month. call 1-833-735-4495. >> or. >> visit homeserve. >> com. >> that'll do it for me. thanks for watching. tune in tomorrow to the sunday show when congressman brendan boyle of pennsylvania, the ranking democrat on the house budget committee, joins us to discuss republicans plan to fund the government. with less than a week to go before a potential shutdown. that's tomorrow at 6 shutdown. that's tomorrow at 6 p.m. eastern on msnbc. don't i heard my mom crying. she said that they found sarah's car on the bridge. nobody could find her, and her phone was off. and you have to start working worst case scenarios. did she jump off the bridge? i was just short of hysterical.

keith morrison (voiceover): an entire town banding together to find a beloved teen. this was a huge search. hundreds of people came. a lot of people. we had state police. we had the sheriff's department. we had divers. this is things you see on tv, not things that happen to you. keith morrison (voiceover): and then someone said he spotted her. i looked at her right in the face, just like i'm looking at you right now. that girl's alive. keith morrison (voiceover): but a secret recording would catch one of the town's own, revealing a sinister scheme. he explained that he had studied her movements. the plan was to take her money. evil. pure evil. the hurt's never going to be over. keith morrison (voiceover): there was something wrong on the bridge. it was 2:45 am, december 3, 2016,

an old town on the jersey shore called neptune city. it was bitter cold, dark. it was an uber driver who saw the car, just sitting there, halfway across the bridge. heading south in the middle of the bridge, there's a car. >> that's abandoned. >> it's off to the side. >> of the road. >> what kind. >> of car. >> of car. >> keith morrison (voiceover): they sent a squad car out for a look. the cop got close. it was unlocked, keys in the ignition. no sign of the driver. two, three feet away was a railing, and beyond it a straight drop to the night-black current surging out to sea. what happened here? they ran the plates, discovered the car was registered to a 96-year-old lifelong local resident named lillian stern.

but she hadn't used her car that day. she'd loaned it to her 19-year-old granddaughter. her name, sarah, sarah stern. 1,000 miles south at disney world, her dad mike was on vacation with his girlfriend, kristine. he was awakened by his phone. 3 o'clock in the morning, and they just asked us, does sarah drive the oldsmobile? and i said, yeah. well, call ended. just like that? yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): after the call dropped, mike called back and got a recording of the monmouth county prosecutor's office. so, panic beginning to stir, he phoned a nephew, who happened to be a neptune first responder. he called back about 10 minutes later and said, yeah, they found sarah's car up on the bridge. she wasn't in it. keith morrison (voiceover): and then the terror set in. mike and kristine jumped in their car and began the 16-hour drive home. god, i can't imagine what that drive back was like.

it was a lot of crying and just thinking and talking. well, you don't know. no. we were getting calls in from the police department, asking questions. and well, i said, i don't know. keith morrison (voiceover): while kristine drove, mike frantically texted. "sarah, what's going on? why is your phone off? call me when you get this message." [knocking] things happen faster in a small town than the big city. police department, hello. anybody home? announce yourself, please. keith morrison (voiceover): officers checked the stern home. well we're checking the house it was empty, except for sarah's beloved dog, buddy, in his crate. a treat for the doggy robin draper: michael called me that night 2:30, 3 o'clock in the morning, to tell me that the car was on the bridge. my thoughts were not good. keith morrison (voiceover): robin draper, an old friend of the sterns, lived across the street. officer (on recording): how much do you know so far? keith morrison (voiceover): officers walked over

and asked her about sarah. officer (on recording): what mindset was she in today when she-- you didn't see-- did anybody in your family talk to her this morning? today? robin draper (on recording): she texted me. she said, can i bring some stuff over? it's my mother's. and i said, sure. officer (on recording): is she depressed? is she-- robin draper (on recording): yes, i think she's depressed. officer (on recording): is she-- robin draper (on recording): mm-hmm. officer (on recording): not suicidal in any way, do you think? robin draper (on recording): i don't know. keith morrison (voiceover): robin told the officer sarah had come by the house earlier in the day with her friend, liam mcatasney. they left a container of sarah's things with her daughter, carly. so the officers drove over to liam's place to see if he could help. it's sarah here by chance? >> no. >> when was the last time you >> when was the last time you talk keith morrison (voiceover): liam said he hadn't seen sarah since late afternoon.

keith morrison (voiceover): mike stern had notified his extended family, including sarah's cousins, lindsey and lauren bahr. what was it like to hear that for the two of you? instant panic. yeah. yeah, i tried calling her phone, sending her texts. didn't answer, which was automatically weird because she was glued to her phone. i left the house in my pajamas, got in my car, and raced down to where they said they found her car to see if we could find anything, see anything. keith morrison (voiceover): just hours later, they were gathered with most of the family at mike and sarah's house. robin draper: family was there, his sisters, sarah's cousins. there was about 30 to 40 people. all kind of frantic. all kind of like, what's going on? keith morrison (voiceover): sarah's friends and family began to imagine all too many things, including robin draper's daughter, carly, a lifelong friend of sarah's. i heard my mom on the phone crying downstairs. and she said that they found sarah's car on the bridge.

you know the bridge? i went down there after it. that morning? did your mind go at all to the idea that she may have jumped off the bridge? carly draper: it was one of the thoughts in my head. i was like, did she jump off the bridge? i-- i didn't know. keith morrison (voiceover): meanwhile, sarah's father on his agonizing drive north worried that sarah might have done something terribly fatally rash. because you just don't know. because the keys were in the car. the car was operational. and sarah was missing. and it was, like, 2, 3 feet from that parapet over-- yeah. keith morrison: --to the water. keith morrison (voiceover): so mike imagined awful things on his 16-hour drive home. but surely, neither his imagination nor any other could stoop so deep as what you're about to see, a case that started on a bridge with a car-- good one. keith morrison (voiceover): --and ended inside another. [inaudible]. how're you doing? keith morrison (voiceover): what dark possibilities lie in the human heart primed both for loyalty

and betrayal? coming up. we didn't know what was going on at that point, so it was kind of a panic. keith morrison (voiceover): where was sarah? maybe there was a simple explanation. everyone knew she wanted to move up north. she said she wants to go to canada. keith morrison (voiceover): but if she'd done that, wouldn't she have told someone? it's a very tightly knit community. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. stay ahead of your child's moderate-to-severe eczema with dupixent as they welcome the feeling of touch with clearer skin and less itch. the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists helps heal their skin from within. severe allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for face, mouth, tongue or throat swelling, wheezing or trouble breathing. tell your doctor of new or worsening eye problems, like eye pain, vision changes, or blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma or other medicines without talking to your doctor.

