This episode was originally released in October 2019, and is one of seventeen episodes from the archives we’ll be bringing you every Thursday, now through top of next year.. for good reason! ;) We highly recommend you listen to each episode and follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast so you're the first to know what's coming next! When Jennifer Levin is found murdered in Central Park in 1986, one of her private school friends is arrested for the crime. This catalyzes bitter debates about sex, privilege, legal ethics, parental responsibility, socioeconomics, victim's rights, and so much more. Before there was the OJ Simpson trial, there was the Preppy Murder. Source materials for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit: crimejunkiepodcast.com/infamous-preppy-murder/ Did you know you can listen to this episode ad-free? Join the Fan Club! Visit crimejunkie.app/library/ to view the current membership options and policies. Don’t miss out on all things Crime Junkie!Instagram: @crimejunkiepodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @CrimeJunkiePod | @audiochuckTikTok: @crimejunkiepodcastFacebook: /CrimeJunkiePodcast | /audiochuckllc Crime Junkie is hosted by Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat.Instagram: @ashleyflowers | @britprawatTwitter: @Ash_Flowers | @britprawatTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!
Chapter 1: What happened in Central Park in 1986?
They asked us to watch their upcoming docuseries called The Preppy Murder, Death in Central Park. and use it as our source material to tell you guys about this case. So if you get as enthralled in this story as I did, you can watch the five-part series on AMC and Sundance Channel over three consecutive nights starting Wednesday, November 13th at 9 p.m. Eastern.
And I'm telling you, you're going to be so invested because this case horrified and captivated the public while setting off bitter debates about sex, privilege, legal ethics, parental responsibility, socioeconomics, victims' rights, and so much more. Because before there was the O.J. Simpson trial, there was the Preppy murder. Our story begins in the early morning hours of August 26, 1986.
A woman named Pat Riley is on her bike riding through Central Park on the Upper East Side in Manhattan. As she's riding along near the Metropolitan Museum of Art, something catches her eye. It looks like a young woman who's laying under a tree.
instantly pat knows something is wrong she can tell just by the way the woman's body is positioned it doesn't feel right she's got one leg up one arm up and as she gets closer to the woman she can tell that she isn't moving and all of her jewelry is missing Horrified, Pat hurries to call police, and by 6 o'clock in the morning, the area is swarming with law enforcement.
They cordon off a large area all around the body and instantly start to work on figuring out who their victim is and what happened to her. As they survey her body, they see vicious red marks around her neck and bruises on her face that are so bad one of her eyes has been swollen shut.
Her blouse and her bra are pushed up over her breasts and her skirt has been hiked up to reveal that she isn't wearing any underwear. It's a grim, grim scene, but police react accordingly. They shut down the entrances and exits, not just to the park, but to the entire city, all bridges, all tunnels, everything.
By the time morning rush hour is over, the woman in the park is positively identified as 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. McGee Hickey, who was a reporter who actually covered this case in the story, said, quote, if something happens in Central Park to a white person in the 1980s, everybody pays attention to it.
And he went on to say that basically back then in the 80s, murder was basically like chalked up to only being related to gangs or crack epidemics, like bad things happened in bad neighborhoods. And obviously, we all know that bad things happen everywhere to everyone, regardless of race or religion or economic status. But this was kind of the attitude back then.
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Chapter 2: Who was Jennifer Levin?
And this murder was rocking the community and especially Jennifer's close-knit community of friends. They'd never known anyone who'd been hurt like this. Stuff like this, again, didn't happen to people like them. They were young and rich and carefree. And youth often carries with it a sense of invincibility. Bad things happen to other people.
Death is so far in the distant future and there's no reason to be afraid of it. They were basically all these like private school elite kids of the Upper East Side and they lived in these glass houses of wealth and privilege and access. Now, though Jennifer hung out with this crowd, she wasn't like these other kids in the friend group. She actually grew up in Long Island. She was Jewish.
She lived in this downtown Soho apartment area rather than on the Upper East Side where they were. And her friend Peter said, quote, everything that was different about Jennifer is what attracted me to her, end quote. And she's really just like fresh face with her cute little 80s hair and just the sparkle in her eye that is amazing. Jennifer was popular. She had a lot of friends.
