Shocking Confession Tape Exposes Best Friend Turned Killer!? The Case of Sarah Stern

Sarah Stern was a 19-year-old college student living in Neptune City, New Jersey, when, in December 2016, she suddenly vanished. Her disappearance sparked immediate concern, where it was unknown whether she took her life, ran away, or was met with foul play. Through speaking with her best friend, Liam McAtasney, investigators thought it might be plausible that she took her life or ran away, considering he was telling them how unhappy Sarah was and that she was planning on fleeing to Canada to get away from her father. However, a few weeks after she disappeared, a friend of Liam’s came forward to the police that he believed Liam may have killed her and staged her disappearance. A sting operation was conducted, and within hours, they retrieved a videotaped confession from Liam, who explained, in detail, how he murdered Sarah with the help of his friend Preston over some money that Sarah had found a few months prior. This confession led to the arrests of both Liam and Preston, and Preston ultimately agreed to a deal where he would testify against Liam in exchange for a lesser sentence. Both men are behind bars, and unfortunately, Sarah’s body has never been recovered from the water where they tossed her body. Please consider donating to the Sarah Stern Memorial Scholarship for The Arts Fund: https://fundrazr.com/SarahSternSchola... https://fundrazr.com/SarahSternScholarship?ref=ab_7DpKn3_ab_26fbqjjRW6u26fbqjjRW6u Donations will be matched through 12/27/24: https://www.higherhope.org/donate -- This episode is sponsored by: Our Place https://fromourplace.com/ - promo code: TCKR Rocket Money https://onboarding.rocketmoney.com/infl?_forward_params=1&_smtype=3&utm_campaign=kendallrae&utm_medium=podcast&utm_source=podcast&wpcid=kendallrae&wpcn=kendallrae&wpsnetn=podcast SKIMS https://skims.com/ - select “podcast” in the survey and select our show in the dropdown menu that follows! Nutrafol https://nutrafol.com/ - promo code: KENDALLRAEGIFT Check out my foundation: Higher Hope Foundation: https://www.higherhope.org/ Watch my documentaries: 530 Days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjUWkmOjNLkApartment 801: https://bit.ly/2RJ9XXr True Crime with Kendall Rae podcast: Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3rks84oSpotify: https://spoti.fi/3jC66pr Shop my Merch! https://kendallrae.shop https://kendallrae.shop/ Check out my other podcasts: Mile Higher (True Crime) @milehigherpod YouTube: https://bit.ly/2ROzJcw Instagram: http://instagram.com/milehigherpod The Sesh (Current events, a little true crime, pop culture, and commentary) https://bit.ly/3Mtoz4X @the_seshpodcast Instagram: https://bit.ly/3a9t6Xr *Follow My Social!* @KendallRaeOnyt Instagram: http://instagram.com/kendallraeonyt Facebook: https://bit.ly/3kar4NK True Crime TikTok: https://bit.ly/3VDbc77 Personal TikTok: https://bit.ly/41hmRKg REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://zfrmz.com/yg9cuiWjUe2QY3hSC2V0Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://zfrmz.com/HGu2hZso42aHxARt1i67 Join my discord to chat with other viewers about this video, it’s free! https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN C O N T A C T: For Business Inquiries - [email protected] mailto:[email protected] Send me mail: Kendall Rae 8547 E Arapahoe Rd Ste J #233 Greenwood Village, CO 80112

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

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• 1:07Kendall Rae?

  Hello, everyone, and welcome back to True Crime with Kendall Rae. Actually, the final episode of True Crime with Kendall Rae. Not forever, but for 2024, I can't believe it. This year just absolutely flew by. Does anyone else feel that way? I cannot believe, it feels like it was January yesterday. But, um, yes, I am about to take a break for the holidays, and I will be back January 7th. So it feels like quite a while that I, you know, won't see you guys. But of course, connect with me on social media, and we can stay in touch during the break. But, um, yeah, I just wanted to give you guys a huge thank you for all of your support over this year. True Crime with Kendall Rae has had a great year. Um, and, you know, that goes to everyone who watches on YouTube,

• 1:51Kendall Rae?

  but also people who listen to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever else you can listen to the show. So I just, I'm really, really grateful, um, and also grateful to my team who makes the show possible every single week. But I am really excited for 2025. I've got a lot of great content already planned in the works, and we will hit the ground running on January 7th. Also, we've got a lot of cool projects in the works right now for Higher Hope, uh, which is my foundation, if you didn't know. And that brings me to my next reminder. First reminder, I don't know. I'm, my brain's not really firing at full capacity today. But if you didn't know, Mile Higher Media is doing our annual holiday matching program for donations, and this year we are doing it for our foundation, Higher Hope.

• 2:35Kendall Rae?

  And that means we are matching your donations dollar for dollar. So your gift goes twice as far now is a great time to donate. And also tis the season, you know, to give back. And of course, as a reminder, 100% of all of your donations does go directly to victims of violent crime and services for them and their families. So we are offering that through December 27th. You can find all the information below if you would like to donate. And huge thank you to everyone in advance who has already donated or is planning to donate. Really, we cannot do all of this work without you guys. And obviously, just wanted to say once again, thank you for supporting the show because that is also what funds Higher Hope. And I'm really proud of the work that we've been able to do so far. We've gotten

• 3:18Kendall Rae?

  a lot of grants done just since we've launched. And yeah, I can't wait to share more with you about what we're planning to do. But anyway, let's get into today's case, you guys. We're going to be talking about Sarah Stern. Now, this is a case that some of you, I feel, or maybe a decent amount of you, may have heard of. It has been covered by a variety of true crime shows, but it's been a while since it's gotten any big coverage, I believe. And the reason I say a lot of you may have heard of it is because Sarah was also a huge fan of YouTube, very clued into the whole scene in the early days. And there were some big creators that spoke out about her. And

• 3:59Kendall Rae?

  we do have a lot to go over here, so I am going to stop rambling and go ahead and get in. Now, I will warn you, this case is infuriating, as they are most of the time. It's very upsetting. What happened to Sarah is unbelievably heartbreaking, so unnecessary, and...

• 4:19Kendall Rae?

  Really, the person who did this to her is just truly evil. I don't know how else to explain it. From what I learned about Sarah Stern, she really seemed to be an incredible young woman who really had a beautiful and full life ahead of her. And the opportunity to live that life was ripped out from underneath her. My heart truly goes out to all of her loved ones, all of her friends, and especially to her dad, Michael, because he has been through hell and back the last few years. So let's start out like we always do by talking about who Sarah was. Sarah Lee Stern was born on March 24th, 1997 to her loving parents, Michael and Carla, who raised her in Neptune City, New Jersey, as an only child.

• 5:02Kendall Rae?

  And growing up, Sarah really took an interest in sports. And by her freshman year at Neptune High School, she was already a member of the varsity softball team, as well as the swim team. So very busy girl. Before as talented of an athlete that she was, Sarah really began to find passion for something else. Throughout high school, Sarah became more and more passionate about the arts. She loved drawing, painting, photography, digital media, really all of it. If it involves some type of creative expression, Sarah enjoyed doing it. And she was very, very talented. I wanted to share her favorite quote because I absolutely love this and I had never heard it myself. And that is "Practice reckless optimism", which means not only maintaining a positive outlook on life,

• 5:47Kendall Rae?

  but believing things will work out even in circumstances where it doesn't seem like they will. I think that's something that all of us could hang on to and remind ourselves about on a daily basis. I just absolutely love that. Unfortunately, though, Sarah really did go through some hard times in her young life. In 2013, her mother actually passed away from cancer. She was in high school at the time and I imagine art was, you know, in some way, sort of a form of therapy or an emotional release, a way for her to momentarily escape. And like I mentioned earlier, YouTube was also something that Sarah just loved and definitely helped her get through some immense loss of her Mom and the pain that came with it.

