WEBVTT 00:06.798 --> 00:08.800 [ambient street noise] 00:31.364 --> 00:33.908 [tense, mysterious music playing] 00:33.992 --> 00:38.329 I was hired in January of '95 with the Pilmar family. 00:39.205 --> 00:44.502 Howard and Ros Pilmar really needed someone to help with their son, Philip. 00:46.212 --> 00:48.631 After I'd been working for them for over a year, 00:49.424 --> 00:52.802 I went to work, I walked back to Philip's room, 00:52.886 --> 00:55.764 and he was in his school clothes, 00:55.847 --> 00:58.099 on a made bed, staring at the ceiling. 00:59.100 --> 01:02.520 And he said, "Oh, my dad didn't come home last night." 01:03.146 --> 01:05.440 I could tell he was upset. 01:06.816 --> 01:10.320 A little bit later, I was standing in the foyer, 01:10.403 --> 01:16.618 and Ros just walked in just with a look of shock on her face. 01:17.202 --> 01:18.912 I could tell she had been crying. 01:18.995 --> 01:21.831 She just stood there, opened her hands, and said, 01:22.373 --> 01:23.374 "Howard's dead." 01:23.875 --> 01:27.295 And I remember just thinking, 01:28.713 --> 01:29.923 "This… This can't be." 01:30.006 --> 01:32.008 [suspenseful music playing] 01:33.051 --> 01:37.138 [Mooney] In the 1990s, the murder rate was off the charts in New York City. 01:39.057 --> 01:43.394 But to have a businessman that's murdered in his own business in Midtown Manhattan, 01:43.478 --> 01:45.271 that's a rare occasion. 01:46.564 --> 01:47.941 [elevator dings] 01:49.859 --> 01:53.363 Howard Pilmar was stabbed 20, 30, 40 times. 01:54.113 --> 01:56.324 Everybody had a theory. None of us had an answer. 01:56.407 --> 02:01.663 It was unsolved, but you never close an unsolved homicide. 02:06.835 --> 02:09.629 [Mooney] Every single case takes a little piece out of your soul. 02:12.298 --> 02:16.219 [Butcher] You cannot do this job unless you really care. 02:18.304 --> 02:20.557 [McNeely] You want to find out the truth. 02:21.683 --> 02:23.226 That's what detectives do. 02:23.810 --> 02:26.187 [man] I've always liked the peek behind the curtain. 02:26.271 --> 02:28.022 What really happened? 02:28.523 --> 02:32.193 [Rivera] It's so important for a family to know who murdered their relative. 02:32.277 --> 02:33.319 That's my job. 02:33.945 --> 02:38.199 [Titus] In New York City, the NYPD… 02:41.161 --> 02:42.370 This is it. 02:43.121 --> 02:46.708 [suspenseful music trails off] 02:46.791 --> 02:47.792 [train rumbling] 02:53.882 --> 02:55.884 [tense music pulsing] 02:59.179 --> 03:03.474 1996, I'm the commanding officer of the Midtown South Detective Squad, 03:03.558 --> 03:07.103 which is the busiest detective squad in the city of New York. 03:07.186 --> 03:08.897 Over 2,000 cases a year. 03:09.731 --> 03:12.775 Get a call early in the morning, before I report to work, 03:12.859 --> 03:16.613 that we have a… a murder in an office building in Midtown. 03:18.740 --> 03:21.075 [man] It was a Friday. Walked to work. It was payday. 03:21.159 --> 03:22.744 I was in a great mood. 03:22.827 --> 03:24.913 Doing fabulously in sales 03:24.996 --> 03:29.250 at King Office Supply Company, Incorporated. 03:30.043 --> 03:33.213 I think I arrived about 8:20. I was always early. 03:33.296 --> 03:37.967 And outside the entrance to the building on 33rd Street 03:38.051 --> 03:41.137 was standing an employee who's never outside. 03:41.221 --> 03:43.014 He was always in his office. 03:43.640 --> 03:45.016 He was outside. 03:45.099 --> 03:46.768 [sirens wailing faintly] 03:50.230 --> 03:52.690 And I asked him, "Ed, why are you standing here?" 03:52.774 --> 03:56.694 And he turned to me and said, "Howard is dead." 03:57.946 --> 03:59.948 [sirens intensify] 04:01.950 --> 04:05.370 The controller, King's controller, came in at 5:30 in the morning 04:05.453 --> 04:07.247 and found Howard's body. 04:07.330 --> 04:09.791 He immediately went downstairs and called 911. 04:14.879 --> 04:18.091 I learned, when I first got to the crime scene, 04:18.174 --> 04:21.386 that King was a big office supply 04:21.469 --> 04:24.347 with a storefront on the first floor, 04:24.430 --> 04:27.141 and then an employee office on the fourth floor. 04:28.643 --> 04:29.644 [elevator dings] 04:31.187 --> 04:33.022 [mysterious music playing] 04:33.106 --> 04:35.817 His body was found right outside the elevator 04:36.651 --> 04:39.279 in the reception section on the fourth floor. 04:41.614 --> 04:43.157 We have a stab victim. 04:45.243 --> 04:46.869 There was lots of blood. 04:47.412 --> 04:49.914 [unsettling music playing] 04:51.833 --> 04:54.502 Down the hallway, there was a sink with blood in it 04:54.585 --> 04:57.088 that led you to believe that someone was washing their hands 04:57.171 --> 04:59.090 or washing the murder weapon. 05:03.928 --> 05:05.221 [Tucker] I remember… 05:08.391 --> 05:09.934 the shock of it. 05:10.852 --> 05:12.687 I remember screaming, "No." 05:14.022 --> 05:17.025 And at that point is when they brought the body out, 05:18.234 --> 05:19.402 Howard's body. 05:19.902 --> 05:21.904 [melancholy, somber music playing] 05:24.032 --> 05:28.786 [man] When I found out that Howard's body was discovered in the office, 05:28.870 --> 05:30.955 I was knocked off my feet. 05:31.581 --> 05:35.501 I felt like I guess any parent would feel 05:35.585 --> 05:40.298 when they heard their child was dead, especially from a murder. 05:40.381 --> 05:45.887 I can't even try to express my… my feelings today. 05:47.472 --> 05:50.558 [woman] Howard and my father, they worked together every day. 05:50.641 --> 05:52.352 They were very, very close. 05:52.435 --> 05:54.187 Howard just turned 40. 05:55.605 --> 05:56.939 They… They looked alike. 05:57.023 --> 05:59.984 You know, they had the same fun personality. 06:01.235 --> 06:04.614 Very outgoing, very personable. 06:04.697 --> 06:06.157 Everybody liked them. 06:07.825 --> 06:10.912 Howard must have been four or five years old 06:10.995 --> 06:13.414 when he came to the store the first time. 06:13.498 --> 06:15.875 He always wanted to work for my company. 06:17.835 --> 06:23.007 [Frank] My partner and I started in the stationery business March 1st, 1958. 06:23.091 --> 06:24.550 Office supplies. 06:24.634 --> 06:27.678 You know, any kind of commercial printing. 06:27.762 --> 06:29.138 Things of that nature. 06:29.639 --> 06:32.600 I gave him the business, like, uh, 06:33.935 --> 06:36.604 five or six months before he was murdered. 06:38.523 --> 06:42.485 Frank was devastated by, uh, the murder. 06:42.568 --> 06:44.737 It's unnatural for a parent to bury a child. 06:44.821 --> 06:47.949 I can't imagine going through life and not being a father, 06:48.032 --> 06:52.537 and not seeing my sons succeed, and develop, and do what they're doing. 06:52.620 --> 06:56.707 I wouldn't trade that in for anything. I mean, I think being a father's probably… 06:59.460 --> 07:01.838 the most important title I've ever held. 07:06.717 --> 07:08.845 [Frank] The sun rose and set… 07:08.928 --> 07:11.055 In my eyes, Howard… 07:11.722 --> 07:12.723 [rueful chuckle] 07:14.142 --> 07:15.435 …was my whole life. 07:18.646 --> 07:20.815 [melancholy music trailing off] 07:20.898 --> 07:22.900 [curious percussive music playing] 07:23.568 --> 07:25.862 We're trying to figure out what's going on. 07:25.945 --> 07:28.364 Who do we need to speak to? Security cameras. 07:30.450 --> 07:34.328 We did many canvasses. You do initial canvass that day. 07:34.412 --> 07:38.082 We canvass for weapons, garbage pails, elevator shafts. 07:38.833 --> 07:41.711 [Parrino] He still had his cash, all his personal effects. 07:41.794 --> 07:44.046 Kinda told us this wasn't a random robbery. 