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00:05a fatal fall in the shower a woman's life cut short in an instant sitting there talking to me
00:19two days earlier and now she's dead it was so sad and shocking was it truly a tragic accident
00:29he claims that he goes into the bathroom and there she is lying on the floor bleeding with a massive
00:35head wound or murder looking at it as a forensic pathologist she had head trauma and it was not
00:43consistent with an accident this starts to raise some serious questions
01:04leslie newlander was born in the early 1950s and grew up on long island new york before later moving
01:11north to syracuse former local chief medical examiner mary jambelic met leslie shortly after she moved to
01:20the same neighborhood leslie newlander is a prominent woman in the community here in syracuse
01:26and our social circles and business circles over overlapped she belonged to the same synagogue that
01:35my family belonged to and we would see each other at holiday events and other community fundraising
01:41events in town leslie was a devoted philanthropist and she donated her time to causes like the jewish
01:50community foundation syracuse university and loads of other charities it was always a joy to see her
01:58because she had such a bubbly and kind personality she just had a way about her of making you laugh
02:06and feel at ease and i always admired that about her in 1983 leslie had married prominent local
02:15obstetrician and gynecologist dr robert newlander people looked up to him greatly in the in the medical
02:23world and she had been a critical care nurse but had given up her career to raise her children bob
02:30had
02:30been married previously and had two children from that marriage and so she helped to raise those children as
02:38well and had a very full full life but on the morning of september 17th 2012 a distressing call was
02:50made from the newlander family home to emergency services on the other line was leslie's 23 year old
02:57daughter
03:02she's laying on the ground in the shower okay okay so you don't know if she's breathing is she unconscious
03:11i don't know i don't know i don't know is she awake i don't think she's awake can you go
03:16to her now and
03:17stand the phone with me
03:18come on are you okay um yes stand the phone okay i need to put you on hold i'm not
03:26it's like a house phone
03:27is
03:28she's
03:35yep
03:36i see
03:41oh my god
03:45uh
03:45my
03:47my
03:47uh
04:10Responders arrived at just minutes later at 8.27,
04:13but unusually, they found Leslie not in the bathroom,
04:17but in the bedroom, and Robert was kneeling down near her body,
04:20covered in blood, with his daughter just screaming in distress.
04:27Robert told paramedics that his wife had slipped and fallen in the shower.
04:37The first police officer arrived five minutes later.
04:41They secured the scene and followed the trail of blood from the bathroom.
04:47To the bedroom, where the first responders were working on Leslie's body, giving her CPR.
04:56Despite their best efforts, she was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.42 a.m.
05:07Shortly after Leslie was pronounced dead, the police went into the bathroom.
05:13They found the shower still running.
05:18And in the bedroom, there was blood everywhere.
05:24And a trail running in the corridor between the bedroom and the bathroom.
05:32Robert explained that he had moved Leslie from the bathroom, where she had fallen, into the bedroom,
05:38because he said it was easier and more comfortable for me to perform CPR on her there.
05:44The movements that Robert said he made checked out with the patterns of blood that the police found at the
05:50scene.
05:50This theory was actually backed up on the 911 call, where we can hear his daughter pleading with Robert not
05:56to move her mom's body.
06:05One of the next to arrive at the scene was the medical examiner, Dr. Robert Stoppiker.
06:11Dr. Stoppiker spoke very briefly to some of the officers, but he was advised that she had slipped and fallen
06:17in the shower.
06:19She had a massive wound to the right side of her scalp.
06:24It was probably about six inches long, maybe an inch wide.
06:32And based on that preliminary examination, he looked at it and said, yeah, this head wound is consistent with a
06:37slip and fall in the shower.
06:43In the shower itself, there was a stone bench.
06:47If one were to hit their head with sufficient force, it could cause a serious injury.
06:57On the same afternoon, Dr. Robert Stoppiker conducted an autopsy on Leslie's body.
07:03He found that she'd had bleeding to the brain.
07:07The skull had been shattered in so many places, and she also had bruising to her internal organs.
07:13Taking into account Robert's version of events, Dr. Stoppiker ruled that Leslie had died from an accident, blunt force trauma
07:21due to a fall,
07:23and that she'd slipped in the shower and banged her head on the stone counter.
07:32News of Leslie's tragic death began to spread through the Newlanders' close-knit community.
