Murder of Stan Cohen IV

What leads a family to suspect one of their own in the midst of mourning? This episode of "The Murder Book" takes you through the emotional whirlwind following Stan Cohen's shocking murder. From the moment the Miami Herald splashes Joyce Cohen's name across its front page, suspicion falls squarely on her shoulders, much to the dismay of her attorney, Alan Ross. Detectives John Speer and Sylvia Romans painstakingly gather evidence, examining a handgun found at the crime scene, only to find it wiped clean. Their quest for answers drives them back to the Cohen residence, as the tension between forensic investigation and personal grief intensifies.

Stan Cohen's family is left to pick up the pieces, and the strain rocks the very foundations of their relationships. Dr. Whetley's autopsy uncovers pivotal details about Stan's final moments, while CJ Levenstein takes on the grim task of cleaning the crime scene to spare his loved ones further pain. The friction between Joyce and her stepsons, Gary and Jerry, reaches a boiling point as they demand her cooperation with the police. The narrative captures the profound sorrow and suspicion enveloping the Cohen family, painting a portrait of a family on the brink.

The aftermath of Stan's funeral sees emotions running higher than ever. Rabbi Michael Elson, Gary, and the rest of the family grapple with the customs of mourning, while whispers continue to question Joyce's role in her husband's death. Len Levenstein's heartfelt eulogy stirs the mourners, and Joyce's son Sean spirals into troubling behavior. This episode brings you closer to the raw heartache and suspicions that fracture a once close-knit family, forever altered by a tragic and untimely loss.

Chapters

• 1:23 Murder Investigation
• 14:17 Family Dynamics in Murder Investigation
• 22:00 Family Funeral and Shiva Arrangements
• 33:25 Post-Funeral Family Dynamics

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:24

Welcome to the Murder Book. I'm your host, kiara, and this is Part 4 of the Murder of Stan Cohen. Let's begin. On Saturday, march 8, the Miami Herald ran a front-page story on the Cohen murder under the headline Prominent Builder Murdered in Home. But the sub-headline set the tone of the article. It said Wife keeps police outside for more than eight hours. For many Mayans that was enough. They knew Joyce Cohen had murdered her husband. Alan Ross was furious because he thought the story gave the misleading impression that his client had met cops at the door and, after letting them have a quick look at her husband's body, barred them from the house. The misinformation, according to what Ross would guess, probably came from the cops. The truth was that the cops had been all over the Cohen house for three hours before the search warrant dispute and that was hardly a quick look. But he was afraid the damage was already done and partly at his direction, since he had advised his client not to consent to the search.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Downtown at Miami Police Department headquarters, john Spear and Sylvia Romans were on the job early, despite having spent most of the night on the Cohen case. Stan Cohen's name went up on the Homicide Department's murder board, an expanse of white that covered nearly all of the office's west wall. Stanley A Cohen was the 29th murder of the year to be investigated by Miami Police Department homicide detectives, the 74th murder in Dade County and before year end the county would rise to 438 homicides. The murder board was lined in columns to provide quick information on vital statistics and the status of every Miami homicide. It would include the name of the victim, the date and location of homicide, include the name of the victim, the date and location of homicide, victim's birthdate, detectives working the case, name of suspect and, if no suspect have been identified, wdi, which means whodunit, the status of investigation open or arrest made. As lead detective Speer wrote in the information on the Cohen homicide. He reached the name of suspect column and he wrote WDI in bold red letters, even though the suspicious was Joyce Cohen.

Speaker 1: 4:24

Down the hall from the homicide office, sylvia Romans began to sort through the physical evidence from the crime scene at the Cohen house. She located the brown paper bag containing the handgun found in the front yard. She removed the gun, took more close-up photographs. As she focused her camera on the weapon's serial number, romans noticed something unusual Trace evidence on the gun itself. There was bark, probably from the trees in the Cohen's front yard, she thought. And there were two tiny pieces of what looked like paper tissue, kleenex, caught at the edge of the hand grip. So she took more close-ups of the tissue. Then she looked for gunpowder residue on the gun, what is called the blowback, and traces of blood, body tissue or flesh. And she found a speck of blood on the muscle. So Romans decided to alert the homicide detectives before she went any further in her examination. Should she remove the tiny tissue bits for further analysis? Should the weapon be processed for latent prints? Should the blood on the muscle get priority? Once she processed the weapon for latent prints, romans knew it might be impossible to analyze the tiny blood spot. Go for the latent prints, she was told, and remove the tissue first. And another thing you will have to go back to the Cohen crime scene to pick up samples of anything that looks like the tissue on the grip.