• 6:30Kendall Rae?

  And I know so many of you can probably relate to that. I see comments constantly from you guys on all of our different shows saying things like, you know, I'm having a really hard time right now and this show is giving me a bit of joy or taking my mind off things. And that seemed to be what content creators and YouTube content, all of that really was for Sarah. And of course she had some favorites and I'm sure many of you will know who these people are. I was certainly a fan of them myself and still am. They're awesome. She absolutely loved Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart and Mamri Hart. She was such a huge fan of the three of them, especially as a trio. Cause they would do, you know, collaboration videos and stuff. And honestly, the YouTube space in general, especially how it was back then.

• 7:15Kendall Rae?

  I feel like it's changed in a lot of ways, but when it first started, it was really a sense of community. And of course there, there still is a bit of that now. It, I don't know, it was just a little different back then. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about, but Sarah really like found community and made friends through the YouTube world. She was an avid attendee at VidCon, Comic Con, Playlist Live, you know, all of those conventions. And she would go and meet up with her internet friends and just have the best time together, meeting the people that they looked up to. But two of her absolute favorite creators, and I'm sure a lot of you are big fans too. And I certainly am Jenna Marbles and Julian Solomita. Now Jenna obviously is no longer on the tube.

• 7:58Kendall Rae?

  We miss her, I miss her all the time. But yeah, Julian's still around. I believe he does streaming and they're awesome. And Sarah just adored them and she always made it a point to go and see them. Anytime they're at one of the conventions that she was at. So she had seen them several times and so they, you know, they obviously meet tons of fans, but they knew who she was. And after everything happened, they were quick to post about Sarah online. They raised awareness about her disappearance and offered condolences to her family. And it just goes to show how loved Sarah was and how much of a big impact her loss had on everyone that she met. Sarah was truly just a loyal friend, a thoughtful daughter.

• 8:39Kendall Rae?

  And someone who's laid back and joyful personality made her easy to love. And her passing has been tremendously painful for everyone who had the opportunities to know and love her. Now, by 2016, Sarah was attending Brookdale Community College, where she studied TV production and art, and she was on the path towards a successful and creative future. But she never got the chance to live out her dreams because of what happened on December 2nd, 2016. And to explain what happened, I need to jump forward ever so slightly to the early morning hours of December 3rd. At 2:46 a.m., a 911 call was placed by an Uber driver who was passing over the Route 35 Belmar Bridge, and they reported an abandoned vehicle.

• 9:24Kendall Rae?

  And it didn't appear to him like there was an accident, but he decided to call it in anyway, and good thing he did.

• 9:31Speaker 03

  911, where is the emergency?

• 9:33Speaker 04

  Not the emergency. Actually, on the Belmar Bridge, right after heading south, in the middle of the bridge, there's a car that's abandoned. It's off to the side of the road, but...

• 9:43Speaker 03

  The Belmar Bridge being the 35 Bridge?

• 9:46Speaker 04

  Yeah, the 35 Bridge would be going over the, going from north going south.

• 9:51Speaker 03

  Into Belmar.

• 9:53Speaker 04

  Into Belmar, yeah.

• 9:54Speaker 03

  Did you pass the midpoint? Because up to the midpoint is Neptune, and then after the midpoint is Belmar.

• 10:00Speaker 04

  So, yeah, Neptune, actually. Technically, it was after, it looked like it was more on the Neptune side.

• 10:06Speaker 03

  So what kind of car is it?

• 10:08Speaker 04

  Kind of like an old beat-up, light tan-colored sedan.

• 10:13Speaker 03

  And what was your name, sir?

• 10:15Speaker 04

  So, it's okay, I'd just rather be anonymous.

• 10:18Speaker 03

  And this is your cell number?

• 10:21Speaker 04

  Yeah, I'm driving Uber in this tonight, so I just figured I'd give a call. It's kind of hard to see, I think, if you're coming the other way.

• 10:28Speaker 03

  And was there anybody inside the vehicle?

• 10:30Speaker 04

  I looked, no.

• 10:32Speaker 03

  Okay.

• 10:32Speaker 04

  They were sleeping. I couldn't see them by their head being up. Nobody was like in it.

• 10:39Speaker 03

  All right.

• 10:40Kendall Rae?

  Then at 2:52 a.m., an officer arrived at the scene to find a silver 1994 sedan abandoned on the bridge. And no, there hadn't been an accident, but what concerned him was the fact that the keys were still in the ignition. Based on how it appeared, he did have to check for signs that this was possibly an un-aliving attempt. However, there were no signs of a body or any personal belongings nearby at all. So, he goes ahead and calls dispatch to try and figure out who this vehicle belongs to, as well as to get a tow truck over there to remove the car from the area. And he quickly learns that this car is registered to a woman named Lillian Stern, who is Sarah Stern's grandmother. But it wasn't Lillian who drove that car. It was Sarah. So their efforts that night were to try and get in

• 11:25Kendall Rae?

  touch with her. So, they started out by reaching out to her cellphone carrier to ping her phone, hoping that maybe that would give them her last general location. And they were able to see that her phone last registered at 7:49 p.m. near her house. So they went over there, and meanwhile, Sarah's father, Michael, is getting a very scary phone call that no parent ever wants to get. He was actually out of town in Florida, and as soon as officers asked if he knew why Sarah's car would have been abandoned, he automatically just knew something was wrong. And so, in the middle of the night, he began the long drive back to New Jersey, desperately trying to get in touch with his daughter. Now, back at their house, two officers are attempting to locate Sarah, and they decided to enter

• 12:09Kendall Rae?

  the house through the unlocked front door after repeated efforts to knock on doors and windows went unanswered. And inside the house, they performed an extensive search, not only looking for Sarah, but for anyone who could help explain where she was and why her car may have been left on the bridge. But there was nobody inside, and the only sign of life was Sarah's dog, Buddy, who had been left in his cage. Now, anyone who knew Sarah would tell you that that was incredibly strange, very out of character for her, because she loved her dog Buddy more than anything in the world. And there was no chance that she would have just left him in a cage like that, especially if she wasn't planning on returning.

• 12:54Speaker 05

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• 13:55Kendall Rae?

  So the officers continue to look for Sarah, and their next attempt was to go to another house to look for Sarah. Now, how they made the connection to this house is a little bit unclear, but they somehow figured out that Sarah was really close friends with a guy named Liam MacIntyre. And when they get to the house, they realize that it's actually Liam's mom's house, and he no longer lives there, but she was able to point them in his direction.

• 14:22Speaker 03

  Is Liam home?

• 14:23Speaker 06

  What?

• 14:24Speaker 03

  What was that?

• 14:24Speaker 06

  11 Holley Street. Dr. Heinz.

• 14:27Speaker 03

  Oh, he's staying over there? No, we're looking for a friend of his that's possibly a missing person, and she supposedly hangs out with him. Does he, Sarah Stern, does he hang out with her?

• 14:35Speaker 06

  Yes, Sarah's a very good friend.

• 14:37Speaker 03

  He's at 12 Holley?