07:39I had just arrived home from Europe, where I had been hospitalized and near death myself from a small fall
07:47and subsequent infection.
07:48And so two days later, when I'm sitting in my recliner, still recovering, my son with me, he saw a
07:59post on Facebook that was suggestive that Leslie had died.
08:07And so then there were a lot of phone calls that went around, and so finally I got a hold
08:12of my husband, and he said, yes, it's true.
08:16You know, she fell in the shower, and she's dead.
08:22I felt shocked because she had just been in the home two days earlier, and now she's dead.
08:30It was so sad and shocking, but I just accepted that that is what happened.
08:45Although Leslie Newlander's sudden death at her home had been ruled an accident following a fall in the shower,
08:53police followed standard protocol in cases of sudden death by opening an investigation,
08:59which would come to the attention of Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick.
09:05I was advised that Leslie Newlander had slipped and fell in the shower, struck her head, and died.
09:14And that's unusual for a healthy 60-year-old, but not unheard of.
09:21There's probably 2,500 people a year in the United States, on average, die due to bathroom accidents,
09:29most of them elderly people caused by heart attacks.
09:33But there wasn't anything reported to me that indicated this was suspicious.
09:37And, you know, the case just kind of sat in limbo.
09:42While the police carried out their investigation, friends rallied around the Newlander family.
09:49After Leslie died, and the next night, my husband went to the home to visit.
09:57Bob stayed in his room.
09:59He didn't really come out, so my husband just talked with the kids,
10:02and the rabbi was there, and they just had a conversation.
10:08When he returned, he said it was a little awkward that the kids seemed uncomfortable
10:15when he would bring up how close their parents were and how sad this was.
10:20And I just attributed that to grief.
10:27On September 20, 2012, three days after Leslie's death,
10:32friends and family gathered for her funeral.
10:36Through the days that followed Leslie's death,
10:40including at the funeral, at other social gatherings where her name would come up,
10:47that the details were not clear.
10:53The only consistent story was Leslie fell in the shower.
11:02And that is pretty much what everyone knew.
11:12While friends and family tried to move on from Leslie's tragic passing,
11:17police continued to look into the circumstances surrounding her death.
11:22Although the medical examiner had ruled Leslie's death as an accident,
11:26the police still carried on their investigation,
11:29and they now wanted to talk to their daughter about what she had seen that day.
11:33Oh, my God! Oh, my God! There's another!
11:36My body!
11:38Oh, my God!
11:42We're down! We're back!
11:43We're back! We're back!
11:44We're back!
11:48Meanwhile, following her illness, Mary tried to return to normal life.
11:53Mark and I decided we would have a Thanksgiving party
11:57to thank my friends for being helpful during my recuperation.
12:05A friend of mine approached me at the party and said she had information
12:10that a close friend of Leslie had concerns about her death.
12:17She said, please, will you talk with her?
12:19And so I agreed to do it.
12:26The friend had a lot to say about Bob's infidelity,
12:31about Bob's financial problems, his behavior on the day of Leslie's death.
12:36The friend talked about how she was sure that Bob killed Leslie.
12:43And I was a bit stunned.
12:46From my perspective, as a medical examiner,
12:50it didn't carry the weight of actual evidence or forensic data.
12:58After she finishes her story, I say,
13:02well, why don't you go to the police and give them your statement?
13:11So she called me afterward and said,
13:14thank you for telling me to go.
13:17They're going to bring Bob back in for questioning.
13:20I heard he already has a lawyer.
13:23And while she's telling me this, I'm thinking, how odd is that?
13:28If this was just a cold piece of information,
13:31there's no way they would be saying to her,
13:34we're going to bring Bob back in for questioning
13:36and telling her about the lawyer.
13:39And so I thought, wow, there's something already going on.
13:46And a few hours later, Bob called the house.
13:52Mark took the call.
13:54They chat for a moment or two,
13:56and he gets off the phone with Bob and says,
14:00well, good for him.
14:01He's going to Israel.
14:04And now I'm sitting there thinking, oh, gosh,
14:08I think he will just go to Israel and not come back.
14:18It set off a red flag for me
14:20because I was looking at those two pieces of information,
14:24and they were highly concerning.
14:27He's supposed to give another statement to police.
14:31He's leaving the country.
14:32And why do the police want another statement?
