S1: E13 – BFFs: The Disappearance of Sarah Stern, Part 2

Summary

American Homicide: S1E13 – BFFs: The Disappearance of Sarah Stern, Part 2

Introduction

In the thirteenth episode of the first season of American Homicide, journalist Sloan Glass delves into the harrowing case of Sarah Stern, a 19-year-old from Neptune City, New Jersey, whose mysterious disappearance and subsequent murder shook her close-knit community. This detailed summary captures the key points, discussions, insights, and emotional weight of the episode, providing a comprehensive overview for those unfamiliar with the case.

Background

Sarah Stern was a vibrant young woman who grew up in Neptune City, New Jersey, a small town known for its scenic beaches and tight-knit community. Raised by her father, Michael Stern, after her mother's passing from cancer in 2013, Sarah was deeply involved in the arts, particularly photography, and enjoyed outdoor activities. Her father describes their relationship as mutually supportive, especially after the loss of her mother.

Michael Stern (04:15): "We had a swimming pool and a trampoline in the backyard, so it was always a magnet for the kids to come over and just hang out."

Sarah's life took a tragic turn in early December 2016 when she mysteriously disappeared. Her car was found abandoned on a bridge, sparking various theories about her fate, including the possibility of suicide or voluntarily leaving town to start anew.

Disappearance and Investigation

The disappearance of Sarah Stern plunged her family and the community into despair. Michael Stern recounts the frantic searches conducted around the marina and inlets, conducted during the holiday season of 2016, yet no trace of Sarah was found.

Sloan Glass (05:36): "19 year old Sarah Stern was last seen emptying out her bank account."

Michael Stern (02:22): "Sarah was nowhere to be found."

The investigation remained cold until a pivotal breakthrough emerged in January 2017. Anthony Curry, a high school friend of Sarah's, cooperated with detectives by allowing them to wire his car for audio and video recordings. This cooperation led to the revelation of shocking truths about Sarah's friends, particularly Liam McAtasney.

Breakthrough: The Confession

In a secretly recorded conversation, Liam McAtasney, Sarah's long-time friend since the first grade, chillingly confessed to strangling Sarah and disposing of her body in Shark River. His lack of remorse and detailed account left investigators and listeners horrified.

Liam McAtasney (06:49): "I pretty much hung her. I just... picked her up and had her just, like, dangling off the ground... and then that was it."

Tom Davis (07:00): "It was a chilling account with no remorse, no emotion."

Liam admitted to manipulating the investigation by feeding false leads to the police, attempting to portray Sarah's death as either a suicide or a voluntary disappearance influenced by personal struggles.

Liam McAtasney (08:06): "Like, that was the whole part of my plan to make me look not guilty."

The Role of Preston Taylor

Liam did not act alone. He enlisted the help of his roommate, Preston Taylor, who was also Sarah's date to the junior prom. Together, they meticulously planned and executed the murder, driven by greed fueled by Sarah’s sudden withdrawal of $7,000 from her bank account.

Tom Davis (08:37): "Preston Taylor was the one person that could have saved Sarah Stern's life, but he chose not to."

Preston cooperated with authorities, providing a detailed reenactment of the crime and leading detectives to safes containing nearly $10,000 in cash. His testimony was crucial in linking Liam directly to Sarah's murder.

Trial and Conviction

In 2019, the trial of Liam McAtasney marked a significant moment as it was the county's first attempt to convict someone of murder without the victim's body since 1975. The prosecution's case heavily relied on Preston Taylor's testimony, as no body was ever recovered.

Despite Liam's defense team attempting to discredit the confession by labeling it as a fictional "movie audition," the overwhelming evidence and Preston's cooperation led to his conviction.

Michael Stern (30:29): "Guilty."

Liam McAtasney was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, while Preston Taylor received an 18-year prison term and was eligible for parole in 2032.

Emotional Aftermath and Impact

The conviction brought some closure to Michael Stern, though the absence of Sarah's body leaves lingering anguish. Michael expresses profound grief and a sense of injustice, particularly highlighting the ordeal of seeing close friends convicted of his daughter's murder.

Michael Stern (31:37): "It hurts. She was such a good person. Just finding out that one of her friends killed her was just a horrible thing to have."

Furthermore, the community grapples with the shock that individuals they considered friends and neighbors were capable of such heinous acts. Michael established a scholarship fund in Sarah’s honor, aiming to promote the arts and keep her memory alive.

Michael Stern (34:57): "I want to keep Sarah's name out there as an artist... I just hope she's at peace somewhere in heaven."