07:46.090 --> 07:50.011 [Tucker] Howard was murdered in the office. Police were there. 07:50.094 --> 07:52.638 It was very unsettling to even be there. 07:54.015 --> 07:59.353 The detectives asked me to look for records of employees 07:59.437 --> 08:01.856 that might have wished him ill, 08:02.773 --> 08:05.860 might've hated him, that he had a dispute with. 08:05.943 --> 08:10.489 All I found was one person who… who left in the last few months. 08:10.573 --> 08:13.493 This guy worked in the copy center, in the store. 08:14.076 --> 08:15.870 It was a low-level job. 08:16.412 --> 08:17.788 It was a lead. 08:17.872 --> 08:18.998 They pursued it. 08:19.081 --> 08:22.627 They spoke to other employees about him, then also spoke to him, 08:22.710 --> 08:25.880 and then saw it was a nonissue there. 08:28.591 --> 08:30.343 [Tucker] To me, Howard was a great boss. 08:31.302 --> 08:34.180 When he came into a room, you noticed it. 08:34.263 --> 08:38.809 He was connected to all of us. Howard made you feel like family. 08:38.893 --> 08:40.603 [delicate, poignant music playing] 08:40.686 --> 08:42.480 He… He was in the prime… 08:42.980 --> 08:45.525 the absolute prime of his life. 08:46.025 --> 08:51.781 A healthy, successful, outgoing… 08:51.864 --> 08:53.449 A wonderful man. 08:53.533 --> 08:55.618 To be murdered? Oh, God. 08:57.954 --> 08:59.956 [delicate music trailing off] 09:00.039 --> 09:02.250 [foreboding music playing] 09:03.334 --> 09:06.295 I went to the last hour of Howard's autopsy. 09:07.713 --> 09:09.632 He had over 40 stab wounds. 09:10.132 --> 09:11.926 Not all were penetrating. 09:12.009 --> 09:15.096 There was five that may have been considered fatal enough 09:15.179 --> 09:16.931 if they were just by themselves. 09:17.014 --> 09:20.142 There was also a postmortem, 09:20.226 --> 09:23.312 which is after his heart stops beating, 09:23.396 --> 09:27.316 after he's legitimately dead, he's continually getting stabbed. 09:29.151 --> 09:33.239 This was a fierce, emotional attack of Howard. 09:38.202 --> 09:40.037 We go to the funeral service. 09:40.621 --> 09:45.001 We had detectives inside that were overt. 09:45.084 --> 09:48.504 We were showing support to the family by being there. 09:48.588 --> 09:52.717 But what you're also doing is looking for some strange interaction 09:52.800 --> 09:55.094 between anybody, right? 09:55.177 --> 10:00.016 It could be as simple as a female, not the wife, losing her mind, 10:00.099 --> 10:01.892 or two people arguing. 10:01.976 --> 10:04.228 On top of that, we were outside the funeral 10:04.312 --> 10:06.314 filming everybody coming in and out. 10:06.397 --> 10:09.608 So in case there was something, we can later go back to the film. 10:11.694 --> 10:14.405 [Heather] There were over 1,000 people at the funeral. 10:15.406 --> 10:18.075 So it was… it was kind of daunting. 10:18.159 --> 10:19.952 [somber, pensive music playing] 10:20.036 --> 10:22.830 In the Jewish religion, after the funeral, 10:22.913 --> 10:26.959 people come and visit at the house of the person who dies, 10:27.043 --> 10:29.462 and they pay their respects that way. 10:29.962 --> 10:31.380 This is called "shiva." 10:32.214 --> 10:38.846 Howard's wife, Ros, asked if she could have the shiva at our house 10:40.222 --> 10:46.395 because it would upset Philip to have it at their apartment. 10:46.479 --> 10:48.564 And, naturally, we said yes. 10:49.065 --> 10:51.067 [mysterious, pensive music playing] 10:52.526 --> 10:55.738 [woman] Philip loved his dad, and his dad adored him. 10:58.074 --> 10:59.241 Philip was eight. 10:59.742 --> 11:02.411 Very, very smart for an eight-year-old. 11:02.495 --> 11:08.084 He was a really talkative kid, and happy, and just full of energy. 11:08.584 --> 11:12.880 To see how Philip changed after he lost his dad… 11:12.963 --> 11:15.424 His vibrancy left. 11:15.508 --> 11:18.219 His chattiness left. 11:18.302 --> 11:20.888 His confidence was different. 11:20.971 --> 11:25.226 So all of these things that I saw in him as a spunky little boy, 11:25.309 --> 11:28.437 that was all stripped. That was all taken away from him. 11:29.313 --> 11:31.440 He was lonely without his dad. 11:33.734 --> 11:35.736 [tense, unnerving music playing] 11:39.657 --> 11:44.161 After shiva, Ros comes into the office. 11:45.162 --> 11:50.543 And she brought with her two gentlemen from a large business products dealer. 11:51.669 --> 11:55.923 She made an arrangement to sell them the business. 11:57.466 --> 11:58.968 [Frank] She couldn't run the business. 11:59.051 --> 12:02.221 She didn't know anything about the stationery business. 12:02.304 --> 12:03.764 We all were conflicted. 12:04.265 --> 12:07.977 "She's selling the business? Oh no. What does that mean?" 12:08.602 --> 12:12.189 We were close to $1,000,000 a month in business at that time. 12:13.232 --> 12:15.025 We had about 15 salesmen. 12:16.277 --> 12:19.572 Without us, there was no business, there were no customers. 12:19.655 --> 12:22.992 And we told them, "If you buy, we're all leaving." 12:24.118 --> 12:26.912 Which is how we bought the business from her. 12:29.915 --> 12:33.627 [Parrino] Frank explained the dynamics of the business and who was who. 12:33.711 --> 12:37.715 'Cause that's part of what you have to do, understand even how the business works 12:37.798 --> 12:40.301 and who's responsible for what. 12:40.801 --> 12:43.387 We interviewed everybody who had worked for Howard. 12:44.138 --> 12:46.348 There was 50 to 60 employees that we interviewed. 12:46.432 --> 12:48.851 I bet each one of them was interviewed two to three times. 12:48.934 --> 12:50.561 That's 180 interviews. 12:51.937 --> 12:55.983 [Tucker] Detectives, in their due diligence, 12:56.525 --> 12:58.778 interviewed all of us twice. 12:59.695 --> 13:02.490 So the first was a very cursory… 13:02.990 --> 13:06.410 But the second time, I think he might have asked me, 13:07.161 --> 13:08.996 "Did you overhear any arguments?" 13:09.079 --> 13:10.748 [cryptic, jittery music playing] 13:10.831 --> 13:16.045 I overheard at 5:30, the day before we found Howard's body, 13:16.712 --> 13:23.219 Howard's side of a brutal, vicious argument 13:23.302 --> 13:24.637 between he and Ros. 13:24.720 --> 13:26.847 He was yelling and screaming. 13:27.348 --> 13:30.935 Howard screamed into the phone, 13:31.018 --> 13:34.855 "You effin' C-U-N-T." 13:35.689 --> 13:37.441 I'm sayin' to myself, 13:38.484 --> 13:42.321 "That's a hard one to come back from in a marriage." 13:42.404 --> 13:44.406 [tense, dramatic music playing] 13:47.660 --> 13:52.289 Ros was the first girl that Howard ever had, 13:52.373 --> 13:53.791 if you know what I mean. 13:53.874 --> 13:58.045 They went to high school together, and then they moved in together. 13:58.128 --> 14:00.548 And before I knew it, they got married. 14:01.507 --> 14:04.426 It was a nice, big Jewish wedding at that time. 14:04.510 --> 14:07.137 You know, we made a nice… nice party. 14:07.972 --> 14:10.015 Howard was very happy. 14:10.099 --> 14:16.689 I never had an inkling of any… any kind of, um… problem with his marriage. 14:18.357 --> 14:21.944 [Parrino] Under any circumstances, you're looking for more witnesses. 14:22.027 --> 14:26.907 Spoke to friends, family, and things become apparent. 14:26.991 --> 14:28.951 The marriage is not so good. 14:29.577 --> 14:31.954 We were thinking maybe there was an affair involved, 14:32.037 --> 14:33.330 and that would cause motive. 14:34.623 --> 14:36.792 [Mooney] Who knows if Howard Pilmar had a girlfriend? 14:36.876 --> 14:39.920 That he said, "Listen, that's it. We're done." 14:40.004 --> 14:42.548 "I'm married, and you're not… you're not gettin' the money." 