging out with Liam. Oh. So he left that out that they went to the bank. Isn't that funny how I mean, I'm sure that that's where all the red flags start coming in. When you leave stuff out there like, are you still? Yeah.

Come on. Why, why don't you just tell us that police confront Liam with the information and he confirms we didn't fact go to the bank while we were together. He says Sarah actually found some money and she had a lock box at the bank. He didn't know how much money was in the lock box, but he said that she told him it was between 20,000 to a hundred thousand dollars. Well, it's a lot of money. So this new information makes cops feel like Sarah wasn't running away.

Because why wouldn't she take the money with her? Yeah. So this new information makes cops feel like Sarah wasn't running away because why when she take the money with her? Yeah. They also had found her passport and so they were like, we just don't like if she was going to Canada. Wouldn't she have took her passport to get there? Despite all of this, Sarah's still not found and cops feel like they've hit a dead end. Seven weeks after Sarah's disappearance, police get a phone call from someone who went to high school with Sarah. Anthony Curry is his name and he's an aspiring film director who went to high school with Liam Preston and Sarah.

Him and Liam, Anthony and Liam didn't get close until junior year, but they worked together on films when they did decide to become friends. They shot little home videos and Liam would act in these videos while Anthony directed them. I've got a bad feeling. Anthony says that on Thanksgiving, he went to Liam's house and Liam told him that he had an idea for a horror movie. He was like, here's the here's the storyline. Will kill a girl in the movie, I'll be the actor, so I'll kill the girl

in the movie, strangle her, and then I'll just throw her over a bridge. Oh my gosh. And Anthony was like, yeah, let's do it. That would be a great movie. You know, I just thought it was a movie idea. Until later that year, he sees on social media that Liam's good friend, Sarah had gone missing and that her car was found on the side of a bridge. This sounds kind of like the, if you guys haven't heard it, the Idaho case that you did,

the book of Tello crazy. Yeah. Yeah. So, when Sarah went missing, Liam was constantly texting Anthony every single day asking if they can meet up. I need to talk to you dude meet up with me dude. I need to talk to you. But Anthony went and texted him back because he was scared. Good. Yeah. Because he knew that she was missing. He was scared he was going to hurt him. So he's just like I'm budding out. I'm not getting involved. I don't I don't't want to talk to you about what it is. Talk me out, I'm not texting you back. But then eventually the guilt of like I think I might know something and I haven't said anything so he calls police. He tells them what happened on Thanksgiving day when Liam brought that up and so they're like, here's the deal Anthony, we're going to rig your car, we We're gonna bug your car with video and sound

And we're gonna set up a sting operation and you text Liam back and tell him you're willing to talk and Will watch life from a van nearby just like in the movies and you see what he has to talk to you about I would be really scary like People give Anthony a lot of props for doing this because at this point Anthony thinks that Liam possibly killed her. Because what if you had a gunner? Yeah, I know it needs to be killed Anthony. So on January 31st, 2017, it's cute of mine. This is almost two months after she went missing. Anthony meets up with Liam in his bugged car and you can watch the whole video online.

No way. So cops are listening live from the van next door. And as soon as Liam gets in the car, he turns to Anthony, he goes, Hey, bro, yeah, so don't take this the wrong way. No offense, but I've got to fill you up for a wire. Liam said that to Anthony. Yes. What the hell? Don't blame me. I got to. And Anthony's like, yeah, bro, do what you got to fill you up for a wire. Liam said that to Anthony. Yes. What the heck?

Because don't blame me, I got to. And Anthony's like, yeah bro, do what you got to do. And he literally leans over and like fills his whole body for a wire. It's so weird that I'm sure Anthony, yeah bro, you got to do. He's probably like, what do you mean you got to fill me up for a wire?

Jumping into an ad and it is native. I use their body wash. I use their shampoo. We use their body wash, I use their shampoo, we use their sunscreen, everything. They're deodorant. We are big native fans over here. And the funny thing is, is I caught myself wanting to buy native products at stores

and then I was like, why am I doing that? Murder with my husband, literally has a code. You can use promo code husband and get money off your native purchases. So go do it. Native sunscreen offers a quickly absorbing ultra shear and lightweight formula that hydrates your skin while providing broad spectrum SPF 30 protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays.

