They Helped Look for Her. Now They’re Accused in Her Murder.

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/07/nyregion/nj-liam-mcatasney-sarah-stern-missing.html

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They spread out across 11 beach towns, like a hundred flecks of hope on a desperate quest: combing a stretch of the Jersey Shore for Sarah Stern, a 19-year-old from Neptune City who had been missing for a week.

Among the search party of family, friends and neighbors who braved the freezing cold in December were two high school friends of Ms. Stern’s, Liam McAtasney and Preston Taylor. Mr. Taylor had taken Ms. Stern to the junior prom. Mr. McAtasney had listed her under the “family” section of his friends on Facebook.

Ms. Stern’s body has still not been found, but now Mr. McAtasney, 19, has been charged with her murder, based on a recorded conversation with a friend. Mr. Taylor, also 19, was charged with helping to conceal the murder and discard her remains.

“It was kind of a shock, to say the very least,” said Michael Stern, Ms. Stern’s father, recalling how he felt when he learned that the two men — who had been her friends since grade school — had been accused in her death. At the initial hearing, he fought back tears, despondent that his only daughter was dead and had not simply “left without telling anybody.”

Ms. Stern’s killing has gripped the small shore town where she lived, a grim account filled with sordid twists and turns involving a six-month plot, petty robbery and buried cash boxes that have kept it in the news and left residents grappling with a familiar sensation after such events: How could this happen here?

“You can’t swing a stick in Neptune City and not hit someone you know,” Tim McCollum wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to finding Ms. Stern. “Two of my kids went to school with this girl. This is also a parent’s worst nightmare.”

The trail that led investigators to the two young men began the night the police found the car that Ms. Stern had been driving, a 1994 Oldsmobile, abandoned atop the highest point of a bridge along Route 35 that crosses the Shark River in Belmar. Helicopters, police officers and firefighters immediately scoured the area, but found no trace of Ms. Stern.

According to prosecutors, Mr. McAtasney had killed Ms. Stern at her home the day before the police found the car, the culmination of a six-month plot to murder her after robbing her of $7,000 she kept in a safe deposit box at a bank.

In a recorded conversation with a friend that was entered into evidence by prosecutors, Mr. McAtasney bragged about strangling Ms. Stern, describing how he lifted her off the ground before laying her down and watching for 30 minutes as she died.

He knew exactly how long Ms. Stern lay dying, the authorities said, because he had timed it.

Mr. Taylor confirmed the recorded conversation in a statement to court officials, saying that Mr. McAtasney had called him as he was carrying out the murder.

“I’m at the bank. I’m going to do it now. I’m going to take her out,” Mr. McAtasney told Mr. Taylor, according to Meghan Doyle, the assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, who read parts of the conversation aloud in court.

Mr. McAtasney then called him a few hours after strangling Ms. Stern, prosecutors said, begging Mr. Taylor to look for his cellphone because he feared he had left it somewhere in her home. He also asked for help getting rid of the body, prosecutors said.

Mr. Taylor then dragged the lifeless woman outside and hid her in a bush for a few hours while the two men finished plans. Later, under the cover of night, they propped up Ms. Stern’s body in the front seat of her car and drove to the bridge, where she was cast off, the authorities said. Her car was abandoned with the keys still inside.

Ms. Stern was a budding artist, according to her father, making regular trips to conventions like Comic-Con and Buffer, and communicated regularly with social media stars. As news of her disappearance spread, a couple of well-known YouTube personalities, Julien Solomita and Jenna Marbles, posted videos asking for help.

“She just had a fantastic art teacher in high school, and her talent just blossomed over the last two or three years,” Mr. Stern said. “I would say, had her career continued, she would have become one of the top artists in the world.”

The search for Ms. Stern has continued. Relying on Mr. Taylor’s confession, the police have recovered two buried safe boxes, one in Sandy Hook containing about $7,000 and another in Shark River Park containing Ms. Stern’s clothing.

Despite the audio evidence, Mr. McAtasney’s defense lawyer maintains his client’s innocence, saying that Mr. McAtasney’s boasting about the murder was just “talk,” and that they are “hopeful the girl is still alive.” Mr. Taylor’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, though he argued in court that Mr. Taylor had tried to talk Mr. McAtasney out of the plot, according to NJ.com.

Both men are being held without bail. In the meantime, the town remains engrossed by the case.

“Everybody is still talking about this,” said Charles Stone, a lawyer and friend of the Sterns. “I’ll run into people that I don’t know who had seen me being interviewed on TV and ask me about the case. And I’ve gotten emails from people that were just concerned about the family and offered to help in any way, shape or form.”

The killing has shocked those who knew the two defendants in high school, who were described as “jokesters” by classmates and friends. Mr. McAtasney was also a talented trumpet player who learned instruments quickly while in marching band.

Mr. Taylor was a “carefree kid” who surfed from time to time and was interested in skateboarding, according to an uncle.

Those who know them say they enjoyed having a good time like most high school students, drinking and occasionally smoking marijuana.

Friends and neighbors say both men had a middle-class childhood and, from appearances, weren’t wealthy but also weren’t struggling, leaving many to wonder how they could be accused in Ms. Stern’s killing.

“I have like an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and I was trying to hide them away from all this stuff,” said Steven Staloff, 43, an uncle of Mr. Taylor. He said Mr. Taylor used to babysit for his children. “We were all out, we were out to dinner, and all of the sudden he was on TV,” Mr. Staloff said. So my kids know.”

As more details emerge, confusion has started to mix with despair.

“He’s not that kind of kid, man,” Mr. Staloff said.