Unresolved Questions and Continuing Search

Despite the convictions, Sarah Stern's body has never been found, leaving a significant gap in the case and ongoing pain for her family. Michael Stern continues to endure sleepless nights and nightmares, yearning for tangible closure.

Michael Stern (34:15): "I don't sleep very well. I have nightmares... I just can't get over the loss of my beautiful daughter."

Journalist Tom Davis reflects on the complexities and lingering mysteries, questioning the motives behind Liam's actions and the lack of understanding regarding such betrayal by close friends.

Tom Davis (36:07): "Why would anybody ever go through that effort and to kill somebody for what appeared to be about $7,000... it was anyone's guess."

Conclusion

The episode "BFFs: The Disappearance of Sarah Stern, Part 2" offers a poignant exploration of betrayal, loss, and the quest for justice. Through interviews, courtroom insights, and personal testimonies, Sloan Glass presents a compelling narrative of Sarah Stern's tragic fate and its profound impact on her family and community. The unresolved search for Sarah's body underscores the enduring pain and the complexities inherent in seeking closure in such devastating circumstances.

Notable Quotes

• Sloan Glass (02:22): "19 year old Sarah Stern was last seen emptying out her bank account."
• Liam McAtasney (06:49): "I pretty much hung her. I just... picked her up and had her just, like, dangling off the ground... and then that was it."
• Michael Stern (30:29): "Guilty."
• Michael Stern (34:57): "I want to keep Sarah's name out there as an artist... I just hope she's at peace somewhere in heaven."

Final Thoughts

This episode of American Homicide not only recounts the harrowing details of Sarah Stern's case but also delves into the emotional turmoil experienced by those left behind. It serves as a stark reminder of the darkness that can lurk behind familiar faces and the enduring quest for justice in the wake of unimaginable loss.

Transcript

[Jon Stewart]

To have a murder as gruesome as Jay Beasley's doesn't happen very often down.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death, her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Sloan Glass]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty.

[Michael Stern]

They've never found a weapon, Never made sense.

[Sloan Glass]

Still doesn't make sense.

[Michael Stern]

She found out she was pregnant in jail.

[Sloan Glass]

The person who did it is still out there.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or where you get your podcasts.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a Boy Scout leader, a husband, a father. But he was leading a double life. He was a monster hiding in plain sight. Journey inside the mind of one of history's most notorious killers, BTK through the voices of the people who know him best. Listen to Monster BTK on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is the second term we can all get behind. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Sloan Glass]

As we start 2025, I want to take a moment to express gratitude to all of our listeners who have tuned into this show over the next few months. We will be traveling through New Jersey, Louisiana and Alaska to tell you more stories across America. New episodes will continue to launch every Thursday and I also want to tell you about an exciting thing we did this week with my former colleague and journalist Brian Entin. Brian joined the show as we reviewed three cases that we think will own the headlines in 2025. We will be releasing more bonus episodes onto the feed as the season goes on. So again, thank you for your continued listenership. Seven weeks of searching for a missing New Jersey teenager turned up nothing.

[Michael Stern]

Sarah was nowhere to be found.

[Sloan Glass]

19 year old Sarah Stern was last seen emptying out her bank account.

[Alex Napoliello]

She took out 7,000 dol. What would a 19 year old be doing with this money?

[Sloan Glass]

No one knew what to believe, especially when one of her former high school classmates came forward with an unimaginable story.

[Liam McAtasney]

I did something really dumb and I planned it out for half a year.

[Tom Davis]

It was a chilling account with no remorse, no emotion.

[Liam McAtasney]

We threw off the bridge and the body never showed up.

[Sloan Glass]

Today we're in Neptune City, New Jersey, for the conclusion of BFFs the Sarah Stern Story. My name is Sloan Glass, and this is American Homicide. A warning that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. Neptune is the Roman God of the sea. It's where Neptune City, New Jersey, got its name.

[Michael Stern]

Neptune City's a small town, about 5,000 people.

[Sloan Glass]

Michael Stern lived there with his family.

[Michael Stern]

It's just a stone's throw from Asbury park and Belmar, which is about halfway between Atlantic City, New Jersey, and New York City.

[Sloan Glass]

Neptune City is a short distance from the 140 miles of oceanfront property in New Jersey.

[Michael Stern]

It's just beach after beach and small towns that were set up hundreds of years ago. And they each have their own little unique personalities.

[Sloan Glass]

The area is a place popular with tourists during the warmer months.