And native sunscreen offers three delightful scents, coconut and pineapple, rosé and sweet peach in nectar. They're also for your face and body, I use them every day. But if you prefer unscented, they've got you covered too. Give your skin the protection it deserves with natives and mineral sunscreens. Go to nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout to get 20% off your first order. That's native deo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout. nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout.

nativedo.com slash husband and use promo code husband. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock. And then we used rocket money and realized how dumb we are and are so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending and helps you lower your bills all in one place. And like Payton said, I'm always on it, checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing how many Amazon packages Payton are buying. Is that how you find out about my Amazon packages?

No, I just get emails. Oh my email on your account. Over 3 million people have already used rocket money, saving the average person up to $720 a year. Imagine what you could do with that extra cash and your pocket. Stop throwing your money away. Cancel on one of the subscriptions

and manage your expenses the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com slash husband. That's rocketmoney.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what? There's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence. And that's therapy. As you guys know, I talk about therapy all the time.

I go to therapy weekly. I definitely am a big supporter of it. It's helped me manage my stress and anxiety and really helped me work through difficult times. Therapy is not just for major traumas. It's for anyone who wants to learn positive coping skills, set healthy boundaries and become the best version of themselves. It's about staying connected to what truly matters as you navigate

life's challenges. Here's how it works. Simply fill out a brief questionnaire and better help will match you with a licensed therapist who meets your specific needs. And if you ever feel they need to switch therapist, you can do so at no additional charge. But therapy be your map to a better life. Visit BetterHope.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month. That's better help help.com slash husband. So Anthony through this interview, okay, and this interview is, it's not even an interview. This meeting up, this operation in this car, the video of it is, is just like every other video we talk about completely, Erie, and uncomfortable to watch. Like the whole time you're just on edge.

I've never watched Needy's because I think it would give me the... Yeah, the HBG. Yeah, the HBGV. So, um, Anthony really doesn't have to say much. Like he doesn't even have to pry any information out of him. He just sits there and Liam just vomits. Oh my gosh. Like he just vomits all over him.

Liam obviously wanted to talk about Sarah. So he starts off by saying, dude, the FBI are on me right now about killing Sarah. He goes, first it was just a local police. Now it's a federal case and I've got the FBI up my butt. He then just says and the worst part of this whole thing is, you know, I thought I was walking out of this with at least a hundred grand. But when we went to the bank, Sarah only had $10,000 in that box she took out. Oh my gosh. So he did it for the money. Yes. So he says, and he says, you know, the money's terrible quality. He doesn't even think

he could put it in the bank. Like, it's all, it's all ratted and torn and stuff. It's super old. He says, and keep it my Anthony is not asking him. Well, where'd you put it? He's just talking. And he says that he hid the money in his house first, but then he stopped trusting his roommate, Preston with it.

So he moved it and hid it somewhere else. And he doesn't tell Anthony where. So did he do this for the money? Or he went erred for the whole horror movie thing? Like he wanted to actually just kill someone. Yeah, I don't know if we know. Okay. He then tells Anthony which this is a huge bomb on the investigators because they weren't filling this way at all.

He goes, oh yeah, and Preston helped me and he helped me throw her off the bridge. Oh my gosh. His roommate Preston, who took her to the junior prom. So he explains how the whole thing happened. That's so crazy. He goes, you know, she went to walk out the front door after he were done hanging out and I just grabbed her from behind and I choked her. He was like, you know, I was worried about the dog, but it just laid there and watched me while I killed her. And he goes, it took me about a half hour to kill her. I just like couldn't

get her to stop breathing. It's not like the movies when it only takes minutes to choke someone out. This just goes back. I don't I don't understand. Like, well, how can you kill someone for 30 minutes? I know. Just blows my mind. He goes into so much detail about the actual murder within this interview. He tells Anthony everything. And a lot of it is gory. I don't even know crude details that like when I was watching it, it made me sick to my stomach. So if you want to hear that part, go ahead, watch the interview. I'm not gonna include it in the podcast. He tells Anthony that he's the only person

who knows besides Preston, what they did to Sarah. And Anthony seriously does such a good job. Like he's just calmed the whole time. He kind of like goes along with him. Like, oh dude, really? Like doesn't ever get worked up or scared. So he does, he should be in undercover cop. And I think.