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your second membership is free. get access to discounts on everyday purchases, eye care and prescriptions and programs, tools and tips to help manage your money and maximize your health. plus, aarp fights to protect. >> your social. >> security, medicare, and more. join and get an insulated trunk organizer free plus aarp the magazine. call or go to join aarp. org now. did you. >> know taking. >> xyzal at night relieves allergies while you sleep, so you wake. >> refreshed for. >> a more productive day. >> get 24. >> hour continuous. >> relief that does. >> not fade. be wise. all take. >> not fade. be wise. all take. >> xyzal. while police officers on the route 35 bridge were trying to make sense of what happened in the early dark of december 3, sarah's dad mike and his girlfriend kristine were frantically driving up highway 95 from florida, their minds whirling among dreadful possibilities. we didn't know what was going on at that point.

so it was a kind of a panic. keith morrison (voiceover): but to the experts in neptune, the possibilities were limited. the facts that we had at the time that we could go on was that there was either a possible suicide that she had jumped off the bridge or that she just left her car abandoned. that's the facts that we had. keith morrison (voiceover): it was hardly surprising that in the little town of neptune city, ed kirschenbaum, then public safety director, knew sarah. i knew sarah. she worked at a popular restaurant in neptune city with my daughter. you know her well enough to know whether or not she would be a suicide risk, or? ed kirschenbaum: you know, all i know of sarah when i saw her at work, a very nice person, bubbly, upbeat, never a bad word to say about anybody. did-- kind of an innocence about her? she was very artistic. she was laidback, just the epitome of innocence. keith morrison (voiceover): but jump from a bridge into the shark river? why would she? she'd been happy, on the brink of new possibilities.

and neptune city, on the jersey shore, had always been her safe place. keith morrison: good place to grow up? - yeah. - yeah. i'm happy that i grew up here. keith morrison (voiceover): here, they say the sand gets in your shoes. people tend to stay. families count back generations. friendships last whole lifetimes. everybody knows each other in neptune. it's a very tightly knit community. and if you don't know that person, someone you know is going to know that person. keith morrison (voiceover): and the block where carly, her brother, sam, and sarah grew up was even tighter, a kind of kid heaven. that's sarah with the dark bangs. carly draper: our age gap between all the kids was probably, like, six years at the most. and we'd all just play together after school. we were a neighborhood gang. since we were born. we've known sarah our whole life. and she was like my older sister. like, we were like sisters. she is basically family. and, like, if i wanted to play catch or something, i could always just ask sarah. keith morrison (voiceover): but sarah was always there. that she was there at all was kind of amazing, a gift.

sarah? she was a miracle child. keith morrison (voiceover): the only child of mike stern and his wife, carla. mike stern: she didn't think she could have children. and finally, sarah came along. i mean, i fell in love with this kid. keith morrison (voiceover): robin, carly and sam's mom, was there from the beginning. carla and i raised our kids together. it was amazing. keith morrison: did they hang out at your place a lot? mike stern: they did. we had a pool, sometimes 10, 12 kids, just splashing around for hours and hours. it was a good time. keith morrison (voiceover): until it wasn't. in 2013, when sarah was just 15 years old, her mom carla died after a long struggle with cancer. keith morrison: what was it like when her mother died? sarah was at our house that night. and all i remember is sarah-- just hearing her sobbing downstairs. i didn't know what to do.

did you know what had happened? yeah. yeah. just hard, and it was sad. keith morrison (voiceover): but sarah managed. instead of turning into her grief, she reached out, got even closer to her grandmother. and her dog buddy became her constant companion. she loved buddy so much. she really did. keith morrison (voiceover): she grew closer, too, to classmates at neptune high school. her friend, liam, his twin, seamus, preston taylor. preston took her to the junior prom-- just friends. she also made a different kind of friend, one you wouldn't necessarily expect. after carla's death, mike found kristine and fell in love. sarah could see kristine was good for her dad and maybe her, too. i know how sarah felt. i had gone through the same thing she did. yeah. you know, my mom passed away when i was young. and it wasn't easy at first.

keith morrison (voiceover): no. and maybe that's why sarah so embraced what became a genuine passion. i think making art made her mentally escape from that and be creative and can create any kind of happiness she wanted to. there was a whole other world for her. yeah. where sarah picked up her talent, we still don't know. like it was a natural thing for her. it seemed natural. what she turned out was-- it's pretty good stuff. yeah, some really, really neat stuff. she just started drawing in any medium. keith morrison (voiceover): beautiful images. magical, even. she started going to conventions to meet online stars and artists, got to meet youtube stars like jenna marbles. mike stern: there was a vidcon convention up in toronto, and she fell in love with the city. and she said, well, she wants to go to canada. keith morrison (voiceover): when she was ready, mike told her. yes, but soon, she said. and then it was that friday, december 2,

when sarah dropped by the drapers' house. carly draper: i heard her walk inside, and she was, like, calling my mom's name. but i was the only one home, and she said that she texted my mom and that she was leaving a box here. and my mom said it was ok. sarah was talking about her dad, how she had, like, lost respect for him. did that seem strange to you? not really because i knew that they, like, argued, but i argue with my parents all the time. so it wasn't-- so it wasn't anything unusual. no. keith morrison (voiceover): as carly told us, sarah left that bin and then she was gone, running errands, she said, in her grandmother's old car, the very car that uber driver spotted after midnight, abandoned halfway across the route 35 bridge. keith morrison (voiceover): the news spread through the early morning. first responders descended on the bridge and the shark river beneath it.

there was a depressing logic to the scene that greeted them. it wouldn't be the first time some desperate soul had taken a final leap. but this was bright, happy sarah stern. so it couldn't be that, could it? coming up, police seek help from sarah's friends. officer: nobody's going to get in any trouble here. trust me. we just got to make sure that sarah's all right. keith morrison (voiceover): and the eerie last images of sarah just before she disappeared. keith morrison: could you tell what her demeanor was? did she seem frightened or anything like that? keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. with fatigue and light-headedness, i knew something was wrong. then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means there's about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, can come and go. but if you have afib, the risk of stroke is always there.

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body deodorant to try and start controlling your body odor better everywhere. >> each week, veteran lawyers andrew weissman and mary mccord break down the latest developments inside the trump administration's department of justice. >> the administration doesn't necessarily want to be questioned on any. >> of its policy. >> of its policy. >> maine justice new e just hours after sarah stern's car was found abandoned on the route 35 bridge, the rising sun revealed dozens of first responders searching for her, many braving the frigid waters of the shark river. we had called the state police. we had the sheriff's department there. we had divers into the water, a vessel with side sonar, plus an aviation unit from the state police. we got called out at around 5:00 am that morning to do a search for someone who they believed went off the bridge. we had no idea who it was. the general conception was that someone had jumped.

keith morrison (voiceover): fran hines was an ems and rescue director. fran hines: we were in it a couple of hours, and somebody walked up to me. and they said, you know who we're looking for, right? i go, no, who are we looking for? and they said sarah stern, which just-- just put a lump in my throat. keith morrison (voiceover): understandable, that, because-- fran hines: sarah lived two houses away from-- their whole family. her father, michael, is a good friend of mine. and then all i could think about was, how is he going to feel now? keith morrison (voiceover): while the water search was underway, cops in town were talking to anyone who might know anything. officer: is that basically what sarah's following around? keith morrison (voiceover): they encountered a few of sarah's friends, preston, sean, and liam, clustered on a porch. officer: we just want to make sure she's ok. keith morrison (voiceover): body cams picked up their questions. did sarah just take off? were her pals covering for her? officer: nobody's going to get in any trouble here, trust me. we just got to make sure that sarah's all right. and if you've got any other information, you got to throw it out at us so we can go a little further, you know? keith morrison (voiceover): sarah's friend, liam, confirmed for police what robin and carly draper had

said, that sarah had left a bin of her things at the draper house. and then, he said, he and sarah went to lunch together. meanwhile, back at the inlet, the search of the frigid shark river was turning up nothing. as the winter sun set, it became too cold and dangerous to continue operations, and the search was called off for the day. i didn't want to go home, you know? i didn't want to drive past mike's house and not have some kind of closure for him. keith morrison (voiceover): but mike and kristine were still making their way home from florida. we started-- it was around 3:30 in the morning. we got home at 7:00 saturday night. keith morrison (voiceover): kristine and mike arrived to a packed house. we just all started putting ideas and things that could have happened. how was he doing at that point? i think he was in shock. yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): mike headed for the bridge. what did you first find here? we didn't know.

