The Sting

Almost two months after Sarah disappeared, Detective Weissbrot got an unexpected call from Belmore police.

“They had someone who said he thinks he knows what happened to Sarah.”

We need to talk to this person immediately. A former classmate of Sarah's, Anthony Curry, came forward out of the blue, saying he possibly had information about Sarah's disappearance. They really questioned me about what I did. I was just trying to get it off my shirt and get it out and get it out. When he went to the police about Liam in 2017, Anthony was an aspiring filmmaker.

He had a square jawline, bushy straight eyebrows, and long curly brown hair. He was living in Brooklyn, but had grown up in Neptune City, not far from the Jersey Shore.

He graduated in the same high school class as Sarah and Liam.

Anthony said he and Sarah weren't friends, but he and Liam were close. They played music together, talked about movies.

“"Hang on all the time, I practically lived at his house for like a little bit of time, stayed there all the time, ate dinner with the family."”

Anthony told officers that about a week before Sarah went missing, he had a conversation with Liam, a conversation that he thought they needed to know about. Anthony said he stopped by Liam's house and around 11 o'clock on the night of Thanksgiving, to hang out and play video games. He said Liam told him he'd been drinking throughout the day, so by the time Anthony came over, he said Liam was a little drunk.

Anthony told police, it was just the two of them. Liam's roommate, Preston Taylor, wasn't home. Anthony said they sat on barstools in Liam's kitchen, cracked open a couple beers and started talking. Anthony said it wasn't unusual for Liam to pitch him movie ideas. "I make movies and I'm a filmmaker who used to tell me all ideas all the time about, you know, film session making all the stuff.

Like, told me about this idea he had to kill this girl." That girl was Sarah Stern. According to Anthony, Liam told him Sarah found a huge amount of cash about $50,000. So Liam said he was going to her house to help Sarah count the money. Anthony noticed how empty-up Liam was getting as he kept talking.

He was like, he said he was an energetic kid. He was like watching his performance. He was like explaining in a way that was like energetic. Then Liam told Anthony how the movie ends. Detective Weissbrot again.

Liam had informed him that he was going to rob her of her money, kill her, and throw her remains over to film our bridge. It was a bombshell allegation. Anthony was telling investigators that Liam talked about killing Sarah. Liam, Sarah's childhood friend, who'd been searching for Sarah and co-operated with police, who'd given police an alibi for the time Sarah was killed.

Before Anthony could fully process what he just heard, he told police Liam laughed and said, "Wouldn't this be a great idea for a movie?" So Anthony shrugged it all off. Besides, he thought Liam was drunk, and that this was just another one of Liam's horror movie pitches. I was like, yeah, he's a little nuts, but I don't know. I just thought it was a movie. He'd like to keep it tell me the idea of the time and that stuff.

The moment came and went. Anthony said the pair moved on to playing Xbox, and Anthony crashed at Liam's place that night.

A week passed and Anthony never gave Liam's movie pitch a second thought.

Until he saw a bunch of posts pop up on his social media feed. They all said, Sarah's turn, missing. Car last seen on the route 35 bridge, whereabouts unknown. Anthony's mind started to race. He told police he was shocked and somewhat indenial. There was no way his friend could have actually killed someone.

Liam was drunk, they were just messing around.

“His funny, light-hearted friend wasn't capable of something so evil, right?”

According to investigators, Anthony realized this crazy movie idea might have been some kind of plan

Liam asked him, "Did you talk to the police?"

From ABC Audio and 2020, I'm Juju Chang, and this is Bridge of Lies. Episode 4, The Sting. Anthony told police that Liam messageed him on Snapchat in January 2017, almost two months after Sarah disappeared, asking if cops had talked to him. Anthony told him, "No, Liam replied by saying, "Word, they talked to almost everybody I know.

If they haven't already, they won't." The exchange alarmed Anthony enough that he decided to get a record of it. On Snapchat, when you open a message, it disappears when you close it, and if you screenshot the conversation, the other person would know.

So Anthony said he took a picture of Liam's message with his digital camera.

Authorities said Anthony told them the constant messages from Liam didn't stop. The two usually talked or texted, but Liam kept reaching out over Snapchat. He wanted to get together with Anthony in person, and he was persistent. Anthony said he just kept telling Liam that he was busy or working,

“but the truth is, investigators said Anthony was terrified.”

