What Happened to Shele Danishefsky Covlin? '20/20' Has the Story
In December of 2009, Shele Danishefshy Covlin’s body was found in her tub. It took just about 10 years to turn out that she were murdered.
In December 2009, Shele Danishefsky Covlin’s frame was found in the tub of her Manhattan condominium. Her estranged husband (who lived across the hall from her) called 911 and instructed the operator he had attempted to revive her. Investigators made up our minds her loss of life were the results of an twist of fate — a fatal slip as she was entering the bathtub. A couple of days later, Shele’s body used to be buried. An autopsy had not been carried out.
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For nine years, that was Shele Danishefsky Covlin’s story. Then, in March of 2019, her estranged husband, Roderick "Rod" Covlin, was charged along with her murder. What happened to Shele Danishefsky Covlin? Here’s what we all know.
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What happened to Shele Danishefsky Covlin?
When Shele was 36 years previous, she attended a birthday celebration for Jewish singles in New York. That’s the place she met Rod Covlin, who was 25 at the time. The two made an instant connection and had been married just six months when they first met. They had two youngsters in combination, Anna and Myles.
Shele had loved a successful career as a senior vice president for personal wealth control at an investment bank. She worked exhausting and had a at ease lifestyles. Rod never reached the same degree of luck in his personal career as a stockbroker. However, lopsided accomplishments weren't the handiest downside in their marriage.
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According to The New York Times, ahead of her dying, Shele had "confided in family members and close friends about his [Rod's] erratic and abusive behavior." In January 2009, she wrote to her sister Eve Karstaedt pronouncing that she was "very scared that at some point in the future, all his anger and rage may result in something bad happening — he really can’t control his temper."
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Just a few months later, Shele filed for divorce. The two separated (with Shele renting the rental throughout the hall from her estranged husband) and shortly turned into embroiled in an unsightly custody struggle. According to prosecutors, Rod tried to sabotage his estranged wife’s existence, telling her employer that she used drugs and had stolen cash from their joint account. He coached their 3-year-old son to falsely accuse his mom of sexual abuse. He additionally instructed a girl he met online that he planned to kill his wife.
Eventually, Shele made plans to remove her estranged husband from her will — which turns out to have been the tipping point. While he was once in her will, he stood to acquire get right of entry to to $Five million in the event of her dying. However, after Shele used to be found lifeless in her condominium, Rod didn’t get the cash. Instead, his parents become the legal guardians of the youngsters.
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As suspicions grew over the subsequent a number of months, her family arranged for Shele's body to be exhumed, and a scientific examiner decided in April 2010 that she had no longer merely slipped and fallen in the tub; she have been strangled. Rod turned into the primary suspect in the investigation of his estranged spouse’s death. Still, he wasn’t arrested for several years.
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Rod would continue to strive to gain get right of entry to to his estranged spouse’s property. He used to be mentioned to have laid out several plans to kill his oldsters (despite the fact that he did not elevate any of them out). Rod additionally stole $84,000 from his children’s college fund. At one point, prosecutors stated he even plotted to kidnap his daughter and take her to Mexico, the place he would pay anyone $10,000 to marry her, thereby emancipating her from her grandparents. This plan didn't come to move both.
Rod even attempted to frame his daughter for Shele's homicide, drafting a confession electronic mail from her account so it will look as despite the fact that she wrote it.
Although it took just about a decade, the courts sooner or later found Rod responsible of murdering Shele. So, what become of Rod Covlin?
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Where is Rod Covlin now?
In April 2019, after a grueling nine-week trial that concerned one member of the jury fainting at the sight of the crime scene, Rod Covlin was handed down a sentence of 25 years, in step with the New York Post. Supreme Court Judge Ruth Pickholz cited the "overwhelming evidence" against Rod as her reason for giving him the most sentence. This came on the heels of his 12-year-old son pleading with the pass judgement on to take it easy on Rod.
The New York Daily News reported that, in March 2021, Rod appealed his conviction "based on allegations the lead prosecutor at trial, Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, deceived jurors and went rogue in his closing arguments." Two months later, Rod's conviction was upheld. As of the time of this writing, he's serving his time at Attica Correctional Facility in Attica, N.Y.
For additional information in this story, tune into 20/20 on Friday at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.
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