Violet Yacobi's death was ruled a homicide after her body was found in her Beverly Hills mansion | Forensic Files

We've all been angry at people that we love and I think we've all probably done things that we wish we could take back
or regret. >> Beverly Hills 911. What is the address of your emergency? >> October 10th, 2017, the Beverly Hills
Police Department received a 911 call of an death. >> What's going on there? >> Um, we found mother unconscious.
>> She's found on the floor by her son and daughter. >> Violet Yakobe was a 67-year-old widow
whose husband had passed a year earlier. She was living in that house alone. It was a nice house. No one had heard from
her that day, which was uncommon. Daniel Yakobe and his sister, Dena Yakobe, meet at the house. Daniel calls
911. >> Okay. Is she still unconscious? >> Yes. >> Yes. Is she breathing? >> No.
>> Daniel Kobe is a 36-year-old son of Violet. He was a dentist. >> How long ago did you last see her? Like,
how long has she been like that? Do you know? No, I have no >> He's asked by the 911 operator um if
anyone knows CPR. >> 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 >> dentist. Never mind.
>> He says my sister's doing CPR. >> Who's doing CPR? >> My sister. >> During that call was just a matter of
minutes, the first patrol car had arrived at the house. They're here. >> The police are there.
Yes. >> This is Violet's house. >> Yes. This is it. Do >> you remember coming here?
>> Yeah. It was dark nighttime. I remember walking up the steps and in the door and
>> and no sign of force entry. >> No. It's a large entry doorway, marble floor. There's a large curving staircase
that's to the right. The victim was laying on her back. Initially, they thought that she had fallen over the
railing. >> They just didn't know the cause of death. It wasn't like she'd been stabbed
or shot. One of the issues that becomes incredibly relevant to this case is where she's laying, where it is in
vicinity to a railing. >> I'm looking straight down and her feet are under the staircase. That to me, she
didn't fall over the railing. >> He was the one who said, "This is not sitting well with me."
There was very significant abrasion on her jawline in a kind of V-shaped pattern. There was a separate abrasion
just below that on her neck. >> What you're saying is they were suspecting pretty quickly that she might
have been strangled. >> Certainly, it was an option. >> What did you learn about this family?
>> We learned it was a tight family. It was a tight community. >> I'm telling you straight to your face.
you're not being completely honest with us. >> That it was not >> opportunity >> all roses and rainbows in that house.
Any unattended death like this we will get called out to. Some are clearly more suspicious than others.
>> When Beverly Hills police detective Mark Schwarz got the call about an unintended
death at the home of 67year-old widow Violet Yakobe. He didn't know what he would find.
>> This one gradually got more and more suspicious. It was October 10th, 2017. Violet's son, Daniel, and daughter,
Dena, had told police they found their mother on the marble entryway below the staircase around 7:30 p.m. Responding
officers initially suspected it might be a suicide. the information that we got very early on about possibly being
depressed and possibly falling over the railing. Those are the things that we showed up with. Her dog had just died.
She had canceled her cleaning lady. >> Violet had just marked the one-year anniversary of her husband's death. But
when detective George Elwell, now retired, arrived at the home, he didn't think she could have gone over the
railing. In this crime scene photo, 48 hours rendered the body as a graphic to show the position.
>> Is that a pretty good description? >> Yes. >> And so what am I seeing there? >> Where the body was laying at the time I
got there? >> Elwell says that when he looked down from the top of the railing, he was
surprised that he couldn't see Violet's feet, which were under the staircase. I'm not an expert in physics, but
anything that's going to go over that that has any kind of weight to it, the momentum is going to take it away from
the staircase a little bit. >> Elwell, an old school investigator with a background in burglaries, also had an
eye for more tactile evidence, like the dust that still covered much of the staircase railing.
>> Up and down the entire railing, there's dust patterns. But for a person of her
stature, there's absolutely no disturbance on that railing that would have indicated anything had gone over.
>> When he got to the station, he pulled me aside and he said, "We got to write a search
warrant. I'm not comfortable with what I'm seeing." >> Around midnight, the two detectives went
to the scene together and they asked Daniel and Dena to come for a walk through. There were no signs of a
burglary. Her wallet was there, her checkbook, cell phone, iPad, anything that would have been stolen was still
there. >> And they soon became more convinced that Violet had not gone over the railing.
