Jack Tupper, Part 2 | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this morbid [Music] it's morbid it's morbid how are you I
I'm doing great I'm feeling better actually I love that I'm feeling better too except I do miss my sultry voice we
all miss our sultry voices I wish I could just recreate it when I wasn't sick like but there's there's no what
you see like it doesn't work I was gonna try but oh I figured but it doesn't hurt
the same yeah yeah that doesn't want my teeth can I have a second quinoa on your
teeth no I'm done look at that cute little after snack they love a little after Smith just saving that for later a
little green wall a little quinoa a little quinoa um not any business you got any
recommendations for us today God oh man put me on the spot will you I mean your recommendation gourly I know I really am
a recommendation Gorly none I don't know if I have any right now wow that's upsetting
um oh there's somebody on Tick Tock I have a tick tock I knew if I said it it would start I was just thinking okay
there there's um someone I follow on Tick Tock uh she talks about paranormal [ __ ]
um some some true crime [ __ ] she talks about all kinds of spooky [ __ ] she's very smart she's very well spoken she's
fun to listen to she's beautiful she's just cool her name is everything and I think her name on Tick Tock is um
and let me double check it I think it's swamp witch I'll give you a vamp moment Bernard yeah swamp underscore witch
underscore hell yeah and she's great and I just need to give her a shout out because I think I like like almost all
of her videos that come through my feed I'm just automatically like like because
I know I will like a bunch of spooky [ __ ] yeah she's just and she's really smart and she lives in a haunted house
so you get to see lots of that stuff and she does she used to like tell stories from her home she does she gives stories
she gives like she and she tells others like folklore and [ __ ] she's just really
like fun to listen to so cam swamp witch hell yeah go get it I know what I'm doing tonight go flood swamp which is
Tick Tock make her get the numbers no pun intended because you know what she puts in the work flood the swamp so [ __ ]
yeah swamp wedge cam swamp which forever I knew I could pull one that's actually
one that's been sitting in my back pocket for a while and I keep forgetting to plug her so start a list I'm actually
glad you brought that up because I really wanted to plug her see here you said you were like you're putting me on
the spot and I was like it's for a reason that's what it's for every season has a reason to turn turn I think I said
that the wrong way around but it doesn't matter it sounded great thanks all right
well we're in a part two right now so in part one we were talking about the very
very tragic murder of Jack Tupper um it was like real brutal and we're gonna get a little more into it in this
part it's so sad this is a really sad case so far it is because buddy is just like was born an [ __ ] yeah and I just
feel really bad for Melanie and I feel really bad for Jack and his family like Jack had a lot of promise that just got
completely robbed from him oh so when we left off in part one buddy had been harassing Melanie like crazy and then
she came home one day after and the saddest thing about this too is that they were just about to get the [ __ ] out
of here yeah they were making moves to get away from him she had signed a new lease that morning Melanie for her and
Jack to move out and while she was gone signing the new lease buddy went and did
whatever he did yeah but at the end of part one the universe caught up to him because he
was sitting directly in front of a cop and um a bolo alert basically had gone out
being like yeah check out this license plate and the guy was like Oh you mean the one right in front of me you mean
this [ __ ] right here you mean this yellow Cadillac [ __ ] guy so he got arrested and when buddy was
arrested he was in the company of a man named Salvatore giamo which checks he told the officer that he was just a
hitchhiker and he had nothing to do with the crime but it was later learned that
Salvatore was on Buddy's payroll and he worked as a general contractor on one of
his buildings so they spotted the LIE there ah there it is there it is the prosecutor would later determine that
there was a third man involved as well another Salvatore this one prenito I believe is how you say the last name and
he had already been dropped off when buddy got pulled over so had he been pulled over a little earlier they would
have caught all three at once right there that would have been the jackpot that would have been but still still
good it was a jackpot yeah so at the precinct buddy told detectives that his employee referring to giamo he said he
had come to his apartment earlier that day and suggested that Buddy buy his car from him so they took the car out for a
test drive and according to Buddy the car drove so nicely that he just kept on driving yeah and that's how they caught
him on the bridge that afternoon absolutely yeah I was just out driving just a joyride you know it just felt so
good that I kept on driving that's my alibi I was just driving just driving things he was not willing to say more
than that and he immediately demanded a lawyer so he was placed in holding cell while the police started looking into
this story now while he sat in a Cell at the 43rd Precinct detectives went out to the
apartment building in Queens to inform Melanie that Jack had died oh he had been murdered it's awful she was still
actually with Jack's friend that she had called over earlier that day and she explained to the officer that got there
what they had discovered in Buddy's apartment earlier that day and she actually pointed out a spot of what they
believed was blood in the hallway outside of the apartment because if you remember in part one he had cleaned
everything up including the hallway but uh you missed a spot yeah you never cleaned it all up no never
this it's just like so sad to think that while she was off doing this that's what
was going on so the following week buddy and Salvatore were charged with second-degree murder and both were
denied bail and this is uh Salvatore pernito actually so Jack's autopsy was conducted the next
afternoon but because his body had been so damaged and the fire and through everything that had occurred beforehand
the assistant medical examiner had a really difficult time actually coming up with what the cause of death was so
officially his cause of death was attributed to and this is a quote two circumcised round markedly depressed