[Michael Stern]

Basically, all the shore towns kind of share the same common theme, which is the beach and some of the nightlife and restaurants. And Jon Bon Jovi used to hang around at the beaches here.

[Sloan Glass]

Michael raised his daughter Sarah in Neptune City.

[Michael Stern]

She loved the beach, and she loved being down by the beach.

[Sloan Glass]

Yes, being outdoors, especially in the summer, was something Sarah loved about the area.

[Michael Stern]

We had a swimming pool and a trampoline in the backyard, so it was always a magnet for the kids to come over and just hang out. And they would be there from the morning until night. The kids liked there, the older kids, younger kids, and she got along with everybody.

[Sloan Glass]

As Sarah grew up, she got involved in photography and the arts, but she also had no problem getting her hands dirty.

[Michael Stern]

I'm in construction, and sometimes I would just need an extra hand for a short period of time, and she would always be there. She liked to get her work boots on and her jeans and a flannel shirt and come out with me and, you know, work a little, get a little dirty. And so it was. That was kind of a fun thing with her, too.

[Sloan Glass]

According to Michael, the two relied on one another, Especially after Sarah's mother passed away from cancer.

[Michael Stern]

She struggled at times. It's a tough, very tough thing to deal with that, you know, just one day, they're gone.

[Sloan Glass]

And in early December 2016, Michael was the one struggling after Sarah mysteriously disappeared.

[Michael Stern]

They found Sarah's car up on the bridge.

[Sloan Glass]

At the time, there were different theories as to what happened. One was Sarah was in a very bad place mentally and took her own life. The other was she quietly left town to start a new life.

[Michael Stern]

We spent a lot of time looking everywhere, especially around the marina area and all through the inlets Every day, hoping that something would turn up and we'd find a piece of something that belonged to Sarah, or, God forbid, that her body would show up, but we just. We didn't know.

[Sloan Glass]

Now, keep in mind, these searches were happening right around Christmas in 2016.

[Michael Stern]

Holidays came and went, and we still didn't have any answers, and it was a tough time for everybody.

[Sloan Glass]

Then the investigation took a turn. In January 2017, Anthony Curry, a friend of Sarah's from high school, met with detectives. He agreed to let them wire his car for audio and video. And secretly recorded a chilling story from one of Sarah's very best friends and confidants, Leah McAtasney.

[Liam McAtasney]

I pretty much hung her. I just. I picked her up and had her just, like, dangling off the ground, and she just pissed herself, and then that was it.

[Sloan Glass]

You just heard Liam, Sarah's friend since the first grade, talking about how he strangled and then threw Sarah's dead body into Shark River.

[Liam McAtasney]

That's not even the worst part. The worst part of it is I thought I was walking out. 50 grand, 100 grand in my pocket. She only had 10 grand.

[Sloan Glass]

Edward Kirschenbaum worked for the Neptune City.

[Tom Davis]

PD Liam McIntasy was the mastermind of this entire crime.

[Sloan Glass]

Police were tipped off by Liam's friend, Anthony Curry. Anthony was an aspiring movie producer who dreamed of making horror films. A few weeks earlier, Liam shared his idea for a movie with Anthony, and it had chilling details that mirrored what police thought might have happened to Sarah Stern.

[Tom Davis]

He was one of the only few people that knew what happened to Sarah and wanted to talk to law enforcement to let them know exactly what he knew.

[Sloan Glass]

In their secretly recorded conversation, Liam admitted to purposefully feeding false leads to detectives.

[Liam McAtasney]

Like, that was the whole part of my plan to make me look not guilty.

[Tom Davis]

He tried to portray himself as a concerned friend and continued to try to paint a picture of deception. That it was more or less a suicide or a poor relationship with her father that led her to possibly jump off the bridge that night. All along hiding the fact that he was one that was responsible for her murder.

[Sloan Glass]

And in these recordings, Liam said he didn't act alone. He recruited his roommate, Preston Taylor, to help dispose of Sarah's body.

[Tom Davis]

Preston Taylor was involved early on in the planning of what was going to happen to Sarah Stern.

[Sloan Glass]

And get this. Preston didn't just know Sarah. He was actually her date to the junior prom.

[Tom Davis]

Preston Taylor was the one person that could have saved Sarah Stern's life, but he chose not to. He chose to follow Liam McIntassy.

[Sloan Glass]

So if this is actually true and this is, is a real confession, then it's just really hard to wrap my head around what these so called friends of Sarah's were thinking.

[Tom Davis]

That's what's so baffling. There's no indication of any type of problem other than pure greed and evil.

