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1:01

In 2009, light snow

1:03

littered the tree-lined streets of Manhattan

1:06

and just a few minutes away from Central Park,

1:09

a 47-year-old woman named Shelly

1:11

Daniszewski-Kovlin had just finished

1:13

celebrating Christmas with her two kids

1:16

at apartment 515 at 155 West 68th Street on the Upper West Side

1:18

in New York. Like

1:23

most other families in Manhattan, Shelly

1:25

and her family were now getting ready to celebrate

1:27

New Year's Eve. But unfortunately,

1:30

Shelly wouldn't get to see the new year as

1:32

on December 31st, 2009, she

1:35

was found dead in her bathtub at the Dorchester

1:38

Tower apartment building. The victim

1:40

was found by her 9-year-old daughter lying

1:43

face down in a pool of bloody water. After

1:46

the detectives arrived on the scene, they carried

1:48

out their initial investigation and

1:50

at the end of it all, everything clearly

1:53

pointed to an accident being the apparent

1:55

cause of the death. Having come

1:57

to that conclusion, the case was quickly

1:59

wrapped up. up and the victim was soon buried.

2:02

However, even after the burial of the

2:04

victim, a few detectives still

2:06

believed that there was something more to the case

2:08

than what met the eye. Numerous

2:10

unanswered questions already surrounded

2:13

the victim's death, but there was one burning

2:15

question on the detectives' minds. As

2:18

they all asked themselves, why was

2:20

a woman who had just been instructed not

2:22

to get her hair wet by her hairdresser

2:24

found dead in the bathtub? It

2:26

would take these detectives a decade-long

2:28

investigation, but they would eventually

2:31

uncover the truth about what had happened

2:33

and realize that it wasn't an accident.

2:36

This is Monsters.

3:01

The case begins in 1998 at

3:04

a Jewish singles party in a bar called

3:06

Le Bar Bat. This bar was located

3:08

in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.

3:11

It was February at the time and

3:13

then 36-year-old Shelly Danishefsky

3:15

was attending the Jewish singles party.

3:18

She was a marketing graduate who had built a successful

3:21

career for herself. She had a great

3:23

job and a nice apartment, all that

3:25

was missing for the successful businesswoman

3:27

was the perfect man. Luckily for Shelly,

3:30

she'd soon lay eyes on the man of her dreams,

3:33

and it was then 25-year-old Roderick

3:35

Kovalan. For the couple, it was

3:37

more than love at first sight. A few

3:40

hours after they met, Shelly called her

3:42

sister Eve to tell her she was now on her

3:44

way to Las Vegas because she wanted to marry

3:46

Rod. Eve managed to talk

3:48

her sister out of the impulsive decision,

3:51

but the fairy tale love the couple felt

3:53

for each other grew overnight, and just

3:55

a few weeks after that, they were engaged.

3:58

The 11-year age difference didn't matter

4:00

to either of them as they were already deeply

4:02

smitten.

4:03

Rod wanted his parents to meet Shelly

4:06

and Shelly constantly told her sister how

4:08

amazing Rod was. It wasn't

4:10

long before they finally did get married

4:12

as the pair tied the knot in September of 1998.

4:16

Two years after their wedding, the couple

4:18

had their first child, a girl named Anna.

4:21

Things went perfectly for their little family at first

4:23

as the couple were still very much inseparable

4:26

during the early years of their marriage. Shelly

4:29

had grown up in a very traditional Orthodox

4:31

household so she was a devout woman of

4:33

the Jewish faith. Their shared Jewish

4:35

religion coupled with Shelly's religious

4:37

upbringing led the family to be very active

4:40

within the Jewish community and at their

4:42

local synagogue while they raised Anna.

4:45

Rod and Shelly were very happy with each

4:47

other for the first few years but as the

4:49

honeymoon period slowly passed,

4:51

the couple soon realized that they were very

4:53

different people. Shelly was a

4:55

very hard working woman. She worked

4:58

at UBS as a senior vice president

5:00

for private wealth management while

5:02

Rod on the other hand was a failed stockbroker.

5:06

Instead of chasing a fruitful career, Rod

5:08

decided to live off his wife's money as he

5:11

put little to no effort into finding employment.

5:14

Even when Rod managed to get a job, he

5:16

struggled to keep it for long. He sometimes

5:18

tried his luck in a couple of financial

5:21

ventures that Shelly funded with her own money

5:23

but none of them ever came to fruition.

5:26

Shelly was willing to overlook all that

5:28

as she still loved Rod but with all the

5:30

free time on his hands, she soon

5:32

noticed her husband had developed an obsessive

5:35

passion for backgammon gambling.

5:37

Rod believed he was a pro backgammon

5:40

player and after winning a few games, he

5:42

decided to make a career out of it. He

5:44

usually took long trips around the country

5:46

for his backgammon tournaments. When

5:49

Rod wasn't traveling for backgammon,

5:51

he would spend hours on end playing the

5:53

game online. He loved the game

5:55

so much that he would often stay up all night

5:57

just so he could compete in various tournaments.

5:59

online.

6:01

Rod's backgammon obsession came

6:03

with a slew of other issues. As

6:05

when Rod wasn't playing the game, he was spending

6:07

his time incessantly chasing other women

6:10

online. He would often look for women

6:12

on dating sites and social media platforms

6:15

as Rod once contacted over 40 women on

6:17

Facebook in a single day. Most

6:20

of the women Rod chased online were the

6:22

ones he met during his tournament trips or

6:24

while playing backgammon online. In

6:26

addition to that, Rod would also go

6:29

after the women he met at the New York City

6:31

backgammon group.

6:32

At this point, it seemed like Rod loved

6:34

the game more than he loved Shelly and even

6:37

though everyone around him was against it, Rod

6:39

showed no signs of stopping. Things

6:42

got a bit unbearable for Shelly during

6:44

that time as in addition to his backgammon

6:46

obsession, Rod started having sudden

6:48

outbursts of anger which led Shelly

6:50

to believe he was bipolar. To

6:53

make matters worse, Shelly, who was

6:55

pregnant with twins at the time, gave

6:57

birth prematurely and she unfortunately

6:59

lost both babies as one died

7:01

in the womb while the other died after birth.

7:04

Shelly was then told that she wouldn't be able to

7:06

conceive again, so in 2006,

7:09

the couple had to resort to an egg donor to

7:11

have their second child, a boy named

7:14

Miles. Rod never let Shelly

7:16

forget that they had to use an egg donor to

7:18

get their son and he would later go as

7:20

far as telling the child that Shelly wasn't

7:22

his biological mother. By

7:25

the time their 10th anniversary arrived,

7:27

the couple's marriage was already damaged

7:29

beyond repair, but Rod, who claimed

7:32

he still loved Shelly, decided to

7:34

put the final nail in the coffin by asking

7:36

her for an open marriage. Shelly

7:38

was completely disgusted by Rod's proposition

7:41

so she immediately rejected it, but

7:43

Rod didn't care as he continued his streak

7:45

of infidelity. He'd decided to take

7:48

things up a notch as he joined JDate,

7:50

a Jewish dating service under the fake

7:52

name James Early. If you're

7:54

trying

7:54

to attract women, I don't know why you'd pick

7:57

the name Early.