fractures of the skull the largest diameter of which is one and a half and the greatest depth of this depression is
half and which I'm assuming now those two wounds which the medical examiner believed to have been from Hammer I was
just gonna say that sounds like a hammer they caused obviously massive brain damage so they believed those were most
likely the primary cause of death oh yeah it's to think what they did to him like
I can't imagine and you probably just assume that these three guys just banged on his apartment door and dragged him
out because remember his shoes were still yeah everything was still in the apartment all of his stuff
in addition to the brain trauma there was a myriad of other wounds several of which would have also been fatal
according to the examiner's report quote there are multiple lacerations and stab
wounds oh my God mainly over the left side of the face and the left side of the head there are approximately 15 such
wounds holy [ __ ] and then there were additional stab wounds on the Torso as well one of which pierced Jack's liver
and then in addition to that there were multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body and his lower torso and finally
there was the damage caused by the fire which occurred after Jack had died but this was complete Overkill so the
bludgeoned stabbed shot and burned him yup oh my God and and like SLA like sliced
at his face like his face was found with a bunch of slice marks all over it they
just they demolished his body wow it's horrible that's terrifying so in the Press Conference held just a few days
later investigators identified the victim and the killer while adding that other people were being sought in
connection with the murder a spokesperson told reporters quote we don't know exactly where he was killed
but it appears he was dragged from his own apartment and brought to Jacobson's Penthouse now they couldn't confirm that
Jack had been killed in Buddy's apartment but investigators did say that they pulled a slug from a wall in
Buddy's apartment that was a match for those taken out of Jack tupper's body odd so I don't really know why they
couldn't for sure say that he had been killed there because maybe they think that because my thoughts were there was
blood on the outside of the apartment maybe they think that they hammered him in his apartment and then dragged him
into that apartment he could have already been dead and kept going yeah so when they shot him he could have already
been dead it's so scary to think about now as far as anybody could tell the case against buddies seemed airtight he
had means he had motive he had the opportunity to kill Jack he was known to have been obsessed with Melanie in the
weeks leading up to the murder his apartment was literally riddled with bullet holes and Witnesses again as we
know had identified him and his car as having been at the dump site in the Bronx yeah
so a little over a week after Buddy's arrest a grand jury convened to hear the evidence in the case as well as
testimony from multiple Witnesses and everybody was most interested to hear what Melanie had to say of course
because she's the closest link here yeah and she testified for over two hours she
gave all the details of her relationship with Buddy his possessive nature the desperate threats that he'd been making
in the weeks just before Jack sparter and based on the evidence and testimony presented to the grand jury but he was
indicted for the murder of Tupper and he continued to be held without bail so by
September buddy had actually gotten himself a new lawyer Otto Fusco who assured his client that he was going to
get him out of jail he wanted to get buddy out on bail awesome even though requests for Bill had already been
denied six times since Buddy's arrest oh my God now later that month Fusco took Buddy's case to the state supreme court
and he told Justice Louis cialfi I believe as I say it he had a number of alternative suspects all all of whom had
reason to kill Jack Tupper and frame buddy huh like what but for one reason or another the
Justice believed fusco's defense and noted that if there were indeed other suspects he said I cannot deny this man
bail so he set Buddy's Bail at two hundred thousand dollars and remember buddy has a lot of money but I guess he
wasn't pulling in that much at this time because he claimed that he was unable to
pay that amount so he remained in jail so in the weeks that followed Fusco repeatedly argued with the district
attorney in appellate court and was eventually able to successfully convince them to reduce the bail to a hundred
thousand dollars that's insane so they cut it in half and Buddy easily paid that with a cashier's check and ended up
being freed on October 18 1978. yeah that must feel great like when they're almost certain that he killed this man
like ten times over literally bullet holes in his apartment and they're like yeah yeah it's fine let's get you out
look around it's not a thing he was free on bail he wasted uh literally no time trying to go and see Melanie and when
she made it very clear through the district attorney that she did not want to see him or speak to him but he
allegedly paid Terry McCart one of the models for my fair lady a thousand dollars to convince Melanie to see him
what but this made its way back to the courts and it was enough to convince the prosecutor to bring buddy back in front
of the state supreme court and they argued that Melanie still felt like she was in danger obviously yeah and Buddy's
Bail should be revoked now autofusco vehemently denied any risk to Melanie safety he told the court but
he only wanted to meet with her to quote straighten out the time element of the case oh yeah and it's also like and he
said he meant her no harm but it's like so he wants to go over timelines with her like I feel like that's a problem
yeah it's like okay so we're all stupid that's what that's what we're going with
that everybody around him is stupid like I don't understand why that why I don't
want to give their story straight yeah like I think you're just arguing against yourself yes pretty much so after
hearing from both sides just did Howard uh justice Howard goldfuss ordered Jacobson quote not to contact Miss Kane
or have others do so and if he did again his bill would be revoked okay so they slapped him on his wrist and they said
don't do that again don't do that little buddy stop doing that do it now even though the court was uh abundantly clear
that his bail would be revoked if he reached out to Melanie again but he just couldn't help himself oh my God but this
