Episode Transcript
The below text transcription was is intended for audience reference and search purposes. Because it is generated automatically by computer, please forgive mis-translations, spelling and the lack of really any structured grammar.
On the evening of December rd police
received a report of an abandoned
vehicle on a bridge in Belmar New Jersey
it didn’t take long for them to discover
that the car belonged to year old
Sarah Stern but Sarah was nowhere to be
found the initial theory was that she
had taken her own life however we would
come to find out that something far more
sinister had happened to Sarah something
no one could have predicted
This is episode 12 the Sarah Stern story
[Music]
Hayami hi Megan how are you today I’m
doing well how are you I’m really
excited we have our first supporter on
patreon who is it we are grateful and
would love to give a shout out and a
thank you to Katy from Indy Thank You
Katy we really appreciate your support
and we hope you enjoyed this episode I’m
happy to be back this week talking about
a very interesting case that’s very
local to me as usual before we jump into
the story I just want to take a moment
and talk about who Sarah Stern was at
the time of her death in
Sarah was years old she lived with
her father Michael Stern in Neptune City
do you know where Neptune is I do
actually whatever close to me it’s only
about minutes from me and actually
she attended Brookdale Community College
which is a Community College I too
attended right I knew that okay yes so
she studied art and TV production after
she graduated from Neptune high school
two years prior
sadly Sarah’s mother Carla Stern had
passed away just four years earlier
after a long battle with cancer so it
was just Sarah and her father Michael so
by all accounts Sarah was a great girl
she had a ton of friends a lot of old
friends she lived in the community for a
while very close-knit community she was
very athletic she was on the varsity
softball team a member of the swim team
and overall just had a lot of friends
very social so in the early morning
hours of December rd Neptune
Township police responded to a call from
an uber driver who reported a suspicious
car on a shoulder on top of the route
bridge in Belmar New Jersey I don’t know
if you know this bridge I know it very
well it’s over the shark river there are
no sharks in that River just so you know
it’s just called that that’s weird but
okay so when police arrived they
discovered a silver four-door
Oldsmobile it was abandoned but the keys
were inside so of course naturally
they’re gonna run the plates to see who
the vehicle was registered to that led
them to a welfare check at the stern
household so when the police reached the
stern home the residence was unlocked
and nobody was home they entered the
home actually they were wearing body
cams and you could see the body cam
footage and Dateline
both showed it you can find it online
it’s pretty cool um so initially nothing
seemed out of place no one was home the
house was very cluttered very lived in
people clearly had been there very
recently but nothing at a place they did
find her dog in a crate and was actually
kind of cute because the officer I guess
he forgot he’s wearing a body cam and
he’s like doing baby talk to the dog and
then he looked for a treat and he gives
the dog a treat oh it was very cute so
anyway so the police find nothing at a
place after talking to the neighbors
they quickly learned that Sarah Stern
was in fact missing and her family had
no clue where she was how long have you
been missing for um so basically what
happened was her father Michael he was
on a trip in Florida with his girlfriend
so the police of course contacted him do
you know where Sarah is because at this
point they had neighbors at the house
the neighbors saw the police activity
very close-knit community everyone
involved the father gets the phone call
he’s in Florida he immediately gets in
the car obviously distraught and takes
the long drive back from Florida drive
straight so meanwhile around : a.m.