7:58

Rod would meet countless women. the

10:00

transition easier for the children,

10:02

and they both moved on with their lives. It

10:05

didn't take long for Shelly to pick herself up

10:07

as she continued with her successful career

10:09

at UBS. She also started

10:12

dipping her toe into the dating pool again

10:14

as she joined the JDate website and

10:16

met new suitors. Shelly

10:18

was thriving in both her personal and professional

10:21

lives, but Rod, on the other hand, wasn't

10:24

doing so well. Without his wife

10:26

funding his backgammon gambling and his

10:28

other frivolous passions, Rod

10:30

knew it was only a matter of time before he

10:32

wouldn't be able to keep up with his lifestyle.

10:35

It also didn't sit right with him that his ex-wife

10:38

was moving on quickly. Angered

10:40

that Shelly was flourishing post-divorce

10:42

and doing so well without him, Rod

10:44

decided to make Shelly's life a living

10:47

hell. He would often break into

10:49

her apartment every time she wasn't home

10:51

and he would snoop around on her phone. Rod

10:54

also placed a form of spyware

10:56

called a keystroke logger on Shelly's

10:58

computer that allowed him to monitor all

11:00

her emails and messages. He

11:03

also set up a couple of cameras in the hallway

11:05

so he could see when Shelly arrived and

11:07

left her apartment. The constant

11:09

invasion of her private life eventually

11:11

got to Shelly as she would later complain

11:13

to her closest friends that she felt like Rod

11:16

was stalking her and watching her every move.

11:18

Because he was.

11:21

Rod's harassment only went up from there

11:23

as he tried to sabotage her job at UBS

11:25

by complaining to John Alex, Shelly's

11:28

boss. Rod made outrageous

11:30

claims as he told John that Shelly was using

11:33

drugs and that she was also draining

11:35

their joint checking account and ruining

11:37

him financially. John knew

11:39

these were all lies as Shelly had recently

11:41

passed a drug screening test and after

11:44

reviewing the joint checking account he saw

11:46

that Shelly had only taken out $800 and Rod, who

11:49

claimed she was draining the joint account,

11:51

had withdrawn $7200. With his failed attempt to discredit

11:56

Shelly at her job, Rod decided

11:58

to do something even more sinister. her. On

12:00

July 8, 2009, Rod,

12:03

who had unrestricted visitation access,

12:06

took the kids from their mother's apartment, but

12:08

when Rod was supposed to return the children

12:10

at 8 pm that night, he was nowhere

12:13

to be found. A distraught Shelley

12:15

frantically called and texted Rod, but

12:17

he didn't answer, so with no other option,

12:20

she decided to call the cops. Officer

12:23

Kristalee Vargas arrived at Shelley's apartment

12:25

that night to see her sobbing uncontrollably.

12:28

Officer Vargas later recalled

12:30

the incident, saying, quote, She threw

12:32

herself into my arms, hugging me, and

12:34

began to weep uncontrollably. She was

12:37

pale and I remember her staring at me

12:39

and just crying and shaking. She

12:41

was terrified and kept saying, oh my god,

12:43

I'm so scared, I'm so scared. As

12:46

Shelley was losing her mind wondering where

12:48

her kids were, Rod had taken their

12:51

2-year-old son to Columbia Presbyterian

12:53

Hospital to report his mother for sexual

12:56

abuse. Rod claimed Miles

12:58

had told him that his mother had touched him inappropriately

13:01

on his genitals and bottom. These

13:04

bizarre claims were all lies, as

13:06

Rod had spent the last few hours coaching

13:08

his son to say those horrible things.

13:11

Luckily, the doctors and administration

13:13

for child services saw through the horrid

13:15

scheme as they ultimately determined the abuse

13:18

allegations were false. An

13:20

ACS employee interviewed Miles

13:22

and Rod at the hospital and after finding

13:24

no evidence of sexual abuse, she

13:27

returned the children to their mother the next

13:29

morning at around 5.30am. Rod

13:32

stuck with his fabricated story even

13:34

after the doctors and the ACS agents

13:37

said it was false, and he later had an

13:39

interview with the NYPD's Special

13:41

Victims Unit to follow up on the made-up

13:43

abuse case against Shelley. The

13:46

interview took place on July 13th, 2009

13:49

at the Manhattan Child Advocacy Center

13:51

office at around 4.45pm. He was interviewed by

13:55

Detective Shirley Figueroa. She

13:57

later recalled the interview with Rod's saying,

14:00

quote, The complaint had been made against

14:02

Shelly Covlin by her ex-husband,

14:04

Mr. Rod Covlin, who claimed

14:06

he had been told by his son of an impropriety

14:09

committed against him by his mother. During

14:11

the interview, Mr. Covlin looked to be in

14:13

a rush as he told me he had another appointment

14:16

in Westchester County. I apologized

14:18

to Mr. Covlin for any inconvenience

14:20

and we proceeded to discuss Mr. Covlin's

14:23

family life. Mr. Covlin

14:25

said that he was separating from his wife

14:27

and that there had been instances of violence

14:29

committed by Shelly Daniszewski Covlin

14:32

against him. He also said he believed

14:34

his wife was taking his prescription

14:36

medication. Mr. Covlin

14:38

then acknowledged that he had cheated on his wife

14:41

before saying he believed his wife was

14:43

already going to leave him. I

14:45

attempted to cut Mr. Covlin off and focus

14:47

his attention on the allegations concerning

14:50

his son. Mr. Covlin then proceeded

14:52

to discuss the allegations supposedly

14:54

by his son. The interview with

14:57

Mr. Covlin lasted approximately 40 minutes.

15:00

After our meeting, I thanked Mr. Covlin

15:02

for coming in and he left the office.

15:05

At the end of the investigation, Detective

15:07

Figueroa came to the same conclusion

15:09

as the doctors and the ACS agents.

15:12

There was absolutely no evidence that Miles

15:14

had been abused by his mother, so the case

15:16

was closed. Lucky Land Casino

15:19

asking people what's the weirdest place you've

15:21

gotten lucky.

15:22

Lucky? In line at the deli, I guess?

15:24

In my dentist's office. More than once,

15:27

actually. Do I have to say?

15:28

Yes, you do. In the car before

15:30

my kids' PTA meeting? Really? Yes!