time he was more strategic of course because he didn't want to get caught so he started sending her Anonymous letters
instead of implicating himself directly which is so much more chilling so much more chilling and these letters are
weird in a letter dated November 20th 1978 he wrote no longer can you use the ex excuse me no longer can you use the
excuse the criminal justice system will work that's what he wrote her what the letter
basically implied that the district attorney had been trying to keep Melanie away from Buddy quote and he wrote
Because a combination of your facts and jacobsons would destroy his case and he said it would be wise to stop letting
yourself be controlled by others wow so it was very clear that it was from bunny but he's writing it in like a
in another to try to be ominous in another tone exactly now another later dated December 6
simply said Jacobson has harmed no one in his whole life which uh excuse me please watch out for the giant
lightning strike that is about to come from the sky and smite you truly he said even if his love and affection for you
may have dwindled this past year oh excuse me she left you I'm sorry what let the record State yeah he always took
care of you and looked out for you I know he only wants the truth and the trial which will be many months from now
maybe too late if you're having a trial isn't the truth going to come out one way or the other
buddy Jesus he's so creepy I hate him and just that even if his love and affection may have dwindled dwindled for
you like shut the [ __ ] up like weren't you just screaming in a hallway that you
were gonna get her pregnant so fast she would have six children yeah but your affections had dwindled yeah I don't I
don't know if we have the same definition of dwindled there sure about that you sure
that so free on bail until the start of the trial buddy reveled in the notoriety he
made sure to keep up appearances he was not letting anybody know about the financial toll that the charges were
taking on him and he never relented in his campaign to contact Melanie but he did start dating a new Young model and
made sure that he was seen out with her in all the same places that he used to take Melanie that's gross which he's
clearly thinking that this is going to make her jealous which I don't know in what world you would be jealous that a
girl is dating a man who murdered the man that you loved yeah and it's like who's this girl uh yeah get it together
that's another story get it together and she just wanted a modeling job yeah wild
so buddy carried on as the Playboy that he was and he hoped everybody still believed he was but all the while
Melanie and the Tupper family were starting to wonder whether their faith in the justice system was misplaced they
were getting worried that this wasn't going to go yeah it doesn't seem like it is especially because he's out on bail
yeah he's just walking around they probably never expected that no I mean it's literally cut and dry here you look
at that crime scene the witnesses you look at everything involved it's like how are you this stupid how how it's
insane so when buddy was first arrested the case to them it appeared like we were just saying so straightforward and
the evidence seemed so irrefutable that a conviction seemed inevitable yeah but just a few months later his ability to
kind of talk his way out of apparently anything and now the endless stream of rumors surrounding the case had them
worried that they might not get their conviction for him oh man Kevin Tupper told reporters I thoroughly believe the
police and DA's office can handle people who shoot each other out on the street but I have a feeling that when they come
up against a real attorney and then his voice trailed off before he could finish
his thought he was worried yeah obviously and I don't blame him I would be too and the trial was still almost a
year away and that's the crazy thing that they gave him bail knowing that he had a year to just walk around yeah and
just do whatever he wanted I'm like that doesn't make any sense to me no it really doesn't but Melanie and the
Tupper is reasonably believed there was still a chance that buddy could talk his
way out of these charges but little did they know the case would take a turn but
uh no one really saw it coming so in the 14 months that passed between Buddy's arrest and the scheduled start
of the trial the New York City Press could not resist following every lead and every rumor related to The Deadly
Love Triangle there was talk of among so many different things a drug deal gone wrong Mafia involvement and they also
were starting to say that my fair lady was being used as what they referred to as a prostitution ring no which also
like you're not supposed to say it like that that's rude that's rude that's rude
now by the time the trial began in October 1979 state supreme court justice William capleman or kappelman excuse me
imposed a gag order on everybody involved oh damn noting that the extensive and often Sensational media
coverage might preclude a fair trial for Howard Jacobson remember Buddy's real name is Howard yeah so the media excuse
me the order covered only those who were directly involved in the trial so the media was still free to continue
reporting on the case but they would have to do it without any commentary from the participants in the trial okay
now Buddy's lawyers Jack evsarov and Ben Epstein or Epstein immediately objected
and they cited their clients First Amendment rights and they questioned the timing of the order but kappelman
overruled them and the order was to stand no he spoke in generic terms regarding
his motive for the gag order he said it was the extent of the media coverage but
it's also very possible that one of the driving factors for the order was the number of interviews and impromptu press
conferences that buddy and his attorneys were holding in the months leading up to
trial because they were starting to try to spin a different yarn just a week or so before the order was put in place uh
buddies to attorneys there reported that Jack Tupper was part of a major cocaine
conspiracy oh damn and said quote he was killed by someone other than the defendant oh [ __ ] so now they're
starting to now we're trying to smear Jack exactly and put doubt in potential jury members of course
so by late October the trial had already been delayed several times because of different pre-trial hearings all this
[ __ ] that was going on and then it again ground to a halt when Buddy's attorneys claimed that the DA's office
was withholding evidence that would have cleared buddy if any wrongdoing oh according to Ben Epstein the DA's office