And her best friend in 1986 is a girl named Jessica. They met back in 84 when they were both working at a clothing store and they hit it off right away. Now, while they might have had their differences, they did have one big thing in common. They both like to party and like hard. Alcohol is everywhere in this community and drugs are easy to get. The Plus, everyone's parents are away a lot.
Like, there's always some nice empty apartment to throw a little weekend rager and then clean up the mess before mom and dad get home.
Wait, where are these kids' parents? You're telling me that they just leave their teenagers for days at a time by themselves. Yes.
Apparently, this was like super common. Like it is a far cry from the uber religious Midwest background you and I grew up in. So it's a little hard for me to wrap my head around it. But I guess like these parents would go on vacation or they'd go out to the Hamptons for the weekend or to a country house somewhere. And they would just leave their kids behind in the city with no supervision.
And it's just not a big deal to them. But like I said, Jessica didn't grow up like them. This wasn't her norm. Although... She did really embrace this after her parents divorced and she moved in with her dad in Soho. Jessica and Peter and her prep school classmates were kind of her getaway into a new scene. All of it's new and cool and like an adult, right?
Like it's very grown up thing to have all this freedom and this whole crowd makes the most of their freedom. Now, as police start learning about this friend group, they also start piecing together where she was and who she was with the day before she was found. What they learn is that on August 25th, Jennifer is out in the Hamptons staying with her friend Peter.
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Chapter 3: What was the social scene like for wealthy teens in the 80s?
Listen, and you're not wrong. And even some of the people who were in that crew can see that looking back. Like Jennifer's best friend Jessica said, quote, we were having a great time, but we were not okay, end quote. So to go back to police like piecing together her night, Alex gives a bunch of names to the police about who all was at Dorian's that night.
And police go talk to those people to get more names and start building a timeline of who was there, at what times, who left early, who stayed late, who left with who. And as they talk to more and more people, one name keeps coming up over and over and over. Robert Chambers. Robert knew Jennifer because he also knew Jennifer's best friend, Jessica.
And Jessica is actually the one who introduced them back on Valentine's Day 1986 at a mutual friend's, quote, champagne birthday. they party? What is their life? Seriously, if this isn't a sign, again, of how rich these kids are or were and how much they party, I don't know what is. So police go over to Robert's mom's apartment to talk to him and get his story about what happened last night.
As soon as he comes to the door, they see that he has scratches on his face, like fresh, deep scratches. And He also has a weird hand injury, which the lead detective recognizes as being common among boxers who like hit wrong. Now, initially, Robert's like super polite, super cooperative, and he even volunteers to go to the police station so that they can talk there at the precinct.
Chapter 4: Who was Robert Chambers and what was his involvement?
When they go to the station, they begin their formal taped interview. And police ask Robert about the scratches on his face. And he actually, like, jokes about it and lifts up his shirt to show them matching scratches on his chest. What? And he says that all of these scratches, like face and chest, are from his cat. And police are like...
OK, well, then let me ask you about a specific friend of yours. When is the last time you saw Jennifer Levin? Now, Robert tells the police that, yes, I was at Dorian's. I saw her there. And the last time, though, that I saw her was like right outside of Dorian's. But we said goodbye kind of went our separate ways and I didn't see her again.
Now, the whole time that they're talking, Robert is uber calm, like not nervous like you think he would be sitting in an interrogation room. But almost his attitude is like kind of mildly annoyed about this whole thing. Like it's just so inconvenient that he's there. And after a couple of hours, he actually starts to get rude.
And basically like he's put out by the police disturbing him for something as silly as a murder investigation. And it's then... Hours later, among his annoyance, that he starts to change his story. Now he says, well, I actually left Dorian's with Jennifer. He tells police now that they decided to leave at the same time. They didn't just like part ways outside of Dorian's.
Now he has them walking together up 86th Street in the direction of Central Park. Now, at this point, the police pump the brakes for a second. Like, it's usually a sign of something big when statements start changing. And they're thinking, OK, we may have our prime suspect in our hands right here, right now, which would be great because the media is already all over this thing.