the car was towed off the bridge the
police alerted the Belmar water rescue
team and they started searching shark
river under the assumption that Sarah
may have jumped from the bridge why
would they think that well because they
find an empty car in a bridge that’s
what you think right natural assumption
yeah so Sarah’s family was very well
known as I mentioned it was a very
close-knit community word of her
disappearance spread very fast and very
quickly it became a missing persons case
in fact one of the search guys was a
close family friend of the stern so
everyone kind of knew everyone and
before you know they’re rallying people
there was like people at the Stern
household you know in those early
morning hours so to add to the suicide
theory while they were at the house the
police spoke with the Stern’s neighbor
Robyn Draper she was a very close family
friends she had two kids the same age as
Sarah they all grew up together on the
street she had informed police that
Sarah had seemed a bit depressed lately
and that actual day she dropped off a
bin of her belongings to the Draper
household apparently the Draper children
the ones that were friends with Sarah
had said she was talking about going to
Canada she wanted to move to Canada she
was like cleaning up some stuff so
around this time police were also
informed that Sarah
had been with her close friend Liam
macit acini and of course they wanted to
talk to him because they knew that Liam
and Sarah had hung out that day okay so
who is Liam anyway so Liam and Sarah had
known each other since grade schools
they were very close at times they grew
up together they had volunteered
together and they just always seemed to
be in each other’s life’s growing up not
necessarily best friends but just those
friend that old friend you’ve had for a
while in high school they’ve grown apart
a little Liam was a little bit on the
quieter side as she seems a little more
maybe more popular and he kept a little
more to himself but they were in the
general the same general friend group
and they had hung on often okay so the
police still wearing that body cam they
go to knock on Liam’s door we’re talking
after a.m.
and Liam tells police that yes he did
spend the day with Sarah and then he
stayed with her until he had to leave
for work around : p.m. so he told
police that she had been trying to get
away and that she wanted to run off to
Canada Lea a reason why are you gonna
get to know why she wants yeah why she
wanted a good image she had attended
that she was really into like YouTube
stars and she attended like some
festival one of these icons that had all
these youtube stars and it was in
Toronto and apparently after she
returned she just loved it
understood um Liam also tells police
that Sarah and her father had a volatile
relationship and that Michael was
quote/unquote crazy Michael being her
father yeah he gave the impression that
he and Sarah were the best of friends he
actually had Sarah listed as his sister
on Facebook according to him they were
very close the next day they brought
Liam back in for questioning because
after all he was the last one seen with
a missing girl so of course they want to
talk to the sky right now of course he
was very cooperative very forthcoming at
times you know very teary there’s a on a
video from this case we have the body
cams on the police all the
interrogations you can see all this
stuff now this is great because we like
to encourage people to go ahead and look
for themself yes they could see all this
stuff so in you know in the footage he
gets teria x wipes his eyes at times his
story was corroborated by Taco Bell
camera because they had gone to Taco
Bell and he was also seen going to work
at o’clock just like he said so the
police had no reason not to believe him
he was very forthcoming as I said and
his story lined up exactly with all this
footage they were able to find ok
he still kept talking to the police
about how she wanted to go to Canada he
also told police that she was suicidal I
just want to point out that the Canada
thing didn’t really make sense because
the police found her passport when they
were in her house and they also found
lots of cash both Canadian and American
cash and also the fact that her dog was
left behind and everyone that knew Sara
knew that the her dog was her obsession
she loved her dog and she would not have
left him if she was going to flee
well even I’m sorry but the car on the
bridge doesn’t quite fit with that can
exactly how would she get there yeah
absolutely right how would she have gone
there right so no that’s quite fitting
yeah so at some point
Liam’s parents got him an attorney and
he stopped talking as most people do
right so they decided to bring in his
roommate and close friend Preston Taylor
well Preston also knew Sarah actually
Liam was the one who introduced Sarah
and Preston Sarah and Preston had
actually gone together to Preston’s
junior prom they were not romantically