[Sloan Glass]

Sarah had inherited money from her mother for months. Liam had his eyes on this money. The afternoon she withdrew funds from her bank, Liam went into action.

[Tom Davis]

Liam McIntassy called Preston Taylor. When they were at the bank, Liam McIntassy told Preston Taylor that this was the day it was going to happen.

[Sloan Glass]

On February 1, 2017, detectives pulled Preston in for questioning. We know what happened to Sarah.

[Alex Napoliello]

We know what your involvement in it was. We want to know why it happened. We want to know why Liam did what he did.

[Jon Stewart]

I got home just as he was.

[Sloan Glass]

I know it's really hard to hear Preston in this interrogation audio, but let me tell you, Preston folded like a chair. Like within a minute he participated.

[Tom Davis]

Not the actual murder, but the steps taken to cover up the murder.

[Sloan Glass]

Preston said Liam believed Sarah had upwards of $100,000 and killed her for that money. A portion of which Preston was supposed to get for helping to move Sarah's body.

[Tom Davis]

Preston Taylor goes over, takes Sarah's body and puts it over by a hedgerow, covers it with leaves. Once Liam McIntazzy gets off of work, they pull down the street behind Sarah's yard, they take Sarah, they throw her over the fence, they put her in the passenger seat of her car.

[Sloan Glass]

See, I keep going back to this idea that this is their friend and they're treating her body like it's a thing. They buckled Sarah into the passenger seat of her car. And then Liam drove, sitting next to the dead body, while Preston followed in another car.

[Tom Davis]

Liam Mactassi but study Sarah the way she would back out of her driveway in her car. So his plan was to pull out the same way after he murders her.

[Sloan Glass]

A neighbor's surveillance camera caught the car pulling out, but it was too dark for detectives to see anyone in the grainy footage, so they didn't know who was driving. However, the timestamp matched up with Preston's story.

[Tom Davis]

She was thrown into the Shark river on an outgoing tide, and they then left and continued on with their lives.

[Sloan Glass]

Preston cooperated with detectives and led them on a play by play reenactment of the crime, including where he and Liam buried two safes filled with nearly $10,000 in cash.

[Tom Davis]

It was just, just a pure act of betrayal. Nobody Saw it coming. Liam McIntasy wasn't on the police department's radar at all.

[Sloan Glass]

Yet here they were. Sarah's one time prom date, along with her best friend who she met in Sunday school, both arrested for her murder.

[Tom Davis]

President Taylor was charged with desecration of human remains and hindering apprehension. And Liam was charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, hindering apprehension, the secretion of human remains.

[Sloan Glass]

The emotional rollercoaster was about to take another dive as detectives had to share the news with Sarah's father, Michael.

[Tom Davis]

How do you tell a father who has hope his daughter's going to come home that she's not coming home, that she has been murdered and in fact murdered by her friends.

[Sloan Glass]

Whenever you have a missing persons case, there is always hope that the person you're searching for will come home. That hope extends from the family to the reporters covering the story and law enforcement trying to find them. When that hope extinguishes, there is nothing harder.

[Michael Stern]

I sat down at the kitchen table and he told me and I just, I don't know, I was just in kind of shock after that. I just, I just remember staring at the table and in disbelief that, you know, they knew what happened. They had the confession. Worst day of my life. It hurts. She was such a good person. Just finding out that one of her friends killed her was just a horrible thing to have.

[Jon Stewart]

A murder as gruesome as Jake Beasley's.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Doesn'T happen very often down here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Sloan Glass]

I am confident that Julie Begley is guilty. This case, the more I learned about.

[Michael Stern]

It, the more I'm scratching my head.

[Sloan Glass]

Something's not right.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

I'm Lauren Bright. Pacheco Murder on Songbird Road dives into the conviction of a mother of four who remember, remains behind bars and the investigation that put her there.

[Michael Stern]

I have not seen this level of corruption anywhere.

[Sloan Glass]

It's sickening.

[Michael Stern]

If you step somebody that many times, you'd have blood splatter. Where's the change of clothes? She found out she was pregnant in jail. She wasn't treated like she was an.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

Innocent human being at all, which is just horrific.

[Sloan Glass]

Nobody has gotten justice yet and that's what I wish people would understand.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a boy scout leader, a church deacon, a husband, a father.

[Jon Stewart]

He went to a local church. He was going to the grocery store with us. He was the guy next door, but.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was leading a double life.

[Jon Stewart]

He was certainly a peeping Tom, looking through the windows, looking at people, fantasizing about what he could do.

[Michael Stern]

He then began entering the houses.

