Issue 30: The Murder of Jennifer Levin
On the morning of 26 August 1986 a stock trader began his bike ride to work. The route to Wall Street would take him through Central Park. On this particular day he was riding around 6am when he discovered the dead body of Jennifer Levin.
Investigators closed off every road and tunnel that allowed people to go in and out of New York. As crack was a real problem back then it was first thought that this was just 'another unfortunate girl who lost her way'. However, upon arriving at the scene and taking a closer look, it was evident that was not the case.
Mike Sheehan was made the lead detective on the case.
Jennifer was found in a position that lead investigators to believe that the crime was sexually motivated. As a cause of her clothes being pulled up over her breasts the scratches and heavy bruising was visible. There was also reddish marks on her neck.
The Investigation
Investigators soon established that Levin had last been seen the previous night at a bar called Dorrian's Red Hand. Multiple patrons came forward establishing that Levin left the bar with a man named Robert Chambers.
Chambers girlfriend at the time was future television actress Alex Knapp. According to her the couple had recently broken up after he stole her $50 allowance and Levin had shown some interest in Chambers. Levin and Chambers had briefly dated.
Investigators went around to Chambers house to conduct an interview. Upon the door being opened they saw the scratch marks on both sides of Chambers' face. He agreed to accompany them down to the station for a formal interview.
When investigators asked whether Chambers did in fact leave with Levin he denied it. When investigators mentioned that witnesses had seen them leave he admitted to that in fact being the case. After a few more lies Chambers said that Levin had come onto him for sex, furthermore that she had died during a sexual encounter that turned aggressive. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, his defence was that Levin's death had occurred during 'rough sex'.
Robert Chambers could be described as being a popular kid, known as a preppy kid. The truth was he was in fact a robber, harasser of women, had poor grades, had gotten expelled from multiple schools and was addicted to cocaine. Despite all this Theodore McCarrick who would later become the Archbishop of Washington, wrote a letter in support of Chambers bail application. He had been a family friend for many years but was also Robert's godfather. Bond was secured through family members and the owner of the bar, Jack Dorrian, put up his house as collateral.
One important issue to discuss is how the media covered the murder. In a way that hasn't much changed from today the media were more interested because it was a white young female that was murdered.
In the post #MeToo movement it is not a surprise that the media focus began to shift. It shifted away from focusing on Robert Chambers to taking a closer look at Jennifer. The media began to blame the victim. This could have been prevented if the media had done a bit of background research and fact checking. If that was done then they would have seen that the articles they based these claims about Jennifer on were fed to them by the killers lawyer, in order to shift the focus.
While on remand a video Robert filmed was found and circulated before making its way into investigators hands. The video showed Chambers twisting off the head of a Barbie doll while saying, 'Opps, I think I killed her'.
The trial
The trial began on 4 January 1988 and lasted 13 weeks. Through the trial evidence was given that showed Levin had died due to strangulation. The jury couldn't reach a verdict after 9 days. The prosecution and Chambers agreed to a plea bargain. It was a plea of first-degree manslaughter, which carried a sentence of between 5-15 years in prison. As part of the plea he also had to agree that he intended to hurt Levin sufficiently to cause her death. Chambers was sentenced to 15 years in prison. He was released in 2003.
That freedom only lasted so long, Robert Chambers is currently serving 19 years in prison for selling drugs.