Speaker 1: 6:04

Romans removed the hand grip from the gun in order to retrieve the tiny pieces of tissue intact, and then she packaged the tissue separately and put it aside. The pieces were so small it was unlikely they could be matched to any particular sample. Next she prepared the gun for latent print analysis. Since the gun metal was dark, the usual method of dusting with black graphite powder to locate latent prints is not going to work, so there would be no visual contrast to show up the prints. So at this point the best method of processing the gun, romans decided, was super glue fuming method.

Speaker 1: 6:53

So first what Romans did was to place the gun inside a glass aquarium tank. She used a wooden dowel to prop it up so that all surfaces would be exposed to processing. Next she put a few drops of superglue in a small container, set the open container inside the aquarium with the gun. Superglue gives off caustic fumes which leave behind a white residue that actually adheres to latent fingerprints. After correct processing, the residue makes latent prints visible in white against a dark surface. And once the prints are located, the technician processes them in the usual manner dusting with the black graphite powder in a tiny brush, lifting off the powder with transparent tape and then attaching the tape to a latent print card. Romans covered the top of the aquarium so the caustic fumes wouldn't get in her eyes and nose. She checked the gun every 15 minutes to see whether any prints were visible. Finally, whitish residue began to appear. But as the residue developed. There was no pattern of prints. The most Romans could identify was a smear of white. It looked like white marks, according to what she could observe, and this gun must have been wiped down. That's what she thought. Now, after she completed her processing, roman sent the gun to the Metro-Dade County Laboratories for further analysis. First the serology department would check for blood and tissue, then firearms would evaluate the ballistic pattern inside the barrel, and the barrel would also have to be analyzed for blowback gunpowder residue. Shortly after noon, silver Romans and her partner Gil Martin headed back to the Cohen house to look for the paper tissue samples.

Speaker 1: 9:13

That afternoon Detective Speer met Dr Whetley for Stanley Cohen's autopsy in the old medical examiner's building near Jackson Memorial Hospital, and this facility was hopelessly inadequate to handle the virtual avalanche of corpses that descended on it in the 1980s. The pit, as the autopsy room was called, held facilities for only three autopsies to be performed simultaneously, and the staff desperately needed more space. The Miami Herald reported that the medical examiner's office was storing overflow corpses in a refrigerated Burger King truck that they had leased, a story that was promptly picked up and repeated by national news media. Corpses were stored in the truck, and Dr Whitley confirmed this. The bodies in the truck were unidentified. Sometimes it took months to track down identities, especially with the flood of foreign refugees to Miami. The truck was simply more convenient for long-term storage, according to Dr Whetley, dressed for work in her surgical greens, drawstring pants, short-sleeved v-neck shirt, paper shoe covers and barber-surgeon gloves.

Speaker 1: 10:33

Dr Wedley chatted briefly with Speer and reviewed some basic information about Stanley Cohen. Although Cohen was Jewish, there was no request for a Jewish autopsy. If there had been, wedley would have called in a rabbi and performed the autopsy according to rabbinical rules. In preparation for the autopsy, stan Cohen's corpse had been washed and placed supine on the glimming stainless steel tray table that had been pushed over to a low sink with hoses and a drain. The head and shoulders rested on a large wooden block. The skin was pale, yellowish. The slightest eyes were open. Now the mouth slack.

