Beverly Hills 911 | Post Mortem | Forensic Files

Welcome to Postmortem. [music] I'm CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith filling in as host and today we're discussing
the death of 67year-old Violet Jacobe. On October 10th, 2017, Violet was found dead in her Beverly Hills home. and
responding officers initially suspected it might be a suicide, but when the autopsy report determined she died from
asphixxia due to neck compression or strangulation, her case turned into a homicide investigation. Joining me today
is 48 hours correspondent Aaron Morardi, who reported on this case. It's always great to talk with you, Aaron, and I'm
excited to get your take on this. >> Well, this is actually a case from your part of the country. Um, and as you know
well, there aren't a lot of murders in Beverly Hills. The investigators assigned to this case actually had more
experience investigating robberies and home invasions than homicides. But as it turned out, that experience gave them
the skills they needed to crack this case. So, it's a very interesting one. I definitely want to dig into it. Uh, but
first, a reminder to everyone. If you haven't watched or listened to this episode, Beverly Hills 911, go check it
out now and then come back for our conversation. All right, let's get into it. On the evening of October 10th,
2017, Violet's son, Daniel and daughter, Dena, arrived at their mother's home in
Beverly Hills, California, they discovered Violet on the floor of her entryway beneath a large curving
staircase. And Daniel called 911. Let's take a listen to some portions of that 911 call.
Um, yeah, we're doing CPR. >> You're doing CPR right now? >> Yeah. >> Do you need me to walk you through it or
does somebody know it? >> No, we're both doctors. >> You're both doctors. Okay. We have
>> Never mind. >> Okay. But you know CPR? >> Yes. >> Okay. How long ago did you like last see
her? Like how long has she been like that? Do you know? >> No, I have no >> Okay. Are you You're saying she's cold
to Would you touch her? Yes. >> Okay. Our units are going there as fast as they can. Okay. Hold on one second.
Let me just get the paramedics going. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Who's doing CPR? >> My sister.
>> Your sister's doing CPR. Okay. >> That was so good to start with that because this is really important because
as you can hear, Daniel tells the operator that his sister was performing CPR. But then later that day, it's it's
odd, he told detectives that he did CPR, too. He said he did the compressions. Then when detectives talked to Dena, his
sister, she said, "No, she was the one who did CPR." And why does that matter? Because to investigators,
why from the very beginning is he changing his story? And they wondered if Daniel wanted to provide an explanation
if in fact his DNA was found on his mother. On the other hand, Daniel was very willing to talk to detectives on
the very day that they found Violet dead, and he told them why he and his sister had gone over. According to
Daniel, his uncle had called him that day, asking if he had heard from his mother. His uncle said he hadn't heard
from her all day, which Daniel and just about everybody else said was unusual. Daniel said then he called his sister,
Dena, and here's an important issue. He says they arrived at their mother's house at the very same time. He said
finding their mother was like a blur, which makes sense, but he says he remembered doing CPR right away and then
his sister doing CPR. What was interesting is although first responders wondered if it was a suicide,
Daniel actually told investigators that he saw bruising and maybe Violet had been strangled.
>> Wow. But initially, investigators believed Violet's death might have been a suicide. Why is that?
>> Well, Tracy, this is what is called an unattended death, that this uh widow is
found alone on on the floor of her home. When Beverly Hills police detective Mark
Schwarz first got any information, he said he was told that Violet was depressed and maybe fell over the
railing of the staircase. It was true that she had just marked the one-year anniversary of her husband's death. Her
dog had died. She had also cancelled her cleaning lady. All those things make you
think that maybe she didn't want anyone to be around her on that day. And then there was another early thought. Violet
was part of a close-knit Jewish community where suicide can be considered shameful and taboo. Detective
Schwarz is also Jewish. So, he brought up the possibility that Violet had taken her life and that her kids covered it
up. >> And as investigators dug deeper, what else did they learn about the Yakobe
family? >> Well, from the outside, the Yakobe family seemed to be very close and they
also appeared to be living the American dream. Violet lived in a multi-million dollar house in Beverly Hills and Daniel
was living nearby with his wife and new baby. Um, Violet and her husband were immigrants. Her husband had been a
successful doctor. Daniel also appeared to be very successful. He pursued a medical profession as a dentist and Dena
worked in physical therapy. >> You know, it sounds like they're living the American dream. Murders don't happen
very often in Beverly Hills. So, how did investigators begin to suspect foul play?