had evidence that showed two known drug dealers were likely responsible for tupper's death but the two men he
suspected quote had gone missing since the murder huh so he's like I have these two guys
the only problem is um I don't have them that's not shady or fishy at all no not
at all no that seems very legit it's like are you just looking for two random drug dealers to implicate in this right
now and you just don't have them quite yet Perhaps so Justice kappelman reviewed the material and he overruled
the motion and he said they're that his attorney that Buddy's attorney said would clear him he found that the
evidence was insufficient to Warrant any kind of acquittal yeah of course obviously he was like why would you even
waste my time exactly so Justice kappelman reviewed the material and overruled the motion that Buddy's lawyer
said would clear him because um that evidence was I wish there was a better word than an insufficient because I feel
like it was even so much more than yeah that's a that's a vast understatement yeah but it was insufficient to warrant
in acquittal so additional delays followed and that was mostly because the defense was challenging literally every
piece of evidence involved that they tried to enter ever I love that yeah it's not annoying at all no and there
were other hiccups too there were two potential witnesses that received Anonymous death threats in the mail
Jesus I wonder who those came from huh who do you think there no they're Anonymous Ash they're Anonymous much
like Anonymous the letters that buddy wrote to Melanie yeah totally Anonymous yeah and then also one of the
prosecutor's sisters actually was found murdered behind a Brooklyn bar oh my God
however the murder was determined to be unrelated to The Jacobson case oh New York was wild and wow but when I read
that I was like he murdered the process like okay but that's that's a lot yeah it was unrelated now after an unusual
number of delays and pre-trial hearings buddy Jacobson's trial finally got underway on January 30th 1980. with Bill
rabsky Prosecuting on behalf of the state and from his position at the podium he presented the jury with a
simple story of jealousy and of course a love trial a triangle excuse me with a very tragic ending in which buddy
Jacobson and Salvatore prenito murdered Jack Tupper and disposed of his body in that vacant lot now most importantly
this wasn't just the same old or this wasn't just some story The prosecution had more than enough evidence collected
from Buddy's apartment that directly connected him to the case this evidence included buddies clothes his eyeglasses
and pieces of his carpet all of which had Jack's blood on them oh my God his glasses like oh that for me is
terrifying I was just gonna say that is just something about that that's on another level because that that
indicates a very close proximity oh that's really terrible and all just because Melanie didn't love him anymore
and just because Jack was a good guy that was treating her nicely exactly and giving her the life that she wanted I
just wish that they had been able to move out of that apartment before any of this happened oh it's so it's
gut-wrenching so when the time came for the defense to present their argument Jack eversoft uh took the podium with a
story that no one expected he told the jury Howard Jacobson is the product of a frame compounded by the inefficiency and
incompetence by the authorities so he was trying to say the buddy was framed for this
no which like I don't quite understand it's like please explain why they got his eyeglasses his clothes and his
pieces of his carpet yeah that's that's a very intense frame job like somebody went into his home cut out pieces of his
carpet got jacked upper's blood on them and then put them back yeah I guess so I
don't see that happening yeah you don't what no that doesn't seem legit to you no I don't know yeah seems legit to me
the attorney claimed that they would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was Melanie Kane the girl of a thousand
faces who had masterminded the entire operation wow like listen I love Mel I don't think she masterminded this entire
operation and got that much blood evidence on all of Buddy's things that's also like wild when they just turn
around and are like it's trying to ruin that girl's life like it's just like whoa all right they used her like title
against her they called her the girl of thousand faces because she's a mom she's
a model and she'd been called that before so stupid now according to Jack uh ebsor
off I can never say his last name the murder wasn't he said the result of a love triangle but a quadrangle
this man is going geometry no I was just gonna say do not bring geometry into this it's too late he did he said it
included cocaine dealer Joseph Marguerite and the defense alleged that Jack Tupper was murdered over a bad
cocaine deal with Marguerite and Melanie had attempted to frame buddy for it why would Melanie turn around and try to
[ __ ] over buddy if this other guy killed the man that she loved yeah why would
she do that that no no because they're essentially trying to make it seem like her love for
Jack was not not really what we think it was like no I don't believe that it's like if that was the case but he's a
well-connected guy yeah why wouldn't she just turn to him exactly and have him like [ __ ] over Joseph Marguerite and why
would she get rid of Jack I mean wouldn't she just like be with Buddy if she wanted to be with Buddy yes that
seems to be like the real question here is like but wouldn't she just be with you if she wanted to be with you and she
didn't she made it very clear I think the men in this case didn't quite understand that they just can't handle
it because their whole thing was that like he left Melanie that's like how it sounds no my friends but they said when
the murder was committed in Marguerite's apartment which apparently had Buddy's Carpet in it I guess and his eyeglasses
and his clothing absolutely of course they said buddy wasn't even there and the defense alleged he was just a 48
year old fool who was in love with the woman of a thousand faces they really they knew they went for that they were
like it's really good that somebody named her that because we can use that now it's like yeah he may very well be
in like whatever you're calling love with her but again how did his [ __ ] get covered in Jack's blood no it's really
not making sense nope make it make sense my friends this makes sense it's literally that guy just like you sure
about that sure about that so despite their best efforts to convince the jury that buddy was not connected to the
