Bridge of Lies: The Search

Summary

Podcast Summary: 20/20 – Bridge of Lies: The Search

Episode date: March 18, 2026
Host: ABC News / Juju Chang
Episode Focus: The disappearance of 19-year-old Sarah Stern on the Jersey Shore, detailing the early investigation, search efforts, and the conflicting theories that gripped her community.

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode dives deeply into the immediate aftermath of Sarah Stern’s disappearance after her car was found abandoned on the Belmar Bridge in December 2016. It chronicles the large-scale search, initial police interviews with friends and family, and the swirl of rumors and possible motives—ranging from suicide to a planned flight to Canada—against the emotionally charged backdrop of a devastated community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Search Begins (00:57 – 04:44)

• Timeline of events:

  • Franny Hines, head of the Belmar first aid squad, is called in at 4:50am on Dec 3, 2016, to mobilize water rescue teams after Sarah’s car is found abandoned on the bridge.
  • Search covers the river, under docks, out to the Ocean Avenue Bridge.
  • Water temperature was near freezing (38°F), drastically reducing survival chances.

• Personal Connection:

  • Franny realizes mid-search that the missing person is his neighbor Sarah, someone he’s known since childhood. The stakes become personal:
    • “It kind of tingled down my spine because Sarah was our neighbor for her entire life.” – Franny Hines (03:35)

• Survivability:

  • While jumping from the bridge might be survivable, the danger of hypothermia is severe.
    • “We’re pretty sure that after a little while... if someone’s in the water, we’re probably not going to find them alive.” – Franny Hines (04:18)

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Police Interviews: Constructing a Timeline (05:44 – 14:28)

Interview with Liam McAtasney (Sarah’s Friend) (05:44 – 14:28)

• Liam’s Account:

  • Last saw Sarah midday, went to Taco Bell, helped her drop belongings at a neighbor’s house.
  • Describes her relationship with her father as tense, mentions her intent to move out (possibly to Canada), and claims she struggled with trust and mental health issues.
    • “She’s been telling me how bad her relationship with her father is and how she just needs to get out of here.” – Liam McAtasney (08:23)
    • “In the past, she has had a tendency to have self-destructive suicidal behavior.” – Liam McAtasney (12:13)

• Police Reaction:

  • Officers are skeptical but take note of details—YouTube conventions, her fandom for Grace Helbig, and her alleged plans to escape.
  • Push for accuracy and warn Liam about the seriousness of the situation.

• Two Theories Begin to Form:

  1. Sarah ran away to Canada to start over.
  2. She died by suicide by jumping from the bridge.

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Digital Trails and Expanding the Search (19:27 – 22:19)

• CCTV Investigation:

  • Cameras on the bridge nonfunctional; police canvass nearby businesses and homes for footage.
  • Surveillance from a neighbor confirms Sarah and Liam together earlier in the day; last nighttime footage shows Sarah’s car backing out around midnight, heading south (an unusual route).

• Significance:

  • Was the route chosen to avoid security cameras, or purely coincidence?

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Interviewing Friends: Preston Taylor (23:36 – 29:18)

Preston Taylor’s Perspective

• Background:

  • Liam’s roommate and long-time friend of Sarah.
  • Describes day of disappearance: working on a job site, returning home after Liam left for work, normal night of drinking and video games.
  • Version of events consistent with Liam’s but adds few emotional details.

• Preston’s Belief:

  • When asked what he thinks happened, Preston tears up, suggesting suicide due to the stress of taking care of family and unresolved grief after her mother’s death.
    • “What do you think’s happened?” – Detective Weisbrot (28:42)
    • Preston: “Just from stories that I’ve heard about what goes on with her and her dad… taking care of her grandma.” (29:01)

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Community Response: Search and Contradictory Narratives (32:13 – 38:29)

• Community Search:

  • Hundreds join the effort. Sarah’s father, Michael, and her friends (including Liam and Preston) participate.
  • Police instruct citizens to look for Sarah’s red sweatshirt, green iPhone, and driver’s license.

• Carly Draper’s Account:

  • Sarah’s childhood friend and neighbor. Describes Sarah as happy and making plans during her last conversation—a stark contrast to claims of suicidality.
    • “She asked me to hang out that night. Like, if you know you’re going to commit suicide, you don’t ask someone to hang out with you. And she seemed really happy.” – Carly Draper (38:29)

• The Secret Money Theory:

  • Sarah had recently found a significant amount of money stashed at the family’s beach house (“the Avon house”), possibly enough to start a new life in Canada.
  • Carly recounts Sarah telling her she wasn’t to tell anyone, but word eventually spreads.