14:36The fact that the police were grateful the friend came in
14:39and provided her own observations
14:43meant that the police are still concerned about this case.
14:48So I became concerned at that point.
14:54Unbeknownst to Mary,
14:55the district attorney's office
14:56was about to reopen the investigation
14:58into Leslie's death.
15:02Initial reports were that this was a slip-and-fall accident.
15:07And there wasn't anything that was brought to my attention initially
15:10that indicated that this was a homicide worth looking into.
15:14And then came an anonymous letter to my office that piqued my interest.
15:23It focused on the financial aspects of the Newlanders,
15:28the fact that they were living in separate bedrooms.
15:31Not only pointed that out,
15:33but pointed out that Leslie was going to sign a lease arrangement that day,
15:38which is something that I certainly was not aware of.
15:42Whoever he or she was,
15:44was concerned that Newlander had a serious financial motive to kill Leslie.
15:50Now, he or she might not have said that in such overt terms,
15:54but that was the clear import of the letter,
15:56that this was not an accident, that this was a homicide.
15:59That kind of spurred a renewed interest,
16:02certainly by me,
16:04in considering bringing in Mr. Newlander for a further interview.
16:10Just as the district attorney resumed the investigation into Leslie's death,
16:15Leslie's friend and former medical examiner,
16:18Mary Jumbellic, got in touch.
16:21I had worked for years with William Fitzpatrick,
16:25and even though I hadn't spoken to him,
16:27probably at that point in, you know, four years,
16:30I called him because I just wanted to alert him
16:34that someone the police is looking at
16:36is going to leave the country.
16:40I telephoned Fitz, and I said I was calling about a friend of mine.
16:46Before I could say anything further, he said,
16:49Leslie London Newlander.
16:53It was a good guess on my part.
16:55I did not know why Mary was calling me.
16:57I did not know that she was very close to Bob and Leslie.
17:00I hadn't really seen everything at that point
17:04because we were still in the embryonic stages
17:08of recharging this homicide investigation.
17:11But the crucial thing that I said to Mary was,
17:15would you look at the file?
17:21I realized that something about the cause
17:24and the manner of death were not settled.
17:28The only thing I knew was that Leslie had fallen in the shower.
17:33I didn't know what her injuries were.
17:36I didn't know if she had a heart attack.
17:38I didn't know anything.
17:40But I had a drive to try to help and answer the questions.
17:46That is what I spent my life doing,
17:48looking at the dead and speaking for them
17:52and trying to understand what happened to them.
17:55And so then I said, yes, I'll look at the file.
18:00That's when things really took off
18:02and it became a full-throttled homicide investigation.
18:12Following an anonymous tip-off,
18:15District Attorney William Fitzpatrick
18:17had reopened the investigation into Leslie's death.
18:22Had she slipped and fallen in the shower
18:24as her husband Bob claimed?
18:26Or had she been murdered?
18:30Hoping for a second opinion,
18:32William sent the case file
18:33to former medical examiner Mary Jambelic.
18:37I focused really quickly on Leslie herself
18:42because that is my area of expertise,
18:46the examination of the deceased.
18:48And so I focused on her body position,
18:51the wounds I could see,
18:52what I could see at the scene,
18:54and all the details that I could learn from the autopsy.
18:58The photographs were very graphic.
19:05It was shocking to see my friend in the photographs,
19:09but even more shocking to see the trauma to her body.
19:14Leslie's right side of her head
19:17was bleeding extensively
19:19with a massive open wound there,
19:22and the skull was caved in partly,
19:27looking like two blows to the head, at least.
19:31And in addition to that,
19:33she had injuries on her face and on her neck.
19:37She had bruising on her arms.
19:39She had injuries on her fingers with bruising.
19:42The type of wound that she had,
19:45the amount of fracturing of the skull,
19:48and the other injuries that are present on the body
19:54all point to inflicted injury
19:57as opposed to just tripping and falling.
20:03But other details documented at the scene of Leslie's death
20:07also raised questions about Bob's story.
20:11She was laying on the floor of her bedroom, face up,
20:15and had been scooched into an area
20:19between the end table and the bed,
20:21so not a really ideal position for CPR.
20:25Why a physician would choose to carry an injured person
20:29who potentially could have a neck injury 60 feet
20:34to perform CPR,
20:36certainly it's suggestive of a concern.