14:42.631 --> 14:43.632 Or whatever it is. 14:43.716 --> 14:46.635 And she didn't snap and stab him? You don't know that. 14:46.719 --> 14:49.054 That's why you draw that circle around the victim 14:49.138 --> 14:52.725 and find out what was goin' on in his life at that time 14:52.808 --> 14:56.478 in order to exclude any possibility that that's what happened. 14:57.563 --> 15:02.860 [Parrino] There were a number of females we identified during the investigation 15:02.943 --> 15:05.029 that had casual relationships with Howard. 15:06.113 --> 15:07.489 I don't know that they were sexual, 15:07.573 --> 15:11.160 but they were something beyond a little bit more than "hello." 15:12.161 --> 15:15.664 I heard those same rumors. 15:15.748 --> 15:19.126 Never saw Howard with anyone else. 15:19.209 --> 15:22.212 Howard never talked about being with anyone else. 15:22.296 --> 15:28.594 No person ever in my eight years there said to me, "I saw Howard with…" 15:28.677 --> 15:30.220 So it was a rumor. 15:30.971 --> 15:35.434 [Parrino] We interviewed these women and found that he was a flirtatious guy, 15:35.517 --> 15:37.770 but we came up with nothing. 15:39.605 --> 15:41.523 Some people get frustrated following a lead 15:41.607 --> 15:44.401 that doesn't come to fruition, that gets shut down. 15:44.485 --> 15:46.278 But that's actually a very good thing, 15:46.362 --> 15:50.157 because you don't have to go back to that, and it can't come back to haunt you later. 15:53.035 --> 15:55.245 In the investigation of Howard's death, 15:55.329 --> 15:58.540 we find out Howard was a very driven individual. 15:58.624 --> 16:01.085 Frank gives Howard a lot of credit, 16:01.168 --> 16:03.504 taking the business to new levels. 16:03.587 --> 16:05.381 [Tucker] Howard was a visionary. 16:05.464 --> 16:10.052 He put a coffee bar in an otherwise office supply store. 16:10.135 --> 16:15.224 Before Starbucks, there was Philip's. Before anything, there was Philip's. 16:15.808 --> 16:18.102 There were people out the door, waiting on line 16:18.185 --> 16:21.313 to buy the lattes and cappuccinos and espressos. 16:21.397 --> 16:26.902 Having a coffee bar in there brought us an entirely new segment of purchasers. 16:27.486 --> 16:30.906 It was such a success that he opened up another one in Carnegie Hall. 16:32.074 --> 16:35.411 I said, "You'll never find people in New York City 16:35.494 --> 16:37.913 walking in the streets, drinking coffee." 16:37.997 --> 16:39.957 I… I couldn't imagine it, 16:40.040 --> 16:43.544 but it shows you what I knew and what Howard knew. 16:44.461 --> 16:47.756 Howard named the coffee bar after his son, Philip. 16:47.840 --> 16:49.758 It became "Philip's Coffee Bar." 16:50.426 --> 16:52.428 It was a family business. 16:53.303 --> 16:55.848 I worked with his wife, Roslyn, 16:55.931 --> 16:59.226 on West 56th Street by Carnegie Hall. 16:59.935 --> 17:04.481 And Ros's brother, Evan, worked at Philip's Coffee on 33rd Street. 17:06.984 --> 17:11.363 [Parrino] We learned Howard did not like Roslyn's brother, Evan, very much. 17:11.447 --> 17:14.283 Evan was working in Philip's Coffee 17:14.366 --> 17:17.494 that was inside King Office Supply. 17:18.287 --> 17:22.374 As a favor to Ros, Howard hired Evan, who was unemployed. 17:22.458 --> 17:25.711 So, Ros and Evan managed both coffee shops. 17:25.794 --> 17:29.256 [Heather] I started at Philip's Coffee in '94. 17:29.339 --> 17:32.134 He started shortly after I did. 17:33.427 --> 17:38.766 I don't think Howard wanted Evan to manage the coffee shop. 17:38.849 --> 17:40.559 Because… 17:40.642 --> 17:42.686 Uh, you know, it was Howard's, you know? 17:42.770 --> 17:46.231 And I think Evan was taking… like, taking charge. 17:46.315 --> 17:49.818 Like, "This is mine." You know? But it's not. 17:50.402 --> 17:53.280 [Lewis] About the time I started working for the Pilmars, 17:53.363 --> 17:55.491 Philip said, "Let's go to the coffee shop." 17:55.574 --> 17:58.285 When we got there, Ros was explaining to Evan 17:58.368 --> 18:01.371 how Howard wanted the pastries arranged in the case. 18:02.372 --> 18:06.710 Evan lost it, and he flew open the case, 18:06.794 --> 18:09.713 pulled a tray out, threw it, and said, 18:09.797 --> 18:12.299 "I don't give an eff how Howard wants it." 18:12.382 --> 18:14.510 That was really shocking. 18:15.010 --> 18:18.639 Especially that he would act that way in front of his nephew, 18:19.139 --> 18:20.641 in front of customers. 18:20.724 --> 18:24.061 And it left a big first impression. 18:29.233 --> 18:35.614 [Parrino] After the shiva, we had Roslyn and Evan come in to be interviewed. 18:36.115 --> 18:38.659 We wanted to know Ros's timeline 18:38.742 --> 18:41.620 and Evan's timeline on the night of the murder. 18:42.371 --> 18:47.126 They told us that day, Howard and Evan went to the gym together 18:47.209 --> 18:51.338 to discuss his moving up, so to speak, in the company. 18:52.548 --> 18:55.884 Evan wanted to make a jump from the coffee shop 18:55.968 --> 18:59.054 to sales in the paper company 18:59.138 --> 19:01.932 because the salespeople could make good money at the time. 19:02.015 --> 19:03.016 [cryptic music playing] 19:03.100 --> 19:07.396 Evan was, to me, very unapproachable. 19:08.397 --> 19:10.816 If you talked to him, he would grunt. 19:10.899 --> 19:13.485 He would grunt "hello" or "goodbye." 19:13.569 --> 19:16.446 It didn't look like he had a future in our business. 19:17.281 --> 19:20.284 [Parrino] And then after this meeting at the gym, 19:20.367 --> 19:25.080 Howard and Evan met Roslyn in the office. 19:26.081 --> 19:30.085 [Lederer] Because it was complicated to work the security there, 19:30.168 --> 19:32.212 Ros did not know how to lock up. 19:32.921 --> 19:35.090 That's why Howard came back to lock up. 19:35.757 --> 19:38.385 Evan and Ros left Howard behind to work. 19:39.136 --> 19:40.971 They're the last two that see him alive. 19:41.555 --> 19:45.184 [Lederer] If his wife and brother-in-law left him at about eight o'clock, 19:45.267 --> 19:46.185 and he was fine, 19:46.268 --> 19:48.687 and then you find him at 5:00 in the morning, 19:48.770 --> 19:53.025 who came between 8:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. and did this to him? 19:53.901 --> 19:58.113 Remember, this was a time where there weren't video cameras everywhere, 19:58.197 --> 20:01.283 and we didn't have, like, the surveillance in the offices. 20:01.366 --> 20:03.076 [tense music playing] 20:03.160 --> 20:05.245 [Parrino] We never recovered the murder weapon. 20:06.246 --> 20:10.042 But the police officer at the scene, the uniformed police officer, 20:10.125 --> 20:13.962 made mentions in his memo book that Evan had cuts on his left hand, 20:14.046 --> 20:15.797 and that he was left-handed. 20:16.298 --> 20:17.299 [enigmatic music playing] 20:17.382 --> 20:21.595 [Mooney] When a person is stabbed multiple times like Howard Pilmar was, 20:22.095 --> 20:26.308 blood is like oil, and it gets on the handle of the knife, 20:26.391 --> 20:31.313 and almost universally the stabber will end up with injuries 20:31.396 --> 20:33.899 because they can't hold on to the handle of the knife 20:33.982 --> 20:35.817 'cause it's too slippery. 20:36.401 --> 20:40.530 Evan said it was picking up broken dishes from a night or two before. 20:41.031 --> 20:43.784 The cuts weren't really consistent with the story, 20:43.867 --> 20:45.869 but we needed more evidence. 