15:34

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15:36

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15:37

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See website for details. Rod's costly lie ended up backfiring

15:51

on him as the stunt outraged the family

15:53

court judge who was handling the couple's divorce

15:55

case. The judge restricted Rod's

15:58

visitation privileges before telling the court that Rod was a good telling

16:00

him that all his visits with the children

16:02

had to be supervised from now on. She

16:05

then ordered the now unemployed Rod,

16:07

who had just been fired from his last job

16:09

for constantly playing online backgammon

16:11

at work and for taking a lot of time off

16:14

following the backgammon tour, to turn

16:16

over $425 in child support to Shelley. Rod's

16:20

plans had been foiled again and things got

16:22

even worse for him in the following months

16:24

as the couple's custody and divorce battle

16:27

slowly turned into a resentful and spiteful

16:30

fight. Rod, who had lost another job at a

16:32

financial consulting firm called Pragma

16:35

Securities, told the family court

16:37

judge that he could no longer afford to pay

16:39

child support. Due to his inability

16:42

to pay, the judge forbade him from spending

16:44

money to attend backgammon tournaments.

16:47

Rod's hatred for Shelley grew to greater

16:49

heights after he had been barred from using money

16:52

to attend his beloved backgammon tournaments.

16:55

This soon got violent as during an argument

16:57

between the couple that week, Rod choked

17:00

Shelley by putting his arm around her neck while

17:02

screaming, quote, I'll fucking kill you.

17:05

After the violent dispute, an extremely

17:07

terrified Shelley quickly took the necessary

17:10

steps to completely remove Rod from

17:12

her life. She started by changing

17:14

the locks on her apartment door to keep Rod

17:17

out of her house before obtaining an order

17:19

of protection in favor of her and her kids.

17:22

Then on December 29,

17:25

2009, Shelley took the final step that would entirely

17:27

cut her ex-husband from her life. She

17:29

emailed her trust and estate attorney Lance

17:32

Meyer that morning with a plan to remove

17:34

Rod's name from her will. The

17:36

pair then made plans to cut him out of the will

17:38

on December 31. After

17:40

the meeting was set, Shelley spent December 30

17:43

with her hairdresser. The woman

17:45

came to Shelley's apartment to give her a keratin

17:48

hair treatment that straightens hair. She

17:51

then advised Shelley to keep her hair away from water

17:53

for at least 72 hours, as the

17:56

treatment would come undone if she wet her hair

17:58

over the next few days. After

18:00

that, the kids came home and Shelly left

18:02

them with the babysitter as she was going on

18:04

a date with a man she'd met on JDate.

18:07

When the date was over, Shelly made her way

18:09

back home and she got to her apartment by

18:12

7.51pm. She then

18:14

spent her evening playing with the children before

18:16

putting them to bed. Shelly then logged

18:19

onto her JDate profile at

18:21

10.13pm and after spending a few minutes

18:23

online she logged off of the website.

18:26

As she went to bed that night, she anxiously

18:28

looked forward to closing the chapter on her

18:31

ex-husband at her meeting tomorrow and

18:33

she couldn't wait to celebrate New Year's Eve

18:35

with her children. It was

18:38

7am on New Year's Eve and 9 year old

18:40

Anna had just woken up. She went

18:42

to her mother's room to wake her up but she

18:44

didn't see her there. The little girl

18:46

made her way to the bathroom and after opening

18:49

the door she'd screamed as she had

18:51

just found her mother laying face down in

18:53

the bathtub filled with blood stained water.

18:56

The girl immediately called her father and he

18:58

rushed to the scene. After his

19:00

daughter let him into the apartment, Rod

19:02

removed Shelly from the tub. He

19:05

then called 911 before performing

19:07

CPR on her motionless body

19:09

and it didn't take long for the first responders

19:12

to show up on the scene. Officer

19:14

William Ervin was one of the first officers

19:16

to arrive and he later recalled the incident

19:19

saying, quote, I was the driver on

19:21

duty on December 31st 2009 with

19:24

Officer Pagano on uniformed patrol.

19:27

At approximately 7.15am

19:29

we received a radio communication

19:31

that a female needed CPR at 155 West

19:35

68th Street in apartment 515. When

19:38

I arrived at the scene I was told by

19:40

EMS workers that the deceased was in

19:42

the rear bathroom of the apartment. I

19:44

proceeded to look in the bathroom and I saw

19:46

the deceased who appeared to be in rigor mortis

19:49

covered with a blanket and a towel. I

19:51

noticed that the bathtub water was brown

19:54

from being mixed with blood. Also

19:56

present in the apartment was Mr. Roderick

19:58

Kovlin who identified

19:59

himself to me as the deceased's husband.

20:03

Anna Kovalin was in the living room of the

20:05

apartment, but I did not see Mr. Kovalin's

20:07

son. I asked Mr. Kovalin

20:09

what happened because he had been the first adult

20:11

to have contact with the deceased's body.

20:14

I was then informed that the deceased's daughter

20:16

discovered the body of her mother in the bathtub.

20:19

Anna called her father, Mr. Kovalin, who

20:22

was let into the apartment by Anna. At

20:24

the time, Mr. Kovalin lived across

20:26

the hall in apartment 510. After

20:29

he got into the apartment, Mr. Kovalin

20:31

removed the body from the bathtub and tried

20:33

to perform CPR. When that

20:36

didn't work, he placed the children in one of

20:38

the bedrooms and called 911. Mr.

20:40

Kovalin also said that the body was cold,

20:43

so he covered it with a blanket. During

20:45

our interaction, I noticed Mr. Kovalin

20:47

was stone-faced, his statements were

20:50

short, and he did not maintain eye contact.

20:52

Detectives arrived at the scene

20:55

shortly after Rod had talked to Officer

20:57

Irwin. The detectives at the apartment

20:59

were Detective Karl Rohit-Armel and

21:01

Detective Robert Mooney. They were escorted

21:04

to the bathroom where the deceased was found.

21:06

Rod then told the detectives that he believed

21:09

Shelley accidentally slipped and fell

21:11

while taking a bath in the early morning hours.

21:14

He then pointed out a cabinet above the bathtub

21:16

that was partially pulled off its hinges,

21:19

and he said she probably held onto it for

21:21

support before falling and hitting the

21:23

back of her head.

21:24

It seemed like the only plausible explanation

21:27

at the time and Detective Rohit-Armel recalled

21:29

the incident saying, quote, There was

21:31

water on the floor and she had some blood

21:34

running from the back of her head. And then

21:36

there was a set of cabinets above with

21:38

doors and hinges, which was partially

21:40

pulled off. It really looked like

21:42

she may have tried to grab the shelf as she was

21:45

falling. Nothing was confirmed

21:47

yet, but it looked like an unfortunate accident

21:49

was the reason for the tragedy that happened

21:52

that morning. With the case essentially

21:54

solved, the detectives turned their attention

21:57

to the grieving family. They asked

21:59

to speak to Anne. who found her, and Rod,

22:01

to ask them a few more questions. One

22:04

of the last officers to arrive on the

22:06

scene was Sergeant Yadeland Sanchez

22:08

and she recalled the incident saying, quote,

22:11

I was on duty on December 31,

22:14

2009, driving for Sergeant Mary O'Donnell when

22:16

we received a call concerning a dead body

22:18

at 155 West 68th Street. I

22:22

spoke with Mr. Kovland and he repeated

22:24

the same version of events that he had told the

22:26

other officers and detectives. Mr.

