It was a case tailormade with the tabloids. We had this beautiful woman, a tall handsome guy, greed, infidelity. He is out with other women. A failing marriage with millions at stake. He didnt have any money of his own. This is getting ugly. Yes. She said she were broken, and she cried. Was it a fall in the tub, or husbands fall from grace . We believed it was a staged accident. He was adamant about his innocence. The case bought me for a long time. He said to me you have to help me kill my parents. And i cant even think about the magnitude of it all. Hello and welcome to dateline. Shelley and Roderick Covlin met and married in a matter of months. Soon they had two Young Children in manhattan. And an estate worth millions. Then on the brink of a new year, tragedy struck. First responders thought it was an accident. But troubling clues quickly surfaced, pointing to a diabolical truth that would tear to families apart. Heres andrea with endgame. If you had to pick one place that screams New York City, its usually this, times square, the citys heart and soul, and normally full of noise and lights and people rushing somewhere. Or nowhere. Take a short walk uptown however, maybe 25 minutes on foot, and the endless Tourist Hotspots and commerce gives way to a quiet here, you find the Treeline Streets and cozy apartments of the Upper West Side. I started my own family here on the Upper West Side, just steps from central park. During the day, this neighborhood is buzzing with families. At night, its quite and safe. But just two blocks from where i lived, in the Early Morning hours of new years eve 2009, something terrible touched this neighborhood. It happened inside this pricey Apartment Building on west 68th street. Around 7 am, a man named Roderick Covlin to say his 90 what find his wife shelley unconscious in the bathtub. Rebecca rosenberg, a reporter for the new york post, knows this case inside and out. He sees his wife in the tub. He pulls her out, puts her face up on the ground, and starts performing cpr. Then he calls 911, and they tell him to keep performing cpr. This is a horrible scene. And i will mention it was utterly devastating for the daughter. They empties arrived in minutes. They found no pulse. 47 year old shele covlin was beyond help. The police come to the scene, eventually a detective comes to the scene. Detectives found a tub full of bloody water, and shelley wrapped in a comforter around the floor next to her. Above the tub, a cabinet with a door hanging of its hinge, chile had grabbed it as she fell, and landed hard in the tub. And so investigators began the difficult process of deconstructing a life that had just come to a sad and mysterious and. The police would soon learn that shele covlin this was larger than life. Nobody admired her more than her sister eve, and brother marc karstaedt. We would have a blast. We would laugh a lot. She was fun a lot. She graduated with a marketing degree, and then my dad had asked her if she wanted to come and work with them at le errol lynch. Shele eventually became a private wealth manager. The money was good, and so was the priest stage. Shele was fancy. She was smart. She was educated. Shelleys friend remembers the days she took her to the club. It was wintertime, she was wearing her coat. Men just came over to her. It was like being swept off her feet. Hes got the finance job, the style she kind of was the classic New York City woman. Absolutely. Absolutely she was. In february of 1998, shele went to a jewish single mixer and manhattan were sparks through with a guy she met there. His name, Roderick Covlin. She called her sister that night with an outrageous she was all giggles and said i met a guy, really nice guy, and she says we are on our way to the airport. She was laughing, and i said shelley please dont do. This evening her sister out of it that night, but shelley was serious, and so was rod. Shelley was 11 years older than him, but that didnt seem to matter. His parents, david carroll, said they adored her right from the start. He told us he had a girlfriend, and we have to meet her. And i said okay, theyre coming up we dont have time for that now know you have to meet. Her a brunette back then, shelley mary brought six months later. And as reality settled, it wasnt exactly blessed, because while he was a stunning overachiever, rod was well not in the same league. He was a stock trader of middling success. When it did seem was a guy that really had a lot of big ideas, and was unable to execute on any of them. But he had a couple of talents. Martial arts and backgammon. We sat down and played, he won. And he won money. Two years after she married rod, shelley gave birth to baby anna. She was inseparable from anna. She was always with that child. She was an incredible mom. A second pregnancy followed, twins. But that ended in tragedy. So they were born prematurely, and they died. Oh my gosh. A childbirth in one few hours how did she handle that . How did you support her . Its just an awful thing. Devastating. The entire year was a nightmare for her. Then in 2006, shele had a baby boy. She and rod made her son miles, but now, three years later shele was dead. And the scene inside that apartment on the Upper West Side with chaos. Mark says even could barely function. When i first saw her work walking down the corridor, and she was as white as sheet, she was incredible shock. He was an nypd detective, he was there to. Pondering various scenarios. I think the places where people