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Shifting Theories: Money as a Motive (39:24 – 40:13)

• Investigators’ Realization:
  • Sarah’s find wasn’t as secret as she thought – many friends and family knew. Police question if someone else could have had a motive to harm her for the money, introducing a possible foul play angle:
    • “Could someone else have been interested in Sarah's money and taken it?” – Juju Chang (39:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It kind of tingled down my spine because Sarah was our neighbor for her entire life.”
  — Franny Hines (03:35)

• “We’re pretty sure that after a little while... if someone’s in the water, we’re probably not going to find them alive.”
  — Franny Hines (04:18)

• “She’s been telling me how bad her relationship with her father is and how she just needs to get out of here.”
  — Liam McAtasney (08:23)

• “Like, if you know you’re going to commit suicide, you don’t ask someone to hang out with you. And she seemed really happy.”
  — Carly Draper (38:29)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:57 – 04:44: Launch of the river search and Franny's personal connection to Sarah
• 05:56 – 14:28: Liam’s interview, last known activities, police pressing for details
• 19:27 – 22:19: Investigation into security footage around bridge and Sarah’s neighborhood
• 23:36 – 29:18: Preston Taylor’s interview, emotional moment when discussing suicide theory
• 32:13 – 38:29: Community search, Carly Draper’s recollection of last conversation with Sarah
• 39:24 – 40:13: Emergence of the “secret money” theory as a potential motive for foul play

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Episode Takeaways

• The initial investigation oscillated between runaway and suicide theories.
• The discovery of “secret” money by Sarah provides both a new lead and potential motive for foul play.
• Conflicting accounts about Sarah’s mental health and relationship with her father surfaced, but close friends like Carly reported she was upbeat and actively planning for the future.
• The case grows beyond a missing person search—the potential for more sinister motives begins to take center stage, hinting at evolving investigative focus in upcoming episodes.

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Listeners are left with the haunting question: Was Sarah’s disappearance her own choice, an act of despair, or the result of foul play rooted in jealousy or greed?

Transcript

[Debra Roberts]

This is Debra Roberts here with another weekly episode of our latest true crime series from 2020 and ABC Audio, Bridge of Lies. Remember, you can get new episodes early by following Bridge of Lies on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you're listening now. Now here's the next episode of Bridge of Lies.

[Detective Weisbrot]

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[Narrator / Juju Chang]

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[Narrator / Juju Chang]

At 4:50am on December 3, 2016, Franny Hines got a call. It was the Belmar Police Department that

[Franny Hines]

they were requesting our water rescue team and our water assets to search for someone who possibly had gone off the Highway 35 bridge.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Frannie ran the Belmar first aid squad. By daybreak, he and his crew scrambled boats and divers to search the water under the bridge where Sarah Stern's Oldsmobile had been found the night before. Other members of his team began to search along the shore.

[Franny Hines]

So by the time the sun came up, we had a full search of all this area here, basically under the bridge and under all the docks. And on the outside, we searched all the way out to the Ocean Avenue Bridge as well. So it was a pretty big operation.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Franny spoke to ABC News to give us a sense of the operation. He took our team out on a small motorboat marked Rescue in big yellow letters above the windshield. It was quiet on the river. Many of the fishing boats were still parked in their docks.

[Franny Hines]

See, that yellow sign is where we think she went over up on the

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

top from the water. Frannie pointed up to a yellow hazard sign right in the middle of the bridge before guiding the boat underneath.

[Franny Hines]

So we searched all the way out to the ocean inlet and all the way into the back bay here. We searched all of it.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The river here runs about 11 miles long. Some areas can be as deep as 18ft. In the summer, the Shark river is a popular spot for fishing boats and kayakers. It runs through residential neighborhoods in Belmar and Neptune City before it spills out into the Atlantic Ocean less than a mile away. But on that day, it was too cold for fun on the water.

[Franny Hines]

I Think the water temperature was some 38 degrees, something like that.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The boats and divers looked under docks and around old pilings in the river, pieces of old concrete from a previous bridge. Around 8 o' clock that morning, they ended up calling in more reinforcements to help.

[Franny Hines]

And we also called in the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office dive team who brought some more expertise to the search.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

At the start of the search, Franny had no idea who he was looking for. All he was told was that there might be someone in the water. But then he learned the missing person's name.

[Franny Hines]

It kind of tingled down my spine because Sarah was our neighbor for her entire life.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Franny and Sarah's father Michael were friends. They'd lived across the street from each other for 25 years. Sarah even walked her dog Buddy past Franny's house every day.