yeah. all unknown. by the time we were back, the dive crews and everybody had already left. so it was night. you can't do much at night. keith morrison (voiceover): by the next morning, the monmouth county prosecutor's office was running the missing persons investigation. brian weisbrot was the lead detective. we had spoken with neighbors, friends of sarah's, family members, family friends. there's a house across the street from sarah's house that had a video surveillance camera, facing sarah's home. did you see anything on those videos? we did. we were able to see her vehicle leave multiple times throughout the day. keith morrison (voiceover): from those surveillance videos and their interviews, investigators started piecing together sarah's day. brian weisbrot: she had carried a bin in a box across the street to her neighbor's house. keith morrison (voiceover): that was carly and robin draper's house. after that, sarah and her friend liam went to lunch at taco bell. the restaurant security cameras had her there at 2:18 pm.

later, she stopped by a bank in bradley beach. security cameras indicated that was a little before 3:00 pm. and the branch manager, an old friend of the stern family, remembered her waving hello. keith morrison: could you tell looking at the video what her demeanor was? i mean, did she seem frightened or anything like that? no, she didn't. she appeared happy. she smiled. she communicated with the staff there who she had known for many years. she had a very nice relationship with the bank manager. hmm. and prior to her actually walking out of the bank that day, she had indicated that she may be back. keith morrison (voiceover): but after that friendly wave, sarah seemed to have dropped off the planet. the contents of that mysterious bin sarah left at the drapers didn't help investigators at all. brian weisbrot: it was all just miscellaneous things, just halloween decorations. there were some coins from her grandparents. like what you'd put in the bottom drawer of a bureau with personal stuff that you don't know what else to do with. right. keith morrison (voiceover): day

after day of searching the shark river and its shoreline proved fruitless. the local crime stoppers posted a $5,000 reward. we had prepared some flyers seeking information in an effort to locate sarah's whereabouts. volunteers are helping police today search for a beloved missing neptune city teenager. keith morrison (voiceover): it all yielded nothing. so, a week after sarah was last seen, her family organized a search, and hundreds of people showed up. they walked the beaches and the streets and the parks of neptune and belmar and ocean grove. mike stern was steady, almost stoic, when he talked to fios 1 news. we're just hoping to search any possible area with more people than just the local authorities because we just-- you know, it's a big area. this was a huge search. hundreds of people came. a lot of people, yeah. people didn't even know, out of town, up north.

yeah, there was people from i think as far out as pennsylvania. keith morrison (voiceover): many of sarah's friends joined the search. an old classmate, sean. i met her back in high school, and it just-- it's just shocking. and i just hope we can find her. keith morrison (voiceover): her friend, liam. she's pretty strong, so hopefully we're going to find something today. keith morrison (voiceover): the search for 19-year-old sarah became one of the biggest in the history of the jersey shore. but if sarah ended up in the shark river, these locals knew the likely grim outcome. the boating and the fishing community, it's a tight-knit community. everybody knows everybody. and we were hoping that if she was out there someplace, that they'd find her. but they knew. they kind of understood you're looking for somebody-- might be out in the ocean. once that tide starts ripping out, it moves quickly. schwoop. out it goes. right up the end there. correct. keith morrison (voiceover): the massive search turned up no sign of sarah.

and weeks went by. so was she swept out to sea? or, as many around town began to think, she must be alive and well and unaware people were looking for her. maybe she was just living her life somewhere else. coming up, a jaw dropping discovery. i didn't know anything about it until december 2, 2016. that very day. carly draper: that very day. the last day. keith morrison (voiceover): and the secret in sarah's safety deposit box. $25,250 in cash. $25,000. a kid who had that kind of money. it's a lot of money. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. the thompsons' new front door looks sharp, right? did we need to wave her down to tell her that? no. no. for a young homeowner turning into their parents, the neighborhood is their life. wonder who's visiting the burkes. that's not their car. hey, guys. who's winning? [ giggles ]

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>> something you can sign and. make official. start your will. >> at. >> trusted wilcom now and make it count. >> i'm richard lui with the news update. a second measles death has been reported. the new mexico department of health confirms its first in west texas. cases are spreading

rapidly, with more than 150 now reported more infected. most infected patients were not vaccinated, including a child who also died. and don't forget to set your clocks an hour ahead before bed tonight. daylight savings time begins on the east coast in just under 30 minutes at 2 a.m. it ends on sunday, november 2nd. for now, back to november 2nd. for now, back to da detectives working the sarah stern missing person case in neptune city had nothing but theories in december of 2016. some suspected she simply walked away from that old car to start a new life. but there was other more sinister speculation, too. we still had no clear indication as to what happened to sarah. keith morrison (voiceover): so, theories. maybe she ran away. maybe she was the victim of some sort of crime. and maybe she threw herself off the bridge. but those who knew sarah best, like carly and sam draper,

weren't buying the suicide theory. she couldn't have jumped off the bridge like that. she asked me to hang out that night. keith morrison (voiceover): their minds kept going back to the last time carly saw sarah, the afternoon of december 2, just before she vanished, when she'd stopped by their house and dropped off those things. i looked in the box, and it was just, like, coins and different little trinkets. keith morrison (voiceover): sarah explained she was just cleaning house, but carly could tell sarah had something else to say. she seemed really happy when she came over, like really happy. like she'd made a decision happy. yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): a big one. sarah said she had decided to leave town, leave neptune behind, strike out for canada to start her life as an artist. it was until that day she told me she was going to move there. like this was some sort of sudden change in her decision making? i wouldn't call it sudden because she talked about how much she liked canada before, but she didn't say she was moving that day. she just said she was moving to canada

and that she found money. keith morrison (voiceover): wait, money? what money? from what she told carly, it appeared sarah had not only a reason to leave, but the means. i didn't know anything about it until december 2, 2016. that very day. carly draper: that very day. the last day. carly draper: she said that she had found a safe in the house that had an avon, and she told me not to tell anyone. keith morrison (voiceover): sarah told carly she'd found thousands of dollars that had been hidden in an old house her dad owned in a neighboring town-- a secret. but of course, carly had to tell the detectives, and they were very interested. so then what did you do? go talk to the banker? we did. she had multiple accounts at the bank, including a safety deposit box. and on the day of her disappearance, she had actually accessed that safety deposit box. maybe she is planning to take off and run away and take some money with her. absolutely. is that what it looked like to you? at that point, we had learned that sarah had come in to money, that she had found money.

so we, of course, were interested in knowing, what did she do at the bank? unfortunately, there was no cameras capturing her private business, opening the safety deposit box. keith morrison (voiceover): they got a search warrant. at which point we had learned what was actually inside. which was what? $25,250 us cash currency. keith morrison: it was still in there when you got there. correct, and the money was in very poor condition. the money was very brittle. and when you would handle the bills, a lot of times, they would just deteriorate in your hand. $25,000-- a kid who had that kind of money. it's a lot of money. where did this money come from? sarah's mother had saved this money for sarah. bit by bit, squirreled it away. is that-- perhaps, and that sarah was at the house, looking through some of their belongings and had come across this money. keith morrison (voiceover): but all of this, a possible decision about leaving quite soon for canada, the found money, all of this was news to mike stern. did you know about that at all? no.