[Jon Stewart]

He could get into their home, take.

[Sloan Glass]

Something and get out and not be caught. He felt very powerful.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a monster hiding in plain sight.

[Jon Stewart]

Someone killed four members of a family. It just didn't happen here.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

Journey inside the mine of one of history's most notorious killers. Btk through the voices of the people who know him best. Listen to Monster BTK on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition Podcast. The Daily show podcast has ears everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sloan Glass]

After the arrest of Leah McAtasney and Preston Taylor for the murder of their longtime friend Sarah Stern, law enforcement held a press conference.

[Jon Stewart]

Our efforts to recover Sarah's remains do continue.

[Sloan Glass]

That's right. Even with the two behind bars, the police continue to search for Sarah's body. We're not going to give up that.

[Jon Stewart]

Search, and that's one of the most.

[Sloan Glass]

Important things we hope we can do is bring some closure by Recovering Sarah for Mr. Stern and those that loved her. Still, Sarah's body never turned up, which wasn't good for prosecutors arguments.

[Tom Davis]

The lack of a body is always a hurdle with any type of homicide investigation.

[Sloan Glass]

Edward Kirschenbaum worked for the Neptune City Police Department, and he knew without a body it would be tough to secure convictions.

[Tom Davis]

So the prosecutor's office felt it necessary to offer a deal to Preston Taylor for his cooperation at trial.

[Sloan Glass]

Part of Preston's plea deal, he pled guilty to a series of charges and in exchange agreed to testify against Liam.

[Tom Davis]

He was crucial because he was there.

[Sloan Glass]

When Liam went trial in 2019. It was the county's first attempt to convict someone of murder without a victim's body since 1975, and to prove their case, prosecutors relied heavily on that testimony Preston was going to give against Liam.

[Alex Napoliello]

He said that he killed Sarah and.

[Sloan Glass]

Ultimately told me he needed me to.

[Jon Stewart]

Go over to Sarah's house to move Sarah's body.

[Sloan Glass]

That's Preston Taylor. He testified that Liam McAtasney believes Sarah had upwards of $100,000, an amount he said somebody would kill for.

[Jon Stewart]

It started off as plans to either burglarize her house or to rob her personally. And over time, the conversations progressed to.

[Sloan Glass]

Now, Liam's defense attorney was listening to this, but they were about to take a different route and suggested that Sarah Stern was still alive.

[Jon Stewart]

She wanted to go to California or Canada, anywhere but here.

[Tom Davis]

Liam's defense was, nobody found a body. Sarah was not murdered.

[Sloan Glass]

In addition, Liam's lawyer tried to suppress the recorded conversation between Liam and Anthony Curry, where he confessed to the murder, but he was unsuccessful. Then he pivoted and explained to the jury that the tape was nothing more than a movie audition.

[Jon Stewart]

It was fantasy, that it was an audition. Liam McCasney made it up for Anthony Curry, the horror film director. What? Well, I think Anthony Curry gave you the answer as to why. Man, this is like a movie.

[Sloan Glass]

If you remember, Anthony Curry kept repeating, man, this is like a movie throughout that talk with Liam. And Liam's attorney said Liam had simply made up the story about strangling a friend to impress Anthony, and that Anthony had poured, pointed the finger at Liam in an attempt to further his career.

[Jon Stewart]

The horror film guy who says, by.

[Michael Stern]

The way, in the recording, you should.

[Jon Stewart]

Move out to LA with me, and you should be my Leonardo DiCaprio to my Martin Scorsese.

[Sloan Glass]

So imagine you're a juror hearing this tape of Liam for the first time. Would you think he was acting?

[Liam McAtasney]

I pretty much hung her. Like, I just. I picked her up and had her just, like, dangling off the ground, and she just pissed herself and said my name, and then that was it. I thought I was going to be able to choke her out and have her out in, like, a couple minutes.

[Sloan Glass]

Journalist Tom Davis was in the courtroom throughout the trial and struggled to make sense of what he heard.

[I]

For somebody to almost walk into a car and right after, hello, just basically start talking about what he did and how he murdered her. I mean, you just almost, like, wondered, if he's still acting here, what is he doing here?

[Sloan Glass]

He and the others who listened were surprised by how nonchalant Liam sounded.

[I]

They were so monotone about it. I expected actually somebody to be much more anxious. I expected to be somebody to even show some remorse, because I believe that's how humans react.

[Sloan Glass]

So if indeed Liam was auditioning for a role in a movie. Then what happened to Sarah Stern? Well, the defense claimed she left town. They even called a witness who claimed he saw her the morning after she went missing.