20:47.037 --> 20:50.082 What we hoped to find was another drop of blood 20:50.165 --> 20:51.833 that was not Howard's. 20:52.793 --> 20:55.712 I remember talking to the ME that was in charge of the lab, 20:55.796 --> 20:57.130 and he would say to you, 20:57.214 --> 21:01.009 "You could do the DNA test, but you lose the sample after we do it." 21:01.093 --> 21:03.720 "So you should hold off on this sample 21:03.804 --> 21:06.473 because I think technology will be advanced, 21:06.556 --> 21:09.226 and we could do the sample better in the future." 21:11.228 --> 21:13.230 [enigmatic music trailing off] 21:18.360 --> 21:20.279 [Parrino] About two months into the investigation, 21:20.362 --> 21:25.325 we found out that Philip's Coffee owed $14,500 in state taxes. 21:26.159 --> 21:28.245 $14,000 is really not enough 21:28.328 --> 21:31.081 for most of us to be motivated to do something. 21:31.164 --> 21:34.376 But it was just something to be aware of, 21:34.459 --> 21:36.586 that there was some financial issue. 21:38.088 --> 21:43.093 And then we find out about Ros's previous employer 21:43.176 --> 21:45.721 from '91 to '95. 21:46.221 --> 21:51.893 Uh, she ended up embezzling like $160,000 in checks from him. 21:52.978 --> 21:54.604 Ros was a dental hygienist, 21:54.688 --> 21:58.150 and she was also taking care of some of the books for him. 22:00.193 --> 22:02.738 Finding out the marriage is not so good, 22:02.821 --> 22:08.368 finding out that she owes 14.5 to the state, 22:08.452 --> 22:12.914 160,000 to the dentist. 22:13.999 --> 22:17.544 It's starting to make us look at things differently. 22:17.627 --> 22:19.921 And the second effect to this 22:20.422 --> 22:23.091 is that when you talk to people about this money, 22:23.175 --> 22:25.177 the biggest comment she makes is, 22:25.260 --> 22:28.430 "Don't tell Howard. Don't tell Howard. He'll leave me." 22:28.513 --> 22:30.849 "He'll take Philip away from me." 22:30.932 --> 22:34.644 She inherited $1.2 million in life insurance. 22:34.728 --> 22:38.565 She inherited the King business, Philip's Coffee Shop, 22:39.066 --> 22:42.736 the apartment that they own on East 72nd Street, 22:42.819 --> 22:46.073 the summer home in Millerton, New York, 22:46.573 --> 22:50.786 a share of a ski home in Vermont, and Philip. 22:53.622 --> 22:57.501 [Parrino] And this kinda changes our focus a little bit more. 22:59.002 --> 23:02.380 Then we learned Howard may have been looking for a divorce. 23:02.464 --> 23:04.007 And have more than one source 23:04.091 --> 23:07.010 that tells us he may be looking for a divorce was… 23:07.094 --> 23:08.512 Made it very interesting. 23:10.472 --> 23:12.182 [Frank] If there was a divorce, 23:12.265 --> 23:15.018 Ros wouldn't have wanted to give up Philip. 23:15.102 --> 23:19.981 Howard wouldn't give up Philip either, because Philip was everything to Howard. 23:20.607 --> 23:25.779 As time went along, I was convinced Philip is the reason for the murder. 23:28.073 --> 23:29.199 It had to be Ros. 23:29.282 --> 23:33.453 I… I can't think of anyone else who had the motive to do that. 23:34.704 --> 23:38.291 Ros told me that her and Evan were still being questioned, 23:38.375 --> 23:41.461 and that Frank was causing a big stink. 23:41.545 --> 23:44.172 She said, "Frank doesn't want to talk to me, 23:44.256 --> 23:47.050 and is angry, and thinks I did this." 23:47.134 --> 23:49.886 I just remember thinking 23:49.970 --> 23:55.559 that it was strange that the grandfather was… was upset with her. 23:58.145 --> 24:02.357 [Heather] I believed that Evan had been involved in Howard's death. 24:02.441 --> 24:06.528 I didn't really have that idea that she was involved at all. 24:07.821 --> 24:10.323 I remember having a conversation with her, 24:10.407 --> 24:15.370 and Ros was saying I had to choose between her and Philip, and my parents. 24:15.954 --> 24:19.541 And I'm 24 years old. You're gonna pick your parents. 24:22.043 --> 24:25.547 It was hard for me to understand, "Why do I have to choose?" 24:26.047 --> 24:30.427 And then, after that conversation, we never saw her and Philip. 24:31.595 --> 24:35.390 My dad lost his son, and then he lost his grandson. 24:35.474 --> 24:40.061 Not having that ability to see someone that you know is still living is hard. 24:40.896 --> 24:42.856 And it wasn't Philip's choice. 24:42.939 --> 24:45.275 His mother made that choice for him. 24:45.859 --> 24:49.279 Just months after Howard's murder, 24:50.363 --> 24:54.576 Ros stopped the communication between Philip and me, and us. 24:56.620 --> 24:58.663 It's more than a tragic story. 24:58.747 --> 25:00.916 The whole family's broken up. 25:03.210 --> 25:06.296 I think the sting of losing contact with the grandchild, 25:06.379 --> 25:08.798 who looks and resembles Howard so much, 25:08.882 --> 25:11.510 has gotta be tremendously hurtful. 25:13.261 --> 25:16.223 I can't imagine the stress that puts on his family. 25:16.932 --> 25:21.353 [Frank] I… Howard, myself, and Philip used to go for breakfast 25:22.145 --> 25:23.563 once a week before school. 25:24.314 --> 25:28.610 We used to go to every Ranger game and the Yankee games. 25:28.693 --> 25:30.737 And I think about that often. 25:31.738 --> 25:36.993 No one knows how it feels that I can't see my grandson. 25:37.077 --> 25:41.831 Because this is my… my first son's son. 25:43.250 --> 25:45.669 And my only son's son. 25:46.169 --> 25:48.171 [rhythmic ticking] 25:52.759 --> 25:56.012 [Parrino] I was convinced circumstantially that Evan and Roslyn were involved, 25:56.096 --> 25:57.889 but I knew we needed more. 25:57.973 --> 26:00.183 So we're canvassing a year later. 26:00.267 --> 26:05.146 And on the anniversary of the homicide, we put up posters 26:05.230 --> 26:09.985 at the scene of the murder and at the coffee shop on 56th Street. 26:12.445 --> 26:16.491 Very often, murderers come back to relive that fantasy again 26:16.574 --> 26:18.910 or somehow pay their respects, 26:18.994 --> 26:21.788 or homage to their work a year later. 26:23.248 --> 26:26.626 And the posters were gettin' torn down. 26:26.710 --> 26:28.086 [taut, tense strings music playing] 26:28.169 --> 26:31.506 We really saw this as an opportunity. 26:31.590 --> 26:33.300 So we put the posters back up, 26:33.383 --> 26:35.969 and then we set up to observe the location. 26:36.720 --> 26:38.430 And who's tearin' it down? 26:38.513 --> 26:43.727 They got a surveillance van, and they found out that it was… 26:43.810 --> 26:45.103 [jittery, tense music playing] 26:45.186 --> 26:49.232 …Ros's sister and her brother Evan taking the posters down. 26:50.775 --> 26:54.654 I don't think anyone would like to see those posters up there, 26:54.738 --> 26:57.699 and you're the one they're looking for, and you're the murderer. 26:57.782 --> 27:01.161 [Parrino] The reasoning they gave was it was interfering with business, 27:01.745 --> 27:03.496 which just rocked us. 27:06.750 --> 27:08.877 I used to call the police every day. 27:08.960 --> 27:11.129 Sometimes twice a day or more. 27:12.088 --> 27:15.842 One time, Roger Parrino said, "Frank, listen to this." 27:15.925 --> 27:18.678 "I'll let you know when we hit the brick wall." 27:18.762 --> 27:21.014 The district attorney did not want to prosecute. 27:21.097 --> 27:23.600 He didn't have enough evidence. It was circumstantial. 27:23.683 --> 27:25.685 [intense, brooding music playing] 27:27.771 --> 27:30.523 [Lederer] Three years after the murder of Howard Pilmar, 27:30.607 --> 27:35.570 the investigation was going on, 27:35.654 --> 27:39.908 and I don't think the police felt like they were getting anywhere. 27:39.991 --> 27:42.243 But even though we're looking at Ros for murder, 27:42.327 --> 27:44.037 she embezzled money, 27:44.120 --> 27:46.373 so they arrested her for that. 27:47.707 --> 27:50.627 Maybe they were hoping to put pressure on her 27:50.710 --> 27:55.340 so she would give up Evan or admit to something, but she didn't. 27:56.174 --> 27:59.552 Her attorneys timed it so well. They had to postpone the sentencing once. 27:59.636 --> 28:02.597 By the time she was sentenced, she had paid everything back. 28:02.680 --> 28:05.058 And so she got probation. 