Speaker 1: 11:19

Dr Whetley began with an examination and description of Stanley Cohen's external features 5 foot 10 inch, 205 pound, moderately obese Caucasian male consistent with the stage age of 52, chest scar from heart bypass surgery. Scars over the left hip, on both thighs, just below the right knee and on both ankles, three gunshot wounds to the back of the head plus a grazed wound on top of the head, so a total of four. Dr Whetley stepped to a work table to make notes of his examination. As he went along, he sketched the visible scars and the head wounds on an outlined form. There was a gold ring bearing the initials SAC on Goem's finger. Because the fingers were so swollen the ring had to be cut off the corpse.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Dr Wendt inserted a hollow needle into each eyeball to withdraw ocular fluid which was labeled and stored for later analysis. After examining the inside of the mouth and nose, there were slight abrasions on the nasal ally. He was ready to open the body cavity Using a surgical scalpel. He began the traditional Y-shaped incision which runs from the left and right clavicles and meets at the sternum and then continues down to the pubis. Just under the skin was a layer of bright yellow fat contrasting sharply with the dark red muscles beneath. There was no odor of alcohol from the body tissues. There was no suggestion that Stanley Cohen had been inebriated when he died. Using syringes, dr Whartley withdrew blood from the heart and urine from the bladder. The volume was recorded, samples labeled for further analysis. Samples in tubes with red tops would be sent to the MetroDate lab Tubes with gray tops went to the medical examiner's own lab.

Speaker 1: 13:39

After Dr Whetley separated the fat and muscle from the rib cage, he was ready to enter the chest and examine the heart and lungs ribcage. He was ready to enter the chest and examine the heart and lungs. It takes a surprising amount of strength to cut through the ribcage. Some pathologists use a bolt cutter or a linoleum knife to sever the ribs. Some cartilage is easier to penetrate than bone. Dr Wetley preferred to use a scalpel to excise the cartilage that connects the sternum to the ribs. Once inside the chest, dr Whetley examined, removed and described the heart and lungs.

Speaker 1: 14:18

Stan Cohen had healed well from his heart bypass surgery several years earlier. Several years earlier, as he checked the coronary arteries, dr Whetley wondered, as he always did at this stage of autopsy, what his own 42-year-old arteries must look like by now. He methodically weighed each organ and took two tissue samples from each. One sample was placed in a container of amide for storage, another in a similar container for later histologic study. The carefully labeled containers were white plastic, the kind of Delhi uses, and by the conclusion of the autopsy both containers would be full of tissue samples.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Finally, dr Wedley was ready to investigate the gunshot wounds on the back of Stan Cohen's head. He designated them A, that's the graze wound creasing the top of the scalp, B and C, the left side of the head, and D on the right. He made an incision below the wounds, then incised the scalp carefully, reflecting it off the skull and forward over the face. When he was finished he signaled to a laboratory assistant wearing surgical greens and a large plastic face shield. The assistant removed the top of Stanley Cohen's skull in one piece with a large handheld vibrating saw. The removed portion bore all three bullet holes.

Speaker 1: 15:58

Then Dr Whetley carefully excised the brain. He carried the organ to a work table and began meticulously serious sectioning of the brain tissue. He knew just what he was looking for and he found it Several small misshapen lead fragments from the bullets that killed Stanley Cohen. He could see that the bullets had traveled from the back of the skull toward the front, but he couldn't trace the individual paths because they were so close together. He noted his findings but even his dry, professional prose in the autopsy report couldn't diminish the devastation those bullets had wreaked on Stan Cohan's brain. He said quote these gunshot wounds are associated with extensive pupification of the brain. End quote the medical examiner's photographer.

Speaker 1: 16:56

A young woman wearing a white lab coat took official autopsy photographs at each stage of the procedure. She climbed up in a special wheeled ladder to shoot directly down at the corpse. As she set up his shot, she was careful to include a placard bearing the date and official autopsy case number March 8, 1986, case number 86-626. When he was finished, dr Whetley dictated his autopsy report, translating Stan Cohen's corporeal existence and violent death into sterile scientific probes. Cause of death gunshot wounds of head. Regarding their probable time of death, dr Whitley could say only that it had occurred between midnight and 6 am on March 7.