involved just very good friends okay so
after graduating the three of them
Preston Liam and Sarah stayed local as I
mentioned she went to Brookdale
Community College and a lot of their
friends went away so the three of them
started a little more his story was
consistent with Liam’s he had told
police that she was suicidal and that he
too believed that she had jumped off the
bridge he also in his you could see in
his video he also teared up a bit police
quickly called bullshit on him and they
kind of felt like he was hiding
something they didn’t necessarily think
he’s was involved but just that he knew
something more they actually believed
that Liam and Preston may have been
covering for her that maybe Sarah had
left and said you know don’t tell anyone
I don’t want to be found
okay so something else interesting to
note about the investigation at this
time police had soon discovered that
Sarah had gone to her bank the afternoon
prior to her disappearance and she had
accessed her safety deposit box
so naturally the police got a warrant
and they wanted to see what was in that
box and they found $, in cash whoa
yeah interesting part of that is the
cash was very old and falling apart it
was almost like disintegrating wow so
come into play right maybe that was cash
left to her by her mother you know
someone so smart Megan oh sorry so this
could have lend evidence who supports
the theory that Sarah did not go to
Canada because the police said if she
went to Canada she would have taken the
money with her not if it was crumbling
in her pocket well that’s true too no
but it actually just brought up more
questions why would a year old girl
have all this cash that’s what they
wanted to know yeah
so they spoke to of course some of
Sarah’s friends and family and the
police were able to get some answers
apparently she had come across a large
sum of money so her parents owned a
second home in a town close to Neptune
called Avon and I guess Sarah was going
through the house and she had found a
load of cash some friends say that Sarah
told them it was fifty thousand or even
a hundred thousand her father had no
clue about this cash he said he had no
idea apparently her mother had stashed
it away for Sarah before she died and
Sarah came across it Wow yeah the father
said although he didn’t know about the
cash she wasn’t surprised I guess his
late wife was someone who maybe didn’t
trust banks or was a bit of a hoarder so
what a planner yeah so why is this even
relevant could this lead to a possible
motive there’s a lot of cash now and
also if there was a hundred thousand
where’s the other thousand so maybe
Sarah did flee maybe she took
thousand with her right
yeah could this money have played a role
in her disappearance so the police
finally felt like they were may be on to
something something wasn’t something was
fishy right okay so meanwhile while the
police are gathering this evidence
talking to people the investigation
continues hundreds of family and friends
including her good friends Liam and
Preston were performing civilian search
parties I even read somewhere that her
search parties were the largest in the
history of the Jersey Shore she had a
lot of people rallying for her I’m sorry
what year was this again Amy do
okay so very recently yep so her body
was not recovered all this you know all
the searching did not yield anything at
all at such at some point you know the
searches started dwindling as they do
and it would be almost two months before
the police would get there I guess you
could say their smoking gun or their
lead okay so remember I mentioned
Neptune City is a small town yes
everyone knew everyone so one of the
detective
on the case got a call from one of his
good friends who said that his son
Anthony curry had some crucial
information
Anthony curry was an aspiring horror
film director who now lived in Brooklyn
but had grown up with Liam
Preston Serra and had gone to Neptune
high school with the other kids now all
of a sudden this case sounds familiar oh
really I think sigh my heart would be
Buffalo Mike I remember something about
this yeah cuz mine there’s other one
that sounds similar to that but I’m
curious you’ll have to let me know ok
so Anthony claimed that a few weeks
prior to Sarah’s disappearance Liam told
him about an idea for a movie
and the idea was to strangle Sarah and
throw her over a bridge Wow
so Anthony says at the time he did not
give it much thought
which I think wait what how do you not
give that much thought did he mean
acting maybe well fate well he claimed
that Liam would often run ideas by him
because Anthony was you know an aspiring
horror film director right so he says
you know he would always share crazy
ideas for movies so I really did not
think much of it okay however once I saw
that Sarah had gone missing all the
sudden I got freaked out and started
thinking well maybe Liam was responsible
not only did that occur to him around