>> Well, Tracy, that's where that background in burglaries comes in, because these guys don't investigate a
lot of homicides, but they do do burglaries. Detective George Elwell was one of the first detectives at the crime
scene the night that Violet's body was found. Um, and as he told us, he noticed dust still covered much of the staircase
railing, and he didn't think that anything, including Violet, could have gone over the railing without disturbing
that desk. Uh, Detective Elwell also said that when he looked down from the top of the railing, he couldn't see
Violet's feet because they were under the staircase. He said he wasn't an expert in physics, but he said he didn't
believe that her body could end up under the staircase from a fall that she would
have ended up further out. There was also no rope or obvious weapon beside her, which is why Mark Schwarz wondered
if she had taken her life if the kids had hidden it. And both detectives also felt that Daniel was acting peculiar
when they met him. Detective Schwarz said he had a nervous energy. That's how he described it and seemed too eager to
help with the investigation. But we still should note here, and I think you know this too, Tracy, that
it's really hard to judge Daniel's behavior in his initial police interviews or even on the 911 call
because if in fact he's telling the truth, he had just found his mother the bottom of the staircase. And you never
know how a grieving person is going to behave. >> Yeah. And we've talked about this
before. I mean, this is a stressful situation. So, just because somebody's acting strangely doesn't necessarily
mean they're guilty. All right. So, on October 13th, nearly 3 days after Violet's body was found, the deputy
medical examiner completed the autopsy and determined that Violet's official cause of death was esphixia by neck
compression. With the case now being investigated as a homicide, Detective Schwarz and Elwell asked Daniel to come
back for another interview and they asked point blank if he killed Violet. What do he say? I mean, he clearly
became a person of interest early on but denied killing his mother. In fact, he told detectives that he and his mother
were close. He said he sent her baby photos all the time. But then when detectives look at his phone, actually
the last photo that he texted his mother was his bank account. >> Yeah, that was an incriminating moment.
This isn't in the hour, but when police questioned him about his finances and business plans, Daniel mentions a
business venture called Dental Dan in a Can that he was trying to launch with a neighbor, Dean Summers, who was a
brother of that neighbor, described this venture as a subscriptionbased business
for dental products. Let's take a listen to some portions of Daniel's police interview. It's fascinating with the
detectives asking him about his finances. >> You're starting a new business, right?
>> Well, I I'm starting a few businesses and I'm >> How's that going? >> Good. >> How's that going financially?
>> It's obviously hard. Always starting a new business. Dental Dan when I can is
tough. It's It took a lot out of me. >> Did you ask for her for any money? Oh >> yeah.
>> When? >> Like like just few months back. >> And you have the money for all these
businesses? >> Well, I mean it's No, I don't. Okay. >> But I'm It's a work in progress.
>> Who gets the house? I do. >> Is it paid off? >> Yes. >> How much is that house worth?
>> A lot. >> So now I'm the number one suspect. >> It's not about number one suspects. It's
the fact that again I'm still trying to figure out what happened >> and I and I don't and I don't think
you're being forthcoming. >> So many things here. Uh, dental Dan in a can has a certain ring to it. But it's
interesting how when they start asking about finances, he immediately goes, "Oh, I'm the number one suspect." Um,
what did you find out about his dental practice and Daniel's finances? >> This is what we know. He very briefly
owned his own practice, but at this point was working for other dentists in their offices. He was planning on buying
a practice in Englewood with a partner and as far as we know was in the process of securing a million dollar loan. So on
the face of it, that doesn't sound like a person in serious financial straits. >> But at trial, Daniel's ex-wife later
testified that she recalled witnessing an argument between Daniel and his mother about money about a month or two
before Violet died. And that was the same time frame that Daniel was trying to purchase the new practice. And
Daniel's uncle, who is Violet's brother, also testified that Violet said she would not give Daniel the money because
she knew he was going to get a loan. So that seemed to contradict what he had told detectives.
>> Investigators believed that Violet likely died 24 hours before Daniel's 911 call on October 10th. So, detectives
Schwarz and Elwell questioned him about his whereabouts on October 9th. And Daniel said he'd been at his dental
office all day and then drove straight home, but he couldn't give a clear account of his route, which as someone
living in Southern California raises suspicions for me because we all know our routes. I would think so. And if you
listen to the whole police interview, sadly, it's almost comical how convoluted his description of his route
home is. I mean, I did think like [music] maybe if you changed it every day, maybe you'd be confused, but
detectives believed that he was lying. But they couldn't quite prove he was. Not yet.