We're Anthony and Liam, that good of friends or. I think just like, I mean, they made movies after school, but it wasn't like they were best friends, but I mean, he'd already told Anthony that he was thinking about doing this for a movie. And so I think he freaked out when he realized, Anthony, I probably saw this on the news and probably knows I did this, sister.

So that's why he was so urgent to talk to me and want to make sure he was on his side. Like don't go to the cops, tell me, I did it. You know, I did what I told you I was gonna do on Thanksgiving. That makes sense. That makes sense. So he tells Anthony,

ah, I didn't, I don't feel any different. Like they say killing a person changes't, I don't feel any different. Like they say killing a person changes you, I don't feel any different. And then it's so weird, because after he just like throws up on Anthony, he just gets out and is like, well good talking to you, bro. Like it's just a casual conversation.

And he just gets out of the car. And Anthony's like, yeah, see you, bro. Like he literally just went into detail about how he killed this girl that they went to school If and he's like, yes, you broke. Yeah, bye bro. He probably honestly just wanted to get it off his chest. Yeah, I agree exactly And obviously cops are listening to this whole thing in the van and they were thinking this might not even work Like most people don't just get in and confess to people what they've done Yeah, so I think when they set it up they were like well, let's hope he says something and he literally said Everything that they could have ever wanted like this is perfect for the the investigation

So the next day Cops instead of going to Liam first they go to Preston which Cops instead of going to Liam first they go to Preston which That is smart. They go to him at 2 p.m. The next day They stop his car so they pull him over and then they transport him to interview He confesses so quickly like they said it was the fastest confession they've ever had They sit down and he has a 52 page transcript telling them what happened I was gonna say 52 page transcript. So he he told them every single detail. Yeah, but he just was like here you go. Yep. We did it. Here you go

Okay They take him back to Sarah's home to reenact what they did that night on camera So Preston wasn't there when Liam killed her When Liam killed Sarah when Liam killed her. When Liam killed Sarah. Um, he, when Liam went to work, because he really did go to work, um, pressed in, then went to Sarah's house, Liam called him, told him what he did, pressed in, went to Sarah's house and moved her body into the bushes.

Uh, and in the reenactment, he's like, I walked in here. She was in this little closet. Things slumped over like this. I grabbed her like this. I pulled her outside because it was dark by them. I was getting dark by them. And he's like, and then I just put her in the bushes right there for Liam.

That's so crazy. I don't understand how you could do that without freaking out. So the weird part is like this video was even more odd to me because he's so flat and cold. Like, it's not like he's talking about moving a dead body. They're literally like, what? And so what door did you go in? I went in that door right there.

Yeah, I just walked in here. Her body was just in the closet right here. Uh, yeah, I just grabbed her like this. I just pulled her out here and I just took her to those bushes right there. Like, it's just like monotone. Was he normally like that? Didn't he has any of that or anything about that? I couldn't find anything about that,

but I feel like maybe. Okay. Because maybe it's just his personality. Maybe he's just like that. He's just a con. But when you're talking about how you moved a dead body, you would think you would be like, yeah, so uncomfortable breathing heavy

Crying. I don't know. I don't know especially you know, I know he's already caught But like I feel like you would feel uncomfortable. I mean the type of people that I guess are killing people Yeah, probably don't really have a sense that true. So then he says after that He jumped the fence because they wanted to avoid the surveillance camera at the neighbor's house So press or so press and Liam knew about the camera. And so that's why we don't see them come and go from the house because they took her in the backyard to the next to the bushes and then jumped the fence and parked in a parking lot that was on the other side of the fence and that's where they were like using their

cars. Press in, let them then to where the safes were buried with the money. So Preston's like he hasn't told me exactly where but it's somewhere around here and then the stave was literally sticking half out of the ground. So they opened the stave, it safe. It only had like 9,000 something dollars and it was such old money. I saw the picture of it. I'll post it. I mean, I think all cash is usable, right? But it's such old money. I saw the picture of it, I'll post it. I was even usable. I mean, I think all cash is usable, right? But it's like old, I mean, like old. I mean, I know there's a point where you can't.

Really? You can't use it. I'm pretty sure I could be wrong, but I'm pretty positive. Well, and it was so torn up too. That's what I mean. I don't think you even police said we don't think this would be like you could use it. Okay.