keith morrison (voiceover): but as he thought about it, said mike, it started to make sense that his late wife would have gradually hidden cash away in his other house, which, one day, her daughter could inherit, a gift of sorts. my wife, you know, she was a saver. she would have stuffed it in some secret spot. yeah. i-- i wish i had known. keith morrison (voiceover): anyway, he said, sarah must have discovered the money a few months before she vanished. it surprises me that that all happened in secret. and she started looking. then it became sarah's secret. yeah. keith morrison (voiceover): but the money was still in the bank. would she leave without it? after we found that money in her safety deposit box, that told us that she likely did not leave. because she wouldn't leave that there. correct. we had also located her us passport, her social security card, and us and canadian currency

inside her bedroom. all those factors put together, sarah stern did not leave. keith morrison (voiceover): cold comfort to sarah's father because that meant something much worse. ed kirschenbaum: mr. stern was down at those docks every day, walking the docks, walking the shoreline, just wouldn't give up hope. we walked along the banks. we circled the entire shark river basin, marshy areas, and watched the currents come in and out, stood on the sandbars and watched the tides come in. during low tides, you get out there and really see a lot. but then within a couple of hours, tides come up maybe six or seven feet. cold, windy. it's slippery along the banks. it's not easy work. no. keith morrison: frustrating. yeah. keith morrison: did you see him out there? i did. i did. what did you think? my heart broke for him.

for a father to not know the whereabouts of his daughter was devastating. keith morrison (voiceover): and mike stern had no inkling of the sea change about to occur in the search for his missing daughter. coming up. it shifted from a missing person investigation into a homicide. keith morrison (voiceover): a phone call from another state transforms the case. and he was concerned that he had some information on what may have happened to sarah. i was shocked. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. becomes something that much more, more breathtaking, more heart racing, more soul mating. it's here. >> where that all. >> consuming, life. >> giving. >> full body butterfly thing called. >> love. >> just is.

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and gradually, the story faded from the news cycle. the 19-year-old aspiring artist who vanished into thin air, and the authorities were baffled. keith morrison: did you get to the point where you thought this was just going nowhere? we were at a standstill. we were at a dead end. keith morrison (voiceover): with no activity on her social media or her phone or her bank accounts and no credible sighting of any sort, the chance that sarah simply ran away seemed vanishingly slim. the one thing that we knew and that was that she likely didn't leave. so something bad happened to that girl? as we progressed, we began thinking that that was a possibility, absolutely. keith morrison (voiceover): mike and kristine kept looking for any scrap of a clue, handing out sarah's photo to captains heading out to sea. was there a moment when you knew you'd lost her, that she was gone? no, i never wanted to think that. no. who would, right? keith morrison (voiceover): carly was still searching, too, wanting to believe sarah had just started

over in another place. she messaged sarah every night on instagram. i would just say random things like, if you're alive, like, create a fake disney account because she loved disney world and everything disney. i was like, create a fake disney account account and follow me on it, and i'll know you're ok. you were just desperate to know? yeah. what did you get back? nothing. keith morrison (voiceover): it had been two months, and then? then a young man in brooklyn, new york called his dad back in neptune city. said he was desperate for some parental advice. his name was anthony curry. he was 19 years old, a high school classmate of sarah's who'd moved to new york to fulfill a lifelong ambition to make movies. but that night, he was very troubled. and when his dad eddie heard why, he called detective mike bonanno. i know the family very well. i've known anthony since he was young.

and eddie was concerned that he had some information on this, what may have happened to sarah. i was shocked. keith morrison (voiceover): detectives met with anthony and his dad. the young man told them about a spooky conversation with a mutual friend of his and sarah's. it took place on thanksgiving evening, he said, eight days before sarah vanished. the friend told anthony a horrifying tale. about a plan that he had to rob sarah of her money and to kill her, strangle her, and throw her over the bridge. and how did anthony take this, as a real thing or what? no, he dismissed it. he thought it was-- like this kid was just pitching him a movie idea. yeah. he completely dismissed it. keith morrison: anthony had been making movies since middle school, quite a few of them horror films. so this wasn't as far fetched as it sounds. anthony drove home to brooklyn that thanksgiving night, didn't give his pal's gory movie

pitch another thought-- until? he learned from the social media about what happened to sarah. keith morrison (voiceover): and when anthony curry saw on social media that, exactly like in his pal's movie pitch, sarah's car was on the route 35 bridge, he got a bad feeling, which turned to alarm when his friend reached out to him a few days later. that message that was sent via snapchat said, have the police spoken to you? and anthony responded that they had not. it was from that moment that anthony curry believed that he may have had something to do with sarah's disappearance. what did he do about that snapchat? because they do disappear right after you read them. they do disappear. and if you screenshot a snapchat message, the sender is notified that someone just captured an image. so they don't do that either because it looks like you're going to turn on them, right? fortunately, anthony took his digital camera and photographed his telephone, depicting that snapchat message.

and he had traveled to the police department that night and was able to forward that message to us. keith morrison (voiceover): all those little clues that didn't fit together-- sarah's last conversation with carly, the mysterious old cash, sarah leaving her stuff at the drapers reconsidered in light of anthony curry's story, though the monmouth county prosecutor still had questions about anthony. his name was chris gramiccioni. based on the story that he told us, the question arose, how come you didn't do anything about this before sarah went missing when you heard about it? we have experienced investigators that were on this case that interviewed him. and in doing so, his credibility and veracity is being tested thoroughly. keith morrison (voiceover): and he passed the test. the prosecutor and detectives decided anthony was credible and his story was real. without anthony, we're not sitting here, talking to you today. keith morrison (voiceover): and from that moment, everything was different. it shifted from a missing person investigation into a homicide.

keith morrison (voiceover): except the major case squad really had nothing but suspicions. and what we had decided was that we were going to ask anthony if he'd be willing to essentially work with us. what did he say? he agreed. keith morrison (voiceover): so the detectives enlisted anthony in their plan. keith morrison (voiceover): he would be their bait in an elaborate and dangerous trap. but what might they capture? oh, my. they had no idea. keith morrison (voiceover): coming up. keith morrison (voiceover): what they were about to witness would stun these seasoned detectives. it was chilling. we couldn't believe what we were hearing. keith morrison (voiceover): the revelation that would devastate sarah's dad. it literally sucked the life out of me. it's unfathomable. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues.

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he had been directing and acting in horror movies for years. now anthony curry must have felt like he was living one. keith morrison (voiceover): anthony had been cast as the lead actor in an elaborate sting, a dangerous ruse crafted to get a mutual friend of his and sarah stern's to implicate himself in her disappearance. keith morrison (voiceover): the detective scripted a phone call, designed to get anthony's friend talking. the teenage filmmaker would pretend he needed money to replace a broken camera. if his buddy had gone through with his plan to rob sarah, he should be flush. police recorded the call. happen? >> dropped it on the shoot. it fell into a bucket of blood.

>> damn. >> yeah, dude, i have, like, no cash. cash. >> keith morrison (voiceover): the friend wouldn't say much more. he seemed cautious. keith morrison (voiceover): but anthony did get the guy to agree to meet in person. maybe he'd open up then. keith morrison (voiceover): the location, this parking area aside the boardwalk in bradley beach, desolate in the dead of winter. investigators wired up anthony's car. we do set up the car for audio and video. is there a little camera in there? there was a camera in there. keith morrison (voiceover): but if their suspect was a killer, what might he do to anthony if he suspected a trap? so they knew this was dangerous. they tailed anthony's car. we had surveillance units on either side. we were monitoring everything live. keith morrison (voiceover): it was just before midnight when anthony drove towards the meet point. you can see his hands on the steering wheel.

so anthony was listening to his music to relax him. and he was getting ready. he wasn't playing. keith morrison (voiceover): anthony parked, and minutes later, their suspect climbed into the car. keith morrison (voiceover): it was liam mcatasney, sarah's friend, the guy who'd spent the day with her a few hours before she vanished. keith morrison (voiceover): and what liam did next horrified the listening detectives. he reached over and searched anthony for a wire. and he starts patting him down. and we're listening to that in the car. and things became very, very real at that moment.