The week after Violet Yakob's body was discovered, detectives [music] obtained Daniel Yakob's cell phone records, and
the data showed he was not in Englewood at all that day of Violet's death, but he was in Beverly Hills. And not only
that, police had obtained footage from Nest security cameras inside Daniel's house that show him arriving home around
8:00 p.m. that night. So, when investigators looked at the footage from Daniel's home, that's when, and this is
the oddest moment, they see a bald man typing at Daniel's computer. And that's the first time they realized that Daniel
was actually bald. It was Daniel without a toupe. And what's important about that
footage is that's also the computer according to investigators where [snorts] Daniel did internet searching
that included quote latent fingerprints on human skin, how to restrain a woman, how to search Google in private, and a
lot of searches about choke holds. And once detectives had collected data from his computer, they had that and from his
phone, detectives felt they had enough evidence to arrest Daniel for the murder. And the motive they say uh that
Daniel killed his mother to get an early inheritance. >> So on February 12th, 2018, Daniel Yakobe
was arrested for his mother's murder. And of all the things that he could have said at that moment, Erin, can you talk
about what he asked for? >> The first thing that Daniel asked the police for was to get his toupe.
Detective Schwarz told us that it was telling to him that Daniel asked for his toupe during the arrest, that his
appearance was important to him. and the fact that he has a child and wife, but the first thing he asked for is his toup
pay. That was tragic. Detectives Schwarz also said that Daniel did not seem surprised to be arrested. I mean, he
seemed low-key to me through all of it. So, I'm not s I'm not surprised he didn't appear surprised. And we also
should note that investigators say that Daniel was arrested only after they first investigated and cleared Dena, the
sister, and other family members. And you're right, it's so telling about the toupe that that you know it says
something about keeping up appearances. >> It's sad. It's incredibly sad. >> So, detectives secured longitude and
latitude coordinates from Daniel's Facebook account that they say placed him at his mother's house at the time
they believe that Violet was killed. And I have to say, this is one of those moments in the hour where I went, whoa,
they could get all of that from Facebook. Well, in fact, when the detectives told
me that, I actually actually removed my location from Facebook. >> I did that, too, when I watched your
>> Exactly. I, you know, I knew that they got information from us, but I didn't realize it was that specific. But this
information became key for investigators. Um, because Beverly Hills has a lot of traffic and surveillance
cameras. And once Detective Schwarz had those coordinates, then he could go to the city's closed circuit cameras and
security cameras from Violet's neighbors and he could find Daniel's car. Otherwise, as you can imagine, going
through all that video, it would have been impossible to find Daniel on his car because there's just so much
footage. Detective Schwarz told us that the footage showed and and this really got to me, too. This is how he described
it. that Daniel was circling his mother's house almost like a shark the day of the murder. That that was a very
visual description to me. >> Yeah, what a strong metaphor. Like a shark. So, Daniel Yakobe was denied bail
and he spent more than seven years in jail awaiting his trial. Now, I've covered trials that have taken years to
actually happen, but how unusual is it to wait that long? >> Well, I think you're right. you are
living in California and as you know it is not unusual in California although I still think seven years seemed very
long. Um that delay was in part due to co but it was also because Daniel switched legal teams a few times and
that delayed it too. >> So when the case did go to trial in July 2025, it seemed like the prosecution had
mostly a circumstantial case. So, there wasn't a lot of DNA evidence they could use at trial, but what they did find was
Daniel's DNA under Violet's fingernails. And that, according to the prosecutors,
was significant because, of course, they're arguing she fought him. Uh, Daniel had said he had not seen his
mother since Sunday, two days before she's found. So prosecutors thought that Daniel's DNA under his mother's
fingernails was very incriminating. >> The theory of the prosecution of how it got there is that he put her in a
chokeold and that she scratched at him trying to free herself. But I should point out her fingernails were not
damaged. So that was troubling to me when I realized that. >> At the same time he was searching choke
holds besides this evidence. What else did the prosecution present at trial? >> Well, there's not one piece of smoking
gun evidence. The prosecution, and we hear this all the time, had to put together the puzzle, you know, the
evidence to paint a picture. Uh they pointed to Daniel's own timeline of where he said he was and where he really
was and the conflicting stories. And one of the examples is according to the DA,
