Bridge of Lies: The Accomplice

This is Deborah Roberts here with another weekly episode of our latest True Crime series from 2020 in ABC Audio, Bridge of Lies. Remember, you can get new episodes early by following Bridge of Lies on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you're listening now. Now, here's the next episode of Bridge of Lies. Thanks for listening to Bridge of Lies. Listen to and follow Bridge of Lies on Amazon Music, or just ask Alexa. Play the podcast Bridge of Lies on Amazon Music. Also, with Amazon Music Unlimited, you can now listen to your favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks all in the Amazon Music app. Just a warning before we get started. This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence. It's the afternoon of February 1st, 2017. Police officers are stationed outside a home in Neptune City, New Jersey, just blocks from Sarah Stern's house. Since the morning, they've been watching a bluish-gray two-bedroom house where two young men live. Detective Brian Weisbrot says they know one of them has a two o'clock class at Brookdale Community College. And detectives who were conducting surveillance had seen him leave his house with what appeared to be books in his hand, get into his vehicle, and travel away from the home. Just a day earlier, during an undercover operation, Liam Mcatazny described on tape how he says he murdered Sarah Stern. But Liam is not who the officers are targeting. During the sting, Liam named an accomplice. So Preston came over, took the body, put it in the bushes. That was the first time that Preston Taylor was implicated in the crime. Preston Taylor is Liam's friend and roommate. He'd also been Sarah's friend. Weisbrot says investigators want to bring him to the police station for questioning. They want to find out if he'll talk, if he'll turn on Liam. So they plan to pull Preston over as he leaves the house he lives in with Liam and drives to class in his black 1996 mercury mystique. Detective Weisbrot calls one of the other officers he's been working with, Detective Nick Catalona, to fill him in on this major step in the investigation. Brian called me and said, you wouldn't believe what's going on. And I'm like, try me. He goes, I need you to go to the address in Titten Falls. We stopped Preston. Suddenly, the case, which had been at a standstill for so many weeks, has rapid high speed momentum. A lot of kind of disbelief that it just all unraveled the way it did as fast as it did. Once we stopped his car, we detained him. We stopped him. We stopped him. Preston and transported him to the Maman County Prosecutor's Office. They bring Preston into a small interview room, which is outfitted with video cameras recording everything. He's tall, six foot five, wearing a black sweater. Detective Weisbrot and another investigator are there too. The three men crowd around a circular table and Preston sits back in his chair with his hands folded in his lap. Detective Weisbrot reads Preston his Miranda rights, the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney, and then he cuts right to the chase. Not necessarily what happened because we already know that. We want to know why it happened. We want to know why Liam did what he did. Preston does not remain silent. He does not ask for an attorney. He looks right at Detective Weisbrot and asks, what did he do? He killed Sarah. Okay. And we know you know that. Right? You know that? Correct? Yes. Correct. Preston doesn't try and leverage what he knows for a deal with investigators. Like Liam sitting in Anthony Curry's car, Preston decides to let it all spill out. Starting with, yes, Liam killed Sarah. What was interesting about Preston's interview is that he just wanted confirmation that we knew that Liam had killed Sarah. And when I told him Liam killed Sarah, that was enough for Preston. Preston realized at that point, obviously, that we knew what had transpired. Prosecutor Chris Decker is watching the interview from another room. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone confess that quickly. And then he just goes on for, you know, 52 pages or something in a transcript of describing everything that they did. Preston had once been Sarah's junior prom date. They'd gone as friends. In a photo from that night, he's smiling in a black bow tie with his arm around her as she wears a white off-the-shoulder dress. Now he was sitting in a room with detectives telling them that as Sarah's community and family desperately searched for her, he had known all along that she was not coming home. But police have a lot more to learn from Preston. How long did Liam plan this brutal betrayal of their childhood friend? Why did Liam kill Sarah? Why did Preston go along with it? And what happened to Sarah's body? From ABC Audio and 2020, I'm Juju Chang. And this is Bridge of Lies. Episode 5 The Accomplice You're a 19-year-old kid. We have a whole life ahead of you. All right? You gotta lay it out for us as to why it happened. All right? And why he did what he did. Preston speaks quietly, almost mumbling. There is no emotion in his voice as he gives a one-word answer. Money. He says Liam murdered his childhood friend for money. How much money are we talking about? According to Preston, Liam thought she had anywhere from 50 to 150 grand. He wanted to try. With his hands