28:07.477 --> 28:10.980 She made payment, and had the money, 'cause she had the insurance policy, 28:11.064 --> 28:14.192 and all these other things she got from the homicide. 28:14.859 --> 28:17.237 Three years after Howard was murdered, 28:17.320 --> 28:21.950 things had advanced with technology and DNA. 28:22.033 --> 28:27.414 There was a blood drop in between the sink and where the… the actual body was found. 28:28.248 --> 28:30.834 That drop of blood ends up turning out to be Evan's. 28:31.960 --> 28:33.962 That was pretty interesting information to get. 28:34.045 --> 28:35.755 Unfortunately, it leaves an issue, 28:35.839 --> 28:38.842 because that drop could have been days before the murder, right? 28:38.925 --> 28:40.510 He had access to that location. 28:40.593 --> 28:44.305 This is why domestic violence cases are so difficult to do. 28:44.389 --> 28:45.682 Because, many times, 28:45.765 --> 28:50.353 your murderer had access to the victim and the area long before the homicide. 28:50.437 --> 28:52.439 [suspenseful music playing] 28:54.274 --> 28:59.112 The evidence all directed itself towards Roslyn Pilmar and her brother Evan. 28:59.195 --> 29:02.907 There was nothing else that came up that led us in any other direction. 29:02.991 --> 29:03.825 Nothin'. 29:03.908 --> 29:07.662 Your audience is gonna believe that this is a simple case 29:07.745 --> 29:09.497 based on what they're hearing, 29:09.581 --> 29:11.833 but it's not simple when it comes to the laws, 29:11.916 --> 29:12.792 and rightfully so. 29:12.876 --> 29:15.920 You have to be able to prove this stuff beyond a reasonable doubt. 29:16.504 --> 29:19.924 You don't want to make an arrest unless you're ready to go to court, 29:20.008 --> 29:21.926 go to trial, go to a grand jury. 29:22.010 --> 29:23.928 It was clear to us we needed more. 29:25.847 --> 29:27.724 [Frank] One day, Parrino came to me. 29:27.807 --> 29:31.186 He said to me, "Frank, I think we hit that brick wall." 29:31.269 --> 29:33.396 [tense, mysterious music playing] 29:33.480 --> 29:36.858 I put this obituary in the New York Times 29:36.941 --> 29:41.070 every year on the anniversary of Howard's murder. 29:41.154 --> 29:47.118 Maybe someone out there would tell me what they may know about the case. 29:47.619 --> 29:53.374 Even after Parrino was not the lieutenant in charge of the murder anymore, 29:53.875 --> 29:58.713 I still called Midtown South practically every day. 29:59.714 --> 30:01.216 I wouldn't let go. 30:03.593 --> 30:07.347 [Heather] My father felt that one day it was gonna be solved. 30:07.430 --> 30:10.308 This is what got him up out of bed every day. 30:10.391 --> 30:12.977 You know, "The case is gonna be solved one day." 30:13.061 --> 30:15.897 "We're gonna pray. The case is gonna get solved." 30:16.898 --> 30:19.567 Just dealing with it, that Howard is dead… 30:20.568 --> 30:24.781 and the murderers walk around free. 30:25.490 --> 30:26.950 It's a gnawing ache. 30:29.327 --> 30:33.414 [Frank] All these years, you know, we'd go out to dinner with friends, 30:33.498 --> 30:36.709 and they just wanted to hear what's new. 30:36.793 --> 30:40.380 They were looking for information about the case. 30:40.463 --> 30:41.881 I used to sit down and say, 30:41.965 --> 30:44.592 "Is it possible they could get away with this?" 30:44.676 --> 30:46.678 [mysterious music trailing off] 30:47.887 --> 30:48.805 [train rumbling] 31:00.900 --> 31:04.404 [Parrino] In 2013, I was serving with the Marine Corps 31:04.487 --> 31:05.947 as a civilian advisor. 31:09.409 --> 31:13.329 After 9/11, I think survival guilt from September 11th 31:13.413 --> 31:16.165 is what motivates me to go to the Middle East 31:16.249 --> 31:18.626 for seven years and five deployments. 31:18.710 --> 31:21.963 During my last deployment, I got a call telling me 31:22.046 --> 31:25.258 that they were gonna reopen the Howard Pilmar case. 31:25.341 --> 31:27.844 There's very few cases I continue to think about 31:27.927 --> 31:29.512 because they're unsolved, 31:29.596 --> 31:31.472 but this was the number one one. 31:32.932 --> 31:36.769 [Mooney] I think every single detective on the face of the earth has a case 31:36.853 --> 31:40.023 that has eluded them for some reason or another, 31:40.857 --> 31:44.277 and it becomes the Moby Dick of their careers. 31:44.944 --> 31:48.031 And so you always think about it. 31:48.114 --> 31:50.617 Lots of times, people don't like Cold Case to get involved. 31:50.700 --> 31:52.619 They're afraid they're gonna criticize your case. 31:52.702 --> 31:53.911 I wasn't concerned about that. 31:54.996 --> 31:59.125 In 2013, I was retired from the police department about three years, 31:59.208 --> 32:03.379 and was working at the New York County District Attorney's office 32:03.463 --> 32:07.216 as the Deputy Chief Investigator for the Trial Division. 32:07.300 --> 32:11.220 [Lederer] Rob Mooney is one of the smartest detectives ever. 32:11.304 --> 32:14.724 He was called in just to, you know, give advice or direction. 32:17.644 --> 32:19.437 [Parrino] When they called me in Afghanistan, 32:19.520 --> 32:21.939 I thought it was great that the Pilmar case was alive, 32:22.023 --> 32:24.067 and somebody was gonna give it a fresh look. 32:24.150 --> 32:29.739 I remember explaining how the evidence all directed itself 32:29.822 --> 32:32.867 towards Roslyn Pilmar and her brother Evan. 32:34.243 --> 32:36.162 [Mooney] In cold case work, 32:36.245 --> 32:39.624 you can't focus on what was focused on originally, 32:39.707 --> 32:41.626 because that didn't end the right way. 32:42.460 --> 32:45.380 So you gotta look at everything right from the start. 32:45.880 --> 32:48.841 If we were close-minded in some way and missed something, 32:48.925 --> 32:50.843 then let's find out the truth. 32:50.927 --> 32:53.471 I think it's great that new eyes look at it. 32:54.097 --> 32:55.515 The case was in good hands. 33:01.729 --> 33:03.815 [Frank] One day, Liz called me 33:03.898 --> 33:07.443 and told me that she was working on the case. 33:07.944 --> 33:10.988 The first time that I met Liz Lederer, 33:11.072 --> 33:13.866 we were in her office full of cartons, 33:13.950 --> 33:15.910 and they all said "Pilmar" on it. 33:15.994 --> 33:18.621 I know she was working very, very hard at the case. 33:18.705 --> 33:20.123 [tense music playing] 33:20.206 --> 33:23.292 There was so much you had to do before you got to even solving it. 33:24.585 --> 33:28.005 You have to read every piece of paper. You gotta look at every video. 33:28.089 --> 33:30.550 You gotta talk to every single person you can find. 33:30.633 --> 33:32.093 We kept going through boxes. 33:32.802 --> 33:37.432 There's one scrap of paper that had the name Arnold Brewer on it. 33:37.515 --> 33:38.933 We tracked him down. 33:39.559 --> 33:42.145 He was a really close friend of Howard's. 33:42.895 --> 33:45.481 [Mooney] Howard Pilmar was supposed to meet his friend Arnold Brewer 33:45.565 --> 33:48.860 and go watch the NCAA, and didn't show up. 33:49.444 --> 33:50.778 [Lederer] He said, "Howard told me 33:50.862 --> 33:52.822 he was going to the gym with his brother-in-law, 33:52.905 --> 33:54.574 but he'd come straight after." 33:55.283 --> 33:58.703 Evan Wald and Ros Pilmar had both told the police 33:58.786 --> 34:02.498 that Evan and Howard got back from the gym at about 8:00 p.m. 34:02.582 --> 34:05.209 Howard was gonna stay in the office and work. 34:05.293 --> 34:10.840 Turns out that Arnold Brewer had a date with Howard that very night, 34:10.923 --> 34:12.258 that very moment. 