A 21-year-old man from New Jersey was convicted Tuesday of robbing and murdering his childhood friend and tossing her body off a bridge.
A Monmouth County jury took two days to find Liam McAtasney guilty in Sarah Stern’s murder after a weekslong trial.
McAtasney now faces up to life in prison when sentenced May 24.
“The most important thing is to get justice for Sarah,” her father, Michael Stern, said after the verdict. “She was a great kid, and this never should have happened liked this.”
McAtasney was accused of hatching his murderous plot in 2016, after his 19-year-old victim found $10,000 in a “shoebox full of money with a note from her mother,” who had recently died, according to the Asbury Park Press.
The plan was to kill her, drive her car with her body in it to the Route 35 bridge in Belmar, toss her corpse in the water and then leave the car with the keys inside, authorities said.
McAtasney thought people would think it was a suicide and he could make off with the loot, NJ.com reported.
“It was all a set-up,” Michael Stern said. “He was never Sarah’s friend.”
Over the eight-week trial, as prosecutors detailed the devious plot, McAtasney didn’t show any regret.
“He laughed through most of it,” Assistant Prosecutor Prosecutor Meghan Doyle said. “As prosecutors, it does make you angry. There’s no remorse.”
McAtasney had roped in his former college roommate, Preston Taylor, to help carry out his plan. He told Taylor, who was Stern’s junior-prom date, there was money in it for both of them.
McAtasney added to a group of friends at the bar where Taylor worked that the amount of dough he was talking about was “the type of money that somebody would kill for.”
Taylor, 21, pleaded guilty to multiple charges for his role and testified against McAtasney. Taylor is awaiting sentencing.
In the first week of the trial, Taylor’s testimony provided disturbing details of Dec. 2, 2016, the day Sarah was murdered.
Taylor told the jury he carried the girl’s body from her home after McAtasney strangled her there. The two then tossed her body from the Route 35 bridge into the Shark River.
Her body was never found.
Stern’s father said he believes that justice was served and is looking forward to getting some much-needed sleep.
“Sarah is up in heaven,” Michael Stern said. “She was an angel.”
The events of the last few years, though, will never leave him, he said.
“He should have just pled guilty from the beginning,” he said of McAtasney.