22:29

Kovland then hugged me stating that he was

22:31

very upset and could not believe what was

22:33

happening. I and Sergeant O'Donnell

22:35

felt sorry for Mr. Kovland and he

22:38

was not asked any further questions.

22:40

After all the necessary questions

22:42

had been asked and their initial investigation

22:45

was concluded, the officers and detectives

22:47

left and Shelley's family was informed

22:50

of her death. That same night,

22:52

Detective Roa Darmel went over the details

22:54

of the crime scene and while he believed

22:56

Shelley's death could have been an accident,

22:59

a lot of things he saw at the crime scene that

23:01

morning just didn't sit right with him. For

23:04

starters, the position of the body and

23:06

the way the cabinet door was pulled down didn't

23:08

really align with the slip and fall story

23:10

that he'd been told. The detective

23:13

also remembered the victim had bright red

23:15

scratch marks and bruises on her face,

23:17

lips, and right arm and he wondered how she

23:20

could have gotten those marks from falling in

23:22

the tub. In addition to that,

23:24

the detective had just uncovered new information

23:27

that detailed Shelley's activities the

23:29

day before her death. He found out

23:31

about the keratin treatment Shelley had recently

23:33

done and he asked himself what she was doing

23:36

in a bathtub filled with water after

23:38

being told not to get her hair wet. This

23:40

question was the start of it all as Detective

23:43

Roa Darmel wondered if the victim really

23:45

fell in the bathtub or if she had been placed

23:47

there by somebody else. Roa

23:50

claimed to have pulled Shelley out of the bloodstained

23:52

water, but his shirt was clean and dry

23:54

when the first officers arrived, thus

23:57

contradicting his own statements. The

24:00

more questions Detective Roa Darmel asked,

24:02

the more the accident story seemed less

24:04

believable, and even though most of the

24:06

investigators already believed Shelley's

24:08

death was an accident, the detective

24:10

felt there was something more to this case.

24:13

He had already taken some pictures of the crime

24:15

scene, but he didn't perform a full forensic

24:18

search because he wanted to wait until after

24:20

the autopsy. He hoped to get more

24:22

information from the post-mortem examination,

24:24

as he believed the result would point him in the

24:27

right direction and tell him what he should be looking

24:29

for. Unfortunately, the

24:31

autopsy the detective hoped for didn't

24:33

happen, as he was informed that Shelley's

24:36

Orthodox Jewish family had expressed

24:38

reservations about the autopsy due

24:40

to their religious beliefs, and they had

24:42

already waived the post-mortem examination

24:45

on December 31st. Shelley

24:47

was then buried within 24 hours

24:49

of her death in accordance with the Orthodox

24:51

burial customs. Detective

24:54

Roa Darmel still had his theories, but there

24:56

was nothing he could do at that point other than

24:58

respect the family's wishes,

25:00

so the case was closed.

25:02

The news of Shelley's death hit the Danishevskis

25:05

really hard. One of the people who took

25:07

it the hardest was her sister Eve, as

25:09

she wondered how Shelley could have accidentally slipped

25:12

in the bathtub, and as the family

25:14

sat for Shiva, the week-long mourning

25:16

period carried out in the Jewish religion

25:19

for first-degree relatives, their suspicions

25:21

began to grow. Just like

25:24

Detective Roa Darmel, they believed

25:26

there was something more to Shelley's death. Eve

25:29

said she was shocked to hear Shelley was found

25:31

dead in the bathtub, explaining,

25:33

quote, "...but Shelley doesn't take baths.

25:35

She showers." Another close

25:38

friend of Shelley, Stephanie Goldman, agreed

25:40

with the statement, saying, quote, "...Shelley

25:42

wouldn't even take a short bath." The

25:45

family also knew about the keratin hair

25:47

treatment she'd had applied the day before, so

25:49

they knew Shelley couldn't have been in a bathtub

25:52

full of water after getting the hair treatment.

25:54

As they continued talking, one name kept

25:57

coming up. Unsurprisingly, it was

25:59

Roa.

26:00

Eve told everyone about his violent temper

26:02

and how scared Shelley was of Rod in the

26:05

last few years of their marriage. Most

26:07

of Shelley's friends who she'd talked to about the

26:09

matter also agreed as they'd heard similar

26:12

stories. Some of Shelley's relatives,

26:15

who now believed she was murdered, started

26:17

pushing for an autopsy to be carried out,

26:19

but a self-proclaimed rabbi, Meyer

26:22

Weil, who responded to incidents

26:24

where a Jewish person had died, talked

26:26

to the family and convinced them to change

26:28

their minds again. Rabbi Weil

26:31

had reportedly stopped the autopsy

26:33

just as the medical examiner wanted to make

26:35

his first incision and the rabbi retrieved

26:38

Shelley's body. In accordance

26:40

with Jewish law, Rabbi Weil

26:42

was given uninhibited and unsupervised

26:44

access to Shelley's apartment so he could

26:46

remove any blood or blood-stained items.

26:49

He also worked as a medical supply salesman

26:52

so he had everything he needed to clean the area.

26:55

Rabbi Weil recalled the day he cleaned

26:58

Shelley's apartment, saying, quote, I

27:00

drained the blood-tinted water from the tub

27:02

and I moved blood-spattered items into

27:04

Shelley's bedroom. I then got on

27:07

my hands and knees and scrubbed the bathroom

27:09

floor with peroxide to remove any

27:11

trace of blood. Even after

27:13

Shelley's burial, many members of

27:16

her family still believed she was murdered

27:18

and their suspicions only grew to greater

27:20

heights when her death certificate stated the

27:22

cause of death as undetermined.

27:25

With every passing day, the details surrounding

27:28

Shelley's death started to look more and more

27:30

questionable, and when Shelley's estate

27:32

attorney Lance Meyer finally informed

27:35

the Danishefsky's that Shelley was scheduled

27:37

to meet him on the day of her death to remove

27:39

Rod from her will, the entire family

27:42

firmly believed Rod was the culprit. They

27:44

all knew that Rod stood to inherit $5.2

27:47

million in the event of Shelley's

27:49

demise while he was still in her will,

27:52

and at that point, the family had no doubt

27:54

in their minds that it was

27:55

him.

27:56

The Danishefsky's immediately took their

27:58

suspicions to the authorities. authorities, telling

28:00

them to reopen the case and continue the

28:02

investigation. Detective

28:04

Roet Darmel and Detective Francis Brennan,

28:07

who were the lead detectives on the case, told

28:09

the family that they wouldn't be able to conduct a

28:11

more thorough investigation as the incident

28:13

had already been written off as an accident.

28:16

Due to that, they could not obtain subpoenas

28:19

or search warrants, and they couldn't move forward

28:21

with the investigation. The

28:23

family's only option, which would allow the authorities

28:26

to continue the investigation, was to

28:28

order an exclamation of Shelley's body

28:30

and carry out the autopsy that had been denied

28:33

earlier. But as stated before, that

28:35

was against the family's beliefs. The

28:37

Danishevskis, who are now fed up with the authorities'

28:40

refusal to start an investigation without

28:42

carrying out an autopsy, decided

28:45

to take matters into their own hands, so they

28:47

hired private investigator Michael Swain.