[Franny Hines]

I've been on a lot of searches for a lot of people, but this is the first time we were searching for somebody that we knew.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Franny thought that a jump or fall off the Belmar Bridge was survivable. He actually used to jump off a similar smaller bridge as a kid for fun. But staying alive in water that cold is another thing altogether.

[Franny Hines]

We're pretty sure that after a little while, an hour, if someone's in the water, that we're probably not going to find them alive.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

So if there was a chance Sarah was alive, he wanted to make sure he was there.

[Franny Hines]

I wanted to find her and I wanted to make sure that I wanted to be there because it was very personal to me for sure.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

As night turned to day, police started to form theories about what could have happened to Sarah Stern. Narratives that start to form the basis of a full on investigation. Did Sarah park her car on the Belmar Bridge and jump? Did she abandon her car and life in Neptune for or were officers being steered away from a darker truth? From ABC Audio and 2020, I'm Juju Chang and this is Bridge of lies. Episode 2 the Search. Around 10am Officers were at Liam McAtasney's mom's house looking for him just hours after they first visited him. That same on the police body camera footage we can see it was a bright sunny day. Liam had switched out his gray pajamas for blue jeans, a plaid shirt and dark sunglasses. Liam's roommate and cousin were with him. They sit staggered on different steps of the front porch. Liam's mom's dog looked through the screen door.

[Liam McAtasney]

What was she wearing yesterday the last time you saw her? I know when I got to her house at one or two o' Clock. She was just wearing a red T shirt and black, like, running. Running shorts or something.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Police were trying to piece together what Sarah did the day she went missing and what her mindset could have been. The officers were stern. They wanted to make sure Liam got the severity of the situation. A 19 year old girl was missing. No one had heard from her since the day before. And Liam might be the only one who could help.

[Police Officer]

Like I said to you before, we have a lot of resources out there, and we need to find her and make sure she's safe and okay. And this is why I'm really hammering this home to you, Liam.

[Franny Hines]

You're young.

[Police Officer]

I want to make sure you get how important this is. This young girl is off the grid all of a sudden, and nobody knows why. And you were basically the last person to have any contact with her.

[Liam McAtasney]

I completely understand that.

[Police Officer]

So we're trying to get a little time frame, more of a time frame.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Liam assured officers that he understood his friend was missing and he wanted to be helpful. So Liam walked them through what he had done the day before.

[Liam McAtasney]

Yeah, between one and two, we went to Taco Bell. I went to the neighbor's house at one point.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

For the most part, Liam repeated what he told officers when they first visited his house earlier that morning. Normal teenage stuff. He drove to Sarah's house to hang out. They went to Taco Bell for lunch. Then he helped her drop off a box of Sarah's stuff at her neighbor's house. He said she'd been trying to move some things out of her house over the past week or so. He even had some of her stuff at his house.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Liam McAtasney]

And I actually have a few of these in my basement right now.

[Police Officer]

Of hers.

[Liam McAtasney]

Of hers. Yeah, if you guys want to go through those. She. She's just been trying to get stuff out of the house, away from her dad over the past week or whatever. You seem to have a pretty good relationship. What's her reasoning for wanting to get the stuff out of her father's place? I know she definitely has a lot of trust issues with her dad, so I've just been trying to help her out with that. I've been friends with her since first grade, so we have a pretty good friendship.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Liam said they had the kind of relationship where Sarah felt she could confide in him, and she told him that things between her and her father had

[Liam McAtasney]

been tense over the past few months. She's been telling me how bad her relationship with her father is and how she just needs to get out of here.

[Police Officer]

Why was it bad. What made it bad?

[Liam McAtasney]

Fighting. Arguing, fighting, arguing, fighting constantly.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Liam said that Sarah and her father would fight over trivial things, that he watched them argue over the phone a few weeks ago, going back and forth over replacing a broken key in the

[Liam McAtasney]

house, just arguing for the sake of arguing. Because the other day, when the key broke, he called her four times, and they had the same exact conversation, same argument, like they never had it over and over again.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

This was what Liam told the officers. According to investigators, Michael, Sarah's dad, told them he and Sarah actually had a pretty normal father, daughter relationship. Yes, they'd argue and wouldn't always agree, but it didn't affect how much love they had for each other. But at least according to Liam, Sara was desperate to get away because of her dad. She was even thinking about moving to Canada.

