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MTV Crime Series Examines Jersey Shore Murder

MTV aired an episode of its "True Life Crime" series that explored the murder of Sarah Stern, whose body was thrown off a bridge in Monmouth County.

Sarah Stern

Sarah Stern

Photo Credit: Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office

Dometi Pongo investigated the December 2016 death of Sarah Stern, a teenager whose car was found abandoned on a bridge overlooking Shark River, leaving police to suspect a suicide.

The episode included interviews with Stern's father, Michael Stern, as well as Stern's teachers and a student who helped police crack the case. 

The student, Anthony Curry, was friends with McAtasney and was able to record McAtasney's confession to her murder with a hidden car camera.

A jury found the accused killer in the Sarah Stern murder trial guilty in 2019, convicting the main suspect, who had already confessed on video to strangling and throwing the 19-year-old off a Belmar bridge.

Liam McAtasney, 21, of Neptune City was found guilty on all counts of murder, robbery, desecration of human remains, conspiracy to desecrate human remains and hindering apprehension, according to the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office. 

He was sentenced to life without parole plus 10 years,

McAtasney threw Stern off of the Belmar Bridge with help from Stern's junior prom date, Preston Taylor. 

Taylor pleaded guilty to covering up Stern's December 2016 murder by helping McAtasney dump her body and park her grandmother's car by the bridge to make it appear as if Stern committed suicide. Her body was never found.

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