Speaker 1: 17:50

By the time Whitley was called to the Cohen house, the body had been lying on the floor for at least nine hours, a delay caused by the need to get a search warrant. Toxicology analysis of samples taken from Stan Cohen's body confirmed that he had consumed no alcohol prior to his death. The drug scan was also negative. The twisted metal fragments Dr Wettly removed from Stan Cohen's purplified brain had indeed been fired by a .38 caliber Smith Wesson revolver found in Cohen's front yard the day before. It was Stanley Cohen's own gun. By mid-afternoon the Miami police investigators and ID technicians had finished processing the crime scene at the Cohen house, detective Spear called CJ Levenstein to tell her that the search was completed and she could pick up the Cohen's house keys. The crime scene was officially turned back over to Mrs Joyce

Speaker 1: 18:56

Cohen. Cj took her handyman to the Cohen's house with her. She was determined to clean up the master bedroom, wipe up the puddles and spatters of Stan Coen's blood on the floor and on the mirrored wall, change the sheets, throw out the blood-soaked, wet bedding, remove the gory debris of tragedy. She knew that Joyce, gary and Jerry would probably go back to the house soon. She knew that Joyce, gary and Jerry would probably go back to the house soon. She wanted to spare them any grisly reminders, no matter how difficult it was for her. As she worked, cj thought of Stan Cohen and sobbed. When she finally returned home, cj found Ann Sheldon and her sister-in-law, carol Sheldon, there with Joyce. Joyce told them that she was ready to go back to her house. Cj wasn't sure it was a good idea, but at least she thought the master bedroom was reasonably

Speaker 1: 19:53

presentable. Now the four women walked down the street and up the stone steps to the Cohen's house. When the others were ready to leave, carol Sheldon decided to take Miss Schiff home with her. No one knew what else to do with the dog. Joyce refused to leave. She was going to stay there. She insisted by herself. She wanted to think, to be close to Stan's things. Cj was dismayed. She thought it was too soon for Joyce to stay alone in the house, but finally her friends left her there, as she

Speaker 1: 20:30

wished. Cj, now, thoroughly exhausted and emotionally drained, walked back home again. As soon as she stepped off the elevator, len met her, obviously upset. Cj, gary and Jerry are here and want to talk to you, he told his wife, and CJ wondered why. So Gary Cohen had hurried home that day from his vacation in Jamaica and he had spent the afternoon talking with Jerry about the death of their father and with the detectives who were investigating the case. The cops wanted to talk to Joyce again. When CJ told Gary and Jerry that Joyce had returned to the house, they said they were going to take her back to the homicide office for another interview with her

Speaker 1: 21:19

lawyer. Gary and Jerry drove together to their father's house, determined to persuade their stepmother to talk to Detective Spear again, and this time they didn't want her hiding behind her lawyer. They found Joyce alone in the house, wandering distractedly from room to room. When they told her what they wanted, joyce sighed and shook her head. Jerry held her side mother by both arms and stared into her eyes and she said If you have nothing to hide, you'll come with us. If you won't come, we will think you were involved in our father's

Speaker 1: 21:58

death. Joyce couldn't believe that Gary and Jerry really thought that she had something to do with Stan's murder, that she had something to do with Stan's murder. How could they be so cruel? But in the face of their ultimatum she reluctantly agreed to go back to the Miami homicide office. But first she wanted to use her upstairs bathroom Waiting downstairs together. Gary and Jerry were edgy and apprehensive. What if Joyce came running down the stairs with a gun and shot them both or herself? They didn't know what to expect anymore. They were completely unnerved by the tragedy of their father's murder. But they told each other the police had already searched the house. If there had been any weapons, surely the police would have taken them, wouldn't they? Finally Joyce walked back downstairs. She seemed calm. There was no

Speaker 1: 23:00

weapon. Together the three of them drove downtown to meet with Detective Jumpspear. When Alan Ross found out later he was furious. More devious police tactics, he thought, trying to get something out of his client when he wasn't there to protect her. But in fact the interview was brief and Detective Spear learned nothing new about Joyce Cohen. That day After the interview Joyce returned to the Levenstein's home and she was furious. Gary and Jerry had practically shoved her into the

Speaker 1: 23:35

car. The trip downtown to see Detective Spear was definitely against her will and it was obvious. She said that Gary and Jerry thought she had something to do with Stan's death. Joyce was outraged. After all she had suffered. Why were her stepchildren treating her this way? But CJ told Joyce that she had to put those worries aside, at least for the moment. Decisions have to be made about Stan's funeral. It was of course Joyce's place to make those decisions, but Stan's family and her friends were there to help. It was all they could do for