the same time Liam had messaged him and
said have the police come to talk to you
about Sarah’s disappearance oh boy red
flags going up so lots of red flags I’m
going to say yes and you know you said
that he he said the movie plot would be
strangling her and throwing her off a
bridge and then her cars you know on a
bridge it sounded familiar to him yeah
so the police believed Anthony and found
him credible pretty much off the bat I
guess some of it might have had to do
with the fact that Anthony’s father was
good friends with the detective so that
Lent some credibility plus when people
what’s the motive for him to come
forward and offer this type of
information unless it’s you know because
he’s involved and he’s trying to put
someone else out exactly so as you could
imagine the police started working
closely with Anthony because they figure
they would work with Anthony to get Liam
to talk right so a little sting
operation was kind of brewing okay
[Music]
so they started by recording phone
conversations they were monitoring his
phone he was talking to Liam a lot on
snapchat and on messenger
and basically the way this started was
Anthony asked William to borrow money
Anthony said hey do you have any of
money left over so Anthony almost acted
as if like I know what you did so I’m
wondering do you have money and he was
you know Liam’s responses were I have
some and Anthony said can I borrow some
because my camera fell in a bucket of
blood during one of my fillings which is
so bizarre but that’s another ways are
there are movie direct I guess but like
if you seem pretty elaborate
but anyway so Liam said I can’t talk
like that you know Liam pretty much
alluded to the fact like I’m not stupid
I’m not talking over you know the phone
or over snapchat right did he so he
caught on well Liam said he’d be happy
to meet up with him okay so now we have
the full blown sting operation set up
the police set up Anthony’s car with
hidden mics and cameras very luckily
they did not set Anthony up with a wire
because the first thing Liam does when
he gets in the car is feels up his
friend Anthony I think that’s probably
like they anticipate that now so they
have to get around that yeah but it was
like watching it in real time at these
police officers so the police officers
were staked out all over there were like
tons of them all around because I had to
worry for Anthony’s safety they don’t
know what could happen here did they
meet at like a beach or a park or
something I dunno this case I mean it
was Dateline it was right pretty
button right it’s not far from here or
so no so yeah it was um like a beach
town but during the winter time it was
pretty desolate so you have these
officer staked out they see Liam get in
the car and they see him say do you have
a wire and like feeling him up and they
were just like holy shit this is crazy
right so what does Liam do well this
idiot fully confesses to the crime
you’re kidding no you can see it online
and it was a huge part of trial and he
pretty much brags about what he did and
gives a very detailed account of the
whole entire crime so Liam says he was
with Sarah actually when she went to the
bank
he was waiting outside and he convinced
Sarah Sarah had told him about the money
they were good friends right and he
convinced Sarah like oh you should
probably have some of that money in the
house you should take some for counted
or whatever you
have it in the safe-deposit box so Sarah
goes to the bank with Liam they get the
money out and they go back to her house
they go to Taco Bell at some point
according to him she had turned away for
a moment and he quote/unquote choked her
out dragged her and hung her by her
throat what him what do you mean hunger
buyers like pictures on picking up you
know and he wasn’t that big of a guy
holding her by her sari in the air yeah
I mean quote as he says quote unquote
choking her out he probably I’m thinking
he put her up against the wall or
something right I see he had set a timer
cuz he wanted to see how long it would
take her to die heading and actually
when the police eventually do get his
phone they do see this timer and turned
out it took her a little over a half
hour to succumb half an hour yeah
because what he did was he stuffed a
shirt down her throat and he held her
nose and apparently she screamed out his
name it took it it took quite a while
unfortunately for her to pass and as
Liam tells Anthony the dog was watching
the whole thing and did absolutely
nothing and Liam says this almost in a
way like that dumb dog saw the whole
thing and did nothing and it was just
like he was just so the way he was
telling the story was just he’s such a
cold Ellis a sociopath I was gonna say
clear sociopath right now all I want to
know in a few minutes is whether or not
there are flags of yes kind of behavior
so he literally had no emotion he
sounded proud again he was bragging
about it and he premeditated it oh for
