CLOSE During his detention hearing it was revealed that Liam McAtasney admitted 19-year-old Sarah Stern's strangulation murder to another person on a recording. THOMAS P. COSTELLO 
 
 Check out the 911 call and the dash-cam video below. 
 
 Buy Photo Liam McAtasney is shown in Judge David F. Bauman’s courtroom in Freehold during his detention hearing in the Sarah Stern murder case. Tuesday, February 14, 2017. (Photo: THOMAS P. COSTELLO)Buy Photo 
 
 FREEHOLD - Liam McAtasney confessed 19-year-old Sarah Stern's strangulation murder to another person in which he also demonstrated lifting the Neptune City woman and placing her down on the floor to watch her die for 30 minutes, an assistant prosecutor said in court Tuesday. 
 
 Meghan Doyle, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, revealed the recorded confession at a hearing in which Superior Court Judge David B. Bauman ordered McAtasney, also 19, of Neptune City held without bail pending trial. 
 
 Doyle said McAtasney admitted to a person identified only by the initials A.C. that he choked Stern and watched her die for a half-hour. 
 
 
 
 "He even so much as demonstrated how he lifted her up off the ground, then left her on the floor and watched her die for 30 minutes,'' Doyle said. "He knew exactly how long it was because he chose to time that.'' 
 
 
 
 Doyle said McAtasney committed the murder during a robbery, "which he had planned for weeks leading up to Sarah Stern's death.'' 
 
 McAtasney also admitted dumping Stern's body in the Shark River with the help of an accomplice, Doyle said. 
 
 CLOSE Footage from a Neptune Township Police Department dashboard camera shows an officer arriving at the peak of the Route 35 bridge to Belmar and discovering Sarah Stern’s abandoned car minutes before 3 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2016. 
 
 McAtasney's attorney, Charles Moriarty, did not contest his client's detention. 
 
 READ: Judge says Stern suspect will stay locked up until trial 
 
 Stern's father, Michael, did not attend the hearing. He sent a text to the Asbury Park Press afterward saying, "I don't feel I can talk about this right now. I'm sorry." 
 
 
 
 Charles Stone, the Stern family's attorney, said of the family's reaction to the shocking revelations surrounding Sarah's death, "Honestly, I don't know how they deal with it. How he (Michael Stern) has been able to withstand it, I don't know.'' 
 
 
 
 Meanwhile, Moriarty faced reporters outside the courtroom and left open the possibilities that Stern is still alive and that McAtasney and his alleged accomplice made up the story that prosecutors are now using against them in court. 
 
 Buy Photo Liam McAtasney looks to his attorney Charles Moriarty is shown in Judge David F. Bauman’s courtroom in Freehold during his detention hearing in the Sarah Stern murder case. Tuesday, February 14, 2017. (Photo: THOMAS P. COSTELLO) 
 
 "I hope for the other family that their child is alive,'' Moriarty told reporters. 
 
 Stern's body has not been found. 
 
 Moriarty said McAtasney's recorded statement is practically identical to what his alleged accomplice, Preston Taylor, told police after he was arrested, leading the defense attorney to suggest that what both men said was scripted. 
 
 MORE: Community shocked as Sarah Stern's friends charged in killing 
 
 "Both boys seem to be talking about something that didn't happen,'' Moriarty said. "They're talking about something that was scripted.'' 
 
 Buy Photo Liam McAtasney leaves Judge David F. Bauman’s courtroom in Freehold after his detention hearing in the Sarah Stern murder case. Tuesday, February 14, 2017. (Photo: THOMAS P. COSTELLO) 
 
 Moriarty said the videotaped conversation McAtasney had with A.C. took place in a car and lasted 15 to 20 minutes. 
 
 "Talk is cheap,'' Moriarty said. 
 
 He described what was said as "locker-room talk,'' but added, "it's a little more serious.'' 
 
 He said the conversation was "like they're talking about going to dinner.'' 
 
 The defense attorney professed his client's innocence. 
 