murder the evidence circumstantial and physical just uh wasn't on their side the math ain't math the math is not
mouthing throughout her testimony and the testimony of others Melanie never came across as bitter she never came
across as the vindictive lover that they claimed was framing buddy in fact when they attempted to sway the jury by
showing several what they called exotic photos of Melanie exotic she had to interject to point out that at least one
of the photos wasn't even of her it was of an entirely different woman are you kidding me she
had to stand up in court and say yeah I don't know what this has to do with anything but uh also that's not me like
wow that gal is real pretty that's not me thank you why are we showing those photos in the first place what does that
have to do with anything but just the fact that she had to say yeah that's not me that how stupid can you look like
true seriously you know in jury duty when the guy is when you're like how is anybody believing about this yeah it's a
real lawyer here you go here we go here it is now the prosecution on the other hand very different story over there
they had a mountain of evidence to support their claim that buddy was exceedingly jealous and possessive from
the moment that he began dating Melanie and all throughout and up to the start of the trial and then of course like
I've said about 55 million times there was the considerable blood evidence that place buddy at the scene of the murder
oh that and again the eyewitness this testimony from people who saw him at the dump site where was Joseph Marguerite at
the dump site yeah exactly and they also wrote down his [ __ ] license plate that's the thing they had the
forethought to write down that license plate number which yesterday when you said that I was like hell yeah those
people because honestly a lot of us wouldn't be able to remember it no or write it down which you should if you
can but it's hard yeah and sometimes you can't see it if things happen quickly it's like you don't think about it so
thank goodness those people did and it's like now you're pretty like this just wild it's so ridiculous guys you just
now you should start thinking about minimizing damage instead of trying to pretend that he didn't do it like go for
an insanity yeah like you should be really looking at just trying to like mitigate everything because there's no
way that you can say he didn't do it no so you have to figure out like why he like some reason why you're looking
foolish here you are and that's the thing if this were intended as a frame job it was a a very complicated one
orchestrated by some kind of criminal mastermind not a very very depressed and sad fashion model exactly that's just
the truth no so after 10 weeks of evidence and testimony the jury retired for deliberation on April 9 1980 and
after eight hours they returned to guiltic a guilty a guiltic they returned to verdict of not guilty in the case
against Salvatore panito and as for Buddy Jacobson the jury Foreman told the judge that they believed they were
unable to reach a verdict what I don't really understand that myself sorry jury can we talk real quick that's basically
what the judge said okay good he was like can you guys try again yeah he's like you know what give that one another
shot give it the old College try there was one person that was like I have a reasonable doubt you know what one
person I just want to talk what's what's going on what's happening but they tried
again and on April 12th the jury found buddy Jacobson guilty thank you of the second degree murder of Jack Tupper so
after he was convicted he was returned to a cell at the Brooklyn House of Correction to await his sentencing which
was scheduled for early June on the afternoon of May 31st he had a visitor there's somebody coming to say hey buddy
what's up yeah they checked in under the name Michael Schwartz and they said they
were an attorney and these two men sat and talked for a short time and when the guards came back to collect buddy uh he
was nowhere to be found oh oops we lost that inmate they lost that inmate who had just been convicted of second-degree
murder wow wow why is everyone really bad at their jobs right now what was this happening here like it was
was it even the 80s yet I don't even think no it wasn't even it was the height of the 80s guys get it together
could not find him get it together as far as they could tell the officials at the jail they the two of those men sat
together buddy being one of them buddy excused himself to go to the bathroom around 4 30 and simply never returned
man imagine if that's how you can get out of jail would you just like to go to the bathroom excuse me I just have to go
to the bathroom real quick and then you just never return you just walk out bye like bye everybody in his statement to
the Press assistant commissioner for the Department of Corrections Edward Hershey
told the Press Jacobson walked out of the visitors area using subterfuge and stealth and he did not leave the room
wearing the same clothing he walked in with okay but you're still saying to me that
he walked out of the visitors room at a prison using stealth it's like no you began that sentence by saying he walked
out of the visitors room which in and of itself kind of takes away all the stealth of it he just walked out of the
visitor's room but it wasn't just stealth it was also subterfuge as well like you're huge
he said no you know what not for me prison is not my bag so the way he murdered jacked upper and he just walks
out of that he's a vicious killer yeah vicious killer and this stalker and a stalker and like like he's a
terrible person truly and they're just like yeah you just let him walk out of the visitor center and then later you're
like there was a lot of subterfusion stealth involved I don't know about that you sure about that I don't know about
that sure about that I am not sure a spokesperson said of the man claiming to be Michael Schwartz the attorney he's
not given us any information at this point we don't even know if that's his real name or whether he's an attorney
wow if I was at this [ __ ] press conference I'd be like am I safe to live in this place I literally should I move
several Towns over I would be like what the [ __ ] is going on they're like we don't know uh anything like [ __ ] we did
you know it was the guy he said hey and we said you seem legit and we just let them in like he they're like oh you know
what they're saying they're like The Vibes were right yeah so we just foregone we just for went to any kind of