sure actually we’ll come to find out for
about six months he was planning this he
tells Anthony how disappointed he was
because he only got $, and the
money was old remember the money being
old oh yeah so that old money also the
police there years ago because of course
they don’t know what’s going on here and
they’re like oh the money’s old so was
the money in that safe deposit box how
often do you hear that money’s
disintegrating in your hands right no
he’s just giving out a piece of him that
no one but the killer someone else
playing no yep so he says he was
expecting at least fifty thousand up to
one hundred thousand again that goes
back to the fact that Sarah was telling
people that’s how much she had so he’s
us after he killed her he left her body
there and he went straight to work at
Brennan Steakhouse
then to everyone’s surprise he talks
about enlisting the help of a good
friend Oh what’s his name press in his
name pressed remember pressed in I do it
yeah so while Liam was at work
Preston went to the stern home so what
was Preston’s point well number one Liam
said can you look for my phone I can’t
find my phone I think I left it there so
Preston goes to the Stern household and
they both of course knew that Michael
Stern was away so they knew that you
know the house was just Sarah so he goes
to look for the phone he also moves
Sarah’s dead body from inside the house
to outside under a bush it is unclear
why they did this it could be that they
wanted to make it easier to get the body
because what they end up doing is when
Liam got off of work this was all
planned out Liam gets off of work he
meant Preston at the Stern household
they both loaded Sarah into the car
they put Sarah in the front seat of her
own car buckled in to make it appear as
though she was just a sleeping passenger
while Liam drove her car to the bridge
and Preston followed so Preston was in
on the plan before the murder as well it
sounds like it it’s funny you say that
because I I tried really hard to because
I believed so but I was really looking
for more information but it sounds like
yes this was very much planned it sounds
like he had of time that yes well he was
also promised some of the money to God
he was gonna be splitting the money so
when they got to the bridge the plan was
for Liam to throw her over he did not
realize how heavy she would be again his
own words so he needed to get some help
from his buddy Preston they helped and
they threw Sarah over the bridge into
the shark river so before this
conversation ended Liam makes sure to
tell Anthony you better not tell anyone
because Preston will kill you
no okay yeah I got to add a little
threat in there at the end right yeah
the police are listening in real-time
and they are shocked my seventh
dumbfounded like what kind of idiot just
confess I mean it does happen you know
but you’re suspicious already your
heightened alert right you’re checking
for wires and then all the sudden you
just unload the entire confession cuz he
want it you know why he’s actually not
an idiot I mean yes yeah no he’s an
idiot sorry but he wanted to brag I mean
well he was because he also apparently
he was always trying to impress Anthony
like there was some history of their
friendship with Anthony was like the
cool like director who moved to Brooklyn
to pursue his film career and he was
like oh he’s trying to be cool
poor Anthony can you imagine sitting in
the car with someone and you know as a
killer you knows a killer and you know
that he can find out in any minute that
you have cameras and like it’s scary no
I’m sure the police had concerns too
about that’s why they had I think they
said they half a dozen or a dozen cars
so of course the police still needed
proof that Sara was dead though they
couldn’t just go off the word of this
right because they never recovered a
body so the next thing they do is they
bring in who do you think they bring in
the FBI know Preston oh yes because
probably yes I’m sorry okay got it was
my bed I set you up for failure okay so
they bring in Preston and the first
thing they said to Preston is hey we
know that Liam killed Sarah press racks
correctly
Preston tells them everything because
Preston you know interestingly the
police could have said that and it could
have not been true right oh wait
nobody’s lied a suspect so I was I was
thinking as I’m watching that I’m like
Oh Preston get up so quickly right so
Preston corroborates this same story
Liam told Anthony Preston pretty much
tells so now the police are feeling like
alright we got enough here now right
Preston also led detectives to two areas
where they had buried safes with the
stolen money oh that’s interesting okay
so clearly if this is true and that
money is there we got something so the
police go they dig up the safes the
bills match the bills that were found at
the bank in Sarah’s safe deposit box and
as you could imagine they probably have
enough to arrest Liam but Preston also