20:42But in addition to that,
20:43there were blood trails going all the way
20:46from the bed to the shower,
20:49and not much per se in the shower itself,
20:53even though that was the purported area of the fall.
20:57The manner of death,
21:00being called an accident,
21:02didn't capture what really happened to Leslie,
21:05that she had head trauma, certainly,
21:07but was not consistent with a fall.
21:12She had been struck in the head,
21:14and it was a homicide.
21:18Mary took her findings to William,
21:20and he requested a search warrant for the Newlander's home.
21:25Around six months after Leslie's death,
21:28Mary, William, and forensic pathologist Dr. Barden
21:31visited the house,
21:33which they were now viewing as a crime scene.
21:37The house had been sold,
21:38but the new owners hadn't moved in yet,
21:40and the second floor was still untouched.
21:43And we wanted to focus on the area in the bedroom
21:47where Dr. Newlander claims he took Leslie
21:51after he removed her body from the shower.
21:54Most of the blood on the wall had been cleaned away,
21:57but several things of incredible importance remained.
22:03So we ripped up the carpet,
22:05and there's a little rubber undercarriage to the carpet.
22:08That was completely soaked with blood.
22:11And then when we lifted that up,
22:13the floorboard,
22:16completely soaked with blood.
22:17Should have been a minimal amount of blood
22:19because she had no pulse.
22:21In fact, there was a massive amount of blood,
22:25completely inconsistent with his story.
22:28What that indicates to me
22:30is that while she's alive
22:31and has a pulse and is bleeding,
22:34her head is somewhere in that vicinity.
22:39The other amazing thing
22:40that we were able to get
22:41from that examination
22:43was the headboard.
22:45Now, it is very, very difficult
22:47to see any physical evidence on the board
22:50because it's a cloth-like material,
22:52and it's very, very dark.
22:54And then when we examined that,
22:58there were several dozen blood spatters
23:01from Leslie.
23:07The new evidence discovered
23:09at the Newlander's home
23:10was sent away for forensic analysis.
23:14I knew Leslie's death wasn't an accident
23:16when I looked at the pictures of her body.
23:20The scene was corroborative
23:22with the findings there.
23:24This is a homicide.
23:25This is not a fall-from-standing-height accident.
23:31Six months after Leslie's death,
23:33her case was now
23:35a full-blown murder investigation.
23:37But her death certificate remained an issue.
23:40It would be very difficult
23:42to ask a jury to convict someone
23:44beyond a reasonable doubt of a homicide
23:47when your medical examiner says,
23:49hold on, she died as a result of an accident.
23:52William and Mary presented their findings
23:55to the medical examiner, Dr. Stoppiker,
23:58to ask if he would reconsider
24:00the manner of Leslie's death.
24:02We discussed our difference of opinion
24:04and discussed the science behind it
24:07and talked about wounding patterns
24:09and what happens to the brain
24:10in a fall versus blows to the head.
24:14And at the end of that,
24:16I think the medical examiner felt they needed more.
24:19They needed more information.
24:20They needed more opinion
24:22in order to budge from the concept of the fall.
24:28So we decided that the expertise of a neuropathologist
24:33and particularly a forensic neuropathologist
24:38would be useful to elucidate
24:41this difference of opinion.
24:49In December 2013,
24:52while William awaited
24:53the forensic neuropathologist report,
24:55he approached Bob's lawyer
24:57with a request for a formal interview.
24:59Robert said that he had nothing to hide,
25:02so he voluntarily sat down
25:04for an interview with officers
25:06and the district attorney.
25:09We're going to talk about the events
25:11regarding the death of your wife,
25:13September 17, 2012.
25:15We're going to also talk about
25:16your relationship with your lady.
25:18During the questioning,
25:20he admitted that there was difficulty
25:22in their marriage.
25:23But you were sleeping separately.
25:26Okay, what was the reason for that?
25:27We had thought about a trans separation.
25:32You mean, if you're going to think about
25:33getting into the wars, perhaps?
25:35There was nothing about the process
25:36we were talking about.
25:39We were talking about a trial separation.
25:42That's the only thing we discussed.
25:45William soon turned his questioning
25:47to the day that Leslie died.
25:49He says that he got up that morning,
25:52that he went jogging.
25:53He came back, prepared a cup of coffee
25:56for his wife.
25:57You take it to Leslie in her bed?