He couldn't sleep or eat. He kept thinking if Liam really did hurt Sarah, who's to say Liam wouldn't come after him. I feel like my family, you know, and if somebody's capable of doing that, I could like try to hurt my family or somebody I knew. There hadn't been any new movement on Sarah's case in weeks,

and police were desperate for any new leads. But when Anthony came forward with this story, well over a month after she went missing, investigators admitted that it sounded too crazy to be true. Someone's saying that he told me he was going to kill her before he killed her, and we're looking at it investigatively and knowing that she's missing.

It's obviously something that it sounds a little forefetched. That's Chris Decker, he's an assistant prosecutor for Monmouth County, who got assigned to Sarah's case.

“As wild as Anthony's story sounded, could it be true?”

Investigators noted how specific and detailed Anthony's story was, like how he said Liam told him Sarah found the money in an orange envelope and had a safe and a bank in Bradley Beach. But it was Anthony's demeanor that really convinced Detective Weissbrot that his allegations might be the real deal.

He was scared, he was scared, and Liam was aggressively trying to communicate with him or wanting to see him, and that bothered Anthony. Investigators decided to take a chance on Anthony's story,

because it was basically his word against Liam's.

They needed to prove that Anthony was telling the truth, so they asked him if he was willing to go undercover. You can't hide the truth on a wire, you know, if he's saying Liam told me these things and then he gets into a car wearing a wire or recording device with him and he brings it up, it's going to be completely clear whether or not the kids tell on the truth.

With Anthony's help, police were hoping to record Liam implicating himself in Sarah's murder. Over the next few days, they worked together to set up a meeting between Anthony and Liam. Investigators said Anthony was driving back and forth between Brooklyn and Monmouth County. He let detectives monitor and record any communication he had with Liam, any phone call, Snapchat picture, or message.

On January 31st, 2017, investigators brought Anthony into the county prosecutor's office and asked him to call Liam on a recorded line. Anthony was going to try to get Liam to talk about Sarah's murder. This is detective, it's interacts to the Monmouth County prosecutor's office in our college, sorry for electronic surveillance unit versus recording device.

Electronically, record conversation between Anthony Curry and Liam McTazney

“for voice identification purposes. Anthony Curry, would you please state your name?”

Anthony Curry. It's been almost a month since the two friends have talked on the phone. Hey, how you doing? I'm doing alright. Anthony's voice is calm and controlled.

For a few minutes, it sounds like a normal conversation between friends.

But in reality, police are closely listening to every word. And they have a plan. The rules is that Anthony needs money. His camera broke, and he doesn't have the money to replace it. Anthony's in a real bind.

So he asks Liam for help. I got a shoot on Thursday. I'm like, I have no cash to pay for anything you took.

“So you can spot me some cash from that girl's money, right?”

Anthony says that girl, the hope is that this will get Liam to talk about Sarah. Liam pauses. I don't think I could do that. We need to talk about that, too. I'm just going to see you in prison for some time.

Liam doesn't want to talk about it on the phone. But Anthony presses on. How do you have anything less from it or not? Yeah. Liam shuts Anthony down again.

Let's just say you're not as good off as I thought I was going to be. He doesn't elaborate. And this time, Anthony backs off.

For a second, the two envision what their future and Hollywood could look like.

Anthony jokes that Liam will be his Leonardo DiCaprio. They say in two years, they'll make the move. Liam breaks from the daydream to ask Anthony when he's free. He wants to meet up. So before the two hang up, they make tentative plans for later that week.

Hi, boss. Let's talk to you at a time when we live. The phone call obviously there is no significant, you know, in mission on that phone call. Assistant prosecutor Chris Decker says they didn't get a confession,

but it was a start. Other than it's abundantly clear when they're talking about him borrowing some of that girl's money. That Liam is absolutely not denying it. All he continues to say is that I want to talk about her on the phone. We got to meet in person.

According to investigators shortly after the two got off the phone, Liam messaged Anthony and detective saw an opportunity to meet that night. Anthony told him that he found someone in Neptune who could sell him a new camera, so he'll be in town that evening. Once again, Liam said he can't loan Anthony the money.

He said quote, "My cash is low quality. They wouldn't take it. You'll understand how serious my situation is. I can't say anything on my phone." They settled on a time and place.

11 p.m. Bradley Beach. A Jersey short town just east of Neptune. A face-to-face meeting between two friends. And investigators are ready to record every word. We invest in our careers, our finances, and our relationships.