went to the stern home and this is all
on footage again you can watch it on the
cams Preston shows them exactly what we
did where we did it and how it was done
he also takes them to the bridge and
walks through everything okay so why
would Preston do this oh they’re gonna
give him less time it’s a plea for
Preston got himself a nice little plea
deal okay Preston that pled guilty to
robbery conspiracy desecration of human
remains hindering apprehension and the
prosecution was seeking years
Wow the judge raised it very rare very
rare very rare the judge decided
wasn’t enough and good old Preston ended
up with years for his role in Sarah
Stern’s death I’m very good yeah very
quickly there was a bid to reduce the
sentence but very just as quickly as
that came in that was denied the judge
was not having that yeah when a plea
takes place to a plea you know is an
agreement between a prosecutor and a
defense attorney but it is not binding
on the court it is an agreement between
the two of them but the court can
override it yeah very rarely does a
judge override it and of course he
didn’t override it a ton right we went
from to but you know it’s still
rope really so appropriately so I have
questions I’m sure you’re gonna go on
okay yeah save your questions okay guys
we’re almost done here okay so of course
they had enough evidence to arrest and
charge Liam for the murder of Sarah
Stern you want to hear something so when
they arrested Liam of course they
searched you they took his keys and
guess what was on his keychain blood no
the key to the safe oh right so that was
just more evidence they’re like amateurs
right although the prosecution basically
had a full blown confession on tape and
they had Preston’s testimony they didn’t
have a body so it makes it a little
difficult to try and of course the
defense was you know going to capitalize
on the fact that there’s no body
the defense was ready to use the tactic
like Sarah could walk into this
courtroom at any moment right so during
trial though they did have a powerful
moment when they had an expert who
testified to the water currents and
other characteristics on the night in
question and he claimed that if Sarah’s
body was in fact thrown into the shark
River it would have taken less than
hours for her body to be seven miles
offshore right into the Atlantic so in
other words it’s very likely that her
body would in fact never be recovered so
during the trial they played of course
the confession video pressed and
testified and then we have all these
little other things there was
surveillance camera from a neighbor’s
house that key there’s all these other
things not surprisingly at all on
February
not long ago Liam was found
guilty of murder felony murder robbery
desecration of human remains tampering
with evidence and hindering apprehension
and he was sentenced to life without
parole plus ten years in May this past
May the defense attorney argued for a
new trial because during the trial there
was a juror that had posted on Facebook
lmao do you know what lmao stands for
laughs am i laughing my ass off and this
basically this juror I guess I’ve taken
a picture or said something about like
sitting in court laughing my ass off or
something so not surprisingly she was
removed from the jury and so was another
person who I guess was friendly with her
they were removed so the defense is
saying it should have been a mistrial
yeah but the judge was like nope not at
all okay there were a few other grounds
that they were trying to argue for a new
trial as I was saying very shortly after
the sentencing but they were all
rejected as they should have been I was
probably on direct appeal right correct
okay so unfortunately though to this day
nobody has ever been recovered there is
a large memorial on that bridge her nd
birthday would have been March th
so on her birthday there was a big
celebration by family and friends they
actually passed the memorial quite often
there’s also a Sarah Stern scholarship
fund that has been set up in her memory
it’s really for budding artists who are
graduating from Neptune high school so
that pretty much ends but I have a few
things I wanted to you know I want to
talk about what you know the motive here
why did this happen and also the
sentencing but you can go first and then
I’ll dive into some of my things
wait no okay so the sentencing sorry was
life plus ten years life plus ten
furtherly I’m Preston we’ll be out when
he is just years old he has a whole
life ahead of him what do you think
about that I’m not sure yet I know more
information that I’m gonna have an
answer so one of the few of things I
feel like I need to know before we go
any further is did these two have any
backgrounds of like conduct disorder or
crimes in there hit like was there
anything in their history previous
record that you could find no I mean
there’s some these weren’t bad no but
there are some reports that like you
know Mary