[Liam McAtasney]

I know she's been there before. I don't know if it was Montreal. She. She's obsessed with these YouTubers, and she goes to, like, conventions.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The mention of YouTube and Sarah going to conventions, this really seemed to throw the police. Remember, it was 2016. YouTube was the platform where artists, comedians, makeup gurus, vloggers, essentially anyone could become an Internet celebrity and gain a following. And people would go to fan conventions to meet their favorite creators and connect with other fans. At this point, YouTube was over a decade old. But police told Liam that they just didn't get it.

[Liam McAtasney]

I don't know how many.

[Police Officer]

I'm not.

[Liam McAtasney]

I'm not clicking on this. So you see YouTube or what are the people that like to post stuff on YouTube? Yeah, just people. They have a channel and they post videos.

[Police Officer]

Liam, the thing on your YouTube, conventions or whatever, you have any idea what they are?

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Officers were curious about the friends Sarah made through her online community and the YouTube personalities she followed, trying to determine if her life online could have influenced her decision to leave.

[Liam McAtasney]

I think they're just like, just panels where they sit down and ask. I don't know too much about it. They could be shows. I'm not really good at technology.

[Police Officer]

That YouTube thing's all new to me.

[Franny Hines]

I haven't even.

[Police Officer]

Bloggers.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Liam said he didn't know much about that part of her life, just that Sarah went to these conventions often, and YouTube comedian Grace Helbig was her idol. Police stepped away to watch a few of Helbig's videos and came back skeptical.

[Police Officer]

I mean, I just pulled it up. I'm gonna be honest with you. I just pulled it up on the car.

[Liam McAtasney]

Yeah.

[Police Officer]

And she's talking about making ugly Christmas sweaters with bells. On it and like that. Does that sound familiar? Is that the. What is that? Basically what Sarah's following around. They sit in front of a camera doing a little podcast type of thing of her talking about stupid.

[Liam McAtasney]

That's exactly what they do.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Officers were pretty dismissive about what they saw, but they were wondering if it could be a clue to Sarah's whereabout.

[Police Officer]

That's going to help us try and figure out where the hell she's at. Yeah, I'm interested in it big time.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

They saw it as teenage nonsense. Even Liam admitted it's weird. But they decided the videos could be important to understanding Sarah's motivations. It could help explain why she would have run away and where she might be. But Liam also presented the police with a second theory about what could have happened to Sarah.

[Police Officer]

Has she been different than normal lately? And for how long?

[Liam McAtasney]

In the past, she has had a tendency to have self destructive suicidal behavior.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

In later interviews with police, Sarah's friends and family said she seemed fine. They said they'd never heard her talk about attempting suicide or hurting herself. According to authorities, her dad told investigators that she's never been diagnosed with any mental health issues. But Liam told police that Sarah expressed suicidal thoughts when they were in high school. He talked about a time when Sarah became very dependent on one of his ex girlfriends. The two were close friends, but when Sarah was having a crisis, he told police she'd demand Liam's ex come over and made comments that she'd kill herself if she didn't. This was all happening around the time of her mother's death a few years earlier. So police were hearing that Sarah had a history of suicidal thoughts. And if tensions were running high between her and her father, could it have led to Sarah struggling with those feelings again? Liam then went through how he said he spent the rest of the day with Sarah. He told officers that after they dropped off the box of her stuff at her neighbors, the Drapers, they went back to Sarah's place and watched a nightmare on Elm Street. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He told them that he left around 4:45pm to make his shift at the local steakhouse. Liam and Sarah said their goodbyes. He said he remembered telling her, I'll see you later. Liam told the officers he got off work early, went home and ended the night there getting drunk with his roommate. Officers were nearing the end of their house visit with Liam, but before they went, they left him with one more heavy reminder.

[Police Officer]

Listen, this is. This is. I'm going to throw this out to you. The resources that are out there right now looking for her, the amount of manpower. We have people swimming in the Shark river in this cold weather, cold water. Everything else, we have boats, we have helicopters. Dude, if you know anything about where this girl is or have had anything, contact with her, you need to let us know.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Liam assured them that he'll reach out if he heard anything about Sarah's whereabouts. And the officers left with two possible theories to consider. Theory number one. Sarah ran away to Canada. Liam told police that Sarah and her father had a difficult relationship. And as detectives talked to more of Sarah's friends and family, they learned that she and Michael didn't always get along. According to Liam, Sarah couldn't trust him, so she was trying to get away. It could explain why she'd been giving away boxes of her belongings. And maybe she did get away. Maybe she did go to Canada to start a new life away from her father, to join the community of friends she already had there. But the police were not ruling out theory number two. Perhaps Sarah died by suicide because Liam also suggested that Sarah had struggled with feelings of depression in the past. Did those feelings come back? Did it get to the point where Sarah felt like jumping off that bridge last night was her only option? It's a dark theory the police were considering, but with so little to go on, it was all within the realm of possibility. Back at the Shark River, Franny and his team were still looking for Sarah. Boats were scanning the shore. Divers were looking underwater on that premise a little bit.