Speaker 1: 24:21

now. Rabbi Michael Elson Stan met with Joyce about her husband's funeral and it was decided that the service would be held at 1030 the next morning, sunday March 9th, at Temple Judea, a large concrete and stucco synagogue at the edge of the Miami suburb of Coral Gables. Internment would be at Lakeside Memorial Park. Following the service, stanton's body was to be prepared at Jimmy Gordon's funeral home. It was a sad duty for Gordon, who was an old friend of Stan's another Pile Lamp fraternity brother from the University of Florida. In keeping with Jewish tradition, stan Cohen would have a simple wooden casket adorned only by a wooden star of David. The casket, of course, would be closed. Viewing the remains is not permitted in the Jewish

Speaker 1: 25:17

faith. There was the question of sitting Shiva, the Jewish custom of maintaining a vigil with the family of the deceased. Orthodox Jews follow strict rules. The Shiva takes place at the home of the deceased on consecutive nights following burial. The rabbi leads the bereaved family in ritual prayers for the dead. Each night of Shiva, the mourning family symbolically withdraws from ordinary life. They prepare no food, friends bring in food for them and their visitors. They wear special slippers instead of their usual shoes. They may sit only on small hardwood benches, taking no comfort or ease. They may not look at themselves in a mirror or mirrors in the house, or they're all draped with black cloth and each member of the family wears a torn black ribbon on the left breast, a symbol of rending their clothing in

Speaker 1: 26:22

grief. Gary wanted to set Shiva for his father. It wasn't necessary to follow all the orthodox rules. He thought A three-day mourning period would be sufficient After all, Stanley certainly had not been a strict observer of religious ritual. But sitting Shiva was something Gary knew he had to do. But where could Shiva be held? Not in the house where Stan Cohen had been murdered. That was

Speaker 1: 26:48

unthinkable. The Levensteins offered their home. But there were practical problems. Stan's brother, artie, was in a wheelchair. The elevator up to the Levensteins' penthouse would be a barrier for him and for Stan's widowed mother, frances, who was elderly. Then George Jonides offered the solution. The Shiva could be held at the Jonides' home on the Coral Gable waterway. The single-story house was large, all the Cohen family and friends could be accommodated and it was right down the street from Temple Judea. The family could gather there in the morning to meet the limousines for the funeral. After the service and every night of the Shiva everyone was welcome at the Jundidises. It was a generous offer which Gary gratefully

Speaker 1: 27:39

accepted. Gary had one more sad task that day. He wanted to choose the clothes his father would wear for eternity. He wanted to choose the clothes his father would wear for eternity. Cj walked with him to the house and waited while Gary went up alone to his father's bedroom. He came back downstairs carrying a dark suit, white shirt and tie formal attire for Stan Cohen's last formal occasion. That night Joyce stayed in the Levenstein's guest room while Sean slept on the sofa in the living

Speaker 1: 28:11

room. Sometime that afternoon Sean had found time to be alone in the big stone house on South Bayshore Drive. He had grown up in that house, although he had not really lived there since his parents sent them off to Rocket Mountain Academy, but the house still echoed with memories of his childhood. Sean walked upstairs to the master bedroom his parents had shared. He went into his mother's bathroom, which was behind the sitting room adjacent to the bedroom. He had a destination in mind the secret cupboard behind the bathroom door. As a child, sean had discovered that the little cupboard was his mother's hiding place for his Christmas and birthday gifts. He never let on, but he had always found his gifts before the holidays, then had to pretend he was surprised. This time Sean found a small package in the little secret cupboard. It wasn't a gift for him, but he knew instantly what it was. He removed the package and carefully closed the cupboard