• 14:38Speaker 06

  11 Holley Street.

• 14:39Speaker 03

  11 Holley?

• 14:40Speaker 06

  Might be over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.

• 14:42Speaker 03

  Can you call Liam? If you don't mind.

• 14:45Kendall Rae?

  Now Liam and Sarah had been friends since grade school and they had always been really close. They really bonded over their love of video games and comic books as well. They just had a lot of similar interests. And then during freshman year of high school, Liam became friends with another student, Preston Taylor. And over time, the three of them became sort of a group. They actually called themselves the Squad. And if it gives you any idea of just how close they were, Preston actually took Sarah to junior prom. And from what I can tell, the three of them continued to stay close after graduation. Liam and Preston actually lived together in a house that was owned by Liam's parents, and it was actually only a block or two from where Sarah lived. So in the midst of what

• 15:28Kendall Rae?

  is going on, officers think maybe there's a chance that Sarah is over at this house that Liam and Preston live in together. And just as they're about to leave Liam's mom's house, a neighbor comes outside and tells them some interesting information. It turns out that the day before, December 2nd, Sarah had texted this neighbor asking if she could bring a bin over of her mother's belongings. Now, this neighbor, Ms. Draper, wasn't home, but she had told Sarah that it was fine and that she could stop by and drop it off. She also mentioned to officers that Sarah might have been depressed. And whether or not that was true, it was important information at the time while they tried to determine what happened.

• 16:09Speaker 03

  So she brought a bin of stuff of her mother's to your house?

• 16:12Speaker 06

  A bin taped over and to my kitchen. I was out. I said, yes, I'll put it in the cubby. And I tried texting her and nothing.

• 16:24Speaker 03

  That's my next question. Is she depressed? Is she?

• 16:27Speaker 06

  I think she's depressed.

• 16:28Speaker 03

  Is she?

• 16:29Speaker 06

  Mm-hmm.

• 16:31Speaker 03

  Not suicidal in any way, do you think?

• 16:33Speaker 06

  I don't know.

• 16:34Kendall Rae?

  And obviously, officers had to consider the idea that maybe she really did take her own life that night. I mean, it kind of looked that way, especially with this neighbor now telling them that she was depressed and her car is found abandoned on the bridge, keys still in the ignition. It didn't look good. And over the years, through all the cases that I've covered, I've seen so many ins- Where officers lock in on that theory way too soon. They put blinders on and they think, okay, this person took their own life. And that's the only thing they want to focus on, sort of taking the easy way out. Luckily, that was not the case here. It was definitely in the back of their minds because it certainly did look like a possibility. But they continued to search for Sarah or at the very least, try to figure out where she may have possibly gone.

• 17:19Kendall Rae?

  And even though it was 4am, Liam's house was next on their list.

• 17:23Speaker 03

  Liam, you Liam, you got a second? Can I come and talk to you real quick? Yeah, no problem, officer. Is Sarah here by chance? No. When was the last time you talked to her? I was with her today. What time? Uh, before I went to work. So it was earlier today? Yeah. When was the last time you had any kind of contact at all with her? Um. Turn some light on if you don't mind. I mean, we went to get food today. And you went to work at what time? Uh, 4:30. Okay, so you haven't talked to her since 4:30? You have a cell phone you can reach out to her on? I actually haven't been able to find my cell phone. Any idea where that? Gone all day.

• 18:02Kendall Rae?

  He then goes on to say something that would end up being critical in this case. And it's something that you are going to hear repeated a few times throughout this episode. And that is that Sarah wanted to get away from her crazy dad and move to Canada. Take a listen.

• 18:17Speaker 03

  What was her mindset last time you talked to her? I just noticed you've been trying to get away and tell me she's going to Canada. Trying to get away, okay. Canada, she's been real depressed lately? Her dad is crazy. Okay, and then she's dealing with the loss of her mother. Her dad's in Florida right now, right? Her dad, yeah.

• 18:35Kendall Rae?

  So right there, what you just heard is Liam setting the scene, planting the seed, trying to build a storyline. The idea that Sarah was depressed, that she and her dad had a terrible relationship, and that she wanted to run away to Canada. Now, the Canada bit of the story is true. Sarah had visited Canada once, absolutely loved it. And it was no secret that she wanted to move there one day. She had told several friends and family members and- Her dad said that she was very intent on going there one day and that he was in full support of her making that move as long as she got a job or did some type of study abroad program. But according to Liam, Sarah wanted to go there to escape this so-called terrible

• 19:20Kendall Rae?

  life that she was living. And so between what that neighbor said about her being depressed and what Liam is telling them about her, you know, having this miserable life, hating her dad, wanting to get away, a theory is beginning to form. Two theories, actually. One being that maybe she really did jump, or the other being that maybe she ran away. And by this point, nothing is pointing to foul play. And they definitely didn't take that off the table, but these other two theories seemed pretty likely, given the information that they had. But without knowing anything for sure, these search efforts continued. Soon after Sarah went missing, a $5,000 reward was posted and the community effort to find her really kicked into full gear.

• 20:05Kendall Rae?

  And people just absolutely came out in huge numbers to support their family. They walked through neighborhoods and knocked on doors and boat crews even went out onto Shark River in search of a body. But a big concern, though, was the fact that Shark River feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. So if she was really in the water, the likelihood that she was swept out to sea was not only possible, but honestly probable. Now meanwhile, on that first day, Liam ended up speaking with authorities for a second time. And since he was the last person to see Sarah, he became a crucial part of the investigation. And much like the first conversation, officers wanted to try to confirm the timeline of his and Sarah's day together, as well as get a better understanding of her recent mindset.

• 20:49Speaker 03

  Yeah, between 1:00 and 2:00, we went to Taco Bell. Let me ask you, did you have your phone around then? I did, actually, yeah. It was, it wasn't until I went to work that I realized I didn't have it on me. I went to the neighbor's house at one point. I couldn't even tell you what time that was, but. Which neighbor? Uh, the Drapers. Were you with her when you went over there? Yeah. We had, uh, she had a bunch of stuff. I know that we had.

• 21:17Speaker 03

  You had one big gray container and I actually have a few of these in my basement right now. Of hers? Of hers, yeah, if you guys want to go through those. She uh she's just been trying to get stuff out of the house away from her dad. What's her reasoning for wanting to get the stuff out of her father? I mean, I know that her dad's taken money from her in the past. Uh, I think her mom was supposed to leave her money or something. I know she definitely has a lot of trust issues with her dad. What's going on with her? Like, how's she been acting lately? Um. The same, different? No. Liam, you've known her for, since first grade, you said? Yeah. Has she, has she been different than normal lately? Well. And for how long? In the past, she has

• 22:02Speaker 03

  had a tendency to have self-destructive suicidal behavior. I actually know that. How long ago? Years ago. And what was it that she would be self-destructive and suicidal? Um. Sorry. It was over. Stepping on you. Over something her dad did. I'm not too sure because it, it was, I think it was my freshman year, sophomore year of high school. Mm-hmm. I'm in my second year of college right now. Four or five years ago. But I, I remember being with my girlfriend and she was completely obsessed with my girlfriend. And something happened with her dad and my girlfriend had to leave to go take care of her because she was saying, if you don't come here right now, I'm going to kill myself. Uh, Taco Bell first, then to the dr- draper's, and then you left. Then to her house. Then to her house.