standard procedure that's fine our safety protocol because the Vibes were vibing when he came in they did a Jada s
they didn't even do a Jada Essence Hall and say look over there yeah they were just like yeah we don't even know what
his deal is yeah no luckily they eventually found out what his deal was oh good the man claiming to be Michael
Schwartz's attorney was in fact Anthony DeRosa a sometime resident of Westover Vermont
um and he was also the man who several years earlier had bought Buddy's steak in the ski lodge oh [ __ ] the ski lodge
comes back yeah isn't that funny the ski lodge makes a camp a cameo I bet you thought that the ski lodge was gone
forever I did it I was ready for her to come back here she is I said we didn't see the last of her Vermont Vermont I'm
coming uh Vermont Loca where you been so De Rosa had been one of the potential Witnesses interview interviewed by the
defense before Buddy's trial actually but both attorneys found that he seriously lacked credibility and they
decided not to call him the defense who sucked ass was like this guy sucks more ass this guy sucks the most asses well
he lacks credibility he lacks credibility you should so it turned out that after
initially buying into the ski lodge to Rosa quickly ran out of funds and found himself I really love this expression
quote deeply in Hawk deeply in Hawk AKA dirt to money but it's a much better way
to say I'm enough oh man I'm in hot I'm in Hawk to Buddy deep in Hawk oh I am going to be ever in your Hawk wow I like
that I like it it's h-o-c-k not like oh yeah okay I don't know if Hawks they call but I don't either but so that's
why he was willing to lie for buddy on the witness stand to help him Escape because he never really paid back his
debts for the ski lock because he was in Deepak so you know let me just let you escape from [ __ ] prison on your
murder charge that's fine he's like and then we're we're Square after that I mean if one thing will get you square
that's definitely it will also get you into a lot of [ __ ] trouble because DeRosa was
charged with Escape hindering prosecution burglary criminal facilitation criminal and pers
impersonation and possession of a forged instrument I mean the fake ID that he used to check in at prison oops oops
like you might want to be in Hawk now now you're in high school that's no good so he was ordered to be
held on 500 000 bail oh damn he was not getting out of there I was gonna say I don't think you're leaving no in
February 1981 he was convicted of the charges and he was sentenced to one to four years in prison for his role in
Buddy's Escape was it worth it let me work it no no even Missy was like nah she was like no I won't put my thing
down flip it and reverse it she's like I don't have time for that in this positive case so the DA's office placed
several people in protective custody because remember at this point he's convicted but they have no [ __ ] idea
where buddy went oh yeah you've just let a shark out of the cage and there you go
they have no idea what he's trying to do they were worried he was gonna kill people he believed to be involved in his
prosecutor in his conviction excuse me yikes so people were put into protective custody and those people included
obviously Melanie Melanie Justice William capleman or chapelman and one of the witnesses who ended up testifying
against buddy damn but luckily their fears were misplaced but he hadn't just fled Brooklyn he had left New York State
entirely and fled to California oh he yeah he was like Skies Are Always Sunny there you go he's he's looking to you
know surf some waves yeah I catch 10 I said he can also catch time such a California after he hangs it he can
catch it yeah you know yeah we're definitely not from New England at all no what are you talking about
It's Autumn we're like oceans Vibes so according to his attorney buddy escaped quote in an effort to find new
evidence to vindicate himself for the murder of John Tupper absolutely sir he went to California to find that why
would that be in California because why are you asking questions okay don't worry about it it's ridiculous like you
don't need to know the method of his Madness okay they're like We Know Jack Tupper was murdered in um New York City
absolutely about 3 000 miles away from California but the evidence to vindicate buddy yes was 3 000 miles away in
California absolutely I don't understand what the question is here I'm confused yeah it makes a lot of sense to me yeah
you know you know the math is mapping for you yeah for sure absolutely as far as investigators could tell after
escaping from prison buddy was met by his girlfriend he literally had a girlfriend at this point wow Audrey
Barrett and his son his son David who drove him out of the area damn later that day buddy stole a car
from one of the My Fair Lady models his own like fam there he is wild he's the definition of wild and he and his
girlfriend made their way to California camping out and checking into motels under aliases along the way wow and once
he arrived in California buddy quote got into negotiations with a real estate agent in Northern California to buy
property oh this [ __ ] thought he was just gonna go to property and be selling Sunset yeah absolutely sir what
so ultimately though it was Buddy son David that led to his recapture oh I kind of absolutely love that I
absolutely positively love that love it it led to his recapture six weeks after fleeing New York good for him because
from the moment buddy escaped detectives started following all of his friends all
of his relatives all of his associates nearly Around the Clock in fact at one point David Jacobs and the son there was
being followed so closely by the police that he pulled over to the side of the road walked back to the police car and
said all right let's use the same car and save gas oh my God I love it he was like you know what he's like you know
what why are we killing the planet here let's save some gas he was 25 at this point and he had actually run into some
legal troubles troubles himself probably because I'm his father abandoned him yeah there's that so he was offered
immunity in exchange for information leading to the capture of his father which he accepted on July 9th David
arranged for his dad to call him that afternoon and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office had placed a tap on
David's line obviously and they were like listen you need to keep your dad on the phone as long as you possibly can
yeah the trace took nearly 20 minutes which is kind of crazy to think about because I feel like they must happen a