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“I'm RJ Decker, the private investigator uncovering the sunshine state stock is secret.”

Tuesdays, it's the premiere ABC's hottest new crop show. RJ Preken Decker has a live and breathe. He's a private eye. It's not a standard murder. Some bigger and a public mass.

Try to get some back to prison state. You're gonna prison one time and suddenly it's all the jokes. RJ Decker, series premiere, Tuesdays on ABC and stream on Hulu. It's 1030 on the night of January 31st. Law enforcement from multiple agencies are gathered.

Hoping tonight is the night they finally break the case wide open.

They've given Anthony a clear mission. Get Liam to confess to Sarah's murder. And don't get caught.

“It's late and the streets are quiet as Anthony makes his way to the spot where he and Liam agreed to meet.”

Detectives have bugged Anthony's car with recording devices including a camera hidden behind the steering wheel. On the recording, we see glimpses of Anthony's hand on the wheel. But it's clearly angled to focus on the person's soon to occupy the empty passenger seat. The camera quality isn't high definition and the dark cabin of the car doesn't help. Anthony's windows are smudged or foggy in a way that makes the outside world a blur.

We only see glimpses of the homes and businesses he passes by, spotlight by the Yellow Street lights. Anthony's feeling a bit tortured about the situation he's found himself in. What made me descendant?

When I'm satisfied with the Sarah, I thought it meant it for a second.

It looks like it happens to him. It sucks, you know. Whether, you know, he's still your friend. Whether he did some second, you know, it's still just a tough situation, it's tough, it's just tough.

“This operation depends on Anthony acting natural.”

That means detectives for their part don't want to overcomplicate an already stressful situation. Anthony is just catching up with a friend. Only with an added objective. They did say, you know, you got to act sort of like Donnie Brasco. You got to ask him questions.

Ever the film buff, Anthony takes the inspiration seriously. Channeling the 90s film starring Johnny Depp as an undercover agent. He turns the radio on and tunes it to a rock station. Yeah. Rock and me by Steve Millerband comes on.

Anthony sings along. He says he sings when he's nervous. The lyrics are strangely befitting for the moment. Don't get suspicious. Now don't be suspicious.

You know you are a friend of mine. You know what was weird about that song? Me and him used to play that song in a band together. And that was on the radio when I was driving me. It's weird.

It's f*cking bizarre. There's a lot riding on this operation, including Anthony's safety. Detectives are hiding in a vehicle just around the corner from the meeting spot. We were listening live through electronic equipment. And we did that to maintain the integrity of the recording.

And also Paramount was safety. Anthony's safety was of great concern to us at that time. They'll be close, but not that close. If things escalated or even turn violent, it's possible. There isn't much they can do.

In other words, Anthony is on his own. You were a class together. We're seeing man in the hall to make classic rock show. Back in the car, Anthony is almost at the meeting spot. It's a place where he and Liam would often hang out in their cars and talk.

Assistant prosecutor Chris Decker.

“It was a place where the two of them, I guess, had hung out before.”

On Ocean Avenue and Bradley Beach. You know, parks, they're pulling head-on face in the ocean. There's no one around, it's almost 11 o'clock at night. I mean, it's a pretty desolate in the middle of the winter. Anthony finds his spot, parks, and turns the radio down.

And, you know, that's ultimately where Liam enters Anthony Curry's car.

Liam makes himself comfortable in the passenger seat and closes the door. He's got a thick workman's jacket on, zip to the top. It's a cold winter's night. He seems happy to see Anthony. It's a familiar scene for the old friends.

But for Anthony, nothing is the same. Liam feels like a stranger. But Anthony is a different person, too. He's now a double agent working with the police. It's a high-stakes gamble.

Anthony knows this hangout might put his friend behind bars. Not to mention the danger Anthony could be putting himself in, sitting alone in a car with a suspected killer. But he thinks it's the right thing to do.

For Sarah and her family.

They're greeting his normal enough until it's not. Dude, you can't blame me for doing this, right? I got a few of you up for a real quick, right? No disrespect, I'll show you. No disrespect, okay?

Look. As soon as you got in the car, he headed him down for a wire,

“the highly alarming. Why is he patting him down for a wire?”

Yeah, I got that FBI in my ass, dude. What are the questions? Oh yeah, a lot. I know what. I'm killing Sarah.