have fallen in the tub, the anything is possible. In this case, that would be an understatement. The mystery is about to heat up. It turns out the confluence seemingly perfect marriage was anything but. Coming up, a whirlwind romance that ended in a storm. She said he doesnt get a job, and hes just hanging around the house. And she was very frustrated. She said hes driving me crazy. And it might get worse, when shelby told me that he was going to live across the wall, my first instinct was i dont think this was a good idea. When dateline continues. Meet arexvy. the first fdaapproved rsv vaccine. Arexvy is used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. Arexvy is proven to be over 82 effective in preventing lower Respiratory Disease from rsv and over 94 effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. Rsv can be serious. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about arexvy today. Rsv . Make it arexvy. all toooo youuuuu sean o your doctor or phari wish for the amazingday. New iphone 15 pro jason sean do you mean this one the one with titanium . sean no way i can trade this busted up thing for one. jason maybe stealing wishes from the birthday boy is not your best plan switch to verizon and trade in any iphone and get the new iphone 15 pro on them. sean what . jason yup, and on an Amazing Network sean and i dont have to ruin anymore Birthday Parties jason yeah, that ship has sailed. Lets go get you the iphone. Here we go, come on hon. vo its your last chance to trade in any iphone for a new iphone 15 pro on us. Only on verizon. New years in the big apple new years in the big apple is usually is usually a happy time. Celebrations everywhere and the promise of fresh starts and new dreams. For those who knew and loved shele covlin, 2010 began with sadness. Sheles sister eve and her husband marc, and believe the mother of two was gone. Did a kind of hit you later, the more emotional side of things . Did you think about your life without . Right. Exactly. And the children without her . Right. You cant even think about the magnitude of it all. Shele covlins in laws, were also in shock. Their son, rod called with a new. He says, shele is dead. I dont think ive ever made it to manhattan faster in my life. Did you get any details on that first phone call . No. Nothing. No, he just said chile is dead. When you arrive, what is going on . Robert was sitting on the couch. He was in shock. Honestly, ive never seen my son shellshocked and speechless in my life. The next few days were a blur. For religious reasons, the family decided not to have an autopsy performed. My father a lot obviously made the final decision. He went by his rabbi who said, dont do the autopsy. It was only as Friends And Family gather to sit shiva the jewish period of mourning, that they had time to think about the vibrant woman they just lost. She was an incredibly devoted mother. She was an incredible person. But what was also on their minds was dark and troubling. Sheles rocky marriage to rod. She said, he doesnt get a job. He goes to the gym twice a day. And hes just hanging around the house. She was very frustrated. She said, hes driving me crazy. In 2009, shele confessed to her sister that her marriage was in serious trouble. She said, were broken and we just have to part ways. And she cried. She wept to meet. One thing marc and eve said came between the couple was rods dramatic mood swings. Rod has and has always had a violent, explosive temper. He could be sitting very calmly in each year, and something can set him off and in seconds, he will literally explode. Shele also complained about rods growing obsession with back backgammon. It became a passion and then an obsession. For him. Did he ever say why . I think he had forged relationships in the backgammon community, that he really liked. Even rods parents felt their son was spending too much time on the game. I told him that he was being a little ridiculous with the backgammon. Going to backgammon too much. I said, youve got a family. The colvin said they saw Sheen Changes in shele, to. Once they thought were equally damaging to the marriage. She started going to the fire scrub. From once a week, it became much more frequent than that. The couple seemed to be living separate lives. In what happened to be a painful moment, shele told her sister it wasnt the backgammon or the fact that rod was it pulling his way that pushed her to separate. It was rods cheating. She believes that he left an email up so she would purposely see it, from another woman. And she confronted him and he said that yes, he slipping around with other women. And he wants an Open Marriage. He still loves her, but once an Open Marriage. Most women dont want to go along with the Open Marriage concept. She was one of those who said, absolutely, no. By june, rod had moved out, and he didnt go far. Shele arranged for him to live for free in an apartment across the whole, to make it easy for the kids. Her close friend Stephanie Goldman wasnt happy with the arrangement. When shele told me that he was going to be living across the hall, my first instinct was, my goodness, i dont think this is a good idea. Nevertheless, shele was moving on. And so was rod. He was very charming, intelligent, funny and in a quirky sort of way. And i really enjoyed Playing Backgammon with him. Debra oles Met Rod At A Backgammon tournament. Months later, their relationship became romantic. I was looking for any sort of relationship. And he was pretty aggressive. I