26:00Yes, I take it to her.
26:02Tell us what happens
26:03when you went to her bedroom.
26:06The shower is on.
26:07I hear the water running,
26:08and I place it on the nightstand.
26:13He cleaned up from jogging,
26:15then began to make a small breakfast,
26:18then goes back upstairs.
26:19The shower is still running.
26:22Now, she's been in there,
26:24according to him,
26:25at least 35 minutes at that point.
26:28He claims that he goes into the bathroom
26:30to see if she's okay.
26:32So when you get up to that door,
26:34doctor, tell us what you do.
26:35Well, again, I knock on the door,
26:38glass door, right there,
26:39call out.
26:40You're right there.
26:43I'm still in here.
26:44It's nice.
26:46And why did you do that?
26:47I opened the door
26:51to obviously see if she's, you know,
26:54just thinking,
26:55God, that's something she did.
26:59And she was laying on the floor.
27:01And did you see any signs of blood?
27:30This is a doctor of 30 years.
27:33What's the first thing you would do
27:35if you had never even seen a medical school?
27:38There's a phone five feet away from them
27:41on the counter of the bathroom sink.
27:43Pick up the phone.
27:44Call 911.
27:46Instead, he leaves her there.
27:48He does a cursory check to see if she's alive,
27:51claims that she's breathing,
27:53goes about 90 feet further into the house
27:56to get his daughter to call 911.
28:00Bob claimed he then carried Leslie
28:03from the bathroom into the bedroom
28:05to continue CPR.
28:07I then simply slid over to him
28:10a number of photographs
28:15and said,
28:17Dr. Newlander, can you explain this?
28:20Can you explain the blood?
28:21And he looked at me
28:22and he said,
28:23no, I can't.
28:26Despite Bob's calm,
28:28matter-of-fact account
28:29of the events surrounding Leslie's death,
28:31William wasn't convinced by his story.
28:35My theory that he attacked her in the bedroom
28:38and left her probably to die on the floor
28:42while he's trying to figure out what to do.
28:46This is not a premeditated crime.
28:49He did not plot this out.
28:53This was a rage homicide.
28:55Something snapped.
28:58They argued about something.
28:59Whatever it was,
29:00it set him off,
29:01and then he's faced with an opportunity now.
29:04What do I do?
29:06The only thing I can say
29:07to describe that wound
29:09is that she fell in the shower.
29:15But if Bob had murdered Leslie in the bedroom,
29:18the one thing that didn't add up
29:20was why the bed sheets
29:22weren't covered in blood.
29:25Before questioning Bob,
29:27police had interviewed
29:28the Newlander's housekeeper.
29:31The housekeeper says,
29:33I changed the sheets on Friday.
29:36And Leslie was killed on a Monday.
29:39She looks at the photos and says,
29:41those are not the sheets
29:42that I put on the bed on Friday.
29:47And she says, by the way,
29:49there's a pillow missing.
29:50There's only three pillows there.
29:54So when he was asked about the pillows,
29:57oh, we didn't have a pillow in a guest room,
30:01and we needed a pillow for that.
30:03Well, who was that for?
30:06Well, people were coming over.
30:08Oh, yeah, people were coming over
30:10after she was dead.
30:11The pillow was missing
30:12before she was dead, Doc.
30:13What are you talking about?
30:16There's no question in my mind
30:17that the original sheets
30:18that she left on that bed Friday
30:20were on that bed Monday morning
30:23when Leslie was assaulted
30:25and then soaked with blood.
30:27He removed the sheets,
30:29removed the pillow
30:30that probably had blood on it as well,
30:32removed the murder weapon,
30:33and then while he went
30:35for his supposed jog,
30:36he was actually going out
30:37to dispose of those items.
30:44With missing bedsheets
30:45and no murder weapon,
30:47investigators couldn't determine
30:49what had been used to kill Leslie.
30:51And with her death
30:52still ruled accidental,
30:54police remained unable
30:55to charge Bob with her murder.
30:58Then, 18 months after Leslie's death,
31:02came the news they'd been waiting for.
31:04The neuropathology report
31:06and evaluation of the brain
31:08indicated it was inflicted injury
31:11allowed the medical examiner
31:13to be able to change
31:15the death certificate to homicide.