[Franny Hines]

But we did search both sides of the bridge and under all the docks and, and all the boats that are over here behind us.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

But after eight hours of searching, their efforts turned up nothing.

[Franny Hines]

We searched still probably about 3 o' clock in the afternoon until we decided to call it.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

They'd have to pick up their search the next day, but police decided they needed to start looking for answers elsewhere. This show is sponsored by Quince. A thoughtfully built wardrobe is all about pieces that mix well and last. That's where Quince shines. Premium fabrics, thoughtful design and everyday essentials. Their pieces are effortless and dependable, even as the seasons change. From the short sleeve Mongolian cashmere polos to the linen pants and shorts. Their pieces are designed to stay crisp and comfortable season after season. And Quince works directly with top factories. So you're not paying for any markup or middlemen or fancy retail stores. It's all just quality clothes, no matter where you are. Whether it's already warm enough that it feels like summer or it's still in a bit chilly and damp like it is here in New York, Quince has the pieces you'll need for the perfect spring wardrobe right now. Go to quince.com bridgeoflies for free shipping and 365 day returns. That's a full year to build your wardrobe and love it. And you will. Now available in Canada too. Don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to Q U I n c e.com BridgeOfLies for free shipping and 365 day return. Quince.com BridgeOfLies 2020 is partnering with Vibes

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[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Police knew one of the best ways to figure out what happened on the Belmar bridge that night was to look for security cameras and found a few right by the bridge.

[Jessica Easthope]

It's a very important law enforcement tool, and it's one of the first things as investigators that we seek to find.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Detective Brian Weisbrot of the Monmouth county prosecutor's office got assigned to the investigation a couple days after Sarah went missing. But Weisbrot quickly struck out. The cameras by the bridge weren't working. Turns out they hadn't worked in years. No easy answers there. So investigators started knocking on doors. They went to restaurants and other businesses in the surrounding area to see if their cameras captured Sarah's car. But none of the footage they collected gave officers a clear enough picture of the highway going towards the bridge. So they turned to Sarah's neighborhood.

[Jessica Easthope]

Not only do we do neighborhood canvases in an effort to speak with and identify people who may have information to provide pertaining to an incident, we also do canvasses for video surveillance recordings. More and more people have cameras on their homes, which certainly assists law enforcement in investigating crime.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Michael Stern, Sarah's dad, had also been doing his own canvassing, his own desperate search.

[Jessica Easthope]

Michael Stern was out in the community. He was going into businesses. He was talking to anybody that he could talk to. In an effort to find her.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

He discovered that his neighbor across the street had a security camera that would have caught Sarah coming and going from the house. Detective Weisbrot reviewed hours of footage. The camera showed a wide view of the Stern street. He saw cars passing by and people walking their dogs. In the upper right hand corner in the distance, he saw Sarah's house. There were tall hedges obscuring part of the home. For most of the day, Sarah went missing. The house was quiet, but there were these brief moments of activity. In the early afternoon, Weisbrot saw Sarah and Liam leave the house around the time Liam said they went to Taco Bell. Sarah's car pulled out of the driveway again that afternoon and then came back. The last time the video showed her car backing out of the driveway was around midnight. At this point, the footage was dark and grainy. You can't see who's inside the vehicle. All you can really see was the shape of the car and its lights.

[Jessica Easthope]

We see Sarah's car backing out of the driveway and traveling south, away from the home and away from the video surveillance camera. The fact that that car traveled south piqued our interest because all Other times, Sarah's car and Liam's car had traveled north and drove directly past the camera.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Was that a coincidence, or was someone trying to maybe avoid the camera? Just a few hours later, her silver Oldsmobile was reported abandoned on the Belmar Bridge. In the days after Sarah disappeared, the Stern family created a Facebook page to share any updates and posted a collection of her photos. In one of the pictures, she's at New York Comic Con. She just got out of a long meet and greet line. Sarah's excited, holding up a gold autograph sword that's as big as she is. But mixed in with that album of photos were missing person posters of Sarah. A picture of her in a blue and white T shirt smiling, took up almost half the page. The poster listed her identifying features. Age 19, eyes brown, hair dark brown. And there was now a $5,000 reward for any information on her whereabouts. Rescue teams were still searching the river, and the operation had only gotten bigger. The New Jersey State Police and the Coast Guard were now involved. Investigators were also talking to more of Sarah's friends, including Liam's roommate.

