A New Jersey filmmaker who helped police secure a confession from his former friend who killed Sarah Stern said he didn’t offer to help for the recognition.
“I didn’t do it for fame and notoriety… I was doing it to bring closure to a family,” Anthony Curry, 21, said in an interview with ABC News’ 20/20.
On Tuesday, a Monmouth County jury found Liam McAtasney, 21, guilty of first-degree murder. Other charges include robbery and desecrating human remains.

19-year-old Liam McAtasney prime suspect in the disappearance of Sarah Stern, allegedly murdered the 19-year-old woman during  a robbery, faces charges of  first-degree felony murder and first-degree robbery

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Monmouth County assistant prosecutor Meghan Doyle told “20/20” Curry is a hero and the reason they were able to take the case to court.
McAtasney is said to have strangled Stern, stolen $10,000 that has belonged to her mother who died of cancer in 2013, and recruited his former roommate, Preston Taylor, to help throw her body off a bridge.
Prosecutors claimed in court that McAtasney had planned Stern’s murder for six months.

Stern, 19, went missing in December 2016. Although police found her car abandoned near a bridge with the keys still in it, her body was never found.

McAtasney allegedly told his filmmaking friend, Curry, on Thanksgiving 2016 that he had an idea for a movie.
“I’m a filmmaker. He used to tell me ideas all the time about films I should make and all that stuff,” Curry told 20/20. “And he told me about this idea he had to kill this girl … that he was going to strangle her and throw her over the bridge with his friend.”
Curry had no reason to believe it wasn’t just a movie plot until he saw the news of Stern’s disappearance on social media and got messages from McAtasney saying he needed to tell him something.
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At one point, McAtasney even asked Curry on Snapchat if the police had questioned him about Stern.
After Curry went to police with the details of their conversation on Thanksgiving, he was recruited by Curry to participate in a sting operation to coerce a taped confession by McAtasney.
When Curry agreed, police set up audio and video recording devices and he met up with McAtasney who told him everything.

Sarah Stern went missing from her home in early December. Her car has been recovered but her body has not been found. Two men have been arrested in connection with he alleged death

After Curry went to police with the details of their conversation on Thanksgiving, he was recruited by Curry to participate in a sting operation to coerce a taped confession by McAtasney.
When Curry agreed, police set up audio and video recording devices and he met up with McAtasney who told him everything.
“He wanted to tell me. I think he wanted to get it off his chest. For some reason he trusted me,” Curry told 20/20. “He was happy to see me. It’s like seeing an old friend, but he was different, I don’t know. It was like somebody I never met before. It was almost like meeting a brand-new person. It was a weird, strange. He told me I was the only person in this world that knew besides Preston (Taylor).”
The tape was presented as evidence during McAtasney’s trial.
“The worst part of it is I thought I was walking out (with) $50,000 to $100,000 in my pocket,” McAtasney said in the tape. “She had one safe that she took money out (of), and she only had $10,000.”
McAtasney’s attorney argued in court that the confession the man thought he was auditioning for a movie. Curry told 20/20 said he has worked in film for years and knows the “difference between reality and fiction, and that’s reality.”
Taylor, who assisted in dumping the body, testified against McAtasney and pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, second-degree conspiracy to commit robbery and second-degree disturbing or desecrating human remains.
Both men are expected to be sentenced in May.