31:20The size of the wound
31:22combined with the discovery
31:23of distinctive bruising
31:25on the opposite side
31:26of Leslie's brain
31:27was consistent with being hit
31:29by an object,
31:30not with a fall
31:32from standing height.
31:33Based on the accumulation
31:35of evidence,
31:36Dr. Stapiker changed
31:38not the cause of death,
31:40but the manner of death.
31:41The cause of death
31:41was still a massive blow
31:42to the head,
31:43but the manner of death
31:45was now listed as homicide.
31:47That was it.
31:48There were no more avenues
31:50of escape for Dr. Newlander.
31:52Three days later,
31:53on June 23rd,
31:55Dr. Robert Newlander
31:56is charged with second-degree murder
31:59and tampering
31:59with physical evidence.
32:08On March 16th, 2015,
32:11two and a half years
32:12after Leslie Newlander
32:14was found dead
32:14at her home
32:15in Syracuse, New York,
32:17her husband,
32:18Dr. Robert Newlander,
32:20went on trial
32:20for her murder.
32:22Big trials are part theater,
32:25and no one knew that better
32:27than Bob Newlander.
32:29Every day,
32:30we would watch this litany
32:32of him walking down
32:34the courthouse hallway,
32:36and he'd have his daughter,
32:38his son,
32:39or in some instances,
32:42Leslie's sister
32:43consoling him
32:44as he walked.
32:47It might look unusual
32:49that the family
32:50of the victim
32:51are seemingly siding
32:53with the accused perpetrator.
32:54But you've got to remember,
32:55at this time,
32:56the family do not have
32:58all the evidence
32:59that Mary has
33:00or that the DA office have.
33:02They have not been subject
33:03to all of that information yet.
33:05And so, at the moment,
33:07naturally,
33:07a family going through
33:08a traumatic period
33:09are rallying together.
33:12You've also got to remember,
33:13from the perspective
33:14of the children,
33:15they've just lost their mother
33:16in really traumatic circumstances.
33:19And if they believe
33:20that their father did this,
33:22they're also, in a way,
33:23losing their father.
33:25So you can understand
33:25why people group together
33:27in this moment,
33:28because they're just trying
33:29to protect the little,
33:30sort of, normality
33:32of their family unit.
33:35The prosecution argued
33:37that Leslie's death
33:38was no bathroom accident.
33:40Instead,
33:41that she was murdered
33:42in the bedroom
33:43by her husband,
33:44as proven
33:46by forensic evidence.
33:47There's blood spatter
33:49on the wall
33:50and on the ceiling
33:51from an object
33:53being struck
33:54on Leslie's head,
33:56and then,
33:56when it comes back
33:58for another strike,
33:59it gets cast off
34:01on the wall
34:02and the ceiling.
34:03There are blood droplets
34:04on the lampshade,
34:06on the clock radio,
34:08on family photos,
34:10on the headboard,
34:12on the blinds,
34:13to say nothing
34:14of the blood
34:15in the bathroom.
34:21Here's the explanation
34:22they come up with.
34:24So he went out
34:25for a jog,
34:26came home,
34:27showered up,
34:28put his pajamas on,
34:30and then
34:31put another pajama top on
34:33for some reason.
34:35And when he was
34:37carrying Leslie,
34:38that top
34:39became saturated
34:41with blood.
34:44He took the shirt off
34:46because it was
34:47uncomfortable for him,
34:48and this blood
34:50cast off
34:51and spattered
34:52at various points
34:55throughout the bedroom.
34:58Secondarily,
34:59when the EMTs
35:01got there,
35:01as they removed
35:03their gloves,
35:04they removed them
35:05slingshot fashion,
35:07and that spattered
35:09a lot of blood
35:10throughout as well.
35:13Now, there's
35:14two significant
35:15difficulties
35:15with both
35:16of those explanations.
35:18Number one,
35:19no one saw him
35:20with a second shirt.
35:21The second thing
35:22is that the EMTs
35:23were all very professional,
35:25and they are trained
35:26on how to remove a glove
35:28to avoid exactly
35:29this type of issue.
35:30In addition to that,
35:31they also indicated,
35:32we hardly had any blood
35:34on our gloves
35:34that we noticed
35:35because she wasn't bleeding.
35:39The prosecution
35:40also argued
35:42that Leslie's head injuries
35:43were not caused
35:44by an impact
35:45in the shower,
35:46as Bob had claimed.