you know some stuff like that they were
both in college they were both you know
working they were living on their own
but they were working to pay for their
life you know they were they seemed like
your average like party boys
I mean Liam before he got caught he
spent most of his money on throwing
parties and on marijuana you know that’s
what he did with the money he recovered
from this crime
but nothing that would have led you to
believe that these boys were headed down
this path interesting because then I
mean from what you’ve told me I’m gonna
say Liam’s definitely a sociopath I’m
not sure if I could say Preston is or
just the follower who got caught up and
convinced by the leader yeah if you
don’t mind I’m just gonna interject
right there something to add credence of
the theory that he’s a sociopath he did
also tell Anthony that he thought it
would change him more he thought you
know when you killed someone I thought
it would change me more than it did like
he was so unaffected by it I thought he
was like and he said you know you only
live once you should do something
exciting with your life or something to
that nature okay so he wax classic signs
yeah classic of psychopathy really yeah
lack of emotion lack of effect
yeah he needed more to be stimulate
there’s no stimulus there’s no emotional
response so and that didn’t really
stimulate him much so he’s got like he’s
saying yeah I think he’s what we call a
narco path have you heard about a narco
path I have it’s like a newer term now
that Darcis associate yeah they’re
replacing you know psychopath sociopath
are interchangeable unclear what means
what so seems like narco path is having
a moment I’ve gone through so in my
serial killer class I go through
sociopathology versus psychopathy and
it’s actually debated in the field I
mean they are used interchangeably but
there’s a scale you know the hair scale
think we’ve talked about it that
measures it and sociopaths just rate a
little bit lower on the scale than
Psychopaths yep and one of the
prosecutors and once she was being
interviewed she was saying she doesn’t
believe the motive was money she
believes he just wanted to kill money he
was just like yeah we might as well kill
someone that I can get something else
out of it I just I was going to add that
I was gonna say I don’t believe for one
second that money was the motivator I
think that was like ancillary it was
just absolutely right
yeah I mean who knows if you’re right
but I tend to agree with you on that
because it was it was clear to me that
he wanted that thrill yeah that’s what
it sounds like he definitely wanted it I
also want to point out that it is
definitely harder to prosecute without a
body we know that but oftentimes it has
to be done
now and in court of course the defense
will always come in and say but there’s
no body they can walk through the door
usually it’s the job of the prosecution
then to show that there has been a lack
of activity that would indicate someone
was alive so I know there’s no credit
cards being used there’s and of course
they did bring that all up as well okay
and the fact that her passport and the
money that pretty much shoots down the
idea that she fled the country
right right and I’m you know the fact
that one of her friends was messaging
her every day and said make a fake
account just let me know you’re alive
out there you know and it was just clear
plus when they brought that
oceanographer in and he talked about the
tides I was gonna ask you if that was
done and when you said it I was like
okay that we get early explain it but so
yeah so the prosecutor did their job and
they brought in the right people to show
then it is way way unlikely the O’Hara
storm is still a lot if you even know
something yeah exactly
also wanted to ask when they went to her
house where she lived with her father
did they find evidence of a crime there
like did they find any blood spatter
nothing interesting they found nothing
right well she didn’t bleed I don’t know
usually you can see so unfortunately she
did according to Liam she did vomit and
urinate during this so maybe he had
cleaned it up there was nothing there
was no information that I came across
that talked about any of that I’m like I
mentioned when the police went to the
house like if you live in a really neat
house and there’s a struggle you would
notice their house was very cluttered
there was stuff everywhere so it did say
that it would be hard I think at least
from what I noticed in the body cam to
me there’s no way you’d be able to note
it because again there like you said
there’s no stabbing no shooting right so
there’s no blood and so luminol is not
gonna let up and then there’s obvious
signs of a struggle when you have
someone and there wasn’t it wasn’t
broken in that was unlocked do you know
what her did you find any information
about her father’s take on any of this
or anything he might have said a key TT
speak at sentencing or any well he knew