think i was naive in the fact that, im considerably older than rod. So, it never occurred to me that he would be interested in me in that way. So, it surprise you when he made an overture . Right, of course it made me feel good. You know, for a man to be attracted to me. Need, shele lets working with divorce attorney, lance meyer. We talked about all the problems she was having with her husband and the concerns she had about herself, her children. And she was really trying to figure out the best way to go about proceeding with the divorce case. By fall, she was dipping her toe in the dating pool again. She was on jdate. She had met some gentlemen jdate, the jewish Dating Website . Yeah, yeah. Shele seemed on track to make a fresh start in 2010. Until, that fresh start ended in what seemed like a deadly accident. When i heard that she slipped and fell in the tub, my initial reaction was, she wouldnt even take the bat. And now, sheles Friends And Family were wondering about the story rod told police. That her daughter called him that morning in a panic and let him into the apartment, because he didnt have a key. I was a very suspicious. Suspicions that only deepened when marc learned the Medical Examiner wasnt sure either. Im reading the Death Certificate and i saw that the cause of death was undetermined. Sheles loved ones are not the only ones with growing doubts. Investigators zero in on troubling clues. Coming up she had bruising to her lip. Chip here to have some scratch marks. And she had bruising to her right hand. And rod said he had put sheles wet body out of the top, so, why wasnt he wet . Two officers found this unusual enough to notice. How would you not get wet . When dateline continues. This is a hot flash. This is a hot flash. But this is a not flash. I got a good feeling theres big news for women going through menopause. Veozah a Prescription Treatment for moderate to severe Vasomotor Symptoms the medical name for hot flashes and night sweats. With hormonefree veozah, you can have fewer hot flashes, and more not flashes. Veozah is proven to reduce the number and severity of hot flashes, day and night. For some women, it can start working in as early as one week. 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This is what has been labeled a legally blonde moment. That any woman who knows about a Carotene Treatment is not going to expose your hair like that. Sheles didnt death didnt sit right with the lead detective either. While he felt her death could have been an accident, details of that scene bothered him. The week that cabinet door had been yanked down. The blood in the tub. The marks on sheles body. She had bruising to her lip. She appeared to have strapped scratch marks. And she had bruising to her right hand. And what the detective would learn later cast suspicion directly on rod. Rod tooled an officer that he had to pull sheles wet falling out of the tub. Yet his clothes bone dry. New york post reporter, rebecca rosenberg. Two officers found this unusual and noted this. How would you not get wet . He was wearing a light colored shirt. He just was it where at all. And it was inconsistent with a story he had told. And their demand remembered rod doing something early that morning that was highly unusual for him. He stopped by the front desk on his way out of the building to get a snack. Even bought the dormant a snickers mark. The dorman thought this was work because Roderick Covlin usually wasnt chatty in all the years he had been there. Never offered to bring anything back. Suspicious details, indeed. The detectives was hoping more clues would emerge from an autopsy. That remember, sheles family did not have one done for religious reasons. How did you feel about that . I was uncomfortable. But if thats what the family wanted, i mean, you always want to try to help the family. The best you can. Its a hard time. But without autopsy results, he says there wasnt much he could do. So, less than a week after shele died, her family hired a private investigator. So, we are not satisfied . Not at all. Private investigator had started talking to friends of sheles, and we had a flood of information that was extremely suspicious. People for telling us things that were very worrying. Including things that confirmed what the family had already seen for themselves. Sheles divorce attorney, lance meyer. He would be a little her, he will yell at her, he would call her ugly. He would make fun of her looks. So, he was a demeaning person. He would go solo in fact, that one point during their divorce, rod try to undermine her at work. He called her company to report that shele was on drugs. Unstable. And depleting their joint bank account. He was trying to get her to lose her job and it was obviously, she worked in a Family Operation within so yes, it was a very serious thing. He was trying to hurt her and her family. That company determined shele was drug free and found that rod was taking much more money from their account than she was. The divorce got uglier. The two squabbled over child support. At one point, a judge told rod he could no longer plea backgammon, something he blamed on shele. He was beyond angry. She was taking away the thing he apparently cared about the most. A couple of weeks after sheles death, her family took their private investigator over to her apartment to check out the scene. Something called the investigators i. The cabinet that shele had supposedly corrupt as she fell, the screws had been pulled out