on as much as possible. Okay. Did he tell you I had a plan that he was going to do this? Yes. Preston says Liam came into a bar one day and started talking about Sarah's money. Then, about a month or two later, according to Preston, Liam came up with a plan to kill her and steal it. What did he tell you he planned on doing? Taking her out and then fighting somewhere to expose the body. When you say taking her out, what do you mean? Straight on out. Preston keeps looking at the detectives, sitting up straight in his chair, as he details Liam's violent plot to murder Sarah. Preston says that on the day Sarah was murdered, he was working construction with his dad. He got home just as Liam was leaving for his job, waiting tables at the steakhouse. He was like, dude, I did it. When he said that he did it, did you know what that meant? Yeah. What did you take that to mean? I turned it to see he killed Sarah. Okay. So that her body was still at the house and that he needs to get rid of it tonight. When Preston was first interviewed by police in the days after Sarah disappeared, his story almost entirely matched the one Liam told the police. He said Liam went to work as usual. And when he got home, the two of them hung out at their house. The only discrepancy between their accounts was that Liam said he had a great work shift and Preston said Liam had a bad night at the steakhouse. Otherwise, they were aligned. Now, Preston is completely changing his story, step by step. He's corroborating what Liam told Anthony Curry during the undercover operation about how Liam carried out his plan to murder Sarah and cover it up. Preston says as Liam left for work, he sent him to Sarah's house with two tasks. First, Liam had lost his phone there and asked Preston to search for it. And second, Liam wanted Preston to move Sarah's body out of the house. So that her and grandma were stopping by later. That is why it had to be. When Preston got to Sarah's house, the son was starting to go down. He says he hadn't been to the house for years, but had hung out with friends there before. He entered the house through the unlocked back door and found Sarah in the bathroom. Did you see any blood? Did you see any bruising, any marks or anything on her body? She was starting to turn pale and like a whitish purple color. But no, I bruised us right about. Preston says he looked around for Liam's phone, but couldn't find it. According to investigators, the phone was ultimately found in Sarah's driveway and given to police. After failing to find Liam's phone, Preston says he pulled Sarah out of the bathroom and hid her body in some bushes in the yard. And then what did you do? I went back to my house and waited. He had just dragged his high school classmate out of her home and hidden her body. But that was not the end of Preston's night or the end of his involvement in covering up Sarah's murder. According to Preston, there was much more to Liam's plan and he was a key part of it. He tells investigators he waited at home for Liam to return from work. How would you describe his demeanor when he came home? Just completely frantic and out of his woods. According to Preston, Liam still planned to steal Sarah's money and get rid of her body. And Liam had carefully thought through how to do this. He knew there were surveillance cameras on the street, so Preston says they drove in his car to a street near Sarah's house and parked at a dead end to avoid being captured by those cameras. At the house, Preston says he looked for Liam's phone again while Liam went upstairs to take a safe from Sarah's room. This safe was what Liam had been after all along. Remember, according to Preston, Liam believed there could be 50 to 150 grand inside. Once Liam grabbed the safe, Preston says they left the house and moved Sarah's body from the bushes to the passenger seat of her car. Liam drove Sarah's car to the bridge and Preston followed behind. They used walkie-talkies to communicate along the way because Preston says Liam thought it was a bad idea to use their phones. What kind of things were you guys communicating about? They just said I'm coming up on the bridge and I said okay, I'm coming up behind you and it's like I'm hurry up because I'm not because I can't get this over myself. I pulled up behind them. Preston says Liam needed help dragging Sarah's body out of the car and pulling her over the bridge's railing, so he stopped his car and helped. Preston keeps his matter-of-fact tone as he describes what it was like to throw his high school prom date into the Shark River. No tears, no shaking in his voice, just the same steady drip of horrifying detail. Was that hard to do physically to get her over the bridge? Did you guys know when she hit the water? Did you hear anything or see anything? No? All right. And then what happened after that? We got in my car and drove down, turned around, went back to our house. Back at their house, Preston says they drank and smoked weed. And then it was time to break open Sarah's safe and count their money, the whole reason for their betrayal. According to Preston, Liam did the counting. It was $10,000. Did you see the money? Can you describe it to us? What it looked like? It was a lot of really old, beat up, torn up money. And it was a lot less than they were expecting. Preston says Liam gave him three