Defense Rests In Sarah Stern Murder Trial

The defense rested in the Sarah Stern murder trial Thursday, declaring that accused killer Liam McAtasney will not testify.

McAtasney, 21, told Judge Richard English that he's choosing “to remain silent” now that closing statements will be made early next week, according to nj.com.

Prosecutors have said they believe McAtasney, with friend Preston Taylor's help, threw Stern's body into the Shark River off the Route 35 bridge in Belmar more two years ago.

This happened after McAtasney strangled her, prosecutors said. McAtasney allegedly strangled his former classmate for $7,000 or more that he removed from her home. Taylor was accused of helping conceal Stern's body.

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The judge – just a week after a video was released showing the suspect allegedly confessing to throwing Stern off a Belmar bridge in 2016 – ultimately ruled against a mistrial request after Liam McAtasney's attorney charged that the comment could have influenced the rest of the jury.

But the judge, according to The Asbury Park Press, did say that the juror faces possible contempt charges. Here is an Asbury Park Press video of the attorneys making the request:

The juror, who asked to be identified as a 21-year-old Middletown resident, told nj.com that the Facebook comment was made by her younger sister, with whom she shares an account. The juror said she deleted the comment as soon as she saw it.

The juror told nj.com that the trial was “taking a toll on me emotionally" and “I started having really vivid nightmares about it and I couldn’t take it anymore. It was too much.”

In the case, Taylor has pleaded guilty to seven charges, including robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery, for his part in Stern's murder. Taylor also agreed to testify against McAtasney.

In the alleged confession video released earlier this month, McAtasney is apparently seen in the hidden camera videos, published by nj.com and The Asbury Park Press, telling his friend, Anthony Curry, that the "biggest problem was the dog" when the murder allegedly took place.

"Her dog laid there and watched as I killed her," he said on the nj.com video.

In the same video, McAtasney said he and Taylor worked together to dispose the body, eventually, off the Belmar bridge. McAtasney said he "had timed everything out," and that he and Taylor even had walkie-talkies.

They eventually were able to get Stern's body into a car and to the bridge, he said. "The two of us throw the body over and we're out," he said on the video that was also published by The Asbury Park Press.

The videos were released soon after another Asbury Press video showed testimony from investigators detailing how they had to scale the top of a mortar battery in the Sandy Hook area to find where Stern's stolen money was buried.

Here is the Asbury Park Press video:

Also, Michael Stern detailed how his last exchange with his daughter went before he never heard from her again. She was impressed with the photographs he sent her from Walt Disney World in Florida:

McAtasney, Taylor and Stern were all longtime friends who grew up together, according to News12, and Taylor and Stern went to their junior prom together as dates.

In an Asbury Park Press video, McAtasney said: "If she did jump off the bridge, what are the odds that she's not somewhere all the way out in the ocean by now?" (see video below).

"If she had told me that she was going to jump off the bridge, there would have been no way I would have gone to work that night," he said in the video, referring to the disappearance of Sarah Stern, 19, of Neptune City.