Speaker 1: 29:20

door. Stan Cohen's funeral was held on Sunday, march 9. That morning the Levensteens dressed carefully Len in a somber dark suit and CJ in a dark dress. Sean put on the suit. Someone had bought him the day before. They gathered at the foot of the stairs to wait for Joyce. Finally, she came downstairs wearing a simple black dress and a large black hat. Cj was disapproving because the hat was not right. She told Joyce that it was too dramatic, so she persuaded her to go back upstairs and remove the hat. Joyce reappeared hatless and started down the stairs again. Then suddenly she tripped or stumbled or maybe fainted. Fortunately Lynn was close enough to catch her as she fell. It was, they all knew, going to be a long, terrible day In

Speaker 1: 30:22

silence. They drove to the Janidis' house where the family was gathering, to meet the limousines that would take them to Temple Judea for the funeral. Joyce walked into the house alone through the back door. Chavon Jonides was waiting for her. But when she saw Joyce, chavon was startled by her day's appearance. She was resembling, trembling violently. Her dark stockings were twisted and bagging around her necks, and Joyce said I have to do something with my stockings. They're falling down. Joyce was carrying her jewelry case in her in her purse, so she told Sharon that she was afraid to leave her jewelry at the Levensteins during the funeral because it might be stolen. And Sharon said well, you can't take your jewelry with you to the funeral, why don't you leave it in my bedroom? So Sharon helped Joyce fix her sagging stockings, pull herself together. She could see that Joyce was going to need a lot of

Speaker 1: 31:23

help. Through the kitchen doorway Joyce glimpsed Dan's family assembled in the living room. Jerry was sitting on a sofa near the fireplace. Joyce drew back and said you know, jerry thinks I have something to do with this. And Sharon was taken aback. She said oh God, what's going on? Jerry had not said a word to her about that. It seemed crazy beyond belief and Sharon was afraid Jerry might have overheard Joyce's insistent whisper. So Sharon whispered back to Joyce and said look, don't worry about that now, just get through the day. And as she crossed the living room, joyce halted in front of her stepdaughter. She bent to kiss Jerry's cheek Wordlessly. Jerry turned her head, averting her face. So Joyce basically kissed empty

Speaker 1: 32:22

air. Finally, the somber group boarded limousines for the short ride to Temple Judea. Cj rode with Joyce, sean and Michael Cohen, the son Stan had adopted during his brief second marriage. Michael had obtained emergency leave from the army to come home for their funeral. By 10.30 am Temple Judea was packed. Cars jammed, the parking lot. An overflow crowd waited patiently on the sidewalk in the bright spring sunshine. Inside stan cohen's plain wooden casket rested near the pulpit at the front. His family gathered in the small private alcove nearby and again CJ sat with Joyce, sean and Michael. She noticed that Stan's mother, frances, also sat near Joyce. Despite her own grief, frances was solicitous of her

Speaker 1: 33:24

daughter-in-law. Shortly before the service, frances Cohen had decided that she wanted a eulogy for her beloved son. She asked Len Levenstein to speak for Stan. He was touched by the request but he wasn't sure he could handle the task. He was still terribly emotional about Stan's death and he didn't want to embarrass herself or himself or Stan's family by breaking down publicly. But it seemed there was no one else to do it. So he agreed and went off alone to the rabbi's study to gather his thoughts about his friend of 30 years. What could he say about their friendship? How could he sum up Stan Cohen's life? Later Len couldn't really remember what he had said in the eulogy Something about Stan being a wonderful father, family man, he was sure, and a great friend. He had tried to capture Stan's love of life and his vitality, his robust masculinity. He hoped he had done a good job, but it was, len's thought, the most difficult thing that he had ever

Speaker 1: 34:53

done. At the conclusion of the service, the mourners fell out on the side of the door, gathered to watch the pallbearers Len Levenstein, jay Rosson, marvin Sheldon, his brother Arthur, who they carry Stan's casket to the waiting hearse. Then a long line of cars follow the hearse and the family limousines to the cemetery. There the casket was carried to the gravesite and placed upon the lowering device suspended over the open grave. Stan's friends gathered around a small canopy that sheltered chairs for the family. Joyce walked haltingly to her seat, supported by Sean on one side, michael on the other. When all were assembled, rabbi and Sestad lit traditional committal prayers. Then the Coen's friends formed two lines of condolence through which the family would walk back to the limousines. As she stared down into the open grave, joyce, frank, did at that