keith morrison (voiceover): and then just as suddenly, the tension broke. liam stopped searching, explained the cops had been on his tail. keith morrison (voiceover): anthony sat back and listened to liam. the officers hung on every word. it was chilling. i mean, we looked at each other. we couldn't believe what we were hearing. it nauseated me. keith morrison (voiceover): and then the cops heard something else. liam wasn't in this alone. he had an accomplice. keith morrison (voiceover): they talked for 20 minutes before liam slipped out into the night. keith morrison (voiceover): the detectives, monitoring the appalling conversation in the car, had heard what they needed. they kept liam under surveillance while warrants were drawn up. and based on what he'd said to anthony curry in that car-- keith morrison (voiceover): --they arrested liam mcatasney. liam, who had seemed so helpful when he told police

he'd been with sarah that last day. keith morrison (voiceover): liam, who'd voluntarily gone downtown to tell detectives about his great friend, sarah. keith morrison (voiceover): liam, who'd joined the search for her, who'd gone on tv to praise her. she's pretty strong, so hopefully we're gonna find something today. keith morrison (voiceover): there were different cameras on him this day. keith morrison (voiceover): the other arrest was every bit as stunning. keith morrison (voiceover): it was liam's alleged accomplice, 19-year-old preston taylor. and if he looks familiar, well, that's because you probably recognize him from sarah's junior prom photo. preston was her date.

who were these young men, accused of these horrific crimes? keith morrison: preston and liam-- how close were they? they were close friends. they had known each other for several years. they had just recently moved into a house together. keith morrison (voiceover): investigators had two most unlikely murder suspects. liam mcatasney was a college sophomore studying psychology. he'd worked with sarah summers on the beach, but he'd known her, had been her friend since first grade. he had no criminal record. and preston taylor, also a college student, economics and political science, a friend of sarah's since high school. he worked part-time around his class schedule. with their suspects in custody, what ed kirschenbaum and the detectives had to do now was very, very difficult. it was at that time that myself, detective weisbrot, detective albrecht, detective mahoney, met with mike stern

at his house. and we had to inform him that we now had information of what had happened to sarah. and there's no easy way to do that. keith morrison (voiceover): no, but he listened, this man now sentenced to permanent sorrow, as they told him that sarah, his only child, had died at the hands of two of her friends. i didn't know what to say. i just remember just staring at the table and not knowing what to think. keith morrison (voiceover): mike stern was heartsick. these were kids you'd driven around, you know, their carpool. their-- carpool, church, fire department, events, you know, things at the school. suddenly they weren't innocent anymore. no. it literally sucked the life out of me. just in disbelief. it's unfathomable. and there was just no indication anywhere, any time-- no. --that this was lurking in there somewhere. no, that's what kind of hurts

the most, that that evil can be in there. keith morrison (voiceover): evil? oh, yes. and mike stern was only beginning to comprehend the enormity of the chain of events that culminated on that bridge over the shark river. coming up. after two arrests, an entire town reeling. we were struggling with why. keith morrison (voiceover): but the shocks will keep coming, including more from that stomach turning tape. it's disgusting. it's disgusting. keith morrison (voiceover): and an eyewitness who said he saw sarah after she disappeared. i caught her eye, and she caught my eye. that girl's alive. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis, help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley.

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to new york city. reporter 1: stunning developments in the search for a missing 19-year-old girl. the charges two teens now face. keith morrison (voiceover): mike stern was in the county courthouse when they brought in the teens accused of killing his sarah. both pleaded not guilty to murder and six other charges. reporter 2: stern's family being escorted out of the courthouse asking for privacy less than 24 hours after finding out she was dead. keith morrison (voiceover): sarah's family and her friends appeared composed in public, but were in a private hell. they couldn't believe these two could have done this. neither of them had a criminal record. preston taylor, sarah's junior prom date, was a quiet 19-year-old. his roommate and co-defendant, liam mcatasney, was also 19, a tall towhead with an identical twin brother, was easily recognizable around town. lots of neptune city residents knew him from his job as a waiter at a local steakhouse. mike stern had watched both defendants grow up. keith morrison: you must have thought an awful lot about those boys and what they were

like when they were in your house, when they hung around with sarah. they had birthday parties and pool parties. and it seemed like they were normal kids. keith morrison (voiceover): mike, of course, but also the others who had known liam most of his young life were having a very hard time-- how to understand. we were struggling with why. if he was such a friend all these years, there has to be something evil about him that we're missing here. like, you don't just have no criminal record and go to murder. keith morrison (voiceover): carly and sam thought they knew liam and preston, but did they really? keith morrison: what did you think when those two guys were arrested? i couldn't believe it. i was mad. i was angry, honestly. i pulled up to my house, and i went inside. and my dad was just home. i said, is it true? and he said, yes. and i couldn't even-- for days, i couldn't even look over at sarah's house.

keith morrison (voiceover): remember, detectives have been talking to preston and liam since the first days of their missing persons investigation, even invited them down to the station, but not a suspect. keith morrison (voiceover): liam had been with sarah the day she was last seen. and in fact, one of sarah's cousins had found liam's phone in sarah's driveway the morning after she went missing, but it didn't signify much. they were often together. and liam didn't try to hide it. and he'd been happy to let them search his phone. so cooperative. but now, detectives decided, liam's statements deserved another look. it was benign. so you went back and looked at this thing again. absolutely. began to see it in a different light. absolutely. hindsight is very powerful. keith morrison (voiceover): and in hindsight, detectives

thought liam's words seemed carefully deviously crafted to support the idea that sarah had run away. keith morrison (voiceover): and then there was something liam asked that they just couldn't get out of their heads now. off the keith morrison (voiceover): but even though they saw liam and preston in a new light now, building a murder case was complicated by the fact that sarah's body had simply vanished. if young sarah did, indeed, end up in the shark river, it looked less likely by the day she would ever be found. and without a body or a funeral, it all felt somehow unfinished to those who loved sarah,

to so many people in neptune city so profoundly disturbed and betrayed and saddened by her loss. so-- we decided to do a celebration of life. keith morrison (voiceover): and did they ever. in the summer of 2017, seven months or so after sarah vanished, they dressed up the neptune city community center. two-- three main rooms filled from floor to ceiling, wall to wall, of all sarah's art. keith morrison: wow. i think they said there was over 1,000 visitors. keith morrison (voiceover): it was as if the whole town skipped the beach that brilliant saturday, set aside the frustrating wait for the trial to begin, at least for one afternoon-- i recall first meeting sara in kindergarten-- keith morrison (voiceover): --to hear sara eulogized-- because she just loved them so, so much. keith morrison (voiceover): --by her friends and family-- sarah, i will miss you every day.

and i'll always carry you in my heart. keith morrison (voiceover): --and teachers. she just was kind and caring, like her mother. she had a smile and an awesome humor and a quick wit, like her father. she was just a beautiful combination of both of her parents. i've never met someone who marches to the beat of their own drum so beautifully and is willing to pick up people along the way to join her. i was overwhelmed. it was kind of a tearful moment. very touching. she touched a lot of people. god bless everybody. god bless sarah. god bless you. keith morrison (voiceover): bittersweet, exhausting, but hardly preparation for what was coming, when liam and preston had their day in court. coming up. at trial, preston takes the stand. keith morrison (voiceover): revealing dark details