• 22:47Speaker 03

  Hung out. Right. I left. What time was that around? Uh, 4:45. Forty-five? Yeah. And then you worked the one? I worked until 10 o'clock. Okay. I was supposed to work until midnight, but I got off at 10 o'clock. Um, and you just came back here? Yeah, I went back there. Who was with you? My roommate.

• 23:09Kendall Rae?

  So like you just heard, Liam pretty much said the same thing he said earlier that morning, but this time he went into more detail. Not just about Sarah and her dad or Sarah and her mental health, but also about their movements that day. Which according to Liam was going to Taco Bell, dropping the bin off at the neighbor's house, then returning to Sarah's house where they hung out until he went to work sometime around 4:45 PM. Now, this conversation went on a lot longer, but overall the gist was the same. But this time, officers were really like, "Listen, dude, we've got a lot of manpower out looking for Sarah, and if you know something, you need to tell us." But Liam seems like he is equally as concerned and has no information to give them,

• 23:54Kendall Rae?

  so the conversation ends there and the search continues.

• 24:01Speaker 05

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• 24:31Speaker 01

  At Humana, our Medicare Advantage plans are easy to understand and easy on your wallet, like offering more benefits than you'd get from original Medicare alone, and including dental, vision, and hearing coverage in every plan. And the best part is, every plan has a $0 or low monthly plan premium, which makes it easier to save, too. So this Medicare planning season, plan well with Humana. Learn more at gethumana.com. Humana is a Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO organization with a Medicare contract. Enrollment in any Humana plan depends on contract renewal.

• 25:05Kendall Rae?

  So that brings us to December 4. And by this point, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office and New Jersey State Police join in on the search effort, joining the U.S. Coast Guard and other local law enforcement agencies. So yeah, a lot of manpower. And days later, another massive civilian search effort took place, where friends, family, and community members did everything they could to try and locate her, including Liam MacIntyre and his roommate Preston Taylor, who I mentioned earlier, both good friends of Sarah's. And during these searches, Liam and Preston both did interviews on the local media, talking about how badly they wanted to find their friend, how concerned they are, trying to rally other people to help, things like that.

• 25:47Kendall Rae?

  And their cooperation and overall concern is really interesting, especially when it comes from Liam. It seemed like he really wanted to help. And he even agreed to come into the station again for questioning. And this time, it was on December 6.

• 26:01Speaker 03

  So we appreciate you coming down to talk to us. Obviously, we're very concerned about. Sarah, who you live with Liam? I live with my roommate, uh, Preston, trustee town. You friends with Sarah also? Yeah. Yes. Yeah, we all went to high school together. Was she ever your girlfriend? No. We, uh, actually, I reasonably believe that she could be a lesbian. She has been known to obsess over girls in the past, though. One of my ex-girlfriends, a few years ago, she was completely obsessed with her. She just would always say stuff like, Maggie, if you don't come here right now, I'm gonna kill myself. Or there have been multiple occasions where my ex-girlfriend Maggie has had to go to the Draper's

• 26:46Speaker 03

  house to help her with either her dad. I, I can't play for sure if her dad was gonna do something, but there has been a few occasions where she said, my dad's gonna hurt me or I'm gonna hurt myself in the past. I, I can't say that anything that ever gotten by him, but I know that there's a lot of fighting all the time. This is constant fighting between her and her father. What about school? Last year, she, she did a full year of school. And this year, she hasn't even registered for classes. You know why?

• 27:21Speaker 03

  Canada, I guess. She's just in China. She answered away, go to Canada, get away from her dad. Do you think her behavior was odd? Yeah. I didn't think it at first, but she's always wanted to go to Canada. She's always been obsessed with Canada.

• 27:41Kendall Rae?

  So again, with the seeds, he just keeps on planting them. And eventually, he talks about the last time that he saw Sarah. So here's that.

• 27:49Speaker 03

  Do this, let's start, start the day on Friday. Okay. What did you do when you woke up on Friday? Slept in. Tell what time. None.

• 27:58Speaker 03

  Okay, what did you get up? Did some dishes, cleaned up the house. Then I called her initially, asked her if she wanted to get some food. She says she had to. What time did you hook up with Sarah? Sometime between one and two o'clock. I went over. I helped her. Did you go to eat? Not yet. We did go to eat with her. Good job. We initially wrapped up all her stuff, put it in the containers. And then went across the street to the Draper's with Sarah. And I stuck the bell. You eat there? No, we went back to her house. Did you stay there the whole time after you went back to her house? Yeah. We actually went up into her room and played some video games. We were playing the video games.

• 28:43Speaker 03

  We might have went downstairs and then I left. Did she talk to you about my youth? She, she had that day. What did you say?

• 28:54Speaker 03

  She just said that her dad was still in the home. She, she had to get the stuff out and she changed to get to Canada. I didn't think she would actually go through with the, the whole Canada thing. It's just trying to escape the situation she was in, I guess. Except their dad.

• 29:18Kendall Rae?

  Now shortly after this, the two detectives briefly left the room. And when they came back in, they jumped right into a line of questioning about information. They knew Liam had been withholding. And before I play that clip, I need to give some context. And this next bit is one of the most crucial components of this case. So listen carefully. A few months before Sarah went missing, she was at their family's second home, which was in Avon by the Sea, New Jersey. And while she was there, she ends up coming across a shoebox filled with cash in the house. Like a lot of cash. I don't have the exact number, but it was in the thousands upon thousands. So.

• 29:59Kendall Rae?

  A lot of money for a young girl to come across surprisingly in this shoebox. But the thing is, though, the money was in pretty terrible condition. Not only was it old currency in terms of the way the bills actually looked, but a lot of them were broken and brittle. Definitely the kind of money that would have been flagged if someone had tried to use it. And that's not to say that she couldn't use it, but you know, it was questionable for sure. Now, as for where the money came from, it turns out that her mom had left it for her. So it was hers to take, but she was cautioned by other family members not to tell anyone about it. And of course, that's good advice. And I'm guessing that was mainly because they felt that, you know,

• 30:41Kendall Rae?

  when you come into a lot of money, people get greedy and can do some weird things. However, Sarah didn't listen to that advice. Of course, she's young and she ends up telling a couple people that she thought she could trust, close friends, about this money. To be clear, she wasn't just going around telling tons of people about it. But yeah, there were a few people that she told and Liam was one of those people. But what she didn't know is that Liam then went and ran his mouth and told a bunch of people about this money. And he told people, these were his actual words, that it's the type of money that someone would kill for. Literally, those are his exact words. Anyway, this money ends up going into a safety deposit box in a local bank.

• 31:26Kendall Rae?

  And after Sarah went missing, investigators found out about it. So they end up getting search warrants for the surveillance footage at the bank, as well as for the safety deposit box itself. And what they found made them rethink everything because it turns out that Sarah had gone to the bank on the exact day that she went missing. And of course, that is something that Liam had left out. And even though she did pull some of the money out that day, there was still $25,000 left in the safety deposit box. And what 19-year-old is going to run away to Canada and not take every penny that she has? Why would she leave behind $25,000 even if it wasn't in great condition? And obviously, it's because she didn't- Run away and officers were now starting to realize that.

• 32:11Kendall Rae?

  And keep in mind, it had only been three days by this point since Sarah had went missing. And there was no evidence to suggest that Sarah actually ran away to Canada. In fact, during the search of her home, investigators ended up finding her passport and social security card, as well as US and Canadian currency, clearly indicating that Sarah never left New Jersey, which now leaves them with two main theories. Either she took her own life or someone took it from her. And not that a short video from surveillance footage can tell you that much about someone's mental state, but when investigators reviewed the footage, Sarah seemed to have been in good spirits that day.

