Page 3 - Inside Scharf News Today

Interviewed jonathan back in 2008, the young man described his dad as a good guy. >> i think he was a, you know, fairly decent, you know, fairly decent guy. >> it was only after detectives told him his dad had just been arrested that the son turned on his father. >> she got coffee thrown at her by him. >> before you found out that your dad was arrested, did you lie? >> yes. >> did you lie more than once? >> yes. why would jonathan turn on his father and lie? if scharf was convicted, he would get...

Now, on second look, she said, the victims wounds, or lack of them, told her something different. something vital. if jody had tumbled innocently down the palisades, she would have had broken bones everywhere. she did not. >> there were no visible injuries on the back of mrs. scharfs body. >> why would stephen have killed his wife? the biggest reason, the prosecutors argued, was that stephen did not want a divorce. he didnt want a custody fight and he didnt want to split assets with jody. and th...

Sometimes they would call and hang up on her. >> in fact, linum learned jody had served her husband divorce papers on september 8, 1992. less than two weeks later, she was dead. at the base of the palisades. the timing made him even more eager to talk to the widower scharf. >> there was a sit-down with mr. scharf. he has consented to talk, right? >> yes. >> two days after his wifes death, stephen scharf was freely answering detectives questions. yes, he told them, he and his wife were talking di...

The top of the cliff. and 30 feet to the north. >> she had to have been propelled from that point. >> jody had to have been thrown or pushed to her death, he said, and likely from another spot entirely on those cliffs. he wasnt the only expert who saw it that way. >> -- the head and chest injuries are not consistent with someone that tumbles down the cliff face. >> dr. mary anne clayton was the bergen county medical examiner who first ruled the circumstances of jodys death could not be determine...

>> why didnt you? >> not an interrogation. he wasnt in custody. i dont know. >> the defense attorney also argued that police misinterpreted what his client said in his home just hours later. >> my client never said this wasnt an accident. >> and as for that hammer police thought was a weapon -- >> the hammer was examined by the forensic experts. there was nothing found on that hammer. >> and the defense attorney pressed the medical examiner on her flip-flop. undetermined manner of death in 93. n...

In his kitchen with the hammer and he just forgot to put it back in the garage. he put it in the bag with the picnic items. it was a convenient excuse for having the hammer. >> detectives asked to check out the drawer and the rest of the how is that night. he agreed. as it turned out something more telling was happening away from the action. >> i said look, mr. scharf, i am your local police department. >> ed, a local police officer, was told to keep an eye on stephen scharf that night as detect...

Jody had become unhappy with their free love life-style, so they came to this romantic, if treacherous spot, to recommit to each other, stephen said, to kiss and make up. >> the spot where they went is not a spot where you would go to reconcile with anybody. >> detectives were not buying the story for another reason. they had found something suspicious inside scharfs car. a bag filled with items you would expect for a romantic picnic and one you would not. a hammer. >> you have your wine, cheese...

Childhood, like the afternoon he sat cowering in the back seat of a car, watching his mother suffer. >> my mom was driving, and my dad was hitting her with the bottom of his fist. and i was just like begging him to stop doing it. >> he also remembered the last day of his mothers life. he was 10. and said his mother told his father that she didnt want to go out with him alone. >> she said, if i wanted to go out with you, i wouldnt be divorcing you. >> but where was the proof that stephen had plan...

Their free love life-style, so they came to this romantic, if treacherous spot, to recommit to each other, stephen said, to kiss and make up. >> the spot where they went is not a spot where you would go to reconcile with anybody. >> detectives were not buying the story for another reason. they had found something suspicious inside scharfs car. a bag filled with items you would expect for a romantic picnic and one you would not. a hammer. >> you have your wine, cheese, crackers, opener, claw hamm...

Had been with 50 or 60 women. >> she was okay with that? >> yes. >> he said they had become unhappy with their free love lifestyle and came to this romantic if treacherous spot to recommit to each other, stephen said, to kiss and make up. >> and the spot where they went is not a spot where you would go to reconcile with anybody. >> detectives werent buying the story for another reason, they had found something suspicious inside scharfs car, a bag filled with items youd expect for a romantic picn...