Video Of Dad's Final Texts From Sarah Stern Before Alleged Murder

"Wow! The castle looks so pretty!"

Then came a shooting star emoji.

Then there was nothing.

This was how the Michael Stern's 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.

His emotional testimony was captured on video as the trial in Sarah Stern's alleged Belmar murder continued this week.

Michael Stern noted that the exchange happened on Dec. 1, 2016, around 10:30 a.m. The next day, he got a call from his mother who said she couldnt get a hold of Sarah.

So Michael sent a text. "Sarah where are you?"

Michael actually kept that phone, even after he upgraded. He was afraid of losing his texts.

"I know people have tried to transfer things and they've lost all their pictutes and information, texts, texts," he said.

"I didn't want to take the chance."

Here is the video:

Prosecutors have said they believe Liam McAtasney, with 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.

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.

An Asbury Press video of testimony in the Sarah Stern murder trial Wednesday showed investigators detailing how they had to scale the top of a mortar battery in the Sandy Hook area to find a safe where Stern's stolen money was buried.

Here is the Asbury Park Press video:

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.

YouTube photo