• 32:53Kendall Rae?

  She was smiling, she waved at the bank teller, and she just didn't look like a person who was on the verge of ending her life. But they still didn't take that theory off the table because, quite frankly, they couldn't take anything off the table at this point, at least not without more evidence. So they kept searching for answers, which brings me back to Liam's interview. When the two detectives came back into the room after stepping away, they asked Liam why he never told them about their trip to the bank. Seems like a big detail because based on the time that Sarah went there on the second, they knew Liam would have been with her. And here is his response.

• 33:30Speaker 03

  You haven't told us about the bank? Yeah. How can you ever told us about the bank? Did you go to the bank? I was with her. Okay. That's the way back to Taco Bell. And what'd she do at the bank? No idea, I didn't go in. Stayed in the car? Yeah. Why didn't she stop at the bank? What did she tell you she was stopping at the bank for? Something to do with her money. I don't know. She needed some money in that one house she wanted to go. And she has a lot of box full of money in there.

• 34:03Speaker 03

  I don't know. She was taking money out, putting money in there. A lot of school money where? In the Carney Bank. How do you know? She's told me. I have a bunch of money. I couldn't tell you. She never told me. She told me it rains. She said it could be from 20 grand to 100 grand. She wasn't sure.

• 34:23Kendall Rae?

  So clearly he is playing down the whole bank thing pretty significantly. And also his knowledge about the money. I mean, he did admit to knowing about it, but he made it seem like he knew very little. And truth be told, they don't end up pressing him too much about it at this point, even though him neglecting to tell them that information is a pretty big red flag. And another massive red flag was that at one point Liam asked them, quote, "If she did jump off the bridge, what are the odds that she's not somewhere all the way out in the ocean by now?" What kind of question even is that? I mean, he's not asking anything out of concern for his friend. Like, what are you doing to look for her? Have you looked into X, Y, and Z? None of that.

• 35:06Kendall Rae?

  He specifically wants to know what the chances are that her body will be found if it's actually in the water. Now, you're actually going to hear me say later that he wanted her body to be found, but I'll explain that when I get there. But that interview ended up being around two hours long, and it was only stopped because both Liam's mom and dad independently called an attorney, which isn't shocking. Of course, his parents are going to call attorneys, and any good attorney is going to tell you not to talk to the police. So that was the end of that. Well, I should say that that was the end of that for that day, because that definitely was not the end. They had a lot more questions for Liam.

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• 36:52Kendall Rae?

  But rather than bringing Liam back in, they decide to bring in his roommate, Preston. So the next day, Preston was brought in to answer some questions. And truth be told, there weren't any inconsistencies in his story compared to Liam's. But one thing that's important to know about Preston's interviews is that he seemed to really try to distance himself from Sarah as much as possible. He called her a mutual friend, which definitely contradicts some of the stories about their friendship.

• 37:19Speaker 03

  Did you socialize with Sarah? Did you talk to her on a regular basis? Or? Not on a regular basis. Probably hanging out. Like when everyone all got together and talked to her. That was really it. We didn't really speak too much. Okay. It's more just if you saw her out, you got more like mutual friends. And that, you know.

• 37:38Kendall Rae?

  He then goes on and talks about his movements that day and also provides an alibi for Liam, which was that he saw Liam right before he, Preston, went to work, when Liam came home and tried to find his phone. And after work as well, when he came home and the two of them got drunk and played video games. And at one point, they go ahead and just ask Preston what he thinks happened to Sarah. And he says that he thinks she jumped.

• 38:05Speaker 03

  What had you been shot?

• 38:09Speaker 03

  That she jumped.

• 38:12Speaker 03

  Can you wire these jump?

• 38:17Speaker 03

  Some of the stories I've heard about what they saw up there in the dead.

• 38:23Kendall Rae?

  And so, right there in that moment, Preston is trying to do exactly what Liam is trying to do. Plant that seed that Sarah wanted to take her own life because of her father. Now, his interview was also around two hours long, and while he didn't say anything overtly incriminating, the detectives walked away from it feeling like something was off. So, once again, it was back to trying to find Sarah. Not that searches had stopped, but you know what I'm saying. Throughout December and early January, the search for Sarah and the search for answers continued, and her loved ones were met with disappointment with every day that passed. But, hope wasn't lost, because just a few weeks later, investigators caught a major break in the case.

• 39:07Kendall Rae?

  In January of 2017, seven weeks after Sarah disappeared, a former classmate of hers named Anthony Curry came forward, and what he had to say shook this case wide open. So, it turns out Anthony had become friends with Liam their junior year of high school, and the two of them had sort of bonded over their love of film. Anthony is an aspiring film director, so he was always working on projects, and Liam would sometimes get involved. And on Thanksgiving Day of 2016, just about a week before Sarah went missing, Liam came to Anthony with an idea for a movie. And this next bit blew my mind, and you guys aren't even ready for this, okay? Liam tells Anthony that he has this great idea for a movie plot.

• 39:52Kendall Rae?

  He has this idea about killing a girl, specifically strangling her, and then throwing her over a bridge with the help of a friend. And that's his great idea for a movie, okay? And Anthony hears this and is like, "Okay dude, what the fuck are you talking about?" He said that he had no intention of making a movie out of this, was like... This is so weird. I don't even know how to respond to it. And he actually had just forgotten about it. But then when Sarah went missing, Anthony had heard about it. And it took him a few weeks to remember back to that conversation. All of a sudden, it dawned on him. That was a really weird conversation that I had with Liam. Hmm. It took a few weeks to click in his mind, but once it did, he was like, oh, my God,

• 40:37Kendall Rae?

  I need to tell authorities about this immediately. And as all of this is going on, Liam ends up Snapchatting Anthony and casually just asks him if the cops have asked him to come in yet. So when Anthony does go in to speak with authorities, he tells them that the messages sounded like Liam was worried that the cops were going to find out about something. And that is actually the point where he made the connection between that movie plot and what was actively going on with Sarah. And I'm so glad that he was able to make this connection and didn't just take the route of, oh, I don't want to get involved in this. He really did the right thing here. And he was very smart about how he did it because if you're not familiar with Snapchat, and to be honest, I haven't used Snapchat in forever.

• 41:22Kendall Rae?

  But I do know that when I used to use it, and back when they were using this in 2016, 2017, when a Snapchat comes in, it's meant to be temporarily seen. I don't know if you can revert back to the messages, but you know, it disappears, at least if it's a photo message. But he also knew that if you take a screenshot of a Snapchat, it alerts the person that you took that screenshot. So he was smart enough to realize, okay, he can't know that I'm documenting this. So he gets the idea to grab his digital camera and he takes a photo of his phone so that he has this evidence and he brings it in to detectives. And by doing that, he ended up being a significant part of this case

• 42:07Kendall Rae?

  because he allowed for detectives to make not one, but two arrests. And Anthony's help doesn't stop there because on January 31st, he ends up participating in a sting operation that involved him meeting up with Liam to see if he would confirm. To what investigators now believe he did and Liam clearly not the brightest of bulbs. He agrees to meet up with him. He takes the bait. So to kick off the sting operation, Anthony messages Liam via Snapchat and he tells him, hey, man. Um, I was working on some type of set and my camera broke. He tells him he like dropped it into a bucket of fake blood, like stage blood or whatever prop blood.

