In March 2019, a Manhattan jury convicted former stockbroker Rod Covlin on second-degree murder charges in connection to the killing of his estranged wife, Shele Danishfesky, which occurred about a decade ago on New Year's Eve of 2009. It was alleged that Covlin strangled Danishfesky to death and then staged the crime scene to make it look like an accident.
Danishfesky, a rich 47-year-old banker and mother of two, was discovered dead, floating face-down in the blood-filled bathtub of her affluent Manhattan apartment. Her death was initially ruled as an accident, but an autopsy later proved otherwise.
Meanwhile, other circumstantial evidence incriminated her estranged husband, with whom she was embroiled in a brutal custody battle at the time. In fact, the victim had even removed him as a beneficiary for her $5 million will.
According to reports, Rod Covlin, who was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, is currently serving time at the Green Haven Correctional Facility.
This article will further delve into his trial and ultimate conviction that came a decade after he allegedly committed the crime, ahead of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered's upcoming episode, scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, January 11, 2023.
Rod Covlin was convicted for allegedly strangling his estranged wife Shele Danishefsky and staging the crime scene
At the age of 45, Rod Covlin was convicted of killing his wife of ten years, Shele Danishefsky, nearly a decade after the murder. At the time, Danishefsky had just served him with divorce papers and intended to remove him from her $5 million will. Covlin, an unemployed struggling stockbroker who was obsessed with backgammon, was allegedly desperate for her finances and the custody of their children.
In 2009, the former couple's nine-year-old daughter Anna discovered her mother unresponsive and floating face-down in a blood-filled bathtub. She called her father, who then allegedly pulled the victim out of the tub and administered CPR to no avail. When authorities arrived, they found her wrapped in a comforter. No evidence was collected from the scene, given that the death appeared accidental.
Covlin nearly escaped justice for the murder, considering Danishefsky's Orthodox Jewish family chose to bury her without performing an autopsy. However, they eventually had her body exhumed when suspicions surrounding her death rose. In 2010, a medical examiner found that she had been strangled "with such force it fractured the hyoid bone" in the neck and ruled the cause of death as a homicide.
Where is Rod Covlin now?
Rod Covlin was eventually charged with his estranged wife Shele Danishefsky's murder, although it didn't happen until 2015. He was subsequently sent to trial in 2019, and the jury took two days to convict Covlin of fatally strangling the 47-year-old on New Year's Eve 2009, announcing a guilty verdict on March 13.
Covlin was found guilty of second-degree murder and given a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Prosecutors alleged that he strangled Danishefsky in the bathroom before filling the tub with bloody water to make her death look accidental. He went to unscrupulous extremes in an effort to reclaim custody of their children and to pursue the millions of dollars in her will.
Covlin allegedly even considered murdering his parents in an attempt to gain custody of his children, and according to the New York Times, even attempted to pin the 2009 death on his daughter, who was only nine years old at the time.
According to sources, Rod Covlin is currently serving time at the Green Haven Correctional Facility.
The upcoming Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode, titled Endgame, airs on January 11 at 8:00 pm ET on Oxygen.
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