FREEHOLD – A former classmate charged in connection with the death of Sarah Stern hid her body in the bushes of her home and returned to the crime scene at least twice before helping toss her body off a bridge in Belmar, prosecutors said in court Tuesday.
After a lengthy detention hearing in which prosecutors disclosed additional details in their case, Superior Court Judge David Bauman used those allegations, in part, as a reason to keep Preston Taylor behind bars.
Bauman, who listened for more than an hour to arguments for and against Taylor’s release, said he was concerned that Taylor, if let out on bail, would try to interfere with his case.
“I will grant the state’s request and order that this defendant be detained,” Bauman said.
Taylor’s friend and roommate, Liam McAtasney, is accused of strangling Stern and then recruiting Taylor to go to the house and hide her body before the pair went back to her home.
Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Meghan Doyle said Tuesday that eight hours after the killing, they put her body in the front seat of her car before McAtasney drove the vehicle to the Route 35 bridge in Belmar about a mile away. Taylor followed in another car and helped McAtasney dump her body over the side of the bridge and into the Shark River, Doyle said.
McAtasney, 19, is charged with murder, felony murder, conspiracy, hindering apprehension and disposal of of human remains in what authorities said was a robbery at Stern’s Neptune City home on Dec. 2.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni has said McAtasney stole thousands of dollars from Stern.
Taylor is charged with conspiracy, hindering apprehension and disposal of human remains.
McAtasney and Taylor, both 19 and from Neptune City, moved in together at a separate location around November, Taylor’s father, Jeremiah Taylor, testified during the detention hearing.
Dive teams searched the Shark River on Dec. 3 but did not find her body. The search resumed on Friday after the pair, who grew up with Stern, were charged.
As McAtasney and Taylor sit in the Monmouth County jail, the New Jersey State Police Marine Unit has resumed a search of Shark River Inlet every day since authorities announced their arrests on Thursday.
Meanwhile, sources told NJ Advance Media Monday that investigators found two safes buried at Sandy Hook and Shark River Park. One of the safes contained thousands of dollars in cash and the other contained articles of Stern’s clothing, Bauman said Tuesday.
Gramiccioni isn’t saying what led investigators to the pair. But Stern’s father, Michael Stern, has said all three were friends at Neptune High School.
Stern and McAtasney volunteered with the Bradley Beach Fire Department in 2013. Michael Stern often drove McAtasney and Taylor to school, he has said.
Sarah Stern and Taylor went to junior prom together.
On Dec. 10, when nearly 100 people volunteered in a search of the area surrounding the Shark River inlet, Taylor and McAtasney were among them.
NJ Advance Media reporter Alex Napoliello contributed to this report.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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