grand. I spent half of it on some really big, semi-weed. He spent the money on weed, the money he says Liam had killed for, the money Preston had helped cover up a murder for. Preston had spent half of his share already to get high. Preston says Liam took the rest of the money and put it in a different safe he had. They buried that safe at one location. They buried that safe at one location. They put some of Sarah's clothes in her safe and buried it in another spot. At this point, Preston has given investigators a play-by-play of the aftermath of Sarah's murder. But Detective Weisbrot has some bigger questions for him too. What are the other reasons why he killed Sarah other than the money? Is there a thrill involved in it? Is this something that he's always wanted to do? Hmm, well, no. It was just for the money. Yeah. Okay, what do you need the money for? I don't know. We're just starting to move out and he's getting tired of his job at Brennan's. So did he owe anybody money? Well, nothing I knew about. During the whole interview, Preston has not shown much emotion. And in his version of events, he just went along with a plan Liam had come up with. Detective Weisbrot wants to know more about Preston's mindset. How did he become an accomplice to murder? Were you supportive of him doing this so you can get some of the money? I didn't really think it was going to happen. I actually did. It was really going to do it. I couldn't really tell him, like, no, it don't do it. I just said, don't do it. Very, very, very. How do you feel about everything that happened to Sarah? I don't really know, Preston says. No emotions, no tears, no remorse. Nothing. What do you think about? I think about what it means for me if anyone could come back to us. Did you think it was going to? Liam did a pretty good job of convincing me that she'd covered everything up. Just a little while. The investigators end their interview with Preston after nearly two hours. They tell him a prosecutor will make a decision about what to charge him with. But they're not done with Preston yet. They ask him to take them back to Sarah's house, back to the scene of the crime, and show them exactly how Liam carried out this cold-blooded murder and covered it up. Let me just go get our cars ready and we'll take a ride, okay? All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it. This program is sponsored by ZockDock. Finding a doctor you actually like might feel like finding a diamond in the rough. You want somebody in-network in your area with availability that matches your schedule, but that's just where it begins. You also want somebody who will really listen to you, who'll explain things clearly, and who can make you feel comfortable, even when you're not feeling your best. 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Just go to abcsecretsavings.com 2020. Again, that's abcsecretsavings.com slash 2020. After Preston's confession, well into a bitter cold night, investigators drive him to Sarah's house. They bring video equipment and flashlights to navigate the dark. And they start recording when they arrive because Preston is about to walk them through everything that happened at the house. Today's date is February 1st, 2017. The approximate time is 11.15 p.m. Detective Weisbrot says because it's so cold out, police give Preston a firefighter jacket. It's black with big yellow reflective strips on it that glow in the dark. Preston is also wearing a red baseball cap that says St. Louis. I parked my car just right over here and half the fence right here. Preston is more animated than during his interview at the station. He walks investigators into the house through the back door. The lights back here were off but the kitchen and the living room lights were on. Okay. Then he takes them through some folding doors into the bathroom. And Sarah was slumped in this corner right here. Did you recall what Sarah was wearing when you came into the house that day? Jeans on a black hoodie. Okay. Preston demonstrates how he approached Sarah from behind, looped his arms under her shoulders, lifted her up, and dragged her backwards out of the house. So were her feet dragging on the ground? Yeah. Okay. And then I carried her over here. And dried her over here and kind of sat her under the bushes right here. Preston points to some prickly evergreen bushes by the fence. He explains that when he came back hours later, he waited while Liam got Sarah safe. Then Preston says Liam handed him the safe in the backyard and went out front to get Sarah's car from the driveway. Liam then pulled the car around and went to the fence to meet him. Preston says he lifted Sarah up and passed her over to Liam, who then put her in the passenger seat of her car. Liam made the K-turn and took off. He made a right and took some roundabout way of getting over to the bridge. Investigators can now visualize how Preston and Liam moved Sarah's body out of the house and into her car, which they would eventually abandon on the bridge. Preston also took police to where the two safes were buried. First, he led them to a park by Sandy Hook Beach about 30 minutes away. That's where investigators say Preston told them he and Liam buried the safe with Sarah's money in it. Detective Nick Catalona says they parked on a side road and walked up a steep hill overlooking an old