The trial for husband accused of murdering estranged wife who on New Year's Eve in 2009 in New York City began on Wednesday in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Rod Covlin, now 45, is accused of murdering his businesswoman wife, Shele Danishefsky Covlin then leaving her body in the bathtub of her Manhattan apartment for their daughter, Anna, to find at 7 am on New Year's Eve in 2009.
The pair were in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle, and Danishefsky, a banker with considerable wealth, had planned to write Covlin out of her will the day after she was found dead.
an autopsy confirmed that a bone in Danishefsky's throat had been broken by force.
in a last attempt to inherit his wife's millions she left behind,Covlin tried to stick the murder to his 9-years-old daughter by sending a fake confession of her confessing to the killing via her email account.
"All of these years I have been so incredibly afraid and guilty about the night my mom died," the note read. Anna would've been 12 at the time she supposedly wrote it,
"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!"
Covlin is also accused of coaching Anna to make up a false rape allegation against her grandfather. Shortly after his wife’s death, Covlin’s parents were reportedly granted custody of his children, depriving him control of their $5 million inheritance, prosecutors said. The girl would not go through with his alleged plan.
He then allegedly devised a scheme to kidnap and marry off his daughter in Mexico for $10,000 in an attempt to control her wealth. She was 13 at the time. He relayed his plan to his girlfriend, who reportedly recorded the phone call.
Jury selection in the court trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 14.