 McAtasney has "indicated to me that whatever was said, he had nothing to do with this. He wouldn't hurt anyone, and he didn't hurt her,'' Moriarty said. 
 
 MORE: 'No body' cases can be proved, experts say 
 
 Moriarty said neighbors reported that Stern appeared suicidal on the day authorities say she was murdered, Moriarty said. She was depressed and giving away the belongings of her deceased mother, who died several years earlier, he said. 
 
 Doyle in court said McAtasney has lied to police about his involvement in Stern's murder and took part in searching for the missing woman to further cover up what he did. The assistant prosecutor said McAtasney even exaggerated his friendship with Stern to take the focus of the investigation off of him. 
 
 CLOSE An anonymous tipster called 911 to report Sarah Stern’s abandoned car at the apex of the Route 35 bridge between Neptune and Belmar. The caller reported that he did not see anyone in the car. 
 
 Authorities allege the murder took place in Stern's home on Dec. 2, some eight hours before her car was found unattended, atop the Route 35 bridge over the Shark River in Belmar. McAtasney and Taylor, 19, of Neptune were arrested last month. 
 
 McAtasney is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, disturbing human remains, conspiring to disturb human remains and hindering apprehension. 
 
 At a hearing last week, Doyle said Taylor admitted moving Stern's body at McAtasney's behest and later helping him throw it off the bridge. Taylor is charged with disturbing human remains, conspiring to disturb human remains, and obstruction of justice. 
 
 
 
 Bauman last week ordered Taylor held without bail, pending trial, but a hearing to reconsider that decision is scheduled for Thursday. 
 
 Contributing: Staff writers Alex Gecan and Andrew Ford. 
 
 Kathleen Hopkins: 732-643-4202; Khopkins@app.com 
 
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 FREEHOLD -- A former classmate told a friend he strangled Sarah Stern with such force that he lifted her off the ground and then watched for 30 minutes as she died in her home, prosecutors told a judge Tuesday morning. 
 
 Liam McAtasney, 19, actually watched the clock as Sarah Stern took her last breaths, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Meghan Doyle told Superior Court Judge David Bauman during a detention hearing. 
 
 "He knew exactly how long it was because he chose to time it," Doyle said. 
 
 The new revelation in the killing of Sarah Stern, whose body has not been recovered, came as prosecutors succeeded in convincing Bauman that McAtasney, of Neptune City, should not be released from jail while his case is pending. 
 
 McAtasney gave the description of the killing to a friend, who secretly videotaped a meeting between the two in which McAtasney provided details of the strangulation, Doyle said. 
 
 McAtasney's attorney, Charles Moriarty, did not fight the prosecution's attempt to keep his client behind bars, but after court, he insisted McAtasney is innocent. 
 
 "He didn't hurt her and wouldn't hurt her," Moriarty said. 
 
 Authorities on Feb. 2 charged McAtasney and his friend Preston Taylor, also 19, in the Dec. 2 disappearance and death of Stern, their 19-year-old friend who grew up with them in Neptune City. 
 
 After the hearing, McAtasney's attorney denied his client played a role in Stern's death, instead suggesting the defense's strategy may be to show Stern was recently troubled and may have taken her own life or even that she is still alive. 
 
 "I hope for her family that the young woman is still alive," he said. 
 
 He said information he received indicated that Stern "was depressed" and "had some problems." On the day she disappeared, he said, she handed out "all her mother's personal possessions" to friends and relatives. 
 
 Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni would not comment on Moriarty's suggestions. 
 
 Doyle said McAtasney told the friend that while strangling Stern with his hands, he lifted her off the ground and then left her body on the floor while he watched her die. 
 
 She said he demonstrated to the friend how he lifted her into the air and that he planned for weeks to rob her. 
 
 In arguing for McAtasney's continued incarceration, Doyle said he tried to cover up the killing and his role in it. 
 
 "For the two months after that, this defendant spent the entire time calculating every one of his moves to continue to cover up the murder and death of Sarah Stern," she said. 
 
 She said McAtasney lied to police in a December interview with them and that he participated in a search with Stern's family and friends. 
 