So to make sure nothing is missed, they call in the assistant district attorney and they ask Robert if he's willing to make another statement and they want this one recorded. So he's like, yeah, for sure. Let's let's have the tape start rolling. So watching the video, the thing that gets me the most is Robert's whole attitude.
Like, I don't know if you've ever watched any of like the Brat Pack movies from the 80s, but he's got this very entitled air about him. Yeah. Like if you've seen Pretty in Pink, he totally reminds me of like the James Spader rich boy attitude, like consequences are for other people.
And even in the second recorded interview, he's still super calm as he starts to tell his story about what happened the night before. Now, according to Robert, he does see her at Dorian's. They do leave at the same time. But this time, they aren't just like walking up the street together. This time, his story is that Jennifer wanted to go into Central Park with him.
And he says he wasn't interested in any of it and he just wanted to go home, but went with her anyway. And he goes on to tell police and the ADA that she went to the bathroom, like somewhere off in the shadows when they got to the park. Then she came back and started putting the moves on him, even tying up his hands behind his back with her own underwear.
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Chapter 5: What was the media's role in the Preppy Murder case?
So, no, she wasn't, like, super tall or strong. She actually had a pretty slight build when you see pictures of her. Meanwhile, Robert's over six feet tall and nearly 200 pounds. Like, realistically, he'd have no trouble getting a girl of Jennifer's size off of him.
And I mean, again, you're not, like, tied up with handcuffs or zip ties, like, a single piece of underwear, if that's really what happened. And both the ADA and the police don't think that there's any way she could have done what Robert's saying unless he let her do it. Now, Robert continues with his story and it doesn't become any more believable.
According to him, eventually he gets one hand free and manages to toss Jennifer off of him. He says after he pushed her off, then she just doesn't move. And at first he says he thinks that she's just like kidding around. But here's the thing. When he's talking about her to police, like telling them this story, I push her off. He says something really strange. He doesn't use her name.
He calls her the body, like the body didn't move, which is super strange, but it's also a contradiction because if you thought she was joking around and kidding... Like then she's not just a body. Yeah, like you wouldn't think she was a dead body. It doesn't make sense. So when police ask him what he did next, no one could have expected his bizarre response.
Robert says he didn't try to do CPR on her. He didn't call the police. He didn't even leave the scene. He says after all of this, he just stayed in the park. Wait, what? Yeah, apparently he just hung out there in Central Park and watched police show up. And he's saying this on tape with nothing in his voice to suggest that he gets how this could sound weird.
The police arrest Robert right then and there, and they're feeling really good about it. They've got a prime suspect in custody. He's on tape confessing this is a home run. It seems simple. But we know no case is ever simple. The murder of Jennifer Levin in Central Park is already a media circus. But once Roberts arrested, it gets even worse.
It is front page news all over New York City because it had all the hallmarks of a case that they knew the public would eat up. Young, wealthy, privileged, good-looking kids caught up in drugs and sex and now murder. And the thing that the media latches onto the most was the good-looking part. Over and over again, you'd see them talk about how handsome Robert was.
What does his appearance have to do with any of this? Nothing. But the media makes this a huge part of the narrative. And I can't tell you how many voiceovers I heard from news reporters that kept going on and on about it. And it only gets worse when Robert's mom Phyllis gets him one of the most famous criminal lawyers in New York at the time. It was an attorney named Jack Lipman.
And Jack takes zealous advocacy to a whole new level. Like hardcore crime junkies are probably familiar with legal ethics. And you'll know that part of a lawyer's responsibility to their client is to promote their client's position, whatever that may be. And they're supposed to do everything they can within the law's boundaries to get the result that they want. And this is exactly what Jack does.
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Chapter 6: How did legal representation impact the case?
This guy has so much power that even just the name McCarrick instantly puts people, including the judge, on high alert. And Linda is stunned. Of all of the people Jack could have gotten to write a letter, this one was so big and so far out of left field that no one could have ever predicted it.
She even drives out to Newark to talk to the archbishop and asks him why he would possibly write this letter for a man that he's seemingly not connected to. And McCarrick admits he's like, I don't know anything about the case, but he basically like points to his faith as the reason for getting involved.