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but what really happened? all rise. keith morrison (voiceover): in january 2019, two years after sarah vanished, mcatasney, now 21 years old, went on trial for murder. monmouth county assistant prosecutors megan doyle and chris decker felt they had a strong case, but not a perfect one. we didn't have a body. so for all of the evidence you have, you don't know what a jury is going to do with that. keith morrison (voiceover): the prosecutors expected the defense would try to hit that point hard. what if he says during his summation, ladies and gentlemen, there's sarah stern? and we just could envision 14 people in the box, looking at the door. well, there's reasonable doubt. we didn't have a body. we weren't going to have a body. so it was just something that we had to try to take advantage of. ladies and gentlemen, sarah stern will not be walking through those doors into this courtroom at any point

because this defendant murdered her. keith morrison (voiceover): the prosecution alleged liam and preston threw sarah's body into the river. early on, remember, people thought maybe sarah took her own life. but no, the prosecution painted a picture of a happy young woman, excited about her future, as did sarah's dad, mike. megan doyle: were you worried about your daughter? no. megan doyle: was she depressed? no. megan doyle: did you think your daughter jumped? no. keith morrison (voiceover): mike's sister, linda, sarah's aunt, described a loving relationship between father and daughter. chris decker: were you aware of whether or not her father loved her? keith morrison (voiceover): so what exactly did happen? the shocking answer came from the unlikeliest imaginable source-- sarah's prom date, preston taylor. do you solemnly swear or affirm-- keith morrison (voiceover): charged in connection with sarah's murder two years earlier, preston now took the stand for the prosecution.

the state had given him a deal that dropped the felony murder charge, and in exchange, preston pleaded guilty to six other charges and agreed to testify against his good friend, liam. chris gramiccioni, who was the county prosecutor. sometimes you got to get dirty. sometimes you got to get in the mud, and you've got to deal with bad people who played a major role in committing a crime in order to be able to prove that crime against others. do you know what that cooperation agreement really requires you to do? chris gramiccioni: complete honesty, have we said? chris gramiccioni: does that include today? keith morrison (voiceover): and now in exchange for a reduced sentence, he was about to tell the world what he and liam did to sarah stern. preston delivered his horrifying story in a cool, steady voice. chris gramiccioni: did you know her? chris gramiccioni: were you friends with her? chris gramiccioni: ok. keith morrison (voiceover): it started months before she went missing, he said, after sarah told liam about what she found

in the family's second home. chris gramiccioni: did you ask any questions about that money when you first learned about it? keith morrison (voiceover): preston testified that liam said $100,000 was the kind of money somebody would kill for. to either burglarize her house or either burglarize her house or to rob her personally. and keith morrison (voiceover): the crime, he said, was planned in intricate detail. to avoid using cell phones, preston and liam bought walkie talkies. preston testified the two originally planned to kill sarah in november. but while liam was at her house about to murder her, he learned her money wasn't there. it was in that safety deposit box at the bank, the one

that detectives later discovered had $25,000 in it. chris gramiccioni: did you discuss ways around that problem? she had been to canada several she had been to canada several times. keith morrison (voiceover): and so on december 2, with mike and kristine on vacation in florida, sarah did go to the bank to get some of that money. while she was there, preston testified he got a message from liam. keith morrison (voiceover): he knew exactly what that meant. chris gramiccioni: ok, did you say anything back? keith morrison (voiceover): preston was strangely emotionless on the stand as he described the murder of his friend. it happened late that afternoon, he said.

liam strangled sarah. prosecutors showed this surveillance video of liam leaving the house with a backpack, which they said contained some of sarah's money, and another video of him arriving at work at that steakhouse not long afterward. but liam didn't stay long. a few minutes later, he left. preston told the jurors he was waiting for liam at the house they shared. said that he killed sarah. that he lost his phone keith morrison (voiceover): meanwhile, he said, liam went right back to work as if it was any other day, while he, preston, headed over to sarah's house, climbed the fence in the backyard, went in the back door. he looked for liam's phone, but couldn't find it. prosecutors played a tape of preston walking detectives

through the murder scene, recounting how he moved sarah's body. chris gramiccioni: what did you do? keith morrison (voiceover): late that night, preston told the jury, he and liam propped up sarah's body in the passenger seat of her own car, and liam drove that car to the route 35 bridge. and preston followed in another car. and they heaved her body over the railing. and they left her car there with the key in the ignition and then drove home. chris gramiccioni: what did you do when you got to holly street? keith morrison (voiceover): sarah's money. the total wasn't $100,000, not 50,000. no, the haul for ending sarah's young life

was less than $10,000. of course, after they arrested preston, the detectives asked what happened to it. chris gramiccioni: did you tell them where the money was? keith morrison (voiceover): preston testified that he and liam buried the money they stole from sarah in two small safes, one in the woods in a nearby park, the other 20 miles away on a long abandoned army base. it was a chilling tale. mike and christine sat in court and heard every word. keith morrison: that cannot be easy to listen to. no. it's kind of like driving a stake through your heart. it hurt very deeply. my daughter, my only child. she was my world. keith morrison (voiceover): and things were not going to get any easier for mike because the defense

was about to present an eyewitness with a remarkable claim-- there was a girl walking down the street. keith morrison (voiceover): --that not a word of preston's story could have been true. coming up. i said to my son, i said, that is an awfully good-looking girl to be walking on the street at 5 o'clock in the morning. keith morrison (voiceover): did someone see sarah the day after she disappeared? i looked at her right in the face, just like i'm looking at you right now. that girl's alive. keith morrison (voiceover): testimony that could turn the case upside down, when "dateline" continues. old, worn. >> out bath or shower? >> now you can have a new one installed in just one day with a new limited. >> time offer. >> from jacuzzi bath remodel. we're waiving all installation costs with no interest and no payments for up. >> to. one year. >> hi. i'm edmunds. >> jacuzzi has been making water feel.

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mary mccord break down the latest developments inside the trump administration's department of justice. >> the administration. doesn't necessarily. want to. >> be questioned on any of its policy. >> main justice. new episodes >> main justice. new episodes drop e preston taylor and liam mcatasney were certainly an unlikely pair of murder suspects-- clean cut, soft spoken, never once in trouble. but now preston had taken a deal, and liam was on trial for killing one of his very best friends for money. i developed the relationship with him over the last six or seven months or so. keith morrison (voiceover): this is liam's defense attorney, carlos diaz-cobo. was he terrified going into this trial? yes. what 20-year-old wouldn't be? keith morrison (voiceover): especially scared, said the attorney, because liam was innocent. he didn't do the awful thing he'd been accused of. once all the evidence is in, there will be no other verdict than a not guilty verdict.

keith morrison (voiceover): not guilty, the defense argued, because the evidence would show sarah might have run away from an unhappy home or even taken her own life. to support that, the defense presented a different and disturbing take on sarah's relationship with her dad. far from happy, the defense called it volatile. father and daughter fighting constantly. and the defense suggested it had a profound impact on sarah. liam said as much the first time he spoke to police the night sarah disappeared. trying to get away. >> and tell m keith morrison (voiceover): on cross-examination, sarah's aunt linda, who became sarah's confidant after her mom died, acknowledged there was some father-daughter friction.

relationship. >> with her. >> father in 2016? >> i would say it was a little rocky. >> she was. >> she was. >> packing up her things. keith morrison (voiceover): if the defense attorney could convince jurors that sarah had a secret urgent plan to get away from her father and move to canada, then he was on his way to creating reasonable doubt. but how would he deal with the powerful testimony of preston taylor? the answer was simple and emphatic. preston is a liar. his testimony is untruthful. it's false. it's imagined. it's erroneous and not credible. keith morrison (voiceover): and just how would the defense attorney back up that claim? preston made it easy for him. keith morrison (voiceover): hoping for leniency after he was arrested, preston told police

an elaborate and disturbing story about one of his own relatives. sexually. >> assaulted keith morrison (voiceover): preston had lied to the police about someone close to him committing a serious crime. for diaz-cobo, it was a gift to attack preston's credibility. we're talking about somebody who has admitted to making up stories, making false accusations against innocent people. keith morrison (voiceover): defense attorney diaz-cobo told jurors preston's story about liam was a lie, too, a lie that could save him from spending the rest of his life in prison. he figures, point the finger at someone else. let's see if i can turn the attention away from what i did, what i'm responsible for. is he responsible for sarah's death?