 "He thought that that would alleviate his guilt," she said. 
 
 She said he also mischaracterized his relationship with Stern to authorities. 
 
 "He pretended to make their friendship more than it was so people would not focus on him as a suspect," Doyle said. 
 
 Moriarty said he didn't fight for McAtasney's release on Tuesday in part because he had only recently received evidence from the prosecutor's office. 
 
 He called into question the reliability of the video recording between his client and the witness and Taylor's statement to investigators. He said they sounded more "scripted" than a supposed recollection of events. 
 
 "The videos are disturbing because both boys are talking about something that didn't happen," Moriarty said of McAtasney and the witness. "It's unusual, people talking like this, like they're talking about going to dinner." 
 
 He called it "lockerroom talk." 
 
 He wouldn't say under what circumstances the recording was made with the witness but said it took place in a car. Bauman had previously noted that the recording was made on Jan. 31. 
 
 Stern's car was found on the Route 35 bridge over the Shark River in Belmar early Dec. 3, sparking a search later that day of the river. 
 
 Prosecutors contend McAtasney strangled Stern in her home before robbing her of thousands of dollars. They say he left her there for eight hours before he and Taylor returned to the house to retrieve her body and dump it over the side of the bridge. 
 
 McAtasney is charged with murder, felony murder, robbery, conspiracy, disposal of human remains and hindering apprehension. 
 
 Taylor is charged with conspiracy, disposal of human remains and hindering apprehension. 
 
 On Feb. 7, Bauman ordered Taylor to remain behind bars until his trial. 
 
 During Taylor's detention hearing, prosecutors alleged that McAtasney planned for six months to rob and kill Stern and that he ordered Taylor to go to Stern's home after the robbery and remove her body from the house. 
 
 Taylor hid Stern's body under a bush at her house before McAtasney and Taylor retrieved it, prosecutors said. Followed by Taylor in his own car, McAtasney drove her body in Stern's car to the Route 35 bridge in Belmar where they tossed her into the Shark River, prosecutors have said. The search for Stern spanned months after her car was found abandoned. 
 
 Investigators recovered two safes, one in Shark River Park and one in Sandy Hook, containing cash and articles of Stern's clothing, prosecutors said. Taylor is the one who led detectives to the two safes, authorities said. 
 
 Prosecutors still have not said what led detectives to suspect McAtasney and Taylor were behind Stern's disappearance. The two grew up with Stern and went to Neptune High School with her. Taylor and Stern went to junior prom together. 
 
 Stern was considered a missing person until the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office announced it had made a break in the case and arrested McAtasney and Taylor. 
 
 The search for her body has been suspended since last week because of weather and water conditions. 
 
 MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
– The New Jersey 19-year-old accused of murdering a childhood friend confessed to planning the robbery that led to Sarah Stern's murder for weeks, police say. Police say Liam McAtasney also admitted, while talking with a friend who secretly recorded the conversation, that he strangled 19-year-old Sarah Stern during the planned robbery and watched her die for 30 minutes. "He knew exactly how long it was because he chose to time it," said a prosecutor, per NJ.com. The revelations came during a hearing Tuesday at which McAtasney was ordered held without bail as he awaits trial, the Asbury Park Press reports. During the same conversation, McAtasney also said he and a friend dumped Stern's body in the Shark River. That friend, Preston Taylor, another childhood friend of Stern's who once took her to junior prom, is facing charges including disturbing human remains. McAtasney's attorney downplayed the recorded conversation as "locker-room talk," and says that his client has "indicated to me that whatever was said, he had nothing to do with this. He wouldn't hurt anyone, and he didn't hurt her." The lawyer adds that what McAtasney says in the recording is nearly identical to what Taylor told police, which makes him think the teens made the story up: "Both boys seem to be talking about something that didn't happen. They're talking about something that was scripted." He says Stern, whose car was found abandoned in December but whose body has not been found, could still be alive, but also adds that neighbors say she seemed suicidal on the day prosecutors believe she was murdered. She was reportedly giving away things that had belonged to her mom, who died several years ago. She "had some problems," he said.