The infamous former New York City stockbroker accused of murdering his wife in 2009 is suspected of trying to frame the killing on his own young daughter.
Prosecutors revealed 45-year-old “failed stockbroker” Rod Covlin attempted to forge a letter pinning the murder of his wife, Shele Danishefsky Covlin, on his then 12-year-old daughter, Anna, the New York Post reported, citing court documents. The couple also had a son, Myles, together.
Shortly before her death, Shele began divorce proceedings against Covlin, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Anna and Myles were reportedly set to inherit $5 million after their paternal grandparents gained custody of them—which officials said sent the suspected killer into a twisted set of lies in order to garner the money. The inheritance laid in wait pending a wrongful death suit against Covlin.
“All of these years I have been so incredibly afraid and guilty about the night my mom died,” Rod Covlin wrote, posing as his daughter, then 12.
Posted by New York Post on Monday, January 7, 2019
In one instance, prosecutors said Covlin linked an email account belonging to Anna to the document, which was reportedly written via “an Apple note.”
“All of these years I have been so incredibly afraid and guilty about the night my mom died,” Covlin allegedly wrote while portraying the note to be from Anna, according to The Post.
“I lied. She didn’t just slip. That day we got into a fight about her dating…I got mad so I pushed her, but it couldn’t have been that hard! I didn’t mean to hurt her! I swear! But she fell and i (sic) heard a terrible noise and the water started turning red and I tried to pull her head up but she remained still…”
It wasn’t until November 29, 2015 that Covlin was arrested for allegedly taking Shele’s life. The arrest came after officials reportedly received information from his then-girlfriend implicating him in the death.
Authorities said Anna found her mother dead a day before Shele planned to write Covlin’s name out of her will.
Authorities initially ruled Shele’s death as undetermined after detectives believed she slipped and hit her head. The victim’s family, who practiced Orthodox Jewish faith, first declined an autopsy based on religious reasons. They later agreed to have Shele’s body exhumed in order to perform a necropsy. Medical examiners subsequently revealed in 2010 that she died of strangulation.
The forged note isn’t the first scenario in which officials said the man tried blaming the death of Shele on his daughter.
Prosecutors previously said that Covlin also tried to set up a marriage between his daughter, who he planned to abduct, and a Mexican man in 2013—in another alleged relentless attempt to gain the inheritance.
According to an earlier report by the New York Daily News, Covlin is accused of telling his then-girlfriend in a recorded conversation that he planned to pay the would-be husband of his teen daughter $10,000 in the scheme. The marriage would’ve meant his daughter would no longer be considered a minor.
Further, officials reportedly described other appalling instances that Covlin allegedly conjured up in order to get the money—including telling Anna to lie about her grandfather raping her.
In yet another allegation against him, prosecutors said Colvin made a plan to have his daughter give her custodial grandparents tea laced with “rat poison-laced sugar” in order to kill them.
The court is scheduled to start jury selection for the suspect’s pending trial on January 14.
This is a developing story. Check back with CrimeOnline for the latest updates.
[Feature Photo: Shele Danishefsky Covlin/Handout]