he may be. that's one of the many questions that arise from this case, more questions than answers. keith morrison (voiceover): the defense didn't just challenge the state's witnesses. diaz-cobo also presented an eyewitness with an astonishing story. craig kevin hetzel, sr. keith morrison (voiceover): and he wanted to tell the jury all about it. man: be seated, sir. keith morrison (voiceover): on that cold december morning in 2016, craig hetzel was doing what he always did. at 5:00 am, he drove his son to work, same route, same time every day. there was a girl walking down the street. and i said to my son. i said that is an awfully good-looking girl to be walking on the street at 5 o'clock in the morning. i remembered the things that she had on, she had this leather bomber jacket and, like, a fluffy collar. and she had high heeled shoes on. and i looked at her right in the face,

just like i'm looking at you right now. i caught her eye, and she caught my eye. and all of a sudden, she turned away, turned her head down. keith morrison (voiceover): hetzel, a construction contractor who lived in neptune for 35 years, kept driving. and then-- craig hetzel: we're going over top of the shark river bridge on route 35. and there's a car on the side of the road. and i said, that's a bad place to get stuck. keith morrison (voiceover): a few days later, hetzel said, he was at a 7-eleven and made a startling connection. he saw a poster for a missing woman. it was her, the same woman he had seen walking down the street, sarah stern. >> is this the. >> is this the. keith morrison (voiceover): hetzel told us that seeing sarah's picture in court during his testimony gave him a chill.

it was eerie. when they put that picture up, i said, that's it, and i couldn't look at it anymore. it was her. he was absolutely certain that who he saw sometime a little after 5 o'clock in the morning, hours and hours and hours after the state alleged sarah stern was murdered, that he saw an individual. and that individual was sarah stern. keith morrison (voiceover): and he was just as certain that the car on the bridge was sarah's. it stood out because it was so old and beat up. but police testified the car was towed off that bridge two hours before hetzel was there. i saw that car at 5:15 in the morning. there is no doubt about it. i spoke to my son about it the other-- he was in the car with me. he said absolutely, that car was there. they said they towed that car away. they did not tow that car. but they have a record of towing the car. they better go back and check that record and talk to somebody else because that car was there. i think that girl's alive. that's what i think.

alive somewhere. somewhere. keith morrison: but she hasn't used a credit card, you know? when a person stops using a cell phone, stops using a credit card, stops doing anything that would connect them with this earth, can they be around anywhere? what will we say in a few years down the road when she turns up? and you think she will? i think she will. that would mean the whole case falls apart. the whole murder case, yeah. do you believe then that your testimony is actually the bullet that destroys the prosecution's case? i don't know what it was, but i felt it was my obligation when there was a man-- young man's life at stake, spending the rest of his life in jail. keith morrison (voiceover): diaz-cobo had poked holes in the prosecution's story. but for the whole case to fall apart, he'd have to explain away evidence so disturbing, it shocked even the most veteran courtroom observers.

keith morrison (voiceover): coming up. keith morrison (voiceover): jurors see the harrowing hidden camera video of liam, blood chilling revelations in his own ice cold words. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. the thompsons' new front door looks sharp, right? did we need to wave her down to tell her that? no. no. for a young homeowner turning into their parents, the neighborhood is their life. wonder who's visiting the burkes. that's not their car. hey, guys. who's winning? [ giggles ] now most of the neighborhood uses progressive -for their cars and house. -okay. she didn't ask. ohhhh! [ sighs ] progressive can't save you from becoming your parents. but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto with us. here he comes...like clockwork. [ giggles ] the freestyle libre 3 plus sensor tracks your glucose in real time,

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liam mcatasney said ramrod straight in the courtroom, still, silent, as the detectives and the prosecutors and his own roommate accused him of murdering his friend, sarah stern. sat there while his attorney heaped scorn on the story told by his friend-turned prosecution witness, preston taylor. preston taylor is making this up. he is lying. keith morrison (voiceover): but how would the defense explain him? the prosecution's star witness wasn't preston taylor, the flipped accomplice, but anthony curry, who was about to premiere the biggest film of his short career. anthony took the stand, nerves all but bursting through his skin. megan doyle: do you want to be here today? no. keith morrison (voiceover): shifting around in his seat, he told the court about the outrageous story liam mccartney told him on thanksgiving night. he told me he was going to meet up sarah.

she found this money. and they were going to count it together. and he was going to choke her. choke her out, bring her to the bridge, throw her off, make it look like she killed herself. he said it would be a great idea for a movie. megan doyle: did you think he was serious-- no. megan doyle: --at that time? no. keith morrison (voiceover): but the young filmmaker explained to the jury, when he learned sarah was missing, he and his dad went to the police. in his cross-exam, defense attorney diaz-cobo attacked anthony curry's testimony. all curry's squirming wasn't nerves. no, he was lying. your testimony today, sir, is that liam told you prior to december 2 that he was planning on taking money from sarah? yes. was anybody with you and my client when he allegedly told you this? no. so that the only person that would have heard it

would have been you, correct? yes. you never recorded that conversation directly, mr. curry? no. he has a motive to lie. he just made national headlines as the horror film maker that's part of this murder case. but turning on his best friend for the sake of some good publicity for the national media, what kind of sense does that make? crazier things have happened. keith morrison (voiceover): but as damning as anthony curry's testimony on the stand might sound, it was all only prelude to the prosecution's most devastating witness of all-- liam mcatasney himself. keith morrison (voiceover): a hushed courtroom heard the recording of liam talking to anthony in the car parked by the beach. keith morrison (voiceover): the word "disturbing" doesn't begin to describe it.

keith morrison (voiceover): here, in anthony's car, liam told the whole sickening story of what he did to sarah on december 2. they were alone in her house that afternoon when liam crept up from behind, then grabbed her. her. >> like. i just. i picked her up and had her just, like. dangling off the. >> ground, and. >> she just said my name. and then that was it. and it. >> took me a half an. >> hour to kill her. i thought i was going to be able to choke. >> her out and have. >> her out in like a couple of minutes. minutes. >> keith morrison (voiceover): you heard that right. liam used his phone to time how long it took for sarah to die. she was helpless. not even her faithful buddy intervened.

keith morrison (voiceover): and then the grim aftermath. liam told how preston hid sarah's body in the yard and how they later went back for it. drag it over to. >> her back. >> fence. >> and i. >> crawl, get into her. >> car. >> and i. >> back up. she. there's a security camera across the street, so i had to back. >> i had to. act like her. i watched her every. >> time she backed out. >> time she backed out. >> she does the same thing. keith morrison (voiceover): liam said he drove sarah's car to the middle of the bridge. preston would follow to pick up liam once he pushed sarah's body off, communicating with those walkie talkies. but as carefully as he'd planned, he hadn't factored in one thing.

coming up. liam's sinister strategy for throwing off police. keith morrison (voiceover): and then, maybe the darkest moment of all, liam hinting at an unthinkable motive. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. where. >> love becomes something that much more, more breathtaking, more heart racing. more soul mating. it's here where. >> that. >> all consuming, life giving, full. >> body butterfly thing called. >> love just. is be more where love is. be more here. unlimited luxury. at secrets resorts and. >> spa with allegra.

