On the morning of August 26, 1986, a cyclist in New York’s Central Park discovered the body eighteen-year-old Jennifer Levin. Among other things, Levin had been strangled, there were superficial injuries on her face, and her shirt was pulled up. Later, the medical examiner reported that Jennifer had died only about an hour before she was discovered.It didn’t take long for investigators to find Levin’s assailant, after several patrons at a nearby bar reported seeing her with a man the night before. That man turned out to be nineteen-year-old Robert Chambers Jr., a privileged members of New York’s Upper East Side high society. At first, Chambers denied having anything to do with the murder, but soon changed his story and claimed Levin had died during consensual “rough sex” initiated by Levin herself.Nicknamed the “The Preppy Killer” by the press, a reference to his good looks and obvious privilege, Chambers’ trial became a media circus. Over the course of more than a year, people around the country watched as the defense tried—and with the help of the press, succeeded—to put the responsibility for Levin’s murder on the victim, emphasizing her sexual history and manner of dress, among other things. Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1994. "Central park killer is denied parole again." New York Times, December 23: B4.—. 1997. "Chambers says he is a 'political pawn'." New York Times, Janaury 10: 28.—. 2003. "In statement, Chambers says he regrets his actions." New York Times, February 14: B3.—. 1996. "Parole again denied in '86 killing in park." New York Times, December 17: B2.Freedman, Samuel. 1986. "Darkness beneath the glitter: life of suspect in park slaying." New York Times, August 28: 1.Fried, Joseph. 1986. "Chambers gives not guilty plea in park slaying." New York Times, September 23: B2.Hevesi, Dennis. 1988. "Grandfather faults tactics in park trial." New York Times, March 27: 32.Johnson, Kirk. 1988. "Chambers case turning on truth of confession." New York Times, Janaury 18: B3.—. 1988. "Chambers, with jury at impasse, admits 1st degree manslaughter." New York Times, March 26: 1.Nix, Crystal. 1986. "Slain woman found in park; suspect seized." New York Times, August 27: B1.Raab, Selwyn. 1986. "Lawyer weighs plea of insanity in park slaying." New York Times, August 30: 29.Rimer, Sara. 1986. "Slaying's notoriety touches young crowd on 'the circuit'." New York Times, August 29: 1.Stone, Michael. 1986. "East side story." New York Magazine, November 10.Sullivan, Ronald. 1988. "Chambers gets 5 to 15 years and offers apology in court." New York Times, April 16: 33.Taubman, Bryna. 1988. The Preppy Murder Trial. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.Today Show. 2016. "Dubbed by the press as 'The Preppy Killer,' Robert Chambers pleaded guilty." Today Show, 01 01.Worth, Robert. 2003. "Robert Chambers to be freed after serving maximumu in 1986 killing." New York Times, February 13: B3.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What happened to Jennifer Levin?
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Lamont Jones is shattered when his cousin dies just weeks after entering prison. The official report says natural causes, but bruises and missing teeth tell a different story. Wondery presents Death County, PA, a chilling true story of corruption and cover-ups. Follow Death County, PA on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.
This is the Beatle. Hi, everybody. Hello. What's up? Not a lot. No? No, it's not a lot.
Oh. I haven't checked on my Finch today. Oh. Oh, my God.
I'm like 30 days into my Finch, so we're really rocking and rolling. Yeah, I'm like 20. I think today's day 28. I'm going to have to have you take the mic for me.
Yeah.
Let's start today.
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Chapter 2: Who was Robert Chambers?
And her charm and affection wasn't just limited to friends, just not limited only to family. Once, just before she was scheduled to take her driving test, she talked a Manhattan cab driver into teaching her how to parallel park. Fucking iconic.
What a savvy, savvy person. That is wild. And, like, picture a Manhattan cab driver.
Yeah. They don't have time for your shit. No, they're always, like, on to the next. Somehow she had the charm to be like, listen, I got a test coming up and I got a parallel park. Can you help me out here? Yeah, help me, man. I love that.
So after finishing junior high on Long Island, she moved in with her father and her stepmother in Manhattan, mostly so that she could attend the Baldwin School, which was a private high school on New York's Upper West Side. According to Arlene Levin, Jennifer's desire to attend private school was as much a matter of fear as it was anything else.
She actually believed all urban public schools were dangerous places. She was very afraid to go to public school. Oh, okay. Which, I don't know, maybe at the time it was like a little bit rough. I'm not positive.
Yeah, I don't know how, like in that area, how they are now. Yeah.
I'm not sure. Yeah. But anyway, she thrived at Baldwin School and quickly developed her own really independent personality. She wasn't really your typical teenager. Her friends and classmates mostly kind of gravitated toward pop music and television, but Jennifer herself preferred adult contemporary music. Yeah. And she said that she'd rather work out than watch TV.
And she also became a vegetarian at a pretty young age just for the health benefits. Damn, she sounds cool as hell. She does sound cool. I want to be her friend. Yeah. Now, also, unlike her peers, who relied mostly on their parents for money, as soon as she was able to, Jennifer got a part-time job as a hostess at Flutie's, a bar in lower Manhattan.
I feel like, I don't know if I've been there, but I've definitely heard of it. That sounds so familiar. Yeah, right? Yeah. It really does. I don't know if it's like from something. But her manager said, never once did I see her come to work with anything but a smile. More on her job at Flutie's later. There's like another anecdote in my tale here.
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Chapter 3: What was Jennifer's life like before the tragedy?
The night itself seemed like nobody was really acting.
Yeah.
How they typically would have.
Yeah.
But I feel like that happens when these kind of things happen.
It is what it is.
Even though you don't know that like something awful is going to happen, it can be like in the air sometimes. Yeah, there's just like some kind of tension happening. Yeah, exactly. So Robert and Jennifer entered the park around 4.50 in the morning at an entrance near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
What happened next is only known to Robert himself, and he has changed his story multiple times over the years. So nobody really knows the exact truth. But this, in my opinion, is not the truth. According to him, he was not interested in Jennifer romantically and initially actually declined to go to the park with her. But Jennifer insisted, he said, so he finally relented and agreed to join her.
according to him she was clearly interested in him and he thought that she wanted to have sex in the park but he declined her advances and said he was interested in other people and he'd see her around but he said she freaked out she like got up and knelt in front of me and scratched my face what like that would have escalated so quickly and she knelt in front of him he said she got it like she like got up knelt in front of me and scratched my face
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