35:48On the right side
35:49of the head,
35:50the skull injury
35:52is caved in,
35:54partly,
35:54in a pattern
35:56that is not consistent
35:57with hitting
35:58the edge
35:58of a marble bench.
36:00In addition,
36:01it appears
36:02there's two blows
36:03on that side
36:04of the head.
36:06So both
36:07of those things
36:08don't line up
36:10with the stone bench theory.
36:12If you leave aside
36:13the medical evidence,
36:15the blood spatter,
36:16I thought
36:16the most significant part
36:18was calling
36:20the daughter
36:20to the stand.
36:23The daughter
36:24was called
36:25as a witness,
36:25and the 911 call
36:28was played
36:29in the courtroom.
36:31Ma'am?
36:31Oh, my God!
36:33Oh, my God!
36:35My mother!
36:35My mommy!
36:39What was chilling
36:40in the courtroom
36:41was that
36:43the family
36:44is there
36:45listening to
36:47the daughter's
36:48911 call,
36:49and it's
36:50just
36:52heartbreaking
36:53because you can
36:54feel the pain
36:55that the daughter
36:57feels
36:58when she first
36:59sees her mother
37:01being carried
37:03by her father
37:04and the terror
37:07in her voice,
37:08the sadness,
37:09the angst.
37:15The problem
37:16was her perception
37:18of events
37:18just didn't
37:19stack up
37:20to the facts.
37:22One of the most
37:23crucial pieces
37:24of evidence
37:24for the prosecution
37:25was the moment
37:27Leslie's daughter
37:28placed the 911
37:29call on hold,
37:30leaving her mother's
37:32office to head
37:33toward the bathroom
37:33where she claimed
37:35Leslie was lying.
37:36Stand the phone,
37:37okay?
37:38I need to put you
37:38on hold.
37:39I'm not...
37:39It's like a house phone.
37:42When quizzed
37:44about the 12-second gap
37:45between switching phones,
37:47her story fell apart.
37:49Her story
37:50had changed
37:51significantly
37:52at trial
37:53in this
37:54very, very
37:55important regard.
37:57Yes,
37:58I went into the room
37:59with a bidet
38:00in the toilet
38:00and I picked up
38:01the phone,
38:03but it wasn't working.
38:04So I dropped
38:05that phone.
38:07I then assisted
38:08my father
38:09in removing
38:10my mother
38:11from the shower.
38:12We then took
38:13her a couple
38:14of feet.
38:15We laid her down
38:16outside of the bathroom.
38:17my dad began
38:19to perform CPR.
38:22It didn't seem
38:23to be successful,
38:24so we moved
38:26her again
38:27further into
38:28the bedroom
38:29and dropped her
38:30just short
38:31of the bed.
38:32I then went,
38:33remembering that
38:34the 911 operator
38:35was still on hold.
38:37I picked up the phone
38:38and I don't remember
38:39what I said,
38:40but I can hear the tape
38:41and I understand that.
38:43None of that
38:44is remotely possible.
38:47You cannot do
38:48everything that she
38:49claims that she did
38:51in 12 seconds,
38:54which was the amount
38:55of time between
38:56the 911 operator
38:58being put on hold
39:02and the,
39:03oh my God,
39:04there's blood everywhere
39:05resumption of that call.
39:07It would have taken
39:09conservatively
39:10a minute
39:11to do everything
39:12that she claims
39:13that she did do
39:14in that 12 seconds.
39:16Her statement
39:17has some really
39:18contradictory points
39:19that evidence
39:20can prove a false,
39:22but you also have
39:23to remember
39:23that she has witnessed
39:24something really traumatic,
39:26you know,
39:26her mother dying
39:27in heinous circumstances.
39:29And so trauma
39:30can do really strange things
39:32to a person's memory.
39:33So it might not be
39:34that she intentionally
39:35misleading
39:36or proposing
39:38false information.
39:38It might just be
39:39that actually
39:40she can't remember
39:42exact details.
39:43After she testified,
39:44the case was done.
39:51After two weeks
39:53of hearing evidence,
39:54the jury retired
39:55to deliberate.
39:57The worst part
39:58of a trial
39:59is waiting for a verdict
40:00and you always
40:01feel the same way.
40:02You put your heart
40:02and soul into the case.