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in a hushed courtroom in monmouth county, new jersey sat slack-jawed, stunned by the video prosecutors were playing for the jury, liam mcatasney, unaware he was being recorded, described in horrific detail exactly how he killed sarah stern. now he turned to how he disposed of her body. with sarah's body belted in the passenger seat of her grandmother's oldsmobile, he drove to the crest of the route 35 bridge over the shark river and encountered a problem. strength and how much a dead body would weigh, because it's lent weight. yeah, i got up on top of the bridge to throw her off, and. >> i go. >> up. >> open the. >> door. unhook her. >> door. unhook her. >> pull her out, start d

keith morrison (voiceover): it was just after midnight, but there was still traffic on the bridge. and liam was outside sarah's car, struggling with her body. he began to panic. easily. could have been. >> a cop. and then, i mean, the police station is like, right there. yeah, yeah. >> and then. >> preston comes over the bridge, goes around, makes a bridge, goes around, makes a u-turn. comes up behind me, the keith morrison (voiceover): as he told anthony the story, liam reveled in his belief that sarah's body, dumped off the bridge, was forever lost. man: still don't know where your phone is? no, i-- keith morrison (voiceover): but just as in many crime movies, he made critical mistakes.

keith morrison (voiceover): still, he bragged to his friend about how cunning he was. he not only planned and carried out sarah's murder, he also cast himself as a helpful witness in the investigation. keith morrison (voiceover): the point of that whole deadly scheme, he said, was about that money he'd taken from sarah's house, but there was no jackpot payout. grand, 100 grand in my pocket, and i didn't. keith morrison (voiceover): for all his scheming over six months, he only got enough money to buy

a little fun and some weed. keith morrison (voiceover): liam had revealed so much, maybe too much, and suddenly he seemed worried. could he trust anthony to keep quiet? keith morrison (voiceover): or else, he seemed to threaten his friend. out. >> because you are the only person that knows. because i've tried to. i tried to. imply that you might know. and he gets you might know. and he gets really upset. keith morrison (voiceover): and then liam got reflective. he seemed to suggest to anthony it wasn't all about the money, that he wanted to get

something more out of murdering sarah, and after, seemed disappointed. than i don't think about it. you always think you're going to try these new things and you're going to change. but it didn't change me. it just doesn't do anything. it's weird. anything. it's weird. >> m keith morrison (voiceover): the story was beyond chilling, the details appalling. and liam had delivered it without a hint of remorse. when it was over, people watching in the crowded courtroom were silent, stunned. sarah's cousins, lauren and lindsay. that was the worst thing i ever saw in my whole entire life, just listening to him nonchalantly, like it's no big deal. it's somebody's life.

it was sick. it was just sick. keith morrison (voiceover): it took a while for carly and sam to process what they'd heard from the boy they knew as sarah's good friend. it was disgusting. how can you take someone's life for their money and then not be happy with the money that you killed them for? he also wasn't happy that he didn't feel more, that he felt the same after as he did before. it really ticked me when he said sometimes you try new things and expect to feel something, and he said he didn't feel anything. but he said to try new things, like just killing someone, trying new things. keith morrison (voiceover): sarah's father had kept his steady composure throughout the trial, but hearing that tape, he broke into quiet sobs. keith morrison: i was there the day when they played that tape. and i kept thinking, what is this like for that poor man?

you hadn't heard that before. no. i knew some of the content, but had never heard it from his mouth. i couldn't believe it. evil, pure evil. keith morrison (voiceover): a detailed, cold-blooded confession all on video, what might seem like an open and shut case. but surprises were in store before the jury rendered its verdict. coming up. the defense calls the tape pure fiction. this is not the first time that liam makes up crazy stories. he wants to be in movies. he's leonardo dicaprio to anthony curry's martin scorsese. keith morrison (voiceover): and then the verdict and its emotional fallout. the hurt's never going to be over. keith morrison (voiceover): when "dateline" continues. this is what joint pain looks like.

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as it is. so what was he trying to do? i mean, impress his friend? come on. for what reason? what did he want out of it? if you recall anthony curry's testimony, he told you that this is not the first time that liam makes up crazy stories, that he does it all the time. he does it to impress him. he wants to be in anthony curry's world. he wants to be in his movies, his leonardo dicaprio to anthony curry's martin scorsese. keith morrison (voiceover): in his closing argument, liam's attorney said preston was making up stories, too, all in his effort to cut his plea deal. plus, he said, the biggest problem with the prosecution's case was simple-- the defense's eye witness proved it. ladies and gentlemen, there's no body. why? craig hetzel tells you that she was still alive.

keith morrison (voiceover): prosecutor chris decker wasn't having any of it. we talk about mr. hetzel, who sees sarah wearing heels and a fur collar. that's not sarah stern. keith morrison (voiceover): no, said the prosecutor, ugg boots and timberlands, that was sarah stern. and the eyewitness was wrong about the car, too. that car was not there. it just wasn't there. he's wrong. i don't know if he's lying or he's just wrong. i don't know. it doesn't matter. he did not see her. keith morrison (voiceover): after a five-week trial, prosecutor decker had the last word. sarah stern is dead. this is not a movie. it's not a story. this defendant didn't frame himself for murder. he committed murder. there is no doubt that this man killed sarah stern. he told you.

keith morrison (voiceover): the jury took its time, asked to see a lot of those tapes again. answer yes, question how. keith morrison (voiceover): asked to hear back some of the testimony, and then finally, word reached the judge, a verdict. court reconvened, as liam sat there, motionless, stone-faced as ever. woman: how do you find this count one of the indictment as to whether the defendant, liam mcatasney, committed the crime of murder by purposely or knowingly causing the death of sarah stern? juror: guilty. keith morrison (voiceover): guilty of murder and all six other counts. for michael stern, who had lost so much, endured so much, even had to watch liam try to tarnish his relationship with sarah, the daughter he cherished, at least this part was over. i waited for that 27 months. it must be a complicated feeling. none of it makes any sense.

but when it comes to sarah, it's important that justice be served. keith morrison (voiceover): four months later, justice was served. liam mcatasney faced the judge again, his reality inescapable. judge: i do think this was a heinous murder. i think it was done in a depraved manner, but-- keith morrison (voiceover): liam was sentenced to life without parole. he has filed an appeal. preston taylor was handed 18 years in prison for his role. defense attorney john peronne negotiated the plea agreement. keith morrison: how can he live with the fact that this girl he liked and was a friend of for years, who he took to the prom, for heaven's sake, he could participate? nobody could live with that fact. and he can't. he's going to relive his part for the rest of his life. keith morrison: what was this case all about when you see the totality of it? i think the money was an excuse

and that he just wanted to kill somebody. to me, what the case was about, first and foremost, was just the way that he used sarah. keith morrison (voiceover): the consequences of sarah's death will be with a lot of people for a very long time, grief still very raw. no matter how many times something's, like, funny or, like, you have a good day, and then-- sorry. you would come home and just see her house, and you just think about it. losing a close friend when you're young, you don't ever get over that. and the trial may be over, but the hurt's never going to be over. keith morrison (voiceover): sarah stern's life was taken from her at just 19. but she lived long enough to know the artistic life she wanted to pursue. keith morrison: how would you like sarah to be remembered?

how will you remember her? as a brilliant artist. she just loved art, and her art teachers loved her. are there times, particular times when she comes into your mind or-- every day. keith morrison: --comes to visit you? every day. we talk. i say hello. make sure she's doing ok. she is. her spirit will live forever. beautiful, beautiful kid. my sarah. . i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. and this is "dateline." at shes the reason