Daniel kept telling detectives that he and his sister arrived at the house at the same time. But in fact, the video
showed Daniel arriving 6 minutes before his sister arrived, sat and waited in his car for 3 to four minutes, drives
away, and then comes back. Detectives believe it was all part of Daniel's plan to have his sister there so that they
could discover the body together. Uh the traffic and surveillance videos and Daniel's Facebook account coordinates
also showed that he was lying about where he said he was. >> All right, so the prosecution makes
their case. Now it's the defense's turn. And the defense, on the other hand, argued that Violet Yakobi died of
natural causes. Dr. Larry Sims, a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner, testified that he didn't
believe that Violet was murdered. Now, this is a guy who's done thousands of autopsies. And Aaron, you spoke with
him. What did you make of Dr. Sims argument? >> All right, I'm I'm going to be honest. I
walked away from my interview with Dr. Sims with real doubts about this case >> because he said to me when I asked him
about this, he said this was not a murder and he was very convincing. According to Dr. Sims, he found no
evidence that Violet was strangled. Even though the prosecution says that there were marks on Violet's face that they
call petikia, which are tiny little bright red hemorrhages that are common with strangulation. He says that those
were actually sunspots. And he says that the line on her neck was actually skin folds. He pointed to a microscopic slide
of Violet's brain stem to say that her death and he showed pointed it out to me was caused by a rare mass of blood
vessels in her brain stem called and I hope I say this properly arteriovenous malf foration or what is called an AVM
which he believes hemorrhaged and then caused her to become disoriented and then fall over the staircase. Dr. Sims
also pointed out to us that the deputy medical examiner who did the original autopsy actually missed injuries that
pointed towards a fall that Violet actually had spinal and rib fractures that were not mentioned in the autopsy,
although they were photographed and they were documented in imaging. Um, we wanted to talk to that deputy medical
examiner because he didn't testify at trial, but the LA County Medical Examiner's Office declined to be
interviewed as part of our report. So, we've never heard him explain it, but it was uh an issue at trial.
>> Yeah. I mean, that's a big It sounds like a big thing to miss, spinal fractures and rib fractures. And so,
they're bringing in more and more experts. So, this trial became a battle of the experts. There were five doctors
that testified at that trial about how and why Violet died. >> Yeah. And I always find that to be a
problem in these cases. Um you might too, Tracy. Uh we've seen this time and time again. You have people disagreeing.
Some people see something, some people see something else, and I fear that jurors don't know which medical expert
to believe, and in the end, they could just dial it all out. >> Just tune it all out. Yeah, I get that.
So, they did deliberate for nearly 5 and a half hours over two days, but when the
jury came back, uh, they were unanimous, guilty of firstdegree murder for financial gain. And this is a judgment
that carries a mandatory life sentence without a possibility of parole. >> He threw his life away for a few more
dollars. Um, he had so much, a wife, a new baby. Um, it's just very, very sad. And also when I did some research, I
realized just how rare mattress is. It's just a very tragic trajectory. Tragic indeed. A fascinating case. And also a
reminder that you may think that you're going around somewhere and no one is watching, but there are cameras
everywhere. And if you have your cell phone with you, there's always some way to track you. Thank you so much, Erin.
It's always so good to talk with you. Yeah, it's [music] always good seeing you, Tracy, and thanks for doing this
with me today. >> My pleasure. And if you [music] like this episode, please rate and review on
Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith and "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty discuss the case of 67-year-old Violet Yacobi, who was found dead by her children in her Beverly Hills mansion.

True crime. Social justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Violet Jacobe's murder case reveals family secrets and a son's shocking betrayal for financial gain.

Key points

The Death of Violet Jacobe. Violet Jacobe was found dead in her Beverly Hills home, initially suspected to be a suicide.
Daniel's Inconsistent Story. Daniel's conflicting accounts of performing CPR raise suspicions among investigators.
Daniel's Arrest. Daniel Yakobe was arrested for his mother's murder after detectives gathered substantial evidence.
Unanimous Guilty Verdict. The jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder for financial gain.
Tragic Choices. Reflecting on the defendant's life and choices leading to the verdict.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Murders don't happen very often in Beverly Hills.

Discussing the rarity of murders in Beverly Hills.

5:41WatchMay 16, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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