[Jon Stewart]

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.

[Sloan Glass]

This witness testified that he saw someone who looked just like Sarah Stern two and a half hours after police discovered her abandoned car on the bridge. Or about five hours after Preston Taylor said he helped Liam McIntasney throw Sarah's body into the river.

[Jon Stewart]

I got a good look right in her face, stared right into her eyes, the way I'm looking at you right now. And she turned her head and ducked down an alleyway and looked like she was well dressed. As I said, it was just so unusual to see somebody well dressed in that early in the morning. And just before the top of the bridge, there was a car broken down on the side of the road.

[Sloan Glass]

It was the same bridge where Sarah Stern's car was found. But there was a problem. According to the police, Sarah's car had already been towed away by then.

[I]

His testimony didn't seem to jive with the timeline and everything. It just felt like that there was just no way Liam was gonna get out of this.

[Sloan Glass]

And then Liam and his defense caught a huge break.

[I]

One of the jurors had actually posted something on Facebook that was a bit of a wise ass thing to say about the trial.

[Sloan Glass]

The judge learned that juror number 13 posted a comment to Facebook in response to an article about the trial. She wrote, quote, sitting on the jury laughing my ass off. While the judge was furious and stopped the trial.

[I]

And actually there was some fear at the time that, you know, that maybe this actual whole thing could be retried or something. I mean, even declare a mistrial.

[Sloan Glass]

And that's exactly what Lamb's attorney asked the judge to do, call a mistrial. Something Sarah's father, Michael Stern, could not fathom.

[I]

Father was very upset about it and he was talking about how he just didn't want to have to go through this again.

[Sloan Glass]

Juror number 13 explained to the judge that she couldn't have posted the comment to Facebook because it happened while the court was still in session. She blamed her 15 year old sister who she said logged into her account and posted the comment. The judge then stopped the trial while he decided how to proceed.

[I]

So it was really, everything was really kind of in a limbo, you know.

[Jon Stewart]

To have a murder as gruesome as Jake Beasley's doesn't happen very often down.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Sloan Glass]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty. This case, the more I learned about.

[Michael Stern]

It, the more I'm scratching my head.

[Sloan Glass]

Something's not right.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco Murder on Songbird Road dives into the conviction of a mother of four who remains behind bars and the investigation that put her there.

[Michael Stern]

I have not seen this level of corruption anywhere.

[Sloan Glass]

It's sickening.

[Michael Stern]

If you stabbed me that many times, you'd have blood splatter. Where's the change of clothes? She found out she was pregnant in jail. She wasn't treated like she was an.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

Innocent human being at all, which is just horrific.

[Sloan Glass]

Nobody has gotten justice yet and that's what I wish people would understand.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a Boy Scout leader, a church deacon, a husband, a father.

[Jon Stewart]

He went to a local church. He was going to the grocery store with us. He was the guy next door.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

But he was leading a double life.

[Sloan Glass]

He was certainly a peeping Tom looking.

[Jon Stewart]

Through the windows, looking at people, fantasizing about what he could do. He then began entering the houses. He could get into their home, take.

[Sloan Glass]

Something and get out and not be caught. He felt very powerful.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a monster hiding in plain sight.

[Jon Stewart]

Someone killed four members of a family. It just didn't happen here.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

Journey inside the mind of one of history's most notorious killers, BTK through the voices of the people who know him best. Listen to Monster BTK on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition PodC the Daily Show Podcast has everything you need to stay on top of today's news and pop culture. You get hilarious satirical takes on entertainment, politics, sports and more from John and the team of correspondents and contributors. The podcast also has content you can't get anywhere else, like extended interviews and a roundup of the weekly headlines. Listen to the Daily Show. Here's edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sloan Glass]

Leah McAtasney's murder trial came to a screeching halt when one of the jurors allegedly posted about the case to Facebook. After considering a mistrial, the judge opted to simply dismiss the juror and then allowed the trial to go on.

[Alex Napoliello]

It was a fairly long trial. Sometimes it felt daunting and exhausting hearing these horrible details of what had happened to Sarah.

[Sloan Glass]

Journalist Alex Napoliello was in the courtroom.

[Alex Napoliello]

On one side of the room, you had Liam's family, and on the other side of the room, you had Sarah's family. And this is a family that knew each other, and all of a sudden, they're on opposite ends of each other, and there's a lot of animosity towards each other. So there was a lot of tension in the courtroom.