>> We had Dena stand next to the railing. I asked her how tall the mother was. She
told me, she said, "She's shorter than me." >> Violet was about 5t tall and the railing
was just over three feet. more than half her height. The railing would come up too high.
>> If she wanted to climb over, the dust would have been completely damaged. For her to accidentally fall
over was just not reasonable. >> Raising more questions were the injuries on Violet's face and neck.
>> There was some sort of mark under her chin here. There's unnatural marks on her neck. It also appeared Violet had
vomited. And what does that say to you guys? >> To me, there was a couple of different
possibilities. Did she choke? Was she strangled? >> During an initial interview with two
other detectives, Daniel had also wondered if his mother had been strangled. >> Let me ask you something. I mean, I
don't know. I just can't get my head around. Like I saw bruising everywhere, right?
>> And I saw a bruise right here. So it looks like she was strangled. >> I at that point had not ruled out this
idea that she had hung herself. >> Yet there were no obvious signs like a rope or a belt near Violet's body. And
Violet's family members rejected the idea that she would take her life. Daniel had described seeing her just two
days earlier at a family dinner. >> And we were sitting right next to each other and everything was, you know,
fine. >> When Detective Schwarz learned that Violet was part of a close-knit Russian
Jewish community where suicide is taboo, it occurred to him that her children might be covering it up. I'm a little
more in tune with the Jewish community. So, I was thinking, how would it be looked at in the
>> And so, you thought maybe the kids might hide. >> Right. Right. Could it be an insurance
thing? Could it be a shame thing? >> Later that day, they talked about oddities they both had observed in
Daniel's behavior. For Alwell, it was during the walkth through. >> Daniel's in the foyer where the body was
found, just moving from side to side. He's looking down. He's crouching. He's touching the tile and it just didn't sit
well with me. >> You didn't think it could just be a grieving son >> trying to figure out why his mother
ended up on the floor? >> No. It was so animated. It was just like watching a episode of Columbbo when he
would look for evidence. >> For Schwarz, it was Daniel's demeanor when they met.
>> Daniel was very eager to help. >> And what's wrong with that? >> Nothing. But it was like a nervous
energy >> that he had. >> But I mean all along Daniel Yakobia is being cooperative.
>> Absolutely. >> Yes. >> Your concern may be too cooperative. >> Yes. >> They had questions about the initial
story that Daniel told to other detectives of how he and his sister had come to meet at their mother's house
when he learned that no one had heard from Violet. Apparently, they went there because no one had been able to get a
hold of her during the day. >> So, I called my sister immediately a few times. >> Daniel calls his sister and there's some
sort of convoluted story about the keys. >> Hey sis, I can't find my keys anywhere.
Do you know where? Do you have your keys to the house? >> So, Daniel's telling Dena, "Meet me at
the house." >> So, we meet exactly at the same time. >> Didn't sit right. And there were
conflicting stories about who had performed CPR. On the 911 call, Daniel told the operator his sister was
performing CPR. >> But when talking to detectives, he said he also had done compressions.
>> My sister and I, she did more of the mouth to mouth. I did the compressions. >> Did your brother help with the CPR?
>> No. When detective Schwarz called Dena, she confirmed that Daniel had not done
CPR. >> George and I said there's only one person that doesn't seem to be forthcoming and doesn't seem genuine.
>> They decided they needed to interview Daniel themselves, especially once they
learned that Violet had died the night of Monday, October 9th, nearly 24 hours before she was found. based off of
missed phone calls contents in her stomach. We're pretty confident right now that it's the night of the night
that she dies. And detectives want to know where was Daniel. Initially, it's like a unbelievable
explosion of horrible news. >> The nudes of Violet Yakobe's death stunned and saddened her large circle of
friends in Beverly Hills, including Galina Blackman. >> Who would ever uh kill Violet?
>> Violet and her husband had long been pillars in their community. perfect couple. He was a very very
solid doctor. They were very well known. >> What was important to Violet? >> Family,
her brothers, her husband, her children. She had a mission of making everybody happy. I think
>> her son Daniel was a dentist and her daughter Dena worked in physical therapy. They are the American dream.
Immigrant family and were able to create a beautiful life in Beverly Hills. From
the outside, it is a tight-knit, successful family, and that's what we saw initially.
>> But detectives began to take a closer look. On Friday, October 13th, nearly three
days after Violet's body was found, the deputy medical examiner completed the autopsy. The official cause of death was
esphixia by neck compression, >> strangulation. >> Yes. >> Her death was being ruled a homicide.