I'm sorry, no. There is no way a power player like that is going to get so personally involved and, like, risk their own career for a defendant in, like, this crazy high-profile murder case just because their faith told them to. Like...
Not unless they knew the person. And that's what I said. And that's what Linda thought, too. So she and Detective Mike do some digging. And it just so happens that the archbishop is also Robert's godfather. And according to New York Magazine, he sponsored Robert through his confirmation as a teenager.
Now, Robert's mom, Phyllis, also nursed a cardinal during his last days and knew the New York archdiocese. So she pulled some strings and got good old Godfather Teddy to throw his political might behind her son. So it looks like there was a little more behind this than just faith. However, the archbishop's letter does the trick.
In front of a packed courtroom, the judge sets Robert's bail at $150,000, which is a lot of money at the time. And remember, Robert's family isn't like these Upper East Side people. They're not wealthy, so they don't have the $150,000 to spare or even enough to put up for the bail bond. So Robert's supporters and members of the church rally around him and raise the money themselves.
Jack Dorian, the guy who actually owns like Dorian's red-handed bar where Robert was that night Jennifer was killed, even puts up his own penthouse as collateral. They get the money and Robert is released on bail. But instead of going home, he goes to stay at a parish as part of Jack Letman's whole like, look how pious and innocent this kid is thing.
As if the letter from McCarrick wasn't enough, Robert being allowed into the parish puts the whole city on high alert that the Catholic Church has chosen a side. As soon as Robert gets out, Jack calls a press conference. Robert reads a statement about how sorry he basically is for this whole tragic accident. Like, he's really piling it all on while still sounding like he did in his confession.
Like, he's not even trying to fake empathy at this point. And it's a little hard to watch. And it's even worse for Jennifer's family and her friends because as soon as he's out of jail, Robert wastes no time in getting right back to his normal life.
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Chapter 7: What controversies arose during the trial?
Now, of course, as soon as this happened, Robert's lawyer, Jack, goes into PR spin mode. And this time he gets Robert on the cover of New York Magazine. And not just a feature article, but like the full cover story. He's immaculate, like very clean cut, very preppy in his like suit and tie, looking like the 1980s American dream, like going for that full John F. Kennedy Jr. vibe.
And listen, I read the entire piece, which was published back in November 10th, I think, of 86. It was written by Michael Stone, and it is a puff piece to the nth degree. It is exactly the image the defense wants to portray. Jennifer's best friend Jessica describes it the best, I think. She said, quote, he was portrayed as the white symbol of beauty, power, intelligence, and money, end quote.
Meanwhile, during all of the pretrial stuff, Jack's also busy trying to get a hold of Jennifer's diary because they want to use it as proof that, like, oh, hey, remember how we said this girl's, like, a bad person for being sexually active and daring and enjoying sex with men? Like... They want to use it as proof of that.
And they finally get their hands on this diary and they tell the press, aha, like we've got proof in her own words that she was like basically sex crazed. But the problem is it's total BS. What they're calling a diary is a freaking date book. And when they give it to the judge to see if it can be admissible in trial, he's like, no, what are you even talking about?
There's literally nothing sexual in this thing at all. But I think it was a total play because by this point, it didn't even matter what was in it. It was all a show.
And the defense knew that there wasn't anything sexual, but they got enough people talking about it in the press and in the public that all of the headlines started to read sex diary right there alongside rough sex as part of the public narrative about Jennifer Levy. At this point, Robert's defense isn't even pretending that they're not engaged in victim blaming here.
And it kind of backfires on them. The people who were already pissed get even more mad and more are inspired to take action.
A group called the Guardian Angels gets really involved in protesting and they accuse Jack of basically murdering Jennifer's reputation, which I think is totally fair, especially since one of Robert's other lawyers even says in the documentary, quote, there's nothing illegitimate end quote, about using a victim blaming as a tactic. Like, are you kidding me? Oh, my God, that's awful.
Yeah, what a monster. But Jennifer isn't the only one being blamed, though. The night she died, Robert was confronted at Dorian's by a girl named Alex. And this is a different one that Jennifer was supposed to spend the night with.
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