Less than a minute into sitting in Anthony's car, Liam's getting straight to Sarah's death. He goes on, saying he's been laying low. Police have been interrogating him. But Liam says everything is going

exactly as expected. But I had planned Sarah's situation for me to be interrogated by cops. Like that was whole part of my plan to make me look not guilty.

Like it. He planned to be questioned by the police after Sarah's disappearance. He wanted them to.

“And he was confident in the story he had to tell law enforcement.”

Unprompted, Liam goes back to that December night. He was last with Sarah. And without hesitation, Liam tells Anthony what investigators have been hoping to hear. Dude.

All right, so I'm hanging out with her. She has, we went to the bank. She took some money on that old for money. We're carrying it out. And then she goes to walk out the front door.

I choke her out. Drag her. My biggest problem was the dog. And her dog laid there and watched as I killed her. Didn't do anything.

Her fucking dog. Remember, Buddy was Sarah's foxhound. Her best friend. When police first visited the house after she went missing, Buddy was locked in a cage.

It struck her friends as one of the first signs something wasn't right.

Sarah never locked him up.

More details come pouring out of Liam. I pretty much hung her. Like, I picked her up and had her just like dangling off the ground. And she just pissed herself. And you lose control of the sit in my name.

And then that was it. On the camera footage, you can see Liam bringing his arm up. Showing Anthony how he wrapped his arm around Sarah's neck. He says it took him half an hour to kill her. I thought I was going to be able to choke her out and have her out in like a couple of minutes.

I'd choke her out. And then she was just laying there having a seizure or something. So then I just, I got a shirt and I just shut it down or throw it. So she wouldn't throw up or anything and held my finger over her nose. And set her timer.

That's the only time I had my phone. And it took me like a half an hour after I hit start. On the timer.

You don't know.

Yeah, you don't know until it happens.

“And then the next month was just me getting interrogated by cops.”

Over and over and over again. Anthony plays a cool. As Liam goes on describing his heist as he calls it. Anthony chimes in with an occasional right or yeah. Like a good friend does while listening to a story.

But Anthony doesn't need to coax Liam. The story comes rushing out. Listening to Liam, he sounds eager. Like he's finally able to talk to someone about what he did and how he got away with it. Detectives nearby cannot believe what they're hearing.

This Liam that they're hearing in the car was not the quiet and concerned friend. They spoke to back at the station.

I've never heard somebody talk about murdering someone like Liam,

I've never heard someone provide such disturbing and cold, chilling and horrific details that he provided as to what he did to Sarah Stern. Then Liam starts to talk about how he got rid of Sarah's body. And this is when police get another surprise. And the worst part is we threw off the bridge and the body never showed up.

We. Liam says we threw Sarah off the bridge. Meaning he didn't do it alone. This is the show everyone is watching. Every moment. Every game.

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“Malcolm in the middle is back. My life is fantastic now.”

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Terms apply for the TV-14L. Investigators have been down the street. Listening to Liam tell Anthony how he killed Sarah Stern. But he says he didn't do it alone. Another one of Sarah's friends helped him.

Remember when Liam told officers he lost his phone the day Sarah disappeared? Liam told Anthony he lost it at Sarah's house. I lost it. I couldn't find it.

“So that's what is why you take your phone. You should let them if it's impossible.”

Dude, what are you doing? Strangling someone. So he called on a friend to help him find his phone. And hide Sarah's body. But I choke her out, drag her into the back, put her in a bathroom.

And then I had to go straight to work. So a pressing came over to the body, put it in the bushes. Liam says, "Pressed in, as in Preston Taylor, his roommate and another friend of Sarah's. He knew about Liam's plan and agreed to help move Sarah's body.

Detective Weissbrot. Liam had provided Anthony with very specific information that pressing had assisted him in throwing Sarah over the bridge. And then I get off work that night. Pressing I go over to her house. Take her safe. Bring that over to my house before we do anything.

Then we take her body out of the bushes and drag it over to her back fence.

And I'm back up. There's a security camera across the street.

So I had to act like her. So I backed out exactly like she did. And drove off through the trunk.

“Now I put her in the passenger seat at her own car.”

From there, as the tape records, Liam tells Anthony, the pair drove to the Belmar bridge in separate cars. Liam drove Sarah's silver old-smobile. Preston drove his own car. Liam describes how he positioned Sarah's body to sit up in the passenger seat

to look like she was sleeping. They used walkie-talkies to communicate. Liam even takes one out of his pocket to show Anthony.