• 42:48Kendall Rae?

  And that he's all bummed. He needs to get a new camera and asks him for some money for the new camera. So they talk back and forth for a while, and then the conversation ends with them agreeing to meet up in person. And by this point, investigators believe that Liam had not only murdered Sarah, but that he had done so in order to obtain all of that money that she had found a few months earlier. Now I do have some footage available that I can play for you guys from the sting operation of the confession. Um, however, I'm only going to be playing certain parts of it. There's a lot of it. That's really disturbing and. Yeah, I mean, it just horrified me honestly to listen to it and it feels like it's not helpful or necessary to share a lot of that. Of course,

• 43:32Kendall Rae?

  you can look it up on your own, but yeah, I'm only going to be playing what's necessary to understand the case.

• 43:38Speaker 03

  Good morning.

• 43:40Speaker 03

  What's happening, buddy? How you doing? How you doing? You can't blame me for doing this, right? I got a few of you up real quick, alright?

• 43:49Speaker 03

  No disrespect. I'll show you. No disrespect, okay? Nothing. Yeah, I got the FBI on my ass, dude. What? What? They questioning? Oh, yeah, a lot. Is that what? Uh, killing Sarah. They've been, uh,

• 44:07Speaker 03

  they were up my ass. First it was just normal police. They were on my ass and I had to go in and get interrogated by them multiple times. But then it kept moving up levels and now it's a federal case.

• 44:22Speaker 03

  They got the FBI. So you've been laying low, I guess. Oh, yeah. And not even, 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 had one safe and she took money out and she only had 10 grand. And this money, I don't know if it was burnt or something, it's fucking. Money terrible quality. I don't even know if I can put any of it in the fucking bank. Right, cuz it'll probably probably look sketchy, right? Looks sketchy and it'll look like Sarah's money, especially if it's a federal investigation. Right, so what do you have it hidden? Yeah. Where'd you hide it?

• 45:07Speaker 03

  It's in a hook. First it was in my house for a long time, but then I stopped trusting Preston. Yeah, what's the deal with Preston? Was he? No, he's cool. He was. Did he end up like helping you or not? Oh, yeah. I had planned Sarah's situation for me to be interrogated by cops. Like that was whole part of my plan to make me look not guilty. Like, did you even still have it? You didn't hear that? It was all over the news. Right, but I didn't know if you like, so let's do it. Yeah, and the worst part is we threw off the bridge and the body never showed up.

• 45:47Kendall Rae?

  So just imagine how Anthony is feeling when Liam is feeling him up essentially for this wire. He's gotta be shitting bricks and the detectives who worked on this case said that even, you know, in that moment, they were like, oh, my God, this could this could get bad. Of course, they were nearby in case anything happened, but they were very worried. And really, again, hats off to Anthony cuz he was very brave to do that.

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• 46:48Speaker 03

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• 47:07Kendall Rae?

  So the next part of the confession tape I have decided to not include in this episode, again, because it's so horrible that I just don't feel it's necessary to play, but I'm going to explain it to you. So he says that after going to the bank and coming home to count the money, that's when he strangled Sarah. This part genuinely just made me want to throw up, but he mentions how her dog watched the entire time it happened. He also talks about how the dog didn't do anything, didn't bark, didn't try to help her, saying that the dog is a bad dog. It was just, it was so vile and like inhuman

• 47:49Kendall Rae?

  to hear someone speak that way. And this was also just so disturbing to hear, but he talked about how he had set a timer on his phone to see how long it took for him to kill her. I mean, what kind of sicko even thinks to do something like that? Thinks in advance, okay, I want to see how long this takes me. It's just, it's so bizarre. Really gives you a glimpse into the dark, twisted mind of Liam. He also tells Anthony that after he killed her, he had to leave for work, which is when he realized that he lost his phone.

• 48:18Speaker 03

  So I have to leave. I fucking dropped my phone at Sarah's house. My phone was at Sarah's house. Like. Wait, you left your phone? Yeah, I lost it. I couldn't find it. I had to go to work. I had timed everything out so that. Well, what did you, why did you take your phone? You should have left it in your fucking pocket. Dude, I couldn't find it, dude. It ended up being out in the driveway. Oh, he must have dropped it. It must have dropped when I was crawling to get in the car.

• 48:47Kendall Rae?

  I think what's so disturbing about these clips from his confession is just how nonchalant he is. He's so casual, has no emotion, as he's talking about murdering someone he was friends with for a long time, an innocent girl who did absolutely nothing to deserve this. And it seems like he is trying to show off to Anthony, like he's proud of what he's done. It's just, it's sick. It's so hard to wrap your mind around how people can act this way. And this happens a lot in true crime. We see people speak about what they do in this casual way that is just so, so disturbing. But anyway, he then goes on to explain how Preston fits into all of this, which was moving her body after he went to work.

• 49:32Speaker 03

  And then I had to go straight to work. So Preston came over, took the body, put it in the bushes.

• 49:38Kendall Rae?

  Now, this next clip, I want to warn you, it's not easy to listen to, but it's basically Liam talking about what they did after he got off work and what he said their plan was.

• 49:47Speaker 03

  Preston and I go over to her house, take her safe, bring that over to my house before we do anything. Then we take her body out of the bushes and drag it over to her back fence. And I crawl, get into her car, and I back up. She, there's a security camera across the street. So I had to back, I had to act like her. I watched her. Every time she backed out, she does the same thing. So I backed out exactly like she did. My plan was for me, I underestimated my own strength and how much a dead body would weigh. Because... It's length, it's length weight. Yeah. I got up on top of the bridge to throw her off. My, my plan was I was gonna

• 50:32Speaker 03

  throw her off, run over, jump over the divider and get into Preston's car.

• 50:36Kendall Rae?

  So I want to cut it off there because it's, again, it's just not helpful to share. But he essentially goes on to say that because he couldn't lift her on his own, Preston circled around the same side of the bridge he was on and they threw her over the edge together. And it got even more graphic after that. And I truly can't even find the words to say to describe what a sick monster Liam is. I mean, this sick fuck clearly didn't even feel bad about what he did at all.

• 51:05Speaker 03

  This, this is the thing about like heists. There's so much shit that you can't account for. You don't know. Yeah. You, you don't know until it happens. I planned this thing out for like six months. And I didn't get a lot of money, but... I had enough money to just be like living comfortably in my house, tripping, throwing parties all the time. I don't feel anything different. I don't think about it. You always think you're gonna try these new things and you're gonna change, but it didn't change. It just doesn't do anything.

• 51:41Kendall Rae?

  So yeah, overall, just very heavy disturbing footage and I really don't have anything else to say about that. Liam is disgusting and I need to just move on now, but luckily what's next is good news. At least comparatively, I guess, and that's that the following day, February 1st, the first of two arrests were made. Now surprisingly, investigators actually started with Preston and Preston turned on Liam so fucking fast and just spilled absolutely everything. You guys heard most of it through the confession tapes or the parts of it that I did play, but there are a few more gaps that I need to fill in. So according to Preston, he had known about the plan to kill Sarah for several months.

• 52:23Kendall Rae?