[Jessica Easthope]

Ultimately, we wanted to speak with Preston Taylor, who was Liam McAtasney's roommate at the time.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Preston Taylor and Liam were close friends and roommates. They'd moved in together a few weeks before Sarah went missing. Preston was out on the front lawn with Liam when police came to talk to him the day after Sarah's car was found. Preston's tall, kind of lanky, with shaggy brown hair and a five o' clock shadow. Preston and Leah met in algebra class during their freshman year at Neptune High School, and they've been good friends ever since. Remember how Sarah won the yearbook superlative for most artistic? Well, Liam and Preston won the superlative for best friends. Reporter Jessica Easthope said Preston and Sarah ran in the same friend circles.

[Narrator / Additional Commentary]

They were good friends, Sarah and Liam and Liam's roommate, Preston Taylor, bonded over things like movies and video games and comic books. Sarah really wasn't too much of a girly girl, and so she got along with these other 19 year old boys because they had common interests.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Sarah and Preston even went to the junior prom together, just as friends. There was never anything romantic between the two. On the evening of December 6, three days after police first came by, they visited Liam and Preston's house again, this time to see Preston. They asked if he'd be willing to answer some questions. Preston said yes and was driven to the Belmar police Department to talk to Detective Weisbrock.

[Detective Weisbrot]

So we, as you know, we have the the job to Find out what happened to Sarah. Right.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

And Preston sat across from detectives at a long wooden table in a conference room. The royal blue seats stood out against the powder blue walls. To Preston's left were shelves stacked with papers and binders. And high on one of the walls, there was a camera pointing down at them, recording the conversation.

[Detective Weisbrot]

My first name is P R E S T O N. Correct. And what's your last name?

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Preston. Detective Weisbrot started the interview by asking Preston a couple background questions. Preston said he worked in construction with his dad. Like Liam, he was taking classes at a nearby community college. Detective Weisbrot asked Preston about Liam.

[Detective Weisbrot]

Sarah's friendship with Liam. How would you describe that? And they're good friends, like obviously pretty close, especially with the houses. But okay, he's upset about her. The phone scenario.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The detectives asked Preston what he did on Friday, the day Sarah went missing. He said he was at a job site in a different town that day, about 30 minutes away. What time did he get home?

[Detective Weisbrot]

I got home around five.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Was Liam there?

[Detective Weisbrot]

Liam was getting ready for work, trying to find his phone. As soon as I walked in, he was like, dude, I gotta get to work.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

What did Preston do after he left?

[Detective Weisbrot]

I took a nap, got up, I ran back to my parents house. As I left, had this coffee drink that I got up, went back to the house putting those boxes until he got back.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Detectives ran through a long list of very detailed questions and Preston answered every single one. Police even asked about what kind of coffee he drank and how it was packaged.

[Detective Weisbrot]

It comes in a can or a bottle or a bottle. It's a yellow label, it's like a lady on the front, like holding bottle.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Throughout it all, Preston made eye contact with investigators and his hands were calmly folded on the table. He told investigators that Liam came back from work around 11pm they stayed at home for the night and went on to have what was a pretty normal evening for them. Drinking, listening to music and playing video games before going to bed. Around one in the morning. And just a few hours later, police were knocking on their door at 4am Looking for Sarah.

[Jessica Easthope]

Preston Taylor provided information that was relatively consistent with that of Liam in that Liam had been with Sarah on Friday afternoon and that Liam had left to go to work. Preston had confirmed that when Liam got home from work that he the two of them socialized together, had a few drinks and ultimately went to bed.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The entire time. Preston had the same reserved but relaxed demeanor. But there's one moment when Detective Weisbrot noticed Preston's mood changed

[Jessica Easthope]

at the end of the interview with Preston and I had asked him what his thoughts were as to what happened with Sarah. He got somewhat emotional.

[Detective Weisbrot]

What do you think's happened?

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Preston said he thinks Sarah jumped. It took him a few seconds to get those words out. His voice cracked. He wiped his eyes and stared down at the table in front of him.