mortar battery. There were four pits where the mortars, which looked sort of like cannons, used to be stationed. So he walked us down the middle ridge of the four pit and then he pointed to an area in the northeast corner and said down there is where we buried the safe and we had to descend into the pit after that. Once we got to the area where he was pointing to, we started to photo it and then we started digging. And then as we were digging, we just happened to look just a little bit to the left of where we were digging and there's the corner of the safe just sticking out. Detective Catalona says the safe was discovered far from the park's popular areas. It's not something that you could just easily just come across. So you could tell that they meant for nobody to ever find this again. After finding that safe, Preston took investigators to Shark River Park just 10 minutes from Sarah's house. They were looking for her safe, the one with her clothes in it. The park is nearly a thousand acres and it took Preston an hour and a half to find the right location. They were out there for so long, investigators got him a burger and fries from McDonald's to eat for dinner. As Preston took some officers through the sprawling park, Detective Weisbrot said another set of officers made the next big move in the case. They decided to bring Liam in. It had been nearly two months since Sarah disappeared and they were now ready to make an arrest for her murder. While we were in the park with him, Detective said stopped Liam's car and arrested him at that point. After being arrested, Liam is brought to the same small room with the circular table that Preston had confessed in just hours earlier. But Weisbrot says Liam doesn't know that. He had no idea. You're being charged with murder, felony murder, first degree robbery, desecration of human remains, conspiracy and hindering apprehension. All the other times Liam had been questioned by the police, he had played along, answered their questions, tried to seem helpful. This time, unlike Preston, Liam does not talk. He just responds by saying he has an attorney. Okay, I'd rather not speak to anyone until I don't. By the end of the night, investigators have Liam and Preston in custody, a detailed account from Preston of how Sarah's body was moved from her home and thrown over the bridge and the two safes. They also searched Preston's car. Right next to the driver's seat between the emergency break and the center console was a Cobra brand walkie-talkie, which was consistent what Preston told us that they use walkie-talkies to communicate. And they searched Liam's car. And after we searched his car, the keys for his car had a key. It was a key to the safe they had recovered from Sandy Hook, the one Preston said he and Liam had put Sarah's money in. Inside, detectives found nearly $10,000 in cash. The money was almost identical to the money in Sarah's safety deposit box at the bank. Dry rot falling apart, stuck together. These bills and the bills that we found in Sarah's safety deposit box had to have at least been exposed to the same environmental conditions for the same relative period of time to exhibit, you know, the same sort of wear. Their next stop would be Liam's house. Back in December, they had knocked on his door in the middle of the night, hoping he could help them find Sarah. Now he was charged with her murder, and they were continuing to build their case against him. They were also about to break the news to Sarah's dad, that the investigation had led them right back to where they started with Sarah's childhood friend, the last person to see her alive. At Little, there's always more to value, like switching from Morrison to Little and saving £40 on this week's big shop at little.co.uk slash save, which means a stocked up fridge of big brands, award winning own brands, and your fresh value of a day with extra helpings encouraged. Little, more to value. Prices check 7 to the 4th, 26 Morrison's also sell other products, see online for more details. Inspired by the story of Juan Pablo Escobar, a boy raised by Hitman. The new Hulu original series, Dear Killer Nannies, streaming on Disney Plus and Hulu, terms of lie. From the number one true crime podcast, Betrayal, he's been living a secret double life. My marriage ended with a 911 call. The tape is blood curdling. Betrayal, secrets and lies. So many people are living with their own betrayal. Sunday nights at 10, 9 central on ABC and stream on Disney Plus and Hulu. I came home from work and I started making dinner, and I noticed there was a bright light coming from my backyard. This is Megan Mcatazny, Liam's mom. She spoke with ABC News in 2019. And I looked at the back window and I thought Liam and his friends were shooting a movie or a video. And I decided to go back there and say hi to everybody. It was walking through my backyard and all of the men that were at the property were in street clothes. So I was trying to figure out who they were because I didn't recognize them as Liam's friends. And I remember joking and saying, hey guys, what are you up to back here? What are you shooting? And then a detective yelled at me to stand back. And at that point I realized that people were going through my son's trash. They had gloves on. They were raiding my son's home. I asked where my son was and I was