Juju Chang

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It's January 2019, more than two years since Sarah Stern's car was found abandoned on the Belmar Bridge.

Liam McIntasney is now standing trial on seven charges, including first-degree murder, robbery, and desecrating human remains.

He could face life in prison if he's convicted.

The wood-paneled courtroom fits a little over 50 people, and today it's packed.

Michael Stern and Sarah's friends and family are on one side, the McIntasney family on the other.

Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Megan Doyle takes the floor to give the state's opening statement.

Doyle walks the court through the kind of evidence they should expect to see over the next few weeks of trial, including testimony from two close friends of Liam.

One, she claims, helped Liam plan Sarah's murder.

The other, she says, helped police record Liam describing how he did it.

But Liam's attorney, Carlos Diaz-Cobo, urges the jury to be skeptical, to question the evidence, and just how little of it, he argues, there actually is.

He says there isn't enough to show Liam had anything to do with his 19-year-old friend Sarah's disappearance.

Like the lack of physical evidence, he says if Sarah was harmed, why was nothing found at her house or in her car?

No blood, no urine, no fingerprints.

The defense argues there isn't enough evidence to support the testimony the court will hear from the prosecution's key witnesses.

So Diaz-Cobo says that what the jury should expect to hear from these witnesses are lies.

Sarah's case has been a dark cloud over her family and friends, especially her father, Michael.

The trial will bring to light new details about the investigation that at this point have never been heard.