[Detective Weisbrot]

Okay, why do you think she jumped? Just from the stories that I've heard about what goes on with her and her dad and Sarah's been putting charge of the house, taking care of her grandma.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Like Liam, Preston told police that Sarah had struggled with her mental health, especially after her mom passed a few years ago, that she threatened to kill herself. He described a tense relationship with her dad, and he said that in recent weeks, Sarah had been packing her belongings and moving them out of the house. In fact, Preston told police the last time he saw Sarah was a little over a week ago when she was moving some of her stuff into their basement. According to authorities, Michael told police that after he got home from his Florida vacation, he learned that Sarah had moved some things to a neighbor's house. He thought it was unusual. In his interview with detectives, Preston says he didn't know why Sarah was giving away boxes of her things. He didn't know what happened to Sarah, and he believed Liam when he said he had no idea either. The interview lasted roughly two hours. Police said Preston's account seemed consistent with the timeline Liam gave them, but everyone was still desperately wondering what happened to Sarah. The search grew, but police were still unsure if they were looking for a runaway or or a body. I'm R.J. decker, the private investigator uncovering the Sunshine State's darkest secrets.

[RJ Decker]

Tuesdays, it's the premiere of ABC's hottest new crime show.

[Liam McAtasney]

RJ freaking Decker.

[RJ Decker]

As I live and breathe, he's a private eye.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

It's not a standard murder.

[RJ Decker]

Something bigger and a public mass trying

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[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Today you go to prison one time and suddenly it's all the jokes.

[RJ Decker]

RJ Decker Series premiere Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

It's the Paradise Podcast.

[Ryan Michelle Bathe]

I am your host Ryan Michelle Bathe with my husband Sterling.

[Police Officer]

What's up?

[Ryan Michelle Bathe]

Join us here on Hulu and Hulu on Disney where we'll discuss each episode with the cast and crew of Paradise. I'll be getting all the secrets from Dan Fogelman, James Marr Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Julianne Nicholson and Sterling Kelby Brown. Paradise, the official podcast is now streaming and stream paradise on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers terms apply.

[RJ Decker]

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[Ryan Michelle Bathe]

Sixteen singles are headed to this super luxury yacht to fall in love.

[Vibes Advertiser]

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[Narrator / Juju Chang]

I want to find love.

[Carly Draper]

This is gonna be the best summer of our lives.

[Ryan Michelle Bathe]

But whoever you do not choose will be going overboard.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

This is insane. Let the games begin.

[RJ Decker]

Watch the new Hulu original series Love Overboard March 26, streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers terms apply.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Our top story this half hour the mystery of a missing 19 year old from Monmouth County. Sarah Stern was last seen late Friday night. Now her car was found. Sarah's disappearance became a huge local news story on the Jersey shore about a week since she'd gone missing. Police still hadn't released any significant updates and the Stern family wasn't any closer to finding out where Sarah might be or what could have happened to her. So they decided to organize a community search. Sarah's dad, Michael, made the rounds on local media outlets to get the word out about the search. He told NJ.com that his family was desperate to bring Sarah home.

[Franny Hines]

Everybody that talked to her in the

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

days leading up to that, she seemed just fine. And I just don't understand why we haven't heard from her. The search started early Saturday morning. Over 250 people showed up. Volunteers were given hot coffee and water to fight the frigid 30 degree temperatures. They were a mix of family, friends, teachers, neighbors. Sarah's dad, Michael was there too, of course. So were her friends Liam and Preston, but also community members who heard about Sarah's disappearance through the news and social media. The volunteers broke up into groups and scoured the shoreline and surrounding areas. Authorities told volunteers to look out for a red sweatshirt, a green iPhone and Sarah's driver's license. Reporters were also on the scene. Local news station FIOS News 1 covered the search and talked to Liam, trying to find any signs pointing to the missing 19 year old who her friends say is an exceptional person.

[Liam McAtasney]

She's pretty strong, so hopefully we're gonna find something today.

[Carly Draper]

For days, there was search parties going up and down the New Jersey coastline looking for Sarah's body or anything that connected, you know, to Sarah.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly Draper was Sarah's neighbor and childhood friend. She was also part of the search. Sarah had given Carly's mom, Robin, a few boxes of her stuff. Carly had known the Sterns her entire life. Unlike what Liam told police, she said Sarah and her dad, Michael, were close.

[Carly Draper]

They became even closer after her mother passed away. I mean, they had fights, but every, like, daughter or son has fights with their parents. Like, you don't always get along. But they were very close, and they both loved each other.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly wanted to help Michael find his daughter, but she felt uneasy because she thought she knew what happened to Sarah.

[Carly Draper]

And I remember walking into my rain boots, and it was low tide, and I was underneath the 35 bridge in Belmar, like, in the muck, and thinking to myself, like, we're never going to find anything because she's in Canada.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly thought Sarah ran away to Canada because of something Sarah said. The last time she'd seen her, it was the day before Sarah's car was found on the Belmar Bridge. Carly was home from college for the weekend to go to see a Christmas lights show with some friends.