told, ma'am, you have to get back. She says she ran inside to call her lawyer, Liam's dad, and Preston's mom. But none of them knew anything about what was happening. And we didn't know where our boys were. Detectives went through the two-bedroom house Liam and Preston lived in. Liam's bedroom was pretty neat and orderly. Preston's, on the other hand, was not. We searched the attic, we pulled up insulation in the attic, looked through the storage. There wasn't anything. Detective Catalona says that later they searched a vent and found a key to Sarah's safety deposit box at Carney Bank. Megan, Liam's mom, says she didn't know what was going on until the middle of the night. And was told what Liam was being charged with. And my head was just spinning because I didn't understand what was happening. And I had to start calling family members and I didn't understand why. In every bone of my body, I did not believe Liam was capable of killing Sarah Stern, who he loved and adored. I did not believe Liam is capable of killing anybody. She described her son as a friendly person, a good brother to his identical twin and two younger siblings, and a loving, generous friend. I don't think Liam had an enemy. He just adores his friends. He would do anything for his friends. Take the shirt off the back, stop what he was doing to go and help anybody that needed it. If he was driving home from school and he saw somebody on the side of the road walking, he'd offer them a ride home. It had already been a tough week for Sarah's dad, Michael Stern. His mother-in-law had passed away. And now, just days later, detectives were calling him about Sarah's case. It wasn't home and they said, well, we'd like to talk at the house. And I said, okay, I'll see you in 15 or 20 minutes. And walked in and the detectives, the police department, they were there. And just sit down. We want to tell you something. Michael says they told him that during an undercover sting, Liam had described Sarah's murder and it was all on tape. Every awful detail. They just told me what was on there and they said it was just, you don't want to hear the details. He was shocked. He was sad. He couldn't believe the information that we were providing to him. He knew Liam Mcatazany. He knew Liam Mcatazany's family, his mother. He had driven Liam to and from school. Preston Taylor went to the prom with Sarah. He knew these people. Just can't imagine turning your back on somebody and having them choke you and just leave you there. You never know who your friends are. This was the ultimate in betrayal of a friendship. So I look at life differently. I look at people differently now. Nothing is as it was in my life and a lot of other family members too. Preston Taylor eventually cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to robbery, conspiracy, disturbing or desecrating human remains, hindering apprehension and tampering with physical evidence. He also agreed to testify against Liam. In exchange, a felony murder charge against him, which could have meant life without parole, was dropped. His attorney at the time, John Perone, told ABC News in an interview in 2019 that Preston is a follower who is easily led. It just didn't sink in that this was a plan that somebody's life was going to be taken until it actually happened. Preston was a scared individual that did something wrong and helped somebody who did something even more egregious. Unlike Preston, Liam McIntazney pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, so his case was going to trial. That meant Michael and all of Sarah's family and friends would have to face Liam in court and listen to the recording of him and the evidence that he had to prove to the police. And also, Michael and all of his family and friends would have to face Liam in court and listen to the recording of him brazenly describing Sarah's murder. Sociopath, obviously. Evil, definitely. Cruel, heartless. I don't think there's enough words to describe him. Evil human being. What would happen in the courtroom as Liam stood trial for the ultimate betrayal of his childhood friend? Prosecutors were heading into the trial armed with Preston's confession and Liam's own incriminating words. But Sarah's body still had not been found and the defense had found a surprise eyewitness. Someone who said he had seen Sarah the morning after her disappearance, walking near the bridge. Would prosecutors be able to convict Liam? Or could he walk away? A free man. Bridge of Lies is a production of ABC Audio and 2020, hosted by me, JuJu Chang, produced by Camille Peterson and Sabrina Fang. Fact-checking and production help from Audrey Maastec and Annalisa Linder. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor. Our supervising producer is Sasha Aslanian. Music and mixing by Evan Biola. Special thanks to Katie Dendos, Janice Johnston, Joseph Diaz, Avery Brooke and Michelle Margulis. Josh Kohan is our director of podcast programming. Aiman McNiff is our executive producer. We know ambition looks different to everyone. Whether it's retiring early or leaving more for your family, we can help. Because when it comes to unlocking your money's potential, we know wealth. Search HSBC Wealth Today, HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. HSBC UK current account holders only. 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