34:12.341 --> 34:15.470 So Howard wasn't gonna stay and work. 34:15.553 --> 34:19.474 Arnold Brewer closed that window for the murder 34:19.557 --> 34:22.769 into just the smallest timeframe. 34:23.436 --> 34:26.981 We learned during the investigation, the night of the murder, 34:27.065 --> 34:32.153 Ros called Howard in the office and left him a voicemail. 34:33.362 --> 34:36.491 [woman] Hi, How. It's, um, like, a quarter to ten, 34:36.574 --> 34:39.577 and Philip and I were wondering if you were still at work working, 34:39.660 --> 34:42.789 or if you went off to some sports bar, like you said you wanted to, 34:42.872 --> 34:44.791 to go watch the NCAAs. 34:44.874 --> 34:49.212 Anyway, I got home, I guess, by, like, uh, 8:10, 8:15. 34:49.295 --> 34:52.465 Give me a call. Let me know what time you're gonna be home. 34:52.548 --> 34:57.011 She lays out in so much more detail than you would ever leave for somebody 34:57.094 --> 35:00.973 that you had just spoken to and you expect to see in half an hour. 35:01.057 --> 35:04.685 I remember hearing the voice message. Once you start looking at everything… 35:04.769 --> 35:07.855 Any one thing is not good enough by itself. 35:07.939 --> 35:11.484 You start attaching all the circumstantial evidence together, 35:11.567 --> 35:13.528 and it really lays out one path, 35:14.028 --> 35:16.989 to Evan and Roslyn killing Howard that night. 35:18.199 --> 35:20.576 [Lederer] After looking at all the evidence 35:20.660 --> 35:23.663 and talking to so many of Howard's friends, 35:23.746 --> 35:27.208 we were sure that Ros Pilmar and Evan Wald did it. 35:28.543 --> 35:34.298 Ron Tucker hears Howard cursing at his wife. He's furious at her. 35:34.382 --> 35:36.300 That's at, like, 5:30. 35:36.384 --> 35:39.470 I mean, calling her all sorts of names. 35:39.554 --> 35:41.848 The same night, she leaves the message. 35:41.931 --> 35:46.018 And she ends it with, "Love ya, Howie." 35:46.102 --> 35:48.104 [unsettling music playing] 35:49.397 --> 35:54.485 And there's something so calculated about that voice message. 35:54.569 --> 35:57.446 She knows what she's doing is leaving a piece of evidence. 35:57.530 --> 36:00.324 It will show that I missed him. I thought he was alive. 36:00.408 --> 36:02.160 I called him and said I love you. 36:02.785 --> 36:07.915 Given the timing of it, Howard was already dead on the floor. 36:07.999 --> 36:10.001 [chilling music playing] 36:13.462 --> 36:15.715 Ros created this whole story. 36:15.798 --> 36:19.927 She created the whole scenario so that Howard could be killed. 36:20.011 --> 36:21.929 Without her, it never would have happened. 36:22.013 --> 36:25.474 Ros had planned it that she would get the life insurance, 36:25.558 --> 36:29.979 the businesses, the summer house, the interest in the ski house. 36:30.062 --> 36:32.982 She would get sole custody of their son. 36:33.065 --> 36:35.693 But after it became clear to us, 36:35.776 --> 36:39.447 then it became clear we needed to be able to prove it in court. 36:41.240 --> 36:44.410 Evan had the cuts, and Evan's blood is at the scene, 36:44.493 --> 36:47.955 and we have 100 people who know how much Evan hates Howard. 36:48.039 --> 36:51.292 What we needed to find was evidence that tied Ros to it 36:51.375 --> 36:53.544 so that we could charge them both. 36:55.004 --> 36:56.589 [Frank] Ms. Lederer said to me, 36:56.672 --> 37:01.302 "I know we're gonna get Evan, but I can't promise anything about Ros." 37:01.385 --> 37:04.347 But I felt very confident with her. 37:04.430 --> 37:06.557 [tense, frantic music playing] 37:07.266 --> 37:10.645 [Lederer] We realized the only person left was the babysitter. 37:11.896 --> 37:14.857 And I said, "We have to find that babysitter." 37:14.941 --> 37:18.027 Allyson Lewis lived inside that family. 37:18.110 --> 37:20.529 She knew how things usually ran, 37:20.613 --> 37:24.825 and she could answer things for us that we wouldn't have known. 37:26.410 --> 37:29.789 We, as the detectives, spoke to the babysitter early in the investigation 37:29.872 --> 37:33.334 and didn't feel that we got a great amount of cooperation. 37:33.417 --> 37:39.382 I think, at the time, she was a very young woman, and, uh… 37:39.465 --> 37:45.888 perhaps was not thinking clearly about the ramifications. 37:49.100 --> 37:53.813 [Lewis] As a 21-year-old, to be questioned by police, it was scary. 37:53.896 --> 37:57.233 I was really just answering their questions to the best I could. 37:57.316 --> 38:00.027 The questions were primarily about Howard, 38:00.111 --> 38:03.239 and I didn't have a lot of interactions with Howard. 38:04.281 --> 38:10.538 And then I got a job in Japan and ended up leaving the country. 38:10.621 --> 38:13.249 I didn't stay in contact with Ros. 38:13.874 --> 38:15.668 Twenty years later, I get a phone call. 38:15.751 --> 38:19.839 And I was like, "Whoa, gosh." 38:19.922 --> 38:24.969 And she says, "I'd like to talk to you about the murder of Howard Pilmar." 38:25.636 --> 38:29.265 [Lederer] Allyson Lewis said she wanted to meet us at the office of her lawyer. 38:29.348 --> 38:32.143 I wondered what she thought she might have done wrong 38:32.226 --> 38:36.897 that she wanted, um… she wanted to have a lawyer there. 38:36.981 --> 38:39.692 But when she came in, she was lovely. 38:39.775 --> 38:41.819 She just spilled her heart out. 38:42.361 --> 38:44.447 And it was fascinating. 38:44.530 --> 38:47.658 It just gave us a glimpse into a world we wouldn't have known. 38:48.409 --> 38:53.247 [Lewis] When I met them, Liz asked me, "What was it usually like?" 38:53.330 --> 38:56.125 "Tell me about a week in the life." 38:56.208 --> 38:58.085 "Tell me about their house." 39:00.880 --> 39:05.009 For the Pilmars, and for Philip, everything was a regimented schedule. 39:05.092 --> 39:06.093 So, tight. 39:06.177 --> 39:10.556 For all the time that I worked for Ros, she was very specific about time. 39:11.390 --> 39:15.936 She described everything about the apartment, and the lifestyle, 39:16.020 --> 39:18.773 and… and how Ros ran that house. 39:19.523 --> 39:20.733 And when we said, 39:20.816 --> 39:25.196 "Was there anything unusual about the week in which he was murdered?" 39:25.279 --> 39:28.491 She said, "It's not that anything so unusual happened." 39:28.574 --> 39:31.202 "It's how many things happened for the first time." 39:34.330 --> 39:38.626 [Lewis] In the weeks leading up to Howard's murder, Ros told me, 39:38.709 --> 39:41.379 "I'm gonna need you to work late in a couple weeks." 39:42.880 --> 39:46.050 And then the night of the murder, 39:46.675 --> 39:49.470 Ros told me she would be meeting with Evan and Howard 39:49.553 --> 39:52.598 at King that night for a finance meeting. 39:53.557 --> 39:57.728 I took Philip to hockey practice. 39:57.812 --> 40:02.108 Philip had about a two-hour practice four nights a week. 40:02.191 --> 40:06.737 And over the loudspeaker is my name. She had me paged. 40:06.821 --> 40:09.323 That had never happened before. That was the first time. 40:10.032 --> 40:12.618 She said, "How's it going over there?" 40:12.701 --> 40:17.081 I was like, "We're still first scrimmage. They're talking about second scrimmage." 40:17.164 --> 40:19.166 She was like, "That's fine. Sounds good." 40:19.250 --> 40:22.586 She said even that call was weird because she didn't have anything to say. 40:22.670 --> 40:26.465 It wasn't 20 to 30 minutes later, 40:27.591 --> 40:31.303 I hear my name over the loudspeaker again to come to the front desk. 40:31.887 --> 40:32.972 I call her again. 