little faster now I you know I would think so but I honestly have no idea yeah I don't know really how that works
and the interesting is to say yes but I would think some things are still so slow they are but eventually the phone
company was able to identify the incoming line as being a pay phone outside a Diner in Manhattan Beach so
the D.A relayed the information to Manhattan Beach police and Buddy was arrested that same afternoon hell yeah I
said got him wow so when he was arrested he confirmed his identity but he wouldn't say anything else to the police
of course not now the next day he was temporarily transferred to a jail in La before being returned to Brooklyn the
next day and days later in an interview with reporters he claimed he had been betrayed by quote someone I had confided
in someone I trusted emphatically and that he said was the only reason he was recap he was captured like someone you
trusted emphatically try someone you abandoned as a child yeah you forgot about that yeah sorry I should add that
in there's that small part that's the important part of the equation exactly so by the following spring buddy was
tried alongside Anthony DeRosa for the escape and given a sentence of one to seven years to be served concurrently
with the life sentence that he was given for the murder of Jack Tupper wow so life plus one to seven years you're not
getting out definitely not now in the years that followed his recapture buddy he kept asserting his innocence he never
would admit that he did anything to Jack of course not he did he insisted that he
had been framed forever no in an interview with the LA Times he repeated his earlier claim that Melanie had
manipulated her cocaine dealer boyfriend into killing Jack who was also her boyfriend and and then the two framed
him for the murder I don't see it no one else did so I don't see it as evidence he cited the
one hold out on the jury who after the trial told reporters they wore me down there's a reasonable doubt that he did
it no where is that can you show it to me yeah just can you produce that reasonable what is the Reasonable Doubt
I just don't see it now when the reporter suggested that his escape from prison might have only made him uh look
more guilty but he replied but the only reason I ran was to be free I hadn't done anything I was the same as those
hostages in Iran ah you sure about that that's the overstatement of the century I don't know about that buddy sir
um sir you know what I do know about that that's a no we all know that you are a drama [ __ ] Queen are you
kidding me that's a lot that's not helping your case from no that's hurting your case yeah you're gonna look like an
[ __ ] you've never looked like anything else but an [ __ ] as for his feelings toward Melanie but he claimed
he had no ill will for her he said I don't think Melanie lied in court she was too dumb to lie she was sick she had
hyperglycemia what is hyperglycemia have to do with lying he's like you know what she had to
eat a cracker she's dumb she's stupid and she didn't eat a cracker it's like what the [ __ ] guy
that precludes you from lying that's like such an old man thing to say she's stupid and she was hungry you're like
that's what the [ __ ] buddy like damn correct what the [ __ ] buddy and also shut up stop talking about it yeah
everybody stop asking him questions about her don't put her [ __ ] name in your mouth exactly but he believed that
Melanie was manipulated by the district attorney and the police who he said wanted to pin it on him in order to
close the case so now he's away from the fact that Melanie framed him he's saying
it was the police who wanted to pin the case on him for evidently no reason at all okay cool and like did the witnesses
that's how your the car that you were in they also were they part of this Grand conspiracy They too had hyperglycemia
they too needed a [ __ ] cracker they were stupid correct so there's that wow so in 1988 buddy Jacobson was diagnosed
with bone cancer oh yeah and prison officials at Attica suggested moving him to a secure medical facility for
treatment but by he refused okay he was not for that he told his sister during a
phone call they want to send me to a county hospital they want me to go there and die
well you might not be wrong on May 16 1989 buddy Jacobson did die okay at the Erie County Medical Center in Buffalo at
58 years old damn yeah following the trial Melanie Kane she tried to continue modeling but she found that the
notoriety surrounding the case made it way too difficult for her to find work but a short time later she did marry and
she started a family and just hoped to put the murder in her relationship with Buddy behind her damn and then Jack
Spore family was just left to clean up the pieces of his absence yeah oh all because buddy Jacobson is a giant
[ __ ] [ __ ] because he couldn't just [ __ ] move on he could have like that woman said in the beginning he could
have had nine girls 13 girls yeah he had no shortage obsessed with this one girl
and ruined her life and the man she loved and this girl was very upfront with him she Melanie was like I don't
like you no so let it go move the [ __ ] on and the thing was he could have had her but he treated her like [ __ ] when he
had her so she was like let me go find someone way [ __ ] better than you in every way humanly possible
precisely but yeah it's just such a senseless case in the way that they just over the overkill in this case oh that's
horrific that's so sad it really does feel like a mafia style murder because it's so brutal and gruesome yeah I think
buddy had some connections they just like that there's just so much Overkill that it just feels like a different kind
of situation a little bit yeah I definitely think that there were some connections yeah just something going on
there especially how how powerful buddy was in New York you know what I mean there's some kind of like something
going on there oh it's awful it's really sad um maybe we can cover how something like
haunted next or creepy I think uh up next we're gonna be talking about um a witch trial oh hell yeah that's
haunted and creepy and not the one you know so well we know a couple at this point yeah I'm excited about that yeah
let's [ __ ] go girls it's a crazy one we'll see you on I think it's like Thursday or something yeah on Thursday
hell yeah look at me knowing when we were hell yeah well we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it
weird but that's so weird that you um lie a lot and kill people because I don't like that don't be this guy just
go eat a cracker yeah don't be dumb and hungry I guess yes [Music] foreign