28:50

It took a couple of weeks, but the private investigator

28:52

and the Danishevskis were eventually allowed

28:55

access to Shelley's apartment, and as

28:57

the investigator looked around, the major

28:59

thing that stood out to him was the cabinet

29:01

that Shelley supposedly held onto

29:04

while falling. Upon closer

29:06

inspection, he realized that the screws

29:08

had been pulled out of the wall and he knew that

29:10

the petite-built Shelley didn't have the strength

29:13

or weight to rip the covered hinges even

29:15

while falling. Someone else had

29:17

to have done it. Michael made a statement

29:19

on the accidental death theory saying, quote,

29:22

Was it possible? Sure, it was possible,

29:25

until I actually got into the bathroom

29:27

myself. I realized how high

29:29

this cabinet is. I also realized

29:31

how far away from the tub it is. Michael

29:34

also found a hand towel but not a

29:37

bath towel in the bathroom, and he gave

29:39

his thoughts on that saying, quote, If

29:41

somebody's coming in to take a bath, I

29:43

sort of want to see a bath towel someplace.

29:46

I was convinced this was a staged crime

29:48

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The private investigators report strengthened

30:22

the Daniszewski's claim and they already knew

30:24

what they had to do to get an official investigation

30:27

going. So with no other options and

30:29

against their Jewish beliefs, the family

30:31

reluctantly agreed for an autopsy to

30:33

be carried out. It'd been two months

30:36

since Shelley's death, but the authorities finally

30:38

got the order of exhumation on March 1,

30:40

2010. The exhumation

30:43

was then quickly carried out and Shelley's body

30:45

was examined. Chief Medical

30:47

Examiner Dr. Jonathan Hayes was

30:49

the one who carried out Shelley's autopsy

30:51

and after the examination, he said

30:54

he found out Shelley's hyoid bone had

30:56

been fractured which was usually a

30:58

hallmark of strangulation. The

31:00

revelation proved the family's theories

31:02

were right and in April of 2010, Dr. Hayes changed the

31:06

cause of death from accident to homicide.

31:09

Even though Shelley's death was changed to homicide,

31:12

the investigators had to wait until July

31:14

to get a search warrant that allowed them to look

31:17

through the apartment. The officers

31:19

had to break the door open as someone

31:21

had now filled the apartment's lock with

31:23

glue. The investigators looked

31:25

into the tampered lock but the person responsible

31:28

for it was never found and the substance

31:30

they believed to be glue was never tested.

31:32

The first thing the officers tried

31:34

to do after getting into the apartment was to

31:37

find Shelley's phone. They had already

31:39

detected a signal coming from the phone

31:41

and they brought a Faraday bag, a small

31:43

pouch that blocks electromagnetic fields

31:46

to prevent the phone from being hacked, tracked,

31:48

or scrambled. They did this in

31:50

case the main suspect, Rod Kovlin,

31:53

who was a known computer expert, had put

31:55

some type of jamming equipment in the apartment

31:57

to scramble the data. However, no such

32:00

equipment was found by the officers. As

32:03

they continued with the search, the officers

32:05

noticed that the two air vents in the apartment

32:07

had been tampered with. These vents

32:09

had already been inspected during an earlier

32:12

investigation carried out by Detective

32:14

Brennan. The detective said he removed

32:16

the pair of air vents to look for equipment,

32:19

but he didn't find anything. He even

32:21

looked for scratch marks that would indicate if

32:23

any equipment had been there and was later removed,

32:26

but no marks were found. After

32:28

Detective Brennan's thorough inspection,

32:30

the vents were put back in place, but

32:32

when the investigators inspected the vents

32:34

again, one was removed from the

32:36

wall and placed on the floor, while the other

32:39

was partially unscrewed. Similar

32:41

to the glue, it was never revealed who

32:43

had tampered with the vents. After

32:46

the search of the apartment, the investigators

32:48

focused their attention on the night of the murder

32:50

as they tried to recreate and gather information

32:53

from the events of that night. The first

32:55

person they spoke to was Melissa Fields,

32:58

one of Shelley's closest friends who had seen

33:00

her hours before the murder. Melissa

33:03

recalled their meeting, saying, quote, I

33:05

saw her that day and sensed something

33:07

was wrong. She was constantly looking

33:09

around and over her shoulder, and when I asked

33:11

her why, she said she felt like her ex

33:14

was following her. After talking

33:16

to Melissa, they tried asking Rod

33:18

where he was that night, but he refused

33:20

to cooperate with the authorities, so

33:22

his emails and phone records were checked.

33:25

Both records revealed Rod often contacted

33:27

a woman named Deborah Oles, who was

33:29

based in Jacksonville, North Carolina.

33:32

She was a married woman with three children,

33:34

and she'd met Rod through backgammon gambling.

33:37

The pair had also started an extramarital

33:39

affair a few months before Shelley's murder.

33:42

Deborah frequently visited Rod in New

33:44

York, and there were a few deleted messages

33:46

and texts between Rod and Deborah on

33:48

the night of the murder. That same

33:51

night, Rod had been online with Deborah

33:53

in his apartment across the hall playing backgammon.

33:56

They both played until 1.03 AM

33:58

before Rod left do some work on

34:00

his backgammon Federation. The

34:03

next time Rod texted Deborah after

34:05

he left was around 4 AM and

34:07

he told her that he'd gotten no work done on his

34:09

Federation because he'd fallen asleep.

34:12

Rod was then seen on the Dorchester Tower's

34:14

surveillance camera at 4.13 AM

34:17

going out to get some supplies, and when

34:19

he returned, he stopped at the building's

34:21

desk to hand the doorman some Snickers

34:23

candy bars he'd bought. The doorman

34:25

of the building would later reveal how he found that

34:28

very odd as Rod, who he'd thought

34:30

was antisocial, had never spoken

34:32

to him before. Seeing Rod giving the

34:34

doorman a Snickers bar was very out of

34:36

character and that raised a bit of suspicion.

34:39

After this strange interaction with the doorman,

34:42

Rod was seen once again on the surveillance

34:44

camera at 4.23 AM. He

34:46

was walking out of the building's elevator and

34:49

went to buy two 2-liter bottles of

34:51

Selsar. Investigators had

34:53

put Shelley's approximate time of death around 1.25

34:55

to 4.25 AM and it suspiciously

34:59

coincided with the time period when

35:01

Rod was out of contact with his girlfriend

35:03

Deborah. Deborah was questioned,

35:05

but she didn't give the investigators anything.

35:08

She claimed Rod was a nice person before

35:10

assuring the investigators that they didn't have anything

35:12

to do with the murder. At this

35:14

point in the investigation, all the evidence

35:16

they managed to gather against Rod was simply

35:19

circumstantial. The detectives still

35:21

didn't have any concrete proof against

35:23

Rod and the investigation into Shelley's

35:25

murder eventually went cold. Due

35:28

to the detectives' recent findings, Rod,

35:31

who was in a custody battle with Shelley's brother

35:33

over their children, was told by the

35:35

judge that he could never be alone with his kids.