  However, it originally started as a plan to rob her, but for whatever twisted reason, Liam decided that killing her was, and I feel gross even saying this, but the better option. He said that they even had a few ideas on how to kill her, but they settled on staging it to make it look like a suicide. What they didn't account for though, was her body washing away because these two sickos were planning on her body showing up as confirmation or proof that she took her own life. But obviously that didn't happen. So then Preston goes on to say that on December 2nd, he received a Snapchat from Liam saying that he and Sarah were on their way to the bank.

• 53:04Kendall Rae?

  And he knew that this meant that Liam was planning to go forward with the plan. And after it was done and after Liam went to work, Preston admitted to going to Sarah's house and moving her body from the bathroom to the backyard where he put her next to a bush and covered her in leaves. While he was there, he also helped look for Liam's phone and he was unsuccessful in finding it. So he went home and waited for Liam to finish work. And once he got off work, Preston says that the two of them went back to Sarah's house together, where they moved her from the backyard into the passenger seat of her car. And during that trip, they also stole the safe from Sarah's house and put it in Preston's car. And you guys already heard in the confession tapes what happened after that on the bridge.

• 53:49Kendall Rae?

  Oh, and Preston also admitted that he and Liam manufactured a fake story to throw detectives off and that they purposely participated in the search efforts to make it seem like they were worried. And he even told them where he and Liam hid the money. He said that they buried Sarah's safe in Shark River Park, but that they put the money, which was about $10,000, in a different safe. And that safe was buried in Sandy Hook near the lighthouse. And he ended up doing more than just confessing. Preston actually went with investigators to Sarah's house and specifically reenacted what he and Liam did. And oh my God, it was incredibly chilling as he explained in detail, moving her body with absolutely no emotion, just completely heartless.

• 54:34Kendall Rae?

  He also went with detectives to Belmar Bridge and once again, explained what they did and how they did it.

• 54:40Speaker 03

  Liam had lifted Sarah's body by the shoulders and gotten her partially up onto the curb, where I then grabbed her by the legs and hoisted her up onto the railing. And then I pushed her feet over so she was going over the rest of the way.

• 55:00Kendall Rae?

  Now Liam's arrest came next, and as you've heard, there was quite a lot of evidence against him. But it was more than just the confession tape and Preston ratting him out. They ended up finding evidence that linked him directly to Sarah's stolen money, which I'm sure you have guessed by now that that was the motive for the murder. When investigators dug up the lockbox with Sarah's money, which they did with the help of Preston, they realized that it was a Sentry safe box with the number 002 on it. And what did they find on Liam's keychain when they arrested him? A key for a Sentry safe lockbox with the number 002 on it. Now, when he was brought in, he lawyered up right away.

• 55:42Kendall Rae?

  So they didn't even get to speak to him in any detail, but they didn't necessarily need to because the evidence just spoke for him, including some digital evidence that I haven't even told you about yet. It actually turns out that there were two cameras pointed directly at the bridge that would have shown exactly what happened, but big surprise, they weren't working. How often are we going to see that in these cases? Oh my God. However, there is some good news. There was a camera on Sarah's neighbor's house that was pointing directly at her house, just so happened to have pointed in that direction. And while a lot of that footage did corroborate Liam's timeline of what he said that they did that day, a closer look at it showed something interesting. Now, the footage was super dark,

• 56:27Kendall Rae?

  so you can't see them moving her body into the car, or even who was driving when they left the house, but they could see things that corroborated Preston's version of events. At the time Preston said he was at Sarah's house, they could see headlights from a car approaching her house from the back, as well as a person walking towards the back of the home. Now, even though it wasn't super clear footage, it definitely helped them confirm what Preston was saying about coming to her house that night to move her body. And, you know, this gave them at least more confidence. It was good enough evidence that he was telling the truth. Definitely wasn't a smoking gun, but it, yeah, was good enough evidence to

• 57:09Kendall Rae?

  support his confession. Now, the real smoking gun came during his testimony.

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• 57:59Kendall Rae?

  So on April 24th, Preston accepted a plea deal where he would plead guilty and testify against Liam in exchange for prosecutors dropping certain charges and seeking a shorter sentence. And in the end, he pled guilty to robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, desecrating human remains, conspiracy to desecrate human remains, and hindering apprehension. And because of the deal, prosecutors dropped the charge of felony murder and were recommending a maximum of 20 years in prison. When it came to Liam, though, there was no deal on the table for his sorry ass and he was facing a ton of charges, including murder, felony murder, robbery, desecration of human

• 58:40Kendall Rae?

  remains, conspiracy to desecrate human remains, tampering with evidence, and hindering apprehension. Now, his trial began on January 23rd, 2019, and honestly, I just need to get right into what the defense strategy was because it may go down in history as one of the dumbest strategies I have ever heard, at least for one of their three big arguments. And their strategy, and you're not even gonna fucking believe this, was that the confession he made to Anthony, the one that was recorded in the car, was an audition tape. An audition tape.

• 59:17Kendall Rae?

  I can't even, I don't, I don't know. Unbelievable. I can't even believe professionals in this field, defense attorneys, would even try to say that. I mean, I've never heard, well, I probably have heard things that dumb, but that is, that is up there. That is up there with some of the dumbest, oh my God. I think all of you can agree that that is just... Absurd. That is putting it lightly. It is so fucking weird that they even tried to do that. And of course, they play the confession tape to the jury and they heard what we all heard. A confession, not an audition. Audition for what? For a movie?

• 59:57Kendall Rae?

  This, it's so weird. So their next two strategies sort of go hand in hand, but they said that because of lack of evidence, how do we know that Preston is telling the truth? Meaning, without a body, how do we know who the killer really was? And that's right, you guys. This is very upsetting to say, but Sarah's body has never been found. And based on the testimony of an ocean engineering expert, they don't believe her body was going to be found. After looking at the tide and the drift and current conditions from that day, they believe that within 24 hours of being put in that water, she would have already been pulled seven miles offshore. But going back to Preston's testimony, though, the defense argued that for all we know, Preston could have done it, since Liam was

• 1:00:41Kendall Rae?

  working that evening and Preston was home without an alibi. I mean, I don't know. I would argue that that confession tape is pretty sufficient evidence that Liam did it. But, oh, wait, I forgot, it's an audition tape. But anyway, their last argument came in the form of a witness. And this guy, his name is Craig Hetzel, and in my opinion, dude is a little out to lunch, I would say. But he testified that at around 5:00 a.m. on the morning of December 3rd, he was driving his son to work when he saw a girl walking alone down the street. He said that she would end up ducking into an alley, but not before she made eye contact with him for several seconds. Now, he swears up and down that

• 1:01:22Kendall Rae?

  this girl was Sarah. He is very, very confident that this was Sarah that he saw. But his story falls apart because of the timing of it, because he said that around the time he saw her, which was 5:00 a.m., he also saw the abandoned car on Belmar Bridge. But Sarah's car was towed hours before 5:00 a.m. And when he's been questioned about this, he's like, "I don't know, that makes no sense to me. I know that I saw it," and blah, blah, blah. And why would anyone lie about the timing of moving the car to protect Liam? It just doesn't make any sense. The prosecution is very confident that he is either confused or...

• 1:02:03Kendall Rae?

