NJ man gets life in prison for strangling death of childhood friend Sarah Stern
FREEHOLD, New Jersey — The man found guilty in the murder of Sarah Stern, a teenager who went missing in December 2016, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Monmouth County prosecutors allege that 21-year-old Liam McAtasney killed 19-year-old Sarah Stern during a December 2016 robbery. They showed jurors a secretly recorded conversation in which he discussed how he killed 19-year-old Sarah Stern in December 2016.
Liam McAtasney, 21, of Neptune City, was sentenced to life without parole.
Stern, 19, was killed in 2016. Liam McAtasney was found guilty of the murder back in February.
Prosecutors said McAtasney strangled Stern with such force that he lifted her off the ground, and then watched for 30 minutes as she died in her home.
Stern’s body has not been found. Her car was left by a bridge to make it look as though she’d killed herself. The keys were still in the ignition.
Authorities say McAtasney recruited Stern’s prom date to help him dump her body over a bridge. Police arrested them both two months after Stern’s disappearance.