35:38

So custody of the children was given to Rod's

35:40

parents and they were sent to live with their grandparents

35:43

David and Carol Kovlin in Scarsdale,

35:45

New York. Rod had also been

35:47

denied access to Shelley's $5 million

35:50

fortune. It had been placed in a trust

35:52

while he waited for the outcome of the death suit

35:54

filed against him in 2011. Rod was told not to

35:58

make any further claims on the money. unless

36:00

the district attorney's office confirmed

36:02

he was no longer a suspect in the case

36:04

or until six years had elapsed. With

36:07

no access to Shelley's money, Rod

36:09

quickly moved into his parents' house as

36:11

he knew getting custody of his children

36:13

was the only way he could access the millions

36:15

of dollars their mother had left as their inheritance.

36:19

During his stay with his parents, Rod

36:21

found himself arguing very often

36:23

with David and Carol as they found out he

36:25

was stealing money from the children's college

36:27

funds.

36:44

In

36:57

the 12th year of marriage,

36:59

you never worked. Your mother worked

37:02

her a** off for every penny that

37:04

he's spending. Let me tell you that Daniszewski's

37:07

are not wrong. They

37:09

may be wrong about something, not the money. Myles,

37:11

say it, Anna, come here. Your mother worked and worked and

37:13

worked and your father sat an a**

37:15

through now. He refuses to get a job. He refuses

37:18

to

37:18

get a job. He's spending your

37:20

money. Okay, first of all,

37:22

he's spending your money. What

37:25

you're saying now, what you

37:28

are saying now in front of Anna and Myles,

37:30

okay, will ensure that you never see

37:32

my children again if you continue. Okay,

37:35

you threatened us with your children. No, no, I'm not threatening

37:38

you. I'm telling you, excuse me.

37:39

I want you out of the house by

37:41

October 1st. Okay, evipment, evipment. I went down for 11

37:43

years. Okay, go, fine,

37:46

file the papers. 11 years, you're distracting me

37:48

with your children. Evipment, excuse me.

37:50

I spent a million dollars of my money to make sure you

37:52

didn't go to the Daniszewski. No,

37:56

you

37:58

spend a million dollars of Bonnie's money. money. I

38:01

owe the money. I owe

38:03

the money. I'm going to pay the money. You're never

38:05

going to pay me back. I'm not a deadbeat.

38:08

You're going to steal from me. Because you're a deadbeat.

38:10

You're going to steal from me like you steal from your children.

38:13

These arguments eventually became very violent

38:16

as he once slammed his mother head first

38:18

into a wall, and he attacked his father

38:21

a few weeks later. Rod had

38:23

taken over $84,000 from his children's

38:26

college fund, and he was recorded admitting

38:28

the act during a phone call. I

38:31

mean, I gotta take money out of the $%&ing college

38:34

$%&ing so we can go away on a weekend and escape

38:36

from my parents. Rod would use

38:38

the money he stole to take trips with his girlfriend

38:41

Deborah and for his backgammon tournaments.

38:43

David and Carol eventually had enough of their

38:46

son's crude behavior, and they banished

38:48

both him and Deborah from their house. Angered,

38:51

Rod tried to break into the house when his parents

38:53

weren't home. The entire ordeal

38:56

was filmed, and he could be heard claiming

38:58

that he was a resident.

39:25

When Rod was thrown out of his parents'

39:27

house again, he decided to come up with

39:29

several heinous plans to kill his parents

39:31

and get custody of the children and their

39:33

inheritance. The first thing Rod

39:35

planned on doing was poisoning his parents

39:38

with the untraceable poisons ricin

39:40

and aconite. He had gotten the idea

39:42

after watching the popular crime TV

39:44

shows Breaking Bad and Dexter. Rod

39:47

even drove four miles from his parents'

39:49

home to the Greenberg Public Library

39:52

to look into the poisons. He

39:54

logged into the public computer under the username

39:57

OutOfTownGest and used it to research

39:59

the poisons. poisons, but after finding out

40:01

he couldn't easily create these poisons,

40:04

he decided to use rat poison as he

40:06

could quickly get his hands on it. Rod

40:08

planned to use his daughter Anna, who was 12

40:11

at the time, to unknowingly put the poisonous

40:14

sugar in her grandparents' tea, but

40:16

he later decided against the plan when he

40:18

realized Anna could be arrested if she

40:20

was caught. Knowing he couldn't poison

40:23

his parents, Rod told his daughter to accuse

40:25

her grandfather of rape. He asked

40:27

Deborah, who he told all his plans, to

40:30

tell his daughter things to say that make the

40:32

rape allegations believable. He

40:34

even went as far as to tell the little girl

40:36

to use a foreign object on herself

40:39

that would simulate signs of rape,

40:41

but Anna was unwilling to do it and the

40:43

plan eventually fell through. A

40:46

few months after that, Rod came up with another

40:48

plan to kidnap Anna and take

40:50

her to Mexico. He planned to pay

40:52

someone there $10,000 to

40:55

marry his daughter to emancipate the

40:57

child from her grandparents. Rod

40:59

had made a call on the matter to an unidentified

41:02

person saying, quote, I have a passport

41:04

for Anna. I'm sure

41:07

for $10,000 there's an 18 year old who would

41:09

be willing to marry her, remain married

41:11

and obviously not live with her but like whatever

41:14

and like sign a prenup or whatever. I'll

41:16

even hire a Mexican law firm to make

41:18

sure it's done properly. But just

41:21

like his other plans, Rod wasn't able

41:23

to go through with it. This man

41:25

was so desperate to gain money he

41:27

didn't work for that he was willing to sell

41:29

his daughter to a stranger in a

41:31

foreign country. Real nice

41:33

Rod. Rod had already cooked

41:35

up another ghastly plan after he couldn't

41:37

marry off his daughter and the plan was to take

41:40

advantage of the chaos happening during

41:42

Hurricane Sandy and kill his parents.

41:45

He explained his plan to Deborah in the car,

41:47

telling her that since there wouldn't be electricity

41:50

during the storm, the alarms would

41:52

be off. He then described how he'd

41:54

get into the house through a basement window,

41:56

kill his parents and set the house

41:58

on fire before resting. skewing the children.

42:01

As for his cover story, Rod said

42:03

he'd tell the police that he was just passing

42:05

by when the fire started. Deborah,

42:08

who was completely baffled at Rod's murderous

42:10

plan and was apparently the only one of

42:13

them who had a couple of brain cells, told

42:15

him that no one would believe the just passing

42:17

by story and Rod reluctantly

42:20

abandoned the plan. One of

42:22

Rod's craziest and final attempts

42:24

to kill his parents happened when he asked Deborah

42:26

to drive him to a costume shop in

42:28

Yonkers. He planned to buy a

42:30

wig and makeup to disguise himself

42:33

as, you guessed it, a black man.