He says the plan was to throw Sarah off the bridge,

then jump over the divider where Preston was waiting on the other side and drive off. But when they got there, Liam underestimated how much a body could weigh. I see like headlights coming. I try to get her over and I can't.

My leg up. So now I'm limp and my legs f***ed up and there's three cars coming up. So I grab her body. Dude, I had superhuman strength and I threw it in the car and three cars go by. And I'm f***ing losing my f***ing because I easily could have been a cop.

So Liam says Preston drove to his side of the bridge to help and together they threw Sarah's body off the bridge. On the recording, Liam goes on to say he spent six months planning Sarah's murder. He mapped out the security cameras in her neighborhood. He'd watch how she pulled in and out of her driveway.

He planned how he would dispose of her body. And how he was going to make the police believe they were better friends than they were. But what he didn't count on was walking away with so much less money than what he was expecting. The worst part of it is I thought I was walking out 50 grand a hundred grand in my pocket. She had one safe and she took money out and she only had 10 grand.

And this money, I don't know if it was burnt or something, it's f***ing old money, terrible quality. I don't even know if I can put any of this in the f***ing bank. Not only was it not as much money as he'd hoped, he thought it was basically unusable. In the video, you can see Liam leaned back in his seat and stare out the windshield.

“He's just told Anthony his biggest secret that he killed his childhood friend from money.”

I don't feel any different than I don't think about it.

You always think you're going to try these new things and you're going to change.

It just doesn't do anything. It's weird. It's f***ing moving. Anthony says it's like a movie. See your life, you might as well make it.

He asks Anthony to keep everything he just told him a secret. Liam thinks Anthony and Preston are the only people who know the truth. Little does he know, there's a team of investigators listening in. Preston doesn't know that you know and he knows that you know, I don't want him, you know, I don't want there to be a change. I know f***ing crap.

Yeah, you don't have to f***ing question me. I mean Brooklyn, the cops haven't questioned me. I know you know, I know you're not a rap, but f***ing. We got to play it safe. At this point, there's nothing more to say.

Anthony got investigators what they need it. He's ready to go home and put this all behind him. Bro, it was good seeing you. Yeah. When I come back down.

Listen, look at him. He's safe right. Yeah. Listen. I'm not going to let Preston do anything to him.

I did something really dumb and I planned it out for half a year. I had patience. I got it. Let's get talking to him.

“Good talk, take it easy, we're safe travel, don't you?”

You two, you got everything? Yeah. Anthony pulls out of his parking spot and lights a cigarette. He thinks about how easy it was to get Liam to open up. He barely asked any questions.

He didn't have to push or pry. It was just a conversation between two good friends. It didn't really have to do much work. Like he wanted to tell me, you know.

He's just some really tricky trust in me.

I don't know. With Liam gone, the car is suddenly quiet. The camera is again recording just an empty passenger seat. Anthony grips the steering wheel. He put the radio back on.

Moving on by bad company starts playing as he drives away. Sarah's promising life was cut short.

“She trusted Liam enough to tell him about her secret money.”

And Liam trusted Anthony enough to tell him a big secret of his own.

For detectives, the recording of Liam is a damning piece of evidence. But they don't rush to arrest him. They can't. They want more proof to keep building their case. So Liam's free to go home.

Sleep in his own bed that night and keep living his life. But officers will be watching. We needed to take the appropriate steps as to what we're going to do next. So we made a decision to conduct some rounds both on Preston and on Liam.

“We further made a decision that we were going to locate Preston and interview him.”

Their new mission? Get Preston to fess up. That's next time. Bridge of lies is a production of ABC audio and 2020 hosted by me, Judging Chang, produced by Sabrina Fang, Audrey MossTech, and Camille Peterson.

Fact checking by Annalisa Lindor. Tracy Samuelson is our story editor. Our supervising producer is Sasha Aslania, music and mixing by Evan Biola. Special thanks to Katie Dendos, Janice Johnston, Joseph Diaz, Avery Brook,

and Michelle Margillis.

“Josh Cohan is our director of podcast programming.”

Amin McNiff is our second producer.

Samu, are you sure about the story? I'm sure you're sure about the story. Do you think it's all right? Yeah, exactly. The story is the story of the story.

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