Woman and her brother are found guilty of stabbing her wealthy businessman husband 40 times ‘in order to get $1.2million from his life insurance policy’; Ending 23-year-old cold case
23-year-old murder cold case ends in conviction of siblings in New York, Friday
Black widow Roslyn Pilmar, 61, and her brother, Evan Wald, 45, were found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in a State Supreme Court in Manhattan, NY
Rosalyn’s husband Howard Pilmar, 40, was stabbed to death outside his New York office in March 1996
Pilmar was the owner of a successful family-owned office supply business
After 21 years, investigators eventually arrested two suspects in 2017
The victim’s wife Roslyn and her brother, Evan Wald, were charged with second-degree murder
Authorities allege Pilmar and Wald planned the murder to obtain $1.2million of his life insurance policy
Rosaline Pilmar and Evan Wald both face between 25 years and life in prison.
Roslyn Pilmar [left], and her brother, Evan Wald [right], were found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in the State Supreme Court sitting in Manhattan, NY, on Friday
Roslyn Pilmar, 61, and her brother, Evan Wald, 45, Frday were found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in a new York State Supreme Court sitting in Manhattan o.
The verdict is a victory long in coming for prosecutors, who for more than two decades could not even name suspects in the 1996 murder of successful businessman Howard Pilmar.
40-year-old Howard Pilmar, a successful entrepreneur who operated an office supply store and a coffee shop, was stabbed 40 times just outside his New York City office. The family legacy business had 50 employees and was generating some $14million a year.
After 23 years, Friday’s guilty verdict brought victory for prosecutors who had not been able to find suspects in the 1996 murder of book store owner Howard Pilmar [photo]
The verdict is a victory for prosecutors, who for more than two decades had not been able to find suspects in the 1996 murder of 40-year-old Howard Pilmar.
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Roslyn Pilmar, the Manhattan woman accused of stabbing husband to death in 1996 has been ordered to jail before trial Judge denied bail for Roslyn Pilmar at New York State […]
Siblings Rosaline Pilmar and Evan Wald both face between 25 years and life in prison. Their lawyers plan to appeal the verdict, according to The New York Times.
‘For nearly 23 years, Roslyn Pilmar and Evan Wald evaded justice for their gruesome crime and thought they would get away with it,’ the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr, said in a statement.
‘We’re disappointed in the verdict, of course, but the battle is far from over,’ Pilmar’s lawyer said.
61-year-old Roslyn Pilmar has been convicted of second-degree murder in the 1996 cold case killing of her millionaire husband Howard Pilmar. She is facing a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison
Prosecutors say Roslyn Pilmar and Wald plotted the murder of Howard Pilmar in order to inherit a $1.2million life insurance policy.
They allege that Pilmar fell into debt after she was caught stealing $160,000 from the dentist’s office where she worked as a dental hygienist.
She then promised to pay the money back, though she did not tell her husband about it and kept it a secret.
Prosecutors say that in the days leading up to the murder, Pilmar was receiving frequent telephone calls about her debt, including from the IRS, which was demanding $14,000 in unpaid taxes.
The government threatened to shut down one of her husband’s coffee bars, which she was running.
Crime scene: Howard Pilmar was found dead in a pool of blood outside his office on East 33rd Street [photo], near the Empire State Building on March 28, 1996. The case remained unsolved for 23 years
‘She had to find it quickly.’
Prosecutors also said that the Pilmars’ marriage was crumbling, and that Howard Pilmar contacted a divorce lawyer.
Roslyn Pilmar had also complained that her husband was verbally abusive, according to witnesses. Lederer alleged that Pilmar and her brother ‘planned [the murder] as a trap.’
After Howard Pilmar’s death, Roslyn Pilmar inherited more than $1million on two life insurance policies as well as his businesses, which she sold months later.
Roslyn Pilmar also inherited an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and a summer home.
Black widow: Roslyn Pilmar [seen in a Manhattan court Dec. 2018], has been accused of plotting with her younger brother Evan Wald to kill her husband in order to collect $1.2million on a life insurance policy
Three years after the murder, Pilmar pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the embezzlement case, repaid the money she stole, and was sentenced to probation.
Prosecutors said that the relationship began to grow tense between Wald and his brother-in-law, for whom he worked.
They alleged that Wald began to resent Howard Pilmar for being too critical of him. Wald also was protective of his sister and was aware of her deteriorating marriage.
Lederer said that Wald threatened to kill Howard Pilmar if he ever harmed his sister.
But Wald’s lawyer, Daniel Gotlin, ridiculed the idea that Wald would announce beforehand plans to kill his brother-in-law.
‘It’s like announcing, I’m going to kill the guy.’
Howard Pilmar was found dead in a pool of blood outside his office on East 33rd Street near the Empire State Building on March 28, 1996.
Authorities said that night before, he was stabbed 40 times in his neck, chest, and back – with a number of stab wounds inflicted after he had drawn his last breath.
Investigators believed that someone he knew was responsible, since there were no signs of forced entry.
Pilmar was killed after the building security guard went home for the night – which detectives believed was a clue that the killer was familiar with his normal routine.
Officers also did not believe it was a burglary since Pilmar still had his wallet with $200 on him at the time he was killed.
DNA evidence left behind by Roslyn Pilmar’s brother and co-defendant Evan Wald, seen [second left], after his arrest in October 2017, at the crime scene, nailed the pair. He also had a cut on his left hand at the time of his arrest
The gruesomeness of the crime scene and the repeated stab wounds also led police to believe that the perpetrators knew the victim and had an emotional motive to kill him.
Authorities said DNA tests proved Wald’s blood was at the crime scene. Police officers interviewed him and noticed a cut on his left hand.
Prosecutors allege the cut was sustained while he stabbed Pilmar.
Wald’s lawyer, Gotlin, said that the cut on his client’s hand did not prove that he was guilty.
‘His hand was cut. So what?’ Gotlin said during closing arguments to the jury on Monday.
‘That doesn’t mean he killed anyone with a knife.’
Gotlin also claimed that the police focus on Wald prevented them from pursuing other leads.
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