42:35

He would then go up to his parents' house and

42:38

kill his mother with a deadly karate

42:40

chop to the throat after she answered the

42:42

door. I can't even make this stuff

42:44

up. He had apparently learned the

42:46

move as a martial arts expert. Rod

42:49

then told Deborah that he would flee through the

42:51

yard to the next street where she would be waiting

42:53

in a getaway car. Deborah

42:56

didn't want to do it, and after she postponed

42:58

it a couple of times, Rod moved on to

43:00

the next plan, and this one was never

43:02

attempted. As Rod kept

43:04

on thinking up new and morbid ways to get rid

43:06

of his parents, he soon found out that

43:08

the investigators were still looking for something

43:11

to pin him down. So he hatched a plan

43:13

to get rid of the heat, and he carried it

43:15

out by attempting to frame his own daughter.

43:19

Rod drafted a false murder confession

43:21

in his daughter's email account so it

43:23

would look as if it were written by her. The

43:26

fake email stated Anna had angrily

43:28

pushed her mother to her death after they had argued

43:30

earlier that day. This appalling

43:33

email was later found in the girls' drafts

43:35

and it read, quote, All of these years

43:38

I've been so incredibly afraid and guilty

43:40

about the night my mom died. I

43:42

lied. She didn't just slip. That

43:45

day we got into a fight about her dating,

43:47

and I was still mad when I went to bed. I

43:50

heard her go into her room and run a bath,

43:52

so I went in and argued some more, and

43:54

she told me to go back to my room. I

43:57

got so mad that I pushed her, but it couldn't

43:59

have been that hard. I didn't mean to hurt

44:01

her, I swear, but she fell and

44:03

I heard a terrible noise, and the water

44:05

started turning red, and I tried to pull

44:08

her head up, but she remained still, so

44:10

I took miles, crawled into my bed,

44:12

and cried myself back to sleep, hoping

44:14

I would wake up to see her right next to me, but

44:16

when I woke up she wasn't, so I called

44:19

Daddy and he tried CPR and all sorts

44:21

of stuff like that, but it didn't work, at

44:23

which point he called the police.

44:25

The plan to frame his daughter for

44:28

her mother's death had been one of the most disturbing

44:30

things Rob thought of doing, but luckily,

44:33

just like his other plans, this attempt

44:35

was unsuccessful. Before Sarah

44:38

discovered Chumbacasino.com,

44:40

she enjoyed Chamomile Tea, and

44:43

being in PJs by 6. The

44:46

new fun Sarah often

44:48

thinks about the old boring Sarah,

44:51

and wonders if that Sarah ever

44:53

really existed.

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45:07

Even with all of his failures, Rod continued

45:10

with his madness and it seemed like there was

45:12

nothing he wouldn't do at this point. Deborah

45:14

was also terrified of him, as during

45:17

one of his angered rants he warned her to never

45:19

betray him, saying, quote, if

45:21

you ever fuck me over, I'll come after

45:23

you. The pair began growing distant

45:26

in 2014 and Rod, who

45:28

had grown tired of her, eventually dumped

45:30

her. That would turn out to be a costly

45:32

mistake for Rod, as it didn't take long

45:34

before the pain to Deborah called the police

45:36

and told them everything she knew. Rod

45:39

Kovlin was arrested on November 1, 2015 at

45:43

the Metro North train station in Scarsdale.

45:46

The authorities apprehended him around 11am

45:48

that Sunday as he was going to his weekly

45:51

visit with his children at his parents' house.

45:53

The officers made sure to arrest Rod

45:55

before he got to the house, as they didn't want the

45:58

children to witness the arrest. An

46:00

unnamed officer recalled Rod's reaction

46:03

to the arrest, saying, quote, He was

46:05

totally stunned. He wasn't expecting

46:07

this at all, and I remember he had a blank

46:09

stare on his face. It had

46:11

taken them nearly six years, but they had

46:13

finally gathered enough evidence to arrest

46:15

and charge him. Ironically,

46:17

Rod's arrest happened just two months

46:19

before the six-year wait that would allow him

46:22

to finally get his hands on Shelley's money.

46:24

Rod's arrest was all thanks to Deborah, who

46:27

told investigators that Rod planned to

46:29

kill Shelley to gain custody of the children.

46:32

The damning statements weren't the only thing Deborah

46:34

gave to the police, as she also brought

46:37

numerous hard drives filled with data

46:39

and messages from Rod's electronic devices.

46:42

All this was enough to charge Rod with second-degree

46:45

murder, and when he was arraigned on felony

46:47

murder charges in the Manhattan Criminal

46:49

Court, Rod only uttered two words,

46:52

not guilty. It would take an additional

46:54

three years before his trial finally

46:56

began in 2019. A

46:59

jury made up of five men and seven

47:01

women heard weeks of testimony on Shelley's

47:03

murder at the Manhattan Supreme Court. Everything

47:06

from dimmed recollections to evasive answers,

47:09

investigative foibles, and evidence

47:11

of family interference were revealed

47:13

in court. The lead prosecutor,

47:16

Matthew Bogdanos, gave his opening

47:18

statement at the trial by saying, quote,

47:20

The question was never is he going

47:22

to kill Shelley. The question was

47:24

always when. A lot of witnesses

47:27

had been called by the prosecutors to testify,

47:29

everyone from first responders to the detectives

47:32

on the scene. Shelley's boss, John

47:34

Alex, Rabbi Meyer Weil, and

47:37

Shelley's family and friends all took the stand.

47:39

Among many family members who gave statements,

47:42

Shelley's sister Eve took the stand and gave

47:44

an emotional statement that she'd written earlier.

47:48

I still can't believe Shelley's gone. I

47:50

have recurring nightmares about her final

47:52

moments as she squeezed that last

47:55

breath out of her. The helplessness

47:57

as she must have felt along with

47:59

and terror, knowing

48:02

death was imminent, despite her

48:04

valiant effort to fight back. I

48:07

carry around my own feelings of guilt,

48:10

or survival guilt. Shelly

48:12

confided in me

48:13

about the many details of his brutality,

48:16

physical and psychological abuse of

48:18

both she and the children. I

48:21

tried to comfort and ensure her that I would

48:23

always be there for her. Clearly

48:25

I was wrong. I

48:27

asked myself those painful questions, which

48:30

there are no answers. Why

48:32

didn't I do more to protect her? Why

48:34

didn't I help her find another apartment? Why

48:37

didn't I try and stop her from signing

48:39

his lease to the apartment across

48:41

the hall? I

48:43

pray that time will help ease the pain and

48:45

provide some answers.

48:48

While they admitted that their case was largely

48:50

based on circumstantial evidence, prosecutor

48:53

Bogdanos argued that Rod Kovlin

48:55

was the only person who had motive to kill

48:57

Shelly. They believed Rod strangled

49:00

her to death because he wanted to inherit her

49:02

fortune, then staged the crime

49:04

scene to look like an accidental drowning.