So basically he killed her. He killed her for what he thought was going to be $100,000, but it only ended up being 9,000 and it's not even really usable. It kind of sounds like though he just wanted to kill someone. I think so too. Like he and he. I mean, I think that's why I asked you how much money would it take for you to kill someone. Oh, I can't even hear about murder.

Right. No, but I mean, like, I know you mean it's crazy. And people have killed for less than $9,000. People have killed for just, well, fun. They killed because they don't like someone. Yeah. So it's just, but so he leads them to where the saves are buried. And then the police are like, okay, we think we have enough evidence now to arrest Liam.

They arrest Liam and they literally find on his key chain the key to the safe that was buried with Sarah's money. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So they don't bring him in for the earth. They can't interview him because of his attorney because he's already. And so Preston brings police to the bridge at this point and shows them where they threw her over He's like we parked here and Liam was only supposed to throw her over

But Preston had a help because he Liam couldn't get her hoisted up over his body. Oh, I think a Lot of people don't realize how heavy dead weight is. I'm curious to see how Preston is gonna be charged. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So they actually make him wear a life jacket when they go do this bridge reenactment because they're worried he'll jump over the bridge. Oh, okay. Oh, this was interesting. They used walkie talkies during the whole night

instead of their cell phones because they didn't want to be tracked. So they were conversing through walkie talkies. I assume this is all Liam's idea, like all these steps and everything. Yes, they plan, he heat Liam planned it for six months And then Preston got involved. Okay, yeah Impressed and got involved for the money as well

Okay, they were like he planning on splitting it, but apparently Liam didn't trust him because he went and hid the money So exactly two months after cops found Sarah's abandoned car on that bridge they arrested Preston and Liam They were two of her greatest childhood friends Preston makes a deal with cops to testify against Liam at court. No, okay, because Liam's pleading innocent saying he didn't do it. Oh, okay Liam's mom thinks that her son was set up and I watched an interview with her and Liam's mom thinks that her son was set up and I watched an interview with her and She still thinks that he set up. Yeah, she thinks that when he got in that car He was talking about the movie he wanted to make with Anthony and that they were just talking about Sarah as like the girl actor

How could you think that out there? That wasn't him in there talk like that was just him acting in a role So he just had the key on his key chain, like for fun, you know. They were the defense takes it like he was auditioning. He was acting. This wasn't real. They made movies all the time. They made horror movies.

Anthony was in on this. Okay. Anthony set him up. I mean, we've talked about this before and it would be such a hard job. But being on the defense team or as an attorney for this would be yeah hard would be hard. I don't know. I can't I don't think I can wrap my mind Your client basically Confessed on tape. Oh, 100% yeah, that's hard So the best part of the interview is they're like so they ask Liam's mom about Preston

She's like, I don't want to mom about Preston. She's like, I don't want to talk about Preston. I have nothing nice to say about him. I hate him. I was just got her down. Liam denies talking to Anthony around Thanksgiving. He said that whole thing didn't happen. The trial starts and Preston testifies against Liam. He tells the whole story to the jury. Prosecution calls witnesses to prove that Sarah wasn't as depressed as they were making her out to be and that she wasn't going to run away. February 7th, Anthony testifies against Liam. He really seems like he didn't want to do it. Like you can tell at court that Anthony's like, I just was trying to get the guilt off my chest. He was probably scared too. Like, what if Liam gets out and tries to kill

me or something. So Sarah's story and father breaks down in court when they play the video of them talking in the car. And I that video made me sick hearing him talk so nonchalantly about killing her and all the gory details. I cannot imagine being the father and having to sit there and court and hear what this evil guy did to your daughter. I just my heart breaks for her father. That's horrible. February 20th 2019 Defense calls an eyewitness the defense. So Liam's team calls an eyewitness who says that he was driving his son to work and he saw Stern, 12 hours after she was supposedly killed by Liam. So they find an eyewitness who claims that he saw Sarah after Liam had supposedly killed her meaning she'd just run away. Okay, I mean, I don't buy it, but yeah, he is, you know, he goes,

yeah, and then a couple days later, I saw the missing person, the missing person poster and was like, whoa, that's the girl we saw. saw the missing person, the missing person poster and was like, whoa That's the girl we saw, but he changes his details throughout so skeptical none. I don't think the jury believes him I'm sure you could find anyone that says said. Oh, I've seen this person before Jury comes back. Well, especially if they're off for money once again Would you put how much money would it take for you to purge yourself? The jury comes back with a guilty verdict and Liam gets life in prison. Dang.

