It doesn’t get easier — Sarah Stern’s father ‘hurts deep inside’

BELMAR — It's not true that losing a child gets easier over time, Sarah Stern's father, Michael, says.

It was a year ago last December police found the car that belonged to 19-year-old Sarah Stern's grandmother parked on the Route 35 bridge between Neptune City and Belmar. Despite extensive searches of the Manasquan River below and up and down the coast line, her body was never recovered.

"People say it gets easier, but as time goes by it gets more difficult for me," Michael Stern told New Jersey 101.5. "I just find it hard to understand everything that happened and how things are going to play out. It's a very heartbreaking experience."

The loss of his daughter "hurts deep inside," Stern said.

Monmouth County Prosector Christopher Gramiccioni has Sarah Stern’s classmates, Liam McAtasney and Preston Taylor, threw the girl’s body off the Route 35 bridge. McAtasney is accused of Sarah Stern's murder itself. Both participated in the searches in the weeks before their arrest in February.

Taylor accepted a deal and pleaded guilty to seven counts related to Stern’s robbery and death. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a felony murder charge, and he will tesfify against McAtasney. A trial date has yet to be set for McAtasney.

Sarah Stern's father marked the anniversary by placing flowers on a small memorial on the bridge with some of her cousins. He also wrote on the Facebook page created in her memory.

"My Dear Sarah Lee it has been one year since you left us," he wrote. "Your beautiful smile is always with me. Your spirit will live on forever. At times I just can't hide the pain in my heart. I miss you so very much. Love, Dad."

Michael Stern misses his daughter's ability to "go with the flow."

"She liked to joke around with things and just have a good time, and be a little goofy at times too," he said. "She was a good kid and her spirit is missing now. I have a lot of good memories over 19 years but I expected to have another 20 or 30 years of memories. ... They just stopped last year.

"It's hard to imagine a year later we're still waiting for a trial to begin even though we've had some confessions."

But final motions in McAtasney's trial are due by Dec. 13, which Michael Stern hopes will lead to a trail date being set. He is frustrated with, but not angry about the speed at which the case has been handled.

"I've seen other cases come and go after after Sarah. It's very difficult when you have to wait and wait and continue to wait," he said." Postponements happen, but there's not much you can do. You just have to understand what's going in the court system whether it's the defense, the prosecutor, the judges, the court scheduling. There's a lot of things that go on but it doesn't make it any easier for me or the family.

Michael Stern is dealing with another tragedy: the loss of his mother just before Thanksgiving. It was her car that his daughter was driving when she was killed, prosecutor's say. Sarah Stern helped with her grandmother's care over the years.

"We're just trying to keep Sarah's spirit and name other there so people don't forget about and what a great person she was and how artistic and creative she was too," Stern said.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com.