[Sloan Glass]

That tension only intensified after prosecutors played that tape confession of Liam McAtasney.

[Alex Napoliello]

To see Liam McAtasney talk about what he did to his friend in such detail and to talk about it so casually, I had never seen anything like that as a reporter covering crime for many years.

[Sloan Glass]

But the defense called the tape nothing more than an audition by Liam McAtasney.

[Alex Napoliello]

You could hear a pin drop in that courtroom while that tape was playing.

[Sloan Glass]

In fact, that was the only time the jury heard from Liam because he did not take the witness stand. Instead, his lawyer told the jurors that without a body, there's reason to believe that Sarah Stern was still alive.

[Jon Stewart]

That in and of itself is enough to create the reasonable doubt that quits my.

[Sloan Glass]

But prosecutors fought back and said, Liam McAtasney was not an actor. He was a murderer.

[Liam McAtasney]

This is not a movie.

[Sloan Glass]

It's not a story. This defendant didn't frame himself for murder.

[Liam McAtasney]

He committed murder.

[Sloan Glass]

The fact that her body wasn't recovered.

[Liam McAtasney]

Is not reasonable doubt.

[Michael Stern]

Sarah Stern is dead.

[Sloan Glass]

The case went to the jury, and very quickly. They asked to see the video of Liam McAtasney confessing to Anthony Curry. Meanwhile, Liam's mother went on ABC's 2020 to defend her son. In every bone in my body, I do not believe Liam is capable of killing Sarah Stern, who he loved and adored. I do not believe Liam is capable of killing anybody. Liam's mother also addressed the fact that Sarah Stern has never been found. This is seriously affected our entire family. And poor Mike Stern doesn't know where his daughter is. I mean, everybody is affected by this. This is a horrible, horrible, horrible situation. Liam's mother may have thought her son was innocent, but ultimately it would come down to what the jury thought. And with no body and Sarah's mysterious behavior leading up to her abandoned car being found, it was anyone's guess. And then, after just one day of deliberations, the jury returned With a verdict. How do you find us to count one of the indictment as to whether the defendant, Liam mcintosney, committed the crime of murder by purposely or knowingly causing the death of Sarah? Purposely unknowingly causing serious chronic injury to Sarah Stern, which resulted in her death?

[Michael Stern]

Guilty.

[Sloan Glass]

They found Leah McAtasney Guilty of six felonies, including first degree murder. Liam mcatasney was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Journalist Alex napolielo was in the courtroom.

[Alex Napoliello]

I remember almost falling off my chair. Her two closest friends, one being her junior prom date, are charged with her death. I mean, I was speechless.

[Sloan Glass]

Liam mcatasney was also speechless. He didn't react to his conviction and continued to stare straight ahead while Sarah's father lowered his head and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

[Alex Napoliello]

I can't imagine what Michael has gone through over these years. I mean, from the moment his daughter was reported missing till Liam was convicted, that was years. And just my heart goes out to him that he had to suffer because of this.

[Sloan Glass]

At a press conference after the trial, Michael stern unloaded on Sarah's former best friend.

[Michael Stern]

Makes me sick, absolutely sick that somebody would do something like that. And you heard testimony that it was all a setup. He was never Sarah's friend. And apparently, you know, his evil thoughts and his motives are just beyond anything, any realm of anything that I could. I could imagine being so evil.

[Alex Napoliello]

There were no reports that Liam and Sarah were at odds with each other, that there was any strife between them. They were close, and they remained close up until the day she disappeared.

[Sloan Glass]

And he was grateful the case was blown open. Thanks to 19 year old Anthony curry.

[Michael Stern]

On behalf of our family, to the curry family, I really appreciate what they did. It took a lot of courage for him to come forward. I know it was hard for him, but he knew he had to do it.

[Alex Napoliello]

Anthony curry was a game changer for this investigation. Without Anthony curry, police don't have the investigation and the case that they had.

[Sloan Glass]

Anthony curry graduated from aspiring movie producer to actual movie producer when his first film premiered in 2022. The movie was about the violent street kids he grew up with and was in the works years before Sarah Stern's murder. With Liam mcatasney and Preston Taylor in prison, the community tried to move forward. Forward. But it hasn't been easy.

[Tom Davis]

It's a tragedy. What happened to Michael stern and his family should happen to no one.

[Sloan Glass]

Edward kirschenbaum worked with the Neptune city police department.

[Tom Davis]

True justice would be have his daughter back. That would be true justice. But that'll never happen. Sarah's still not coming home. So that's, that's a sad part of this whole scenario.