40:33.472 --> 40:39.687 And Ros just says nothing more really informative, 40:39.770 --> 40:44.442 except for, "If I'm not there by the time he gets done with the scrimmage, 40:44.525 --> 40:46.485 you'll take the car back to the house." 40:46.569 --> 40:50.197 "I don't know if I'm coming or not, 'cause we're not done here." 40:50.781 --> 40:52.700 [Lederer] She said, "We're not done here," 40:52.783 --> 40:55.703 which, in the context of what they were really doing, 40:55.786 --> 40:57.371 is so chilling to me. 40:57.913 --> 41:00.499 That was what was really unusual for her. 41:00.583 --> 41:02.960 She always knew what time she was gonna be home. 41:03.043 --> 41:06.255 She always had the specifics of what I was to do 41:06.338 --> 41:07.840 and what she was going to do. 41:12.470 --> 41:15.764 Most evenings, it was a really vibrant household. 41:16.265 --> 41:18.350 Phones ringing. She's on the phone. 41:18.934 --> 41:21.520 Neighbors are coming over to visit. All the lights are on. 41:21.604 --> 41:23.439 The TVs were on. 41:23.522 --> 41:27.484 Like, it was just a very loud, exciting house. 41:27.568 --> 41:28.402 And not that night. 41:28.486 --> 41:29.487 [ominous stinger] 41:30.988 --> 41:34.074 The light above the stove was on. 41:34.700 --> 41:36.827 That was the only light on in the house. 41:36.911 --> 41:41.707 I opened the door, and she peeked around this threshold. 41:41.790 --> 41:43.792 Had a bathrobe, wet hair. 41:43.876 --> 41:45.669 Never seen her like that ever. 41:46.212 --> 41:50.257 And she said, "Oh, how'd it go?" 41:50.341 --> 41:54.428 "I'm sure you're really tired. It's time for bed. Thank you, Allyson." 41:54.929 --> 41:58.807 And, you know, all her body language was like, "We're done." 41:58.891 --> 42:00.392 "You're not coming in." 42:00.476 --> 42:02.478 She said, "You can leave the bag there." 42:02.561 --> 42:07.233 I didn't even get the bag practically past the door, and she said, "Good night." 42:08.234 --> 42:11.028 When I ended my day, she'd never do that. 42:11.111 --> 42:12.988 She wanted to talk, every time, 42:13.072 --> 42:17.451 about every detail that Philip had experienced during the day. 42:17.535 --> 42:19.078 She would want to know everything. 42:19.161 --> 42:21.914 And so that, that was very different. 42:23.707 --> 42:26.585 [Lederer] Siobhan Berry and I… Siobhan was the investigator. 42:26.669 --> 42:29.838 We were both just looking at Allyson and thought, 42:31.674 --> 42:35.261 "This is gonna make the difference." I knew she was thinking the same thing. 42:35.344 --> 42:36.595 They were making notes, 42:36.679 --> 42:39.974 and they were looking across the table at each other 42:40.057 --> 42:44.186 like this was all really important information. 42:44.270 --> 42:49.858 [Lederer] Allyson filled in so many blanks and gray areas. 42:49.942 --> 42:52.152 We both came out and it was just like, 42:52.236 --> 42:54.947 "Wow. That was amazing." 42:55.739 --> 43:02.246 The new information from Allyson Lewis that described atypical behavior by Ros, 43:02.746 --> 43:05.416 both in the days leading up to and afterwards… 43:05.499 --> 43:09.461 These deviations from the norm are huge indicators. 43:10.546 --> 43:14.174 People tell on themselves when they do something they never did before 43:14.258 --> 43:16.427 and that needs to be explained. 43:18.220 --> 43:21.640 [Lederer] Allyson Lewis gave us information 43:21.724 --> 43:24.852 that brought Ros into this much more 43:24.935 --> 43:30.065 and showed how much she actually had to do to set this up. 43:30.149 --> 43:35.654 And we could find things that corroborated what she told us. 43:35.738 --> 43:37.698 This had taken us over the hurdle. 43:38.991 --> 43:41.327 [Mooney] You build your circumstantial case 43:41.410 --> 43:42.786 with little stones. 43:44.079 --> 43:46.874 And you just keep going out and finding little stones 43:46.957 --> 43:49.460 until you get a big enough pile of stones 43:49.543 --> 43:52.379 that you have overwhelming evidence now. 43:52.463 --> 43:56.091 Albeit circumstantial, but powerful evidence. 43:56.842 --> 44:00.387 With the new information from what Howard Pilmar's friend Arnold 44:00.471 --> 44:02.556 and the nanny told the detectives, 44:03.140 --> 44:05.267 there was enough to make an arrest. 44:06.518 --> 44:08.937 [Caddigan] The arrest took place in 2017. 44:09.021 --> 44:12.232 Ros was arrested in her apartment, six o'clock in the morning. 44:12.316 --> 44:14.401 She was livin' with her boyfriend at the time. 44:14.485 --> 44:16.862 Evan Wald was arrested at the same time. 44:17.738 --> 44:20.074 I felt elated! 44:20.157 --> 44:23.118 I couldn't believe it, that they were both arrested. 44:24.078 --> 44:27.247 A long time coming, to say the very least. 44:28.332 --> 44:29.458 But it came. 44:31.168 --> 44:32.169 It came. 44:32.252 --> 44:34.797 [mysterious, dramatic music playing] 44:34.880 --> 44:38.342 This is something I've been waiting for for over 20-something years. 44:38.425 --> 44:42.346 We went to the trial every single day. 44:43.013 --> 44:47.434 First day of the trial, I was going into the men's room, 44:47.935 --> 44:50.854 and Philip was coming out of the men's room. 44:51.855 --> 44:56.276 Last time I saw him was at breakfast, just after Howard's murder. 44:57.027 --> 45:01.824 When I saw him, he looked just like Howard. 45:02.533 --> 45:04.827 And I said, "Howard." 45:04.910 --> 45:06.954 That's how much they looked alike. 45:07.454 --> 45:10.833 He didn't say a word back to me. Not a word. 45:13.252 --> 45:16.880 It's a circumstantial case, and every single piece of it mattered. 45:18.048 --> 45:20.509 I knew this case backwards and forwards. 45:20.592 --> 45:24.221 Whatever their defense was, we were prepared for it. 45:24.847 --> 45:29.935 Giving testimony against those two, it was phenomenal. 45:30.018 --> 45:33.981 It was an unbelievable feeling. Great satisfaction. 45:34.064 --> 45:36.066 I could see Frank in the audience. 45:36.150 --> 45:39.319 I could see Frank shaking his head when I testified. 45:39.987 --> 45:41.196 It was wonderful. 45:42.406 --> 45:45.743 But it doesn't mean shit without a guilty verdict. 45:45.826 --> 45:46.994 Doesn't mean anything. 45:47.494 --> 45:50.038 There was an enormous amount of work that went into this. 45:50.748 --> 45:52.624 The trial lasted two months. 45:52.708 --> 45:54.376 [indistinct dialogue] 45:55.377 --> 45:57.463 [man] I cleaned it up, and I cut my hand. 45:58.714 --> 46:00.382 [Frank] I wasn't aware 46:00.966 --> 46:04.720 that Howard was so brutally murdered. 46:05.846 --> 46:09.516 I knew he was stabbed, but I didn't know the extent 46:10.350 --> 46:14.480 of the actual murder until I heard it in court. 46:15.439 --> 46:19.359 I think that Evan got Howard from behind and just slashed his throat. 46:20.027 --> 46:22.863 Because he never would have been able to scream. 46:22.946 --> 46:26.825 And, to me, that would've been your first concern 46:26.909 --> 46:28.494 when you ambush somebody like that. 46:28.577 --> 46:33.081 So I think that was the first wound, and then it was a free-for-all. 46:33.165 --> 46:35.918 They slaughtered him. They didn't just kill him. 46:36.001 --> 46:39.046 They slaughtered him like a… like a pig in a pigsty. 