the boys from when they were young you
know he was of course shocked it was his
only child he had just lost his wife oh
my gosh I can’t I was happy to hear that
at least he was in a relationship so we
had some support and Sarah was actually
very close to this woman as well that
his father was dating it was a serious
relationship
the fathers he’s beside himself he does
tons of interviews and you just your
heart breaks for him okay yeah my heart
definitely goes out to him I can’t
imagine yeah as far as you would ask me
what my thoughts were on Preston oh yes
probably wouldn’t be able to come to
like a total informed conclusion I’m
going to say I’m glad the judge went
above I probably would have gone a
little higher
years may or may not be appropriate
given I don’t know what his I wouldn’t
need to know what also like his
intelligence level is you know what I
mean some very smart Oh Preston was very
well-spoken oh yeah
because I was gonna say if he was on the
lower IQ and convinced I know okay so
this is a smart kid
it’s a smart kid I see more remorse in
him then again we know you can’t judge
looking at someone on you know III judge
it but something about him I don’t know
I get a chill looking at Liam but
Preston doesn’t strike me as like a
sociopath or you know do you think
Preston just met the wrong guy like if
prescient had met me and Preston had met
a person who was a better you know yeah
his son of acumen would he it might have
gone the other way yeah I think his
problem was he was very impressionable
and he probably liam was probably the
cooler kid and their friendship right he
looked up to Liam maybe and went along
with it but you know the fact that he
told the police is great but at the same
time I think how cold must you be to be
able to move a dead body and throw it
over a bridge I’m shocked that these two
are friends I mean I’m shocked and I
guess I was trying to figure out as if
birds of a feather flock together or
there’s the one the influence I would
still have to guess him was the obvious
influencer yeah and Liam had he not met
Sarah obviously or it would have been
well I agree I don’t think Preston would
have gotten involved in something else I
think Liam what have you know I have to
say that this reminds me a lot of Roper
V Simmons the case where Christopher
Simmons -yard this is the case -year
old Christopher Simmons was a sociopath
and recruited two friends to help him
abduct a woman from her home and they
basically abducted her tied her up and
threw her over a bridge and Simmons said
he just wanted to see someone die he was
cold and calculated unfortunately it’s
the case that also made it illegal to
execute juveniles yeah which I don’t
agree with executing juveniles it’s not
the case she was
but it reminds me of the same idea I
remember reading it going he had two
friends that he recruited but one of
them back down it was kind of like what
am i doing you know why would I go along
with this and the other ones sort of
helped didn’t quite do as much do you
remember what his sentence was by any
chance
he got something serious yes it was much
more serious but I remember it was you
know he wasn’t up for the death penalty
yeah so but I thought it was odd as well
like how do you find two friends that
are willing to throw a woman off of a
bridge in what world so yeah okay I
don’t have two friends that would do
that I I hope not
do you do you think before because I’m
not sure I think Preston sentence is
somewhat appropriate but not not harsh
enough certainly I don’t think he
deserved life for his role probably but
I would have gone with to I also I
would have been happier if they said
like to life or to something okay
I would want to know I want to
re-evaluate him and feel comfortable
with the fact that he’s remorseful and
rehabilitated and actually I think
that’s the right call the problem with
having a determinant sentence is he can
if he says the morning of you know his
th the th day of year and he
says I can’t wait to get out and kill
people they can’t keep him he max out
that’s it unless I try to civilly commit
them but they usually only use that for
sexual predators so you’re right and
it’s not so that scares me a little bit
I don’t think anyone stupid enough to
say that because then the police are
gonna be on you but I think let’s say
that I think we just have to hope that
years will actually serve and to
rehabilitate him yeah as an older man we
know people age out of crime he’s not
gonna be old he’s gonna be like said
older older than but or I agree
it’s very young to get out but I’m gonna
hope that the system worked in this case
yep all right well thank you Megan all
right thank you so much Amy we’ll see
you all next time
women in crime is written and hosted by
Meghan Sacks and Amy schlosberg our producer
and editor is James Varga our music is
composed by dessert media
[Music]
sources for today’s episode includes
Dateline / ABC News and nj.com