[Sloan Glass]

In 2013, Michael Stern lost his wife to cancer. And three years later, he lost his only child to murder by her friend, Liam McAtasney.

[Tom Davis]

How do you wrap your mind around so so called friends, childhood friends, that they're the ones responsible for the murder of your daughter? How do you. I don't know if you ever wrap your, your head around that. Michael is a unique Manny carries this with him every single minute, hour, day, week, month and year. It's just something that never goes away.

[Sloan Glass]

Despite countless searches, Sarah Stern's body has still never turned up. It's something that continues to keep her father up at night.

[Michael Stern]

I don't sleep very well. I have nightmares, which is a horrible thing. Waking up at 2:00 in the morning and thinking that Sarah's still alive and she's calling for me. I just can't get over that. It becomes harder as every day and month goes by and every year goes by. Doesn't get any easier. I just can't get over the loss of my beautiful daughter.

[Sloan Glass]

The only thing that comforts Michael is the scholarship fund he set up in Sarah's name at her high school and the college she attended.

[Michael Stern]

So we want to keep Sarah's name out there as an artist. Now, my mission for Sarah is to promote the arts, fine arts, media for other students who wish to pursue that career. Seeing it blossom in Sarah, I'd like to see it blossom with other people that may be able to use the scholarship to continue their careers. I love my daughter. I miss her. And I just hope she's at peace somewhere in heaven.

[Sloan Glass]

Preston Taylor, who was Sarah's date to the junior prom, was also charged in connection with Sarah's death. As part of his plea deal with investigators, Preston received 18 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2032 when he is 35 years old. Meanwhile, Preston's roommate, Liam McAtasney, continues to maintain his innocence.

[I]

There's such a big part of this case that I feel like it's unsolved.

[Sloan Glass]

Journalist Tom Davis remains completely baffled by Liam's motive.

[I]

Why would anybody ever go through that effort and to kill somebody for what appeared to be about $7,000 and the fact that the person's not even a stranger, as a friend of theirs, their best friends, you know, that they were like their own little clique. You would think that maybe something would have stopped them before he even got to the house, that maybe something inside him would have actually some sort of moral compass would have just stopped this.

[Sloan Glass]

You know, in cases like this, we always want more answers in the hope they'll help us understand why these things happen. But we'll never know.

[I]

We need to actually go back at this and actually find out what happened there, what drove them. Was there something that happened to them when they were smaller, when they were kids, when they were teenagers? I mean, we saw this happen with Timothy McVeigh when he bombed Oklahoma City. It was another thing where there was a history there where we didn't actually fully expect it to be be what it was. When he eventually got to jail and he got to prison, he then eventually gave up what his motives were. We need that moment, you know, to find out what happened, you know.

[Sloan Glass]

Next time on American Homicide. When a married man leaves his wife for another woman and then vanishes, police have to figure out if it's infidelity or something much darker. I'm Sloan Glass. That's Next time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing [e-mail] that's AmericanHomicidePodmail.com American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloan Glass and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Ganz. The series is also written and produced by Todd Ganz with additional writing by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is Kristin Melchuri. Our iHeart is Ally Perry and Jessica Krynchak. Audio editing and mixing by Matt D'Alvecchio, Dave Seah and Britt Robicheaux. Additional editing support from Nick Aruka, Tanner Robbins and Patrick Walsh. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser Music Library, provided by My Music. Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Stewart]

To have a murder as gruesome as Jay Beasley's doesn't happen very often down.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Here in Marion, Illinois. An 11 year old girl brutally stabbed to death. Her father's longtime live in girlfriend maintaining innocence but charged with her murder.

[Sloan Glass]

I am confident that Julie Beverly is guilty.

[Michael Stern]

They've never found a weapon.

[Sloan Glass]

Never made sense.

[Michael Stern]

Still doesn't make sense. She found out she was pregnant in jail.

[Sloan Glass]

The person who did it is still out there.

[Lauren Bright Pacheco]

Listen to Murder on Songbird road on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Edward Kirschenbaum]

He was a Boy Scout leader, a husband, a father, but he was leading a double life. He was a monster hiding in plain sight. Journey inside the mind of one of history's most notorious killers, btk through the voices of the people who know him best. Listen to Monster BTK on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Jon Stewart]

Jon Stewart is back in the host chair at the Daily show, which means he's also back in our ears on the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. Join late night legend Jon Stewart and the best news team for today's biggest headlines, exclusive extended interviews and more. Now this is a second term we can all get behind. Listen to the Daily Show Ears edition on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.