If you caught 20/20 this past weekend, they featured the story of Sarah Stern’s murder. The story was surreal to watch. You get to witness the accused and convicted killer talk in open-frankness about his deeds. It’s something you rarely get to see. I warn you, it’s stunning and horrific at the same time.

Liam McAtasney, the man who killed Sarah, comes across as emotionally void as you can get. He is haunting to the core. But I also get the sense he was highly intelligent.

Intelligent you say? Then how come he got caught? If he was that smart, he wouldn’t have been caught!

Well, actually, that isn’t necessarily true.

Intelligence is no match for arrogance. Arrogance will always trip even the most intelligent people. People like McAtasney lie and successfully manipulate people so much and so often that they start to feel invincible. They can do and get away with so many things–they start to feel supremely intelligent and smarter than everyone around them. They do bolder and bolder things until they commit these heinous crimes convinced no one will be the wiser. I see McAtasney as this type of person.

The other part of the story I found fascinating was why McAtasney went to his filmmaker friend. Do you have a sense of why he did that?

Was it guilt plaguing him? Was he itching to get this crime off of his chest?

I would argue, no, that is not why he went to his friend. He didn’t have an ounce of regret or remorse–not in the slightest.

Watching McAtasney confess, it was clear to me that it wasn’t enough that he killed sweet Sarah and got her money–that didn’t fulfill his needs. No, he needed to be given attention for his supreme intellect. He wanted to be seen as the outrageously smart, intelligent man he saw himself as, and be admired for it. He wanted to impress his friend with how clever he was–how he managed to do this most incredible feat and get away with it! He smiles multiple times talking to his friend as he confesses to his disgusting murder.

Pretty twisted, of course, but thank god he had that need to do this. His arrogance tripped him! Without the cooperation of his friend who worked with the police to capture his twisted thoughts, McAtasney may have gotten away with his crime.

For me, McAtasney and his roommate were full of hot spots in every interview.