Roslyn Pilmar appeared in State Supreme Court on Wednesday in New York. She is charged with second-degree murder in the 1996 cold case killing of her husband Howard Pilmar
The Manhattan widow who lived free for 20 years after the stabbing death of her husband will be locked in a jail cell while she waits to go on trial for his slaying.
A judge denied bail on Wednesday to Roslyn Pilmar, who’s charged with second-degree murder in the 1996 killing of Howard Pilmar.
Pilmar, who owned an office supply store and coffee bar, was knifed 25 times in the neck, chest and back inside his business near the Empire State Building, authorities say.
Pilmar’s lawyer, Sam Talkin, tried convincing Justice Jill Konvise that Pilmar wouldn’t skip town before trial because she wants to “clear her name.”
The scene of the stabbing at 14 East 33rd Street, NY
Pilmar hangs her head as she’s arraigned Aug 15 in her husband’s cold-case murder
He asked the judge to release her on $750,000 bond, secured by $450,000 in cash and property, with GPS monitoring.
“She has all the reason to stay here and clear her name,” Talkin said of the 60-year-old.
“She knew for 20 years that a relentless investigation was going on against her … If she wanted to flee, she would have, and none of us would be here right now.”
Konvise wasn’t swayed and remanded Pilmar, apparently because she pleaded guilty to second-degree grand larceny in 1999 for stealing from her former job.
The judge said the crime showed a “certain level of dishonesty.”
Pilmar’s brother, Evan Wald, is also charged with the murder. He is in custody and awaiting extradition from Virginia to New York.
Roslyn Pilmar, 60, was formally charged with second-degree murder of husband on Aug 15
Roslyn Pilmar and her brother Evan Wald, have been charged with fatally stabbing and slashing her husband more than 20 years ago and leaving his body in a pool of blood in his Midtown office.
For decades the pair allegedly, have been living off Howard Pilmar’s money after murdering the New York office supply store and coffee bar owner.
Cops had long suspected that Pilmar’s wife was involved, sources said. Investigators recovered blood at the scene, and ultimately used DNA to match it to Wald, who either participated in the killing or was at the scene, the sources said.
Eventually authorities determined that Roslyn Pilmar, who lives on the Upper East Side and had been working as a dental hygienist, killed her husband out of a “combination of hatred and greed”.
Roslyn Pilmar, 60, was formally charged with second-degree murder Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Wald, 43, was arrested in Virginia, and is in the process of being extradited. He also was charged with second-degree murder.
Back on March 27, 1996, 40-year-old Howard Pilmar was stabbed 25 times in the neck, back and chest outside his office near the Empire State Building.
Officials at the time thought it was likely he was even stabbed after he had already died.
Neither his wallet nor the $200 inside was taken.
His body was found the next day by company’s controller.
Even then the dead businessman’s wife, Roslyn was a suspect, but the investigations made no headway,
However, the thread of suspicion lingered as investigators contemplated her penchant for larceny and the fact that she collected nearly $1.5 million insurance payout.Following her husband’s death, gained ownership of the business, a summer home, the couple’s Manhattan apartment and custody of the couple’s then 10-year-old son.
She went from net debt to living it up and made regular jaunts to the Turks and Caicos Islands after killing her coffee-bar-owning husband in Manhattan in 1996, authorities say.
Howard Pilmar in his store before he was allegedly murdered by his wife in collusion with his brother-in-law. Rosyln Pilmar was ordered held without bail.
Defense-attorney Philip Pilmar, was just 10 when his father was killed. He was in court Tuesday for his mother’s hearing
But the plot unravelled for Roslyn Pilmar and her co-conspirators Tuesday morning, when the 60-year-old dental hygeniest was busted and charged with murder in the so-called “Coffee Bar Case.’’
“Some of the injuries were post mortem — it was clearly a crime of rage,” said Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer at the widow’s arraignment.
Pilmar’s arrest came 21 years after her businessman husband, Howard Pilmar, 40, was found stabbed 27 times on the floor of the hall outside his office near the Empire State Building in March 1996. Pilmar made his money by starting New York city’s first office-supply store and coffee bar in the early ’90s.
Howard Pilmar struggled so fiercely against his attacker that his fingers were nearly chopped off.
Time and luck ran out for Roslyn Pilmer on Aug 15, 21 years after the death of her husband. The black widow is seen being taken into custody
Cops at the time suspected Roslyn, who owed $200,000 to a former employer whose funds she’d stolen.
In 1995, Roslyn Pilmar had embezzled $200,000 from a dentist she had worked for. She also owed $15,000, which was due within a week. In a quandary, she tried to get the money, she stole money from her husband, she tried to take a loan. Still she was unable to get the kind of money she urgently needed.
In 1999, Pilmar pled guilty to grand larceny in the second degree for stealing $200,000 from the dentist’s office.
Her in-laws suspected Rosyln.
“On the way to the funeral, she said something to me I’ll never forget,” stepmom Carol Pilmar, 73, told The Post on Tuesday.
“She said ‘You know, divorce wasn’t in our vocabulary.’ That’s because she wouldn’t gain anything from divorce.”
But authorities remained stymied in the case.
Then about two years ago, investigators switched the focus on her financial struggles to create the tapestry of the murder scheme.
Her brother’s blood was found in the office, but at the time, Evan Wald claimed he’d simply cut himself, according to sources.
Prosecutors said it was clear Wald had a “contentious relationship” with Howard Pilmar — and the dead man’s wife needed dough.
“We’re going to kill Howard,” Wald reportedly told the Howard Pilmar’s sister the night before his death, according to Lederer.
Rosyln had been arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday afternoon and is being held without bail.“More evidence has been developed, and in the four years I’ve been working on [it], we have found more witnesses and more evidence,” Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Lederer said.
Justice Jill Konviser ultimately decided, “This case has changed.
“I agree that it is a serious case. It’s as serious as it can get,” she said in remanding the suspect.
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