40:04Some cases,
40:05you feel more confident
40:06than others.
40:07I was nervous
40:10because juries
40:11are very earnest
40:12and they try very hard
40:14to do the right thing,
40:15but it doesn't always
40:16come out
40:16as a forensic professional
40:19might think it would.
40:23After three days
40:24of deliberation,
40:25the jury returned
40:26their verdicts.
40:27They found Robert Newlander
40:29guilty
40:31of second-degree murder
40:33and tampering
40:34with evidence.
40:35Everybody in this case
40:36was resolute.
40:38They knew that he did it.
40:39They felt comfortable
40:40with their verdict.
40:41And I felt great.
40:42I was just professionally
40:43satisfied
40:44that justice was done.
40:47Four months later,
40:48he appeared in court
40:50and Robert Newlander
40:51was sentenced
40:51to 20 years to life.
40:58Bob was facing
40:59incarceration
41:00for the rest of his life,
41:02but his defense team
41:03appealed
41:04and argued
41:05for a retrial,
41:06citing serious
41:07juror misconduct.
41:09An alternate juror
41:11pointed out
41:11that they believed
41:12one of the 12
41:13actual jurors
41:15had been involved
41:16in something,
41:17so the judge
41:17ordered examination
41:18of this juror's phone.
41:23This investigation
41:24found that this juror
41:26had sent
41:26over 7,000 messages
41:29during this
41:30three-week period
41:31to family and friends
41:32talking about
41:33the criminal trial.
41:34And this was
41:35in direct violation
41:36of the judge's instructions
41:37for jurors
41:38not to discuss
41:39the case
41:40with outside sources
41:41or to get information
41:43from anywhere else.
41:44And these messages
41:45included one
41:46from her father
41:47saying make sure
41:48he is found guilty.
41:51And she failed
41:52to disclose this
41:53to the court.
41:54The outcome
41:55of all of this
41:55was that in June 2018
41:57the conviction
41:58was vacated.
41:59It was annulled
42:00as if the trial
42:01and conviction
42:02never happened.
42:06Robert was released
42:08on a million-dollar bail
42:09until the retrial
42:11could take place.
42:12They hired a very
42:13good guy
42:14a very good lawyer
42:16out of New York City
42:18and we began
42:19to prepare
42:20for trial number two.
42:23On February 28, 2022
42:26almost 10 years
42:28after Leslie's death
42:29the retrial began.
42:32I thought
42:33another group of jurors
42:34presented with
42:35the same information
42:36would see it
42:37the same way
42:38but again
42:39you never know
42:40until it's
42:41all the way
42:42through the trial.
42:43The jury
42:43to our amazement
42:45five hours
42:45after they retired
42:47they came back
42:48in with a verdict
42:49of guilty
42:50and I feel great
42:51about that.
42:52When I heard
42:53the verdict
42:54of guilty
42:55for the second trial
42:56it was just
42:57oh thank goodness
42:58I hope the family
42:59can you know
43:00try to move on
43:01in some way now
43:02because they really
43:04are carrying
43:05a huge burden
43:06with them.
43:08On May 2, 2022
43:10Bob was sentenced
43:12to 20 years
43:13to life
43:14for the second time
43:15thanks not only
43:17to the prosecution
43:17team
43:18but also Leslie's
43:20friend
43:20former medical
43:21examiner
43:22Mary Jambalik.
43:24I took Leslie's
43:26message
43:27look what happened
43:28to me
43:28and I gave it
43:29to people
43:30who needed
43:30to hear that
43:31and yes
43:33I do feel
43:34proud of it
43:35but I also feel
43:36like it was
43:38a fulfilling
43:39of you know
43:40what has always
43:41been my calling
43:42which was to do
43:43that for the dead.
43:46I remember Leslie
43:48for her lightheartedness
43:50and her kindness
43:51and her humor
43:54but I remember
43:56her in death too
43:57because it has
43:58helped other women
43:59who maybe are trapped
44:00in situations
44:02with spouses
44:03or have experienced
44:06domestic violence
44:08she was important
44:10in the community
44:11but she was
44:12just important
44:13on a personal level
44:14of how she made
44:16others feel
44:17and I think
44:18those that knew her
44:19should think of that
44:21and remember her.
44:40are you
44:43are you
44:58either
45:00or are you
45:00or are you
45:00or i have début
45:03You
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