  Could be lying, but the dude is convinced that he saw Sarah and he has even said things like, you know, Liam could be innocent, Sarah could still be out there and it just, it makes no sense. And honestly, it's pretty hurtful to her family. Now, as for the prosecution, I don't think I need to go over all of the evidence I've already shared. That's pretty much what was presented in court, but I will kind of give you the big picture, which is that Liam MacIntyre intentionally and deliberately plotted Sarah's murder with the help of his friend with the sole purpose of stealing what he believed was going to be $50,000 to $100,000. After doing so, he purposely misled investigators by feeding them inaccurate statements about Sarah's

• 1:02:46Kendall Rae?

  mental health and her relationship with her father, suggesting that she took her life or fled the country. Preston was the first to take the stand for the prosecution and once again, he walked through the explicit details of their plan, which included months of plotting and even conducting a dry run to see how long the entire thing would take. He shared that because Sarah had discussed traveling to Canada, Liam saw an opportunity to get her to take her money out of the bank. He said that Liam basically convinced her to take the money out so that she could count it and start planning her trip. But when she did take it out, their plan was officially set in motion. Preston said that they considered several ways to take her life, but they decided

• 1:03:27Kendall Rae?

  that strangling would leave the least amount of evidence behind. He also testified that Liam told him exactly what to tell police when they inevitably came to question him. And he even said that it was part of their plan to be interrogated. Okay, dummies. Liam wanted them to be brought in so that they could paint the picture that Sarah was depressed and wanted to get away from her dad. But Sarah's relationship with her dad was nothing like they said it was. And God, Michael, that poor man, like he didn't go through enough. But to also have his relationship with his daughter misconstrued like that when it was so far from the truth. I mean, they did not have a terrible relationship or any of the bullshit that Liam was spreading. And that's just-

• 1:04:14Kendall Rae?

  Such salt in the wound on top of everything else. It's just, it's heartbreaking. He himself ended up testifying and it was very, very emotional, but very helpful in proving that his relationship with his daughter was nothing like Liam said it was. In fact, in the last conversation they had, Michael had texted her a picture from Disney World. And she responded saying, wow, the castle looks so pretty with the lights. And that doesn't sound like a text of a daughter who is so desperate to get away from her dad. So another person that I wanted to mention in her testimony is Carly Draper. Now she was a lifelong friend of Sarah's and she was also her neighbor. So she was very close with her.

• 1:04:55Kendall Rae?

  And if you remember, it was actually the Draper's house that Sarah had dropped that box of stuff off on the day that she went missing. And when she was there, she saw Carly and Sarah told her two important things. First, she told her about the money that she had found that her mom had left behind. And second, that she was planning on moving to Canada with Liam. Now, when it came to the money, Sarah told Carly that she was worried about how to keep it safe, considering it was a lot of cash. She also mentioned that she told others about it, including Liam. And when it came to what she said about her plans to move to Canada with him, Carly emphasized in her testimony that Sarah always had made these big plans to move and start fresh, but these were never plans that she had acted on.

• 1:05:39Kendall Rae?

  So she said that she didn't believe Sarah when she said that she was planning on moving. And she especially didn't believe that Sarah would take her own life. And this is such a heartbreaking detail, but when Carly found out that Sarah was missing, she was trying to DM her on Instagram, hoping that maybe she was out there and maybe she would respond to her. And she even said that if you're alive, create a fake account and follow me. Just make the name Disney or something. So I know that you're okay. Carly seemed like a really great friend, if you ask me. And she actually did go to the police initially when all of this first started happening to tell them what she knew and what Sarah had told her that day. She knew that Sarah was a trusting person, which would make her vulnerable.

• 1:06:24Kendall Rae?

  To someone like Liam. And it was important to her that police knew that she would never have walked away from her life so abruptly. Now, the next piece of testimony I want to go over is that of Anthony Currys. And the day that he testified in court was a really tough day because that was the day that everyone had to watch the confession tape, including Michael, who broke down, as you can imagine, when they started playing it. I mean, hearing all of that, how evil it was. I, as a parent myself, I cannot imagine having to sit through that. Michael said that when he found out it was Liam behind it all, he honestly couldn't even believe it. I mean, this was a lifelong friend of his daughter, someone that he had seen grow up,

• 1:07:04Kendall Rae?

  was around for birthday parties and, you know, events for school and things like that. And he was okay with killing her over some money? It's soulless, it's inhumane, it's pure evil, and it's the worst thing that a parent could ever have to comprehend. I don't even know how you would. But thankfully, the jury agreed. And on February 26th, 2019, Liam was found guilty on all charges. And four months later, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole plus 10 years. Preston, on the other hand, was given 18 years plus a $10,000 fine, and he will be up for parole in May of 2032. And I definitely want to hear your thoughts on that.

• 1:07:49Kendall Rae?

  Michael says these verdicts don't bring his daughter back, and ultimately, they don't make him feel better. In fact, he wishes that Liam got the death penalty. However, that was abolished in the state of New Jersey in 2007. He says that he is still haunted by what happened to Sarah, and that pain just doesn't go away when someone is sentenced. And what's even more painful is that both Liam and Preston have attempted to appeal their convictions, because of course they did, but thankfully, both have been denied. Now, I do know that Liam's mom definitely doesn't think her son is guilty. I'm like, huh, okay. You saw the tape too, right? There's this interview I saw of her where she's crying, crying, I don't know. There's no tears coming out, so who knows?

• 1:08:32Kendall Rae?

  It's just super bizarre to me, and I understand that no parent would want to accept that your child could do something as heinous as kill another friend of theirs. But the evidence is overwhelming. To be in that much denial in the end and still stand by them.

• 1:08:51Kendall Rae?

  I don't know. It's pretty mind blowing to me. I definitely want to hear what you guys think. But at the end of the day, there's only one thing to really be said, and that is that Sarah did not deserve any of this, that she had a whole life ahead of her, so many people who loved her. And, you know, no one will get to see what she would have ended up doing with her life, or what she would have accomplished, or how many other lives she would have touched, because of the selfish actions of Liam and Preston as well. And I think what's most devastating about this case is for this to have been done in such a brutal way by people that she trusted, people who she considered to be her friends.

• 1:09:35Kendall Rae?

  There just, there aren't words. Since her passing, her loved ones have done so much to help keep her memory alive. They actually have a certain area of the Belmar Bridge that they have decorated in her honor. And in July of 2017, they held a celebration of life at the local community center where over a thousand people gathered to celebrate her 19 beautiful years of life. And Michael says that it was amazing to see how many people came out in support of Sarah. "That day was much more about celebrating her life than mourning her loss," which is exactly what he says his daughter would have wanted. "Many people spoke that evening, including old teachers and friends, and everyone agreed that Sarah will be remembered for being unapologetically herself and living life with reckless optimism."

• 1:10:19Kendall Rae?

  I love that. And before I leave you today, I did want to share that Michael is raising money for the Sarah Lee Stern Scholarship Fund to support high school students in the arts. Art was Sarah's biggest passion in life, and giving to students like her is the best way he can think of to honor her memory. And I think it is the perfect way to honor her. So of course, this week, I will be making a donation on behalf of this show. And if you are interested in making a donation as well, I will have a link below where you can do that. It's always hard to find the words to wrap up an episode like this. I mean, really, it's always just hard to wrap up my episodes, but I wanted today to try and end this episode on a positive note in honor of Sarah, because she seemed to be such

• 1:11:05Kendall Rae?

  a positive and optimistic person. And so I'll leave you with this, Sarah's high school yearbook quote. Be yourself. Be yourself from the beginning to the end of time. Don't ever be what you think other people would want you to be. And that is actually a quote from Grace Helbig.

• 1:11:26Kendall Rae?

  That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Rae. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

• 1:11:54Speaker 00

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