Speaker 1: 36:05

point. Back at the Jonides' house, final preparations were underway. Marvin's shoulder had a range for a caterer to deliver platters of food and bagels, lox, onion and cream cheese, desserts, salads, you name it. There was a generously stocked bar on the patio overlooking the Coral Gables Waterway. Chairs were arranged in the spacious living room and the dining room on the sandy patio, and soon the large house filled with mourners. And Joyce arrived. She was assisted by Sean and Michael, one on each side as before. Her face, without makeup, was red and blotchy. Her eyes swollen. She seemed dazed. Friends lowered her to the sofa near the fireplace carefully, as if she were an invalid or an old woman. There she was surrounded by her loyal friends, myra Wendig, hugh Samson and others, except for Ed and Sam Smith, who were skiing in Europe. They sat beside her, patting her, holding her hands, trying to comfort her, but there was little to say. Joyce herself said nothing at all. Her face was a mask of

Speaker 1: 37:28

grief. Len Levenstein watched the scene with consuming interest. When Gary and Jerry Cohen had told him about the detective's suspicions of Joyce, len had rejected it out of hand. He didn't believe that Joyce could possibly be involved in her husband's murder. But he could see that others were not so sure. Even there at the Jonides' house, right after the funeral, he saw people beginning to take sides. It was like pre-game in football. First, a lot of general milling around, no pattern to the interaction of players in the field. But then the buzzer sounds and suddenly the amorphous mass forms two teams, two completely separated opposing forces. No buzzer sounded that Sunday in the Junidus' home, but some inaudible signal was passed. In the Junidus' home, but some inaudible signal was passed Suddenly. There were whispered conversations on the patio over drinks. At the bar where stands, moaners were gazing through the open French doors at Joyce, dressed in black, sitting on a sofa in the living room At the center of the group, gary and Jerry Cohen. Meanwhile the cluster around Joyce was growing smaller. Just Myra Wenning, shu and Skip Samson, sean and Michael

Speaker 1: 38:58

Cohen. After Step's funeral, joyce and Sean move out of the Levenstein's penthouse. Joyce turned to Skip and Shu Sampson for shelter. Shu was a compassionate woman who had been a staunch friend. Now she offered sympathy, hospitality, unflagging support, which Joyce gratefully accepted. She was going to need all the friends she had accepted. She was going to need all the friends she

Speaker 1: 39:32

had. Joyce had another meeting with Alan Ross in his office. This time Sean came with his mother. He had never met Ross before, but he had already heard that he was a drug lawyer. Why did his mother need a lawyer at all, sean wondered, and why would she choose a drug lawyer to represent her? Sean worried that it made his mother look guilty. He knew that she had not had anything to do with his stepfather's murder, despite the ugly rumors that had reached his

Speaker 1: 40:07

ears. While Joyce conferred with her attorney, a secretary took Sean to the law firm's Victory Bar, which was a luxurious leather panel lounge with a well-stocked bar and a nice view of Miami. There, she said, sean could help himself to cold Coca-Cola's in the refrigerator while he waited for his mother to finish her meeting. Coca-colas in the refrigerator while he waited for his mother to finish her meeting. While he was alone, sean took a coke out of the refrigerator and poured it into a glass with ice and then decided to spike it liberally with rum he found in the bar. He soon began to feel strange lightheaded. Earlier that day he had swallowed some Valium sneaked out of his mother's

Speaker 1: 40:49

purse. As Joyce's conference with Ross wore on, sean went back to the bar again and again. Eventually, joyce came to retrieve her son. They were going out. She told him in Alan Ross's car. Sean said nothing, although he was beginning to feel seriously queasy. They climbed into the car, a 1982 Porsche 911 in a color Ross called Choco Black. Sean squeezed into the tiny back seat and as the car began to pick up speed, so did his heaving stomach. He desperately tried to get his head out of the open window, but it was too late. He sprayed the car, the leather interior, the carpet, the door, the window, even the charcoal black exterior, with vomit. Though tightly clenched teeth, russ murdered into his client Nice kid. Ross traded in the Choco Black Porch 911 for a brand new white one the next day. Thank you for listening to the Murder Book. Have a great week.