[Carly Draper]

So I was in my room getting ready to go out, and I heard, like, the kitchen door open, and I heard Sarah's voice, like, calling for my mom.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Robyn wasn't home, so Carly went downstairs and caught up with Sarah. They hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks.

[Carly Draper]

And then Liam McAtasney walked in behind her, and she had a bin and, like, a little cardboard box. And she had told me that my mom said that she could leave it at our house. So she set it down, and she was talking to me, and she seemed very happy. And she asked me to hang out that night. And she was telling me that she wanted to move to Canada.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly knew Sarah loved Canada, but this was the first time she was hearing that Sarah had plans to move there. And it sounded like she suddenly had the means to do so.

[Carly Draper]

Liam had an apartment there that she could stay in and that she had found money that she had in the Avon house that they have in a safe.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

The Avon house was the Stern family's second home. Avon is a small beach town just a few miles east of Neptune City.

[Carly Draper]

And she told me not to tell anyone.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Secret money. Carly was surprised. It sounded like Sarah had found more than just a few hundred dollars forgotten in an old house. It seemed like enough for a new life, or at least the start of one. And Sarah didn't want anyone to know, not other friends, not even her dad. But then it was time for Carly to head out for the night. So they said their goodbyes. Sarah asked Carly again if she wanted to hang out later, but I told

[Carly Draper]

her I was going to the Christmas light show. And she hugged me. And I was like, love you. She's like, love you, too. And that was the last time I saw her.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Early the Next morning, Carly woke up to her mom talking on the phone, crying. She went downstairs to see what was

[Carly Draper]

wrong, and she was like, they can't find Sarah. And I was like, what? And she's like, they found her car on the bridge, the Belmart bridge on Route 35. And I was like, oh, my God. So I got in my car and I went straight down there to go see. But it had already been towed away when I got there. So I just sat there for a while and I was like, oh, my God. Like, what is happening?

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly couldn't accept that her friend was missing. They just saw each other the day before. When Carly drove back to her house, her street was lined with police cars and detectives talking to neighbors. She thought back on her last interaction with Sarah. What stood out to her was just how carefree she seemed, almost determined. So to Carly, Sarah couldn't have died by suicide because she was making plans to move to Canada.

[Carly Draper]

She had asked me to hang out that night. Like, if you know you're going to commit suicide, you don't ask someone to hang out with you. And she seemed really happy. Like she was happy. She was laughing, smiling, gave me a hug. She probably went to Canada because she was talking about it. Like she said she, Liam had an apartment there she could stay in, and she had found money.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Carly even thought maybe Sarah left her car behind to make people believe she jumped off that bridge so she could leave the country and truly have a fresh start. Nothing would be holding her back. Carly told her mom, Robin about the money Sarah had found. And Robin called the police. The money changed everything. Detectives started re evaluating their original theories. Police also realized that Sarah's discovery wasn't much of a secret. Again, Detective Weisbrot, we had spoken with

[Jessica Easthope]

several of Sarah's, either family members or friends who had reported that she had told them that she had found money inside of a home that her dad had owned.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

Could Sarah's new cash have been the push she was waiting for to move to Canada and start a new life? Or was there something more sinister at play? It sounded like more people knew about the money than Sarah intended. Could someone else have been interested in Sarah's money and taken it?

[Narrator / Additional Commentary]

Police start to believe that something violent happened to Sarah. But one of the biggest questions is why? And that answer starts being filled out the more they find out about this money that Sarah found in her parents house in Avon.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

That's next time. If you or someone you know are experiencing suicidal thoughts, substance use, or any other mental health crisis, please call OR text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You'll reach a trained crisis Counselor for free, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also go to 988lifeline.org Bridge of Lies is a production of ABC Audio in 2020, hosted by me, Juju Chang. Produced by Sabrina Fang, Audrey Mostek and Camille Peterson. Fact checking by Annalisa Linder. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor. Our supervising producer is Sasha Aslanian. Music and mixing by Evan Viola. Special thanks to Katie Dendos, Janice Johnston, Joseph Diaz, Avery Brooke and Michelle Margula. Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming. Eamon McNiff is our executive producer.

[Progressive Insurance Advertiser]

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[RJ Decker]

Where is Daredevil a minor? Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

So what's next? I feel liberated. We're gonna take this city back over

[RJ Decker]

medicated in an all new season. Streaming March 24th only on Disney Plus.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

They're hunting us. Time we started hunting them.

[Detective Weisbrot]

I can work with them.

[Narrator / Juju Chang]

This should be tons of fun.

[RJ Decker]

Marvel Television's Daredevil born again streaming March 24th only on Disney Plus.