49:07

Prosecutor Bogdanos emphasized that

49:09

as he told jurors, his primary

49:12

motive was pure, unadulterated

49:14

greed. One of their key witnesses

49:16

was Patricia Swenson, a former

49:19

girlfriend of Rod whom he had traveled to Pennsylvania

49:21

with in August of 2009. Patricia

49:24

took the stand and told jurors how Rod went

49:27

into a rage when talking about Shelly

49:29

during that trip, even telling her how

49:31

he wanted to kill his wife. Patricia

49:34

recalled Rod's statement saying, quote,

49:36

"'He wanted her dead. "'His face, his

49:39

eyes, "'they were getting glassy like he was

49:41

getting psychotic.'" The Kovlin's

49:43

nanny, Rose Reed, also took

49:45

the stand and she went into detail

49:47

about the physical confrontation that happened

49:50

between Rod and Shelly.

49:52

He said to me, he said, "'Rod, throw

49:54

her down on the floor.' And

49:57

when he asked her to go into the bedroom,

49:59

She said she was scared of

50:02

going in there with him because she don't know

50:04

what he'll do."

50:05

It wasn't long after that before the star

50:08

witness Deborah Oles took the stand

50:10

and told jurors everything about Rod,

50:13

from his morbid confessions to his devious

50:15

plans to murder his parents. She

50:18

also went into detail on his plans

50:20

during Hurricane Sandy. Because

50:22

there was no electricity, the

50:24

alarm would not be on.

50:27

He wanted to go through a window in the basement,

50:30

kill his parents, and set his house on

50:32

fire.

50:33

The prosecutors then brought up the injuries

50:36

found on Shelley's body as Bogdanos

50:38

told the jurors she had suffered abrasions

50:40

to her face, hemorrhaging of her right

50:43

eye, bruising and cuts on her lips,

50:45

and the dislocation of two ribs.

50:47

They believed Rod, who had a black belt

50:50

in Taekwondo, used a martial arts

50:52

hold to snap her neck. The prosecutors

50:54

had also gotten their hands on an incriminating

50:57

video that showed Rod demonstrating

50:59

the aforementioned chokehold to another

51:01

inmate during his time awaiting trial

51:04

at the Brooklyn Detention Complex. In

51:06

addition to that, the prosecutors kept

51:08

emphasis on the keratin hair treatment

51:11

Shelley had gotten the day before, as

51:13

they assured the jurors that she wouldn't have

51:15

entered the bathtub of her own free will

51:17

after getting the treatment. The media

51:19

dawned this part of the trial as the illegally

51:22

blonde moment due to its similarities

51:24

with the movie. As the trial

51:27

went on, the prosecutors kept revealing

51:29

more and more horrific details about Rod

51:31

in the case, as prosecutor Bogdanos

51:34

tried his best to show the jurors just how

51:36

evil Rod truly was. After

51:39

all the heinous statements had been made by

51:41

the prosecutors, Rod's defense

51:43

lawyer Robert Gottlieb told the jurors,

51:46

quote, police

52:00

investigation. He argued that

52:02

there wasn't enough evidence to ever know whether

52:04

Shelley's tragic death was an accident

52:06

or a murder. Gottlieb emphasized

52:08

that, saying, quote, "...in a circumstantial

52:11

case, every strand becomes important.

52:14

Based on the most disgraceful investigation

52:16

I have ever seen, this jury cannot

52:18

possibly answer the question of what happened."

52:21

He also contradicted Dr. Hay's autopsy

52:23

result as he told the jurors that the hyoid

52:26

bone could have been broken during the exhumation.

52:29

During the witness statement, Gottlieb called Deborah

52:32

a habitual liar before telling juries

52:34

that her statement was that of a scorned woman.

52:37

No witnesses were brought to speak for Rod

52:39

during the trial. However, Rod's mother,

52:41

who sat behind him through it all, read an

52:44

emotional letter written by the then

52:46

19-year-old Anna, who still believed Rod

52:48

was innocent. As the trial came

52:50

to a close, the defense kept trying

52:52

to counter every argument made by the prosecutors,

52:55

but no matter how hard Robert Gottlieb tried

52:58

to make Rod look innocent. The jurors

53:00

just weren't convinced, and after an eight-week

53:02

trial, Roderick Kovlin was found

53:05

guilty of Shelley Kovlin's murder. Before

53:08

Rod was sentenced, his then 12-year-old

53:10

son Miles begged Judge Ruth Pickholtz

53:13

for a lighter sentence for his father, saying,

53:15

quote, "...please give him a light sentence

53:17

so I have him back in my life. I love

53:19

him so much." On April 10,

53:23

2019, Rod Kovlin was sentenced to 25 years

53:25

to life for the murder of his wife. The

53:28

judge pointed out the overwhelming evidence as

53:30

the reason for giving him the maximum sentence.

53:33

Robert Gottlieb later appealed the sentence,

53:35

but the appeal was rejected. Even

53:38

after the rejection of appeal, Anna wrote

53:40

another letter to the district attorney, still

53:42

maintaining her support for her father and

53:44

her belief of his innocence. Rod

53:47

Kovlin is currently serving his time

53:49

in Attica Correctional Facility, New York,

53:51

and to this day, he still claims he had

53:53

nothing to do with Shelley's death, which

53:56

he always will because just like

53:58

many other monsters. Rod Kovlin

54:01

isn't able to tell the truth. He

54:03

will always believe that he can somehow

54:05

weasel his way out of answering for his

54:07

actions.

54:09

If you're the victim of domestic abuse, please

54:11

reach out to someone for help. Please talk to

54:13

your local shelter or call the National Domestic

54:16

Abuse Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. That's

54:19

1-800-799-7233. Or you can go to thehotline.org to chat with someone online. This

54:27

website is set up so that, at any time,

54:29

hitting the escape key twice will take you to a

54:31

Google search page. That way, if your

54:34

abuser is nearby, you won't get caught seeking

54:36

help. If you're having feelings of harming

54:38

yourself or someone else, or even just need

54:40

someone to talk to, please contact your local

54:42

mental health facility. Call 911 or

54:45

call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline

54:47

by simply dialing 988 in the United

54:49

States. They're available 24 hours

54:52

a day, 7 days a week, and we'll talk to you about

54:54

any mental health issue you may be facing.

54:57

If you are a member of the LGBTQ plus

54:59

community and suffering from discrimination,

55:01

depression, or are in need of any support,

55:03

please contact the LGBT National

55:06

Hotline at 1-888-843-4564 or go to LGBThotline.org. Thanks

55:13

so much for letting me tell you this story. If

55:15

you enjoyed it, subscribe on whatever platform

55:18

you're on. Hit like, rate us, or leave

55:20

us a comment. You can check out our other show, Somewhere

55:22

Sinister, on YouTube or anywhere you listen to

55:24

podcasts. If you'd like to support the show,

55:27

check out our merchandise at thisismonsters.com.

55:30

The link is in the description. Thanks again

55:32

and be safe.

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