On August 6, 1978, the body of thirty-five-year-old bar owner Jack Tupper was found in a vacant lot in the Bronx, just across the street from the local firehouse. His face had been severely slashed, his head and body badly beaten, he had been shot seven times, and finally, he had been set on fire. Witnesses reported seeing a small group of men in the lot attempting to set fire to a box earlier that day, including three witnesses who identified former racehorse trainer Howard “Buddy” Jacobson as one of the men, and one who was able to provide detectives with the license plate number of the car they were driving.

Buddy Jacobson was quickly arrested for Tupper’s murder and the story quickly became New York’s latest scandal: Former horse trainer murders man in love triangle. Jacobson had indeed killed Tupper because the younger man was having an affair with Jacobson’s girlfriend but, while the motive may have been a classic, the story was far more sensational and salacious than anyone could have expected, and it turned out the arrest was just the beginning.

Thank you to David White for research assistance :)

Resources:

Allen, Joy. 1978. "Family is embittered in 'triangle' slaying." Newsday, August 9: 17.

Arnett, Peter, and Jane See White. 1978. "Life and death on fast track for a model." Newsday, August 21: 4.

Associated Press. 1979. "Jacobson defense alleges cocaine plot by victim." Newsday, October 11: 19.

—. 1979. "'Triangle' case hearing could clear defendant." The Journal News, October 24: 4.

Christine, Bill. 1988. "The odyssey of Buddy Jacobson: Horses, models and a murder sentence." Los Angeles Times, January 10.

Cummings, John, and Peggy Brown. 1980. "Buddy Jacobson escapes prison." Newsday, June 01: 3.

Cummings, Jophn, and Joy Allen. 1978. "'Triangle' murder probers hear horseman's ex-wife." Newsday, August 16: 17.

Fried, Joseph P. 1980. "Jacobson's 'friends and relatives' said to have helped in recapture." New York Times, July 11: A1.

New York, NY: Macmillan.

—. 1978. "Love and Death on the Upper East Side." New York Magazine, September 11.

McFadden, Robert D. 1979. "'Gag' order covers murder trial." New York Times, October 23: B8.

McFadden, Robert. 1980. "Jacobson, in calls from jail, speaks of his 'betrayal'." New York Times, 07 July: A1.

New York Times. 1978. "Jacobson warned of bail revocation." New York Times, November 10: B7.

Newton, Edmund, and Sheryl Kornman. 1980. "Cops hunt Buddy Jacobson around the world." Newsday, June 2: 4.

The Reporter Dispatch. August. "Hunt widens in triangle slaying." The Reporter Dispatch, 10 1978: D14.

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses Jack Tupper's murder by Buddy Jacobson and the ensuing trial, highlighting the emotional fallout and evidence presented.

Key points

The Tragic Murder of Jack Tupper. A brutal murder that left many questioning the justice system.
Buddy's Arrest and Alibi. Buddy claims he was just out for a joyride when arrested.
Melanie's Testimony. Melanie testifies against Buddy, detailing his possessive behavior.
The Gag Order. A gag order is imposed to ensure a fair trial amidst media frenzy.
Jack Tupper's Murder Conspiracy. Jack Tupper was reportedly killed by someone other than the defendant, raising questions about the case.
Buddy's Trial Begins. Buddy Jacobson's trial finally commenced on January 30, 1980, with a tragic love triangle narrative.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He was just driving, just driving.

Buddy's alibi after being arrested.

5:28WatchSep 19, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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