He was convicted of first degree murder, conspiracy, desecrating, human remains, tampering with evidence, and more. He cried in court when his sentence was announced. Woo! And Preston gets 18 years for his involvement. Okay. You know what his exact charges were?

I think just a complice maybe, because he wasn't there when Liam actually killed her. He just kind of helped him cover it up. Yeah. So yeah, he gets 18 years and he made a deal for that as well. Got it. So Sarah's dad was so close and wanted to find her so bad. It seems to me like Liam and Preston planned this out really well, actually, like they made it look like she ran away. She was already moving her stuff over and when she went to the bank and took some money, and then they left her car and tricked the neighbor's camera,

like I think they planned it really well to make it look like she had possibly run away. I don't think if you would have bragged to Anthony, they would have ever been able to prove it. Yeah, no, you're probably right. I think that's what sealed the deal. Yeah, because I think they made it look too possible that she ran away.

I think the key on his key chain and all that stuff they could have gotten around it with. Well, we were just best friends. Yeah, she gave it to me that day. She was planning on running away. She gave it to me, you know, and that's the story of Sarah Stern. Well, I feel like, I feel like for some reason, as you were telling that, I kind of got flashbacks of, I don't know if you watched it on date line or something one time, cause it sounded a little familiar. Oh, you did?

Yeah, I'd heard this case before, so maybe you, I don't know, maybe I wasn't gonna know. Maybe I watched it before. I don't know, I don't know. I think you're right. Yeah, I kinda like started. I think it was in my mom's house. Yeah, I think that's what, I don't remember all this detail,

but I kinda got, wait, I think I heard this before. Thanks, shout out to you mom. Roddinger, it's a horizon. That's what I don't remember all this detail, but I kind of got, wait, I think I heard this before. Thank shout out to you mom. Rod and Inge are it's a horizon. That's funny. So I just wanted to say, let's remember that these stories that we share here on our podcast are real people who matter. And what happens to them should not ever happen to anybody.

And these victims slash survivors have families, and they mattered. And although so much bad happens, and it's extremely interesting to figure out why, let's also think about these victims and keep those affected in all of these stories that we share. Keep them in our thoughts, prayers, whatever you meditate, pray, whatever you do. And spread kindness this week. Love the people that you love and tell them why they matter to you. Life isn't always promised. Yeah.

I agree with that. Just because as you tell me all these stories, sometimes it's hard for me to even remember that they're real. Just because they're so crazy and I can't comprehend it. And I just got to remember like these are real stories like I said actually happening. Yeah true crime is fascinating. The reason psychology is fascinating. The reason why people make the choices they do is fascinating. History is fascinating. Yeah. But as we explore that side, we also need to remember that there are people who are affected by

these bad things that happen. And so whatever it is you do that you can do for them, do it. And then, yeah, just remember that, you know, life is in promise. So make good choices and love the people in your life. And I just wanted to say thanks again to everyone that's sharing and leaving reviews and it's my wife works so hard at doing all this research and she loves you guys so much. I mean, I do too. But I'm just saying that she works really hard at this. So thank you so much for all that. I seriously do love you guys. I feel bad because I feel like now everyone else who's in our life,

I just constantly want to talk about my podcast and the people that are in my podcast. I don't like talking about the podcast itself, but just the community. Like I feel like I have so many friends and I get DMs every single day and I'm just like, oh my gosh, I just, it just is very overwhelming for me sometimes and I, we love you guys so much.

No, it's super fun to watch this grow and hopefully we can get the 208, it seems like everyone really wants us to do two weeks. It would be awesome if we could get there at some point. Yeah. Well we love you guys and I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. When you download the Croger app, you have easy access to savings every day. Shop weekly sales and get personalized coupons to get the most value out of every trip every time, whether you shop in-store or online. Download the Kroger app now to save big. Kroger, fresh for everyone, must have a digital account to redeem offers. Restrictions may apply, see site for details.

Save big on your favorites with the Buy, Fiver more, save a dollar each sale. Simply buy five or more participating items and save a dollar each with your card. Kroger, fresh for everyone! Thank you.