The Dateline episode The Betrayal of Sarah Stern revolves around the mysterious disappearance of 19-year-old Sarah Stern and her murder at the hands of her childhood friend, Liam McAtasney. Sarah was reportedly last seen on December 2, 2016, at her home in Neptune City. What was initially reported as a missing person case led to an investigation that later unearthed some harrowing details.
According to reports, Liam murdered Sarah with the motive of getting money as the deceased had inherited quite a large amount after her mother's death. He reportedly confessed to strangulating her to death and then robbing her of all her money.
As the Dateline: Unforgettable episode portrays, Liam disposed of Sarah's body off a bridge in Jersey Shore with the help of his former roommate Preston Taylor. The official synopsis of the Dateline episode reads,
"Keith Morrison revisits a story that has haunted him for years; when detectives find a missing woman's car abandoned on a bridge, their investigation uncovers a tangled plot involving money, friendship and a deadly betrayal."
Trigger warning: This article contains visual descriptions related to strangulation and murder. Viewers' discretion is advised.
5 harrowing details about the Sarah Stern murder case on Dateline
1) Sarah Stern's childhood pal Liam McAtasney strangled her to death
As witnessed in the Dateline: Unforgettable episode, Liam McAtasney wanted to acquire Sarah's inheritance after her mother's death. So he had planned a sting operation with his ex-roommate Preston Taylor to kill Sarah.
Liam had reportedly confessed to choking Sarah for 30 minutes until she died. he then took help from his roommate Taylor to dump Sarah's body into the Shark River, someplace between Neptune and Belmar. He then left her car over the bridge with keys inside, to stage the whole incident as a suicide.
The 19-year-old had been missing from her home in New Jersey since December 2, 2016, and her empty car was first reported being seen on a bridge over Shark River. Further investigation and questioning revealed the entire truth about Liam betraying his childhood friend Sarah and killing her to get hold of her wealth.
2) Sarah's close ones had confused her disappearance to be a runaway or suicide because of an abusive father
Sarah Stern suddenly went missing from her home in New Jersey in December 2016. Hours later, her car was reportedly found on a bridge between Neptune and Belmar with keys inside. The whole thing looked like a suicide. Some of her acquaintances considered it to be a runaway owing to an abusive father.
(3) The motive behind the murder was money
Sarah Stern's mother was suffering from cancer and died in 2013. Following her death, Sarah inherited a few thousand dollars and Liam had somehow gained knowledge about the whole thing.
So he had planned the murder for almost 6 months and later involved his ex-roommate Taylor to get rid of her body - he wanted to make it look like a suicide. In one of his statements, Liam reportedly said,
"The worst part of it is I thought I was walking out with $50,000 to $100,000 in my pocket. She had one safe that she took money out of, and she only had $10,000."
4) Liam had confessed his crime to an amateur filmmaker before being arrested
Liam McAtasney had confessed his crimes to an amateur filmmaker named Anthony Curry, almost a month after Sarah Stern's disappearance. He further added that he got to know about Sarah's inheritance that her mother left and upon seeing a box stashed with cash in her house, Liam decided to plan a murder and take all the money.
As seen on Dateline, Curry later informed the same police and with their help set Liam up to a sting operation, secretly recording his confession of Sarah Stern's murder. Furthermore, a video confession was also set up with the guilty sitting in a car with Curry and accepting the heinous deeds he had done. Liam mentioned in a statement on the video describing how he had murdered Sarah. He said:
"She just p***** herself and said my name and then that was it. And it took me half an hour to kill her. I thought I was going to be able to choke her out and have her out in like a couple of minutes."
5) What happened to Liam and his ex-roommate Preston Taylor?
As seen on the Dateline NBC episode The Betrayal of Sarah Stern, Liam McAtasney was accused of several charges including first-degree murder, felony murder as well as robbery. Consequently, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole.
On the other hand, his former roommate Preston Taylor, who was also involved in the whole incident, was found guilty of first-degree robbery, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, and second-degree desecration of human rights. As mentioned in the plea documents, he testified in court against McAtasney and later served 18 years in prison.
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