46:39.797 --> 46:43.967 And Ros was at the scene of the crime. They proved that she was. 46:45.886 --> 46:48.388 [Lewis] I did really admire Ros. 46:48.931 --> 46:54.478 And I had a picture of her that I thought was who I knew. 46:55.103 --> 46:57.815 And so when I realized, 46:57.898 --> 47:00.817 wow, there was so much that I didn't see, 47:00.901 --> 47:02.569 it was like the bottom fell out. 47:05.739 --> 47:08.742 [Tucker] The jury deliberated for at least four days. 47:08.826 --> 47:11.328 Not so good. Couldn't understand it. 47:11.411 --> 47:13.872 [suspenseful, dramatic music playing] 47:15.624 --> 47:16.959 All rise! 47:17.042 --> 47:22.923 Ros and Evan were announced guilty right then and there. 47:25.467 --> 47:27.928 Guilty of murder in the second degree. 47:28.762 --> 47:32.182 That courtroom was echoing in the word "guilty." 47:34.852 --> 47:36.228 It was really powerful. 47:37.437 --> 47:41.316 My mother kept yelling, "Guilty, guilty, guilty!" 47:41.984 --> 47:43.819 It was like euphoria, you know? 47:43.902 --> 47:48.699 Like, this… this emotion of beyond happiness 47:48.782 --> 47:53.328 that we got justice for Howard after all these years. 47:53.829 --> 47:58.917 I know we would not have ever had a trial, much less the conviction, 47:59.001 --> 48:01.169 if not for Elizabeth Lederer. 48:02.879 --> 48:04.631 [Lederer] I went back to see Frank, 48:04.715 --> 48:07.593 who, you know, had been so patient all these years. 48:07.676 --> 48:08.927 And he just… 48:09.511 --> 48:12.514 It was, "Guilty, guilty! They're both guilty!" 48:12.598 --> 48:16.768 He had his cell phone out, and he started calling everybody he knew. 48:16.852 --> 48:19.104 "Guilty! Guilty!" And then call the next one. 48:19.187 --> 48:23.483 It was, um… He'd waited so long for this to happen. 48:33.702 --> 48:35.704 [soft, melancholy music playing] 48:37.623 --> 48:40.334 [Lederer] Frank stood up to speak at the sentencing. 48:41.168 --> 48:45.255 [Frank] I can't get sleep because I keep thinking 48:45.339 --> 48:51.428 about the terror and the fear that went through Howard's mind 48:51.511 --> 48:53.764 in those last seconds 48:53.847 --> 48:57.351 that he was slaughtered and butchered by those two. 48:58.685 --> 49:03.482 That day in March, I lost three things. 49:04.232 --> 49:09.112 Two of which I can never ever get back, my son and my business. 49:09.196 --> 49:11.281 But I also lost Philip. 49:11.782 --> 49:13.867 And I know Philip doesn't want to look at me. 49:13.951 --> 49:15.744 I'm sorry about that, 49:15.827 --> 49:17.871 but I just want him to know 49:17.955 --> 49:20.999 we love you and we want you back. 49:21.500 --> 49:22.501 Please. 49:23.961 --> 49:28.090 As much as Frank wanted the people responsible to be held accountable, 49:28.590 --> 49:31.426 he really wanted to have a relationship with Philip. 49:33.553 --> 49:38.475 [Frank] I found out that Philip went to the London School of Economics. 49:38.975 --> 49:41.061 And I didn't know anything about this. 49:41.687 --> 49:45.399 I couldn't get any of this wonderful news 49:45.482 --> 49:48.568 about this kid who grew up. 49:49.987 --> 49:51.446 My grandson. 49:51.530 --> 49:54.241 My… My son's only son. 49:56.660 --> 49:57.786 I want him back. 49:57.869 --> 50:00.455 We love him, and that's it. 50:00.956 --> 50:02.499 And it still holds. 50:06.878 --> 50:09.715 [soft, plaintive music playing] 50:11.049 --> 50:15.178 [Tucker] Philip pled before the judge 50:15.679 --> 50:18.515 for leniency for his mother 50:18.598 --> 50:20.183 who murdered his father. 50:21.685 --> 50:23.770 How… How… 50:23.854 --> 50:25.856 You're asking for lenience? 50:27.899 --> 50:29.526 [haltingly] I don't know. 50:30.861 --> 50:34.656 [Frank] I haven't heard Philip speak 50:35.240 --> 50:38.160 until at the sentencing. 50:38.243 --> 50:40.620 And he was talking about his mother. 50:40.704 --> 50:43.665 How great she was, bringing him up. 50:44.166 --> 50:46.084 I think the only thing she did 50:46.168 --> 50:49.755 was to fill his mind with hatred for our family. 50:49.838 --> 50:51.631 And I'm sure he blames me. 50:51.715 --> 50:54.176 Her whole family must blame me. 50:54.259 --> 50:58.180 Because they know I was the hawk on this for trial. 50:58.263 --> 50:59.431 I wouldn't let them go. 51:01.224 --> 51:05.479 He wants to defend her over his father's murder… 51:06.730 --> 51:07.856 so be it. 51:11.485 --> 51:13.779 [Parrino] It's gotta be very tough to be him. 51:13.862 --> 51:17.908 He's truly the second victim of this whole thing. 51:17.991 --> 51:19.242 Uh, after Howard. 51:19.326 --> 51:21.578 You're convinced your mother's saving you, 51:21.661 --> 51:24.748 and your grandfather's trying to get your mother in trouble 51:24.831 --> 51:26.666 when your mother didn't do anything. 51:26.750 --> 51:30.003 And this all gets played out legally, in a court of law. 51:30.921 --> 51:34.466 And it's not the way you were led to believe all those years. 51:34.549 --> 51:37.010 That's, uh… That's gotta be very rough. 51:37.094 --> 51:39.971 [judge] For this crime, for this murder, 51:40.472 --> 51:45.018 I sentence each of you to 25-years-to-life incarceration. 51:45.727 --> 51:48.313 [Mooney] Ros and Evan got 25 years to life. 51:48.396 --> 51:50.816 At their age, that's a life sentence for them. 51:50.899 --> 51:54.611 [Heather] Evan and… and Ros got what they deserve. 51:54.694 --> 51:57.989 They got to live free for 23 years. 51:58.657 --> 52:02.410 And now they should be locked up for at least 23 years. 52:04.788 --> 52:08.166 Judge gives the sentence. Philip gets up abruptly. 52:10.043 --> 52:13.171 Like, in a huff, and walks out of there. 52:14.548 --> 52:17.259 I was invited to the sentencing. 52:17.968 --> 52:22.973 I ended up being late, and the door comes swinging open, 52:24.307 --> 52:28.436 and the image in front of me is Howard Pilmar, 52:28.937 --> 52:31.565 which really knocked me for a loop. 52:31.648 --> 52:33.233 Even though I never met Howard, 52:33.316 --> 52:37.112 I had seen enough photographs during the investigation 52:37.195 --> 52:38.947 to know exactly what he looked like. 52:39.030 --> 52:41.867 And that person was Philip. 52:46.037 --> 52:51.293 [Mooney] Closing a cold case is a big deal for the people that do it. 52:51.793 --> 52:53.044 It's very satisfying. 52:54.546 --> 52:59.759 But for the families, a guilty verdict doesn't cure the pain. 53:03.513 --> 53:05.056 [Frank] I just picture Howard, 53:05.682 --> 53:10.103 the fear that went through Howard's mind 53:10.604 --> 53:16.443 in those few seconds that he was being stabbed and slaughtered. 53:17.527 --> 53:21.156 That's the part that you can… can never get over. 53:21.823 --> 53:26.036 When I go to bed every night, I talk to him. 53:26.119 --> 53:29.122 And I said, "How could this have happened to you?" 53:29.205 --> 53:30.916 "Why didn't you tell me 53:30.999 --> 53:33.668 that you were having trouble with this woman?" 53:33.752 --> 53:34.753 [grunts] 53:35.670 --> 53:37.547 But I can't get any answers. 53:38.423 --> 53:40.425 [plaintive music trailing off] 53:43.011 --> 53:43.970 [train rumbling] 53:56.608 --> 53:59.236 [Mooney] A couple of years after Howard Pilmar's murder, 53:59.319 --> 54:02.656 we had a case with seven families involved. 54:02.739 --> 54:05.825 The level of intensity was enormous. 54:05.909 --> 54:07.494 [jittery, cryptic music playing] 54:08.078 --> 54:11.373 This case was heartbreaking in the extreme. 54:12.332 --> 54:15.460 [man] All of the victims were innocent, young girls. 54:16.670 --> 54:22.092 The magnitude of his crimes kinda punched everybody in the head. 54:22.842 --> 54:24.970 [reporter] He has been on the lam since Valentine's Day 54:25.053 --> 54:28.598 with at least one murder and two rapes, and that may not be all. 54:29.432 --> 54:33.311 [Plansky] "Serial killers." That phrase gets thrown around a lot. 54:33.395 --> 54:34.562 He was one of them. 54:38.233 --> 54:40.235 [dramatic outro music pulsing] t phrase gets thrown around a lot.