This was now a murder investigation, and detectives asked Daniel to come back for
another interview. any interview at this point forward is voluntary. Um, you're not under arrest. You are free to
>> So, we know that he is saying he had not seen his mother since Sunday. First time
he sees his mother is Tuesday when he discovers the body. So, we have that full time frame that we're looking at.
They first asked Daniel to go through the events of Tuesday, October 10th, and the night he and his sister had arrived
at Violet's house. >> We both get there at the same time. >> He told them he was in a panic when he
walked in and saw her on the floor. >> And I go there and like in utter shock and
you know, like it's my mom. So I'm like hysterical. He said he hugged his mother's body before starting CPR.
>> I grab her a little bit and just, you know, one hug and then I start doing a chest
compression. >> But when detectives shared with Daniel the results of the autopsy, he didn't
seem surprised to learn her death had been ruled a homicide. >> I can tell you that she has liature
marks on her neck. At this point, she was trying, >> "Oh my god, I knew it. I had a sense of
that." >> They told him based on the levidity patterns, the way the blood settles in
the body after death, >> that they suspected Violet's body had been moved shortly after she died.
>> She wasn't lying on her back like that for hours at a time and died. She was moved. They also told him they
believed he was hiding something. >> But you're not giving us the truth. Your story of the bodies not lining up,
Daniel. >> Daniel continued talking even when he was asked if he was responsible for his
mother's death. >> Was there any animosity between you and your mom? No. >> Did you ever think about?
>> No. >> Would you kill him? >> No. Oh god, this is off. I was suspecting. >> Detectives decided they needed to lock
Daniel into his story about where he was the night Violet died. >> What did you do Monday night?
>> Driving home. Um, you know, from singing. He had consistently told them that on that Monday he worked at his
dental office in Englewood, about 12 miles from Beverly Hills, and then drove straight home, which was another 6 miles
from Violet's house. >> Did you stop at the house? >> No. >> On Monday? No. >> Positive?
But each time he was asked to describe his drive home, he seemed styied by the details.
>> What route do you take to go up? >> Cuz I was I take uh I take sometimes I go to Beverly Hills.
So I did go to Beverly Hills >> when >> on uh but I didn't go to that street. When we
started getting his time frame of Monday, that's where he got uncomfortable. >> No, I took the 45.
>> At this point, we don't know he wasn't at Inglewood, but his description of how
he got home, it was so labored for such a simple question, and he could not give
a clear answer. But Daniel was adamant when asked if he was at or near his mother's house Monday night or any point
Tuesday before he reported finding the body. >> The next day? Do you ever come into
Beverly Hills the next day? >> No. >> So, we're not going to find your car or you anytime Tuesday?
>> No. >> Or Monday night? >> Monday night. >> You sure about this? >> Yes. We couldn't call him out on the
lie, but we knew he was lying. And I knew he was lying during a time frame that was
very significant in this case. Whatever he was holding in, it was for a reason. >> That's what
>> Detective Elwell told Daniel they suspected he had been alone inside his mother's home before going over with his
sister on Tuesday night. >> I see right through you. I can read you. >> It's right in there bugging the crap out
of you. >> But Daniel pushed back and said the detectives had it all wrong. >> I'm telling you everything I know. You
think this is easy for me? My mom just died. There's nobody closer in this world than my mom.
Nobody. >> And there was something else. He had told detectives he had a great relationship with his mom, saying they
talked and texted on a regular basis. >> I text her baby pictures all the time and how are you? Blah blah blah.
>> But when Detective Schwarz looked at Daniel's phone, the last photo he had sent his mom was a month earlier.
>> It's been a while. >> And it wasn't a picture of his baby, but of his bank account.
>> Were you having financial problems? No, we're just always like we're very open
about everything. >> At this point, I found that to be significant. >> By that Friday, he's our suspect. No, no
doubt about it. I think a lot of people when they hear the name Beverly Hills, they think of
movie stars. >> No, that's not Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills is very very reachable. You can
drive and you see the homes. Movie stars live in areas where they cannot be reached. That wasn't the case with
Violet Yakobi, says Galina Blackman. >> She liked to impress. >> Blackman, a Beverly Hills realtor for
more than 36 years, specializes in luxury properties like Violets. Galina was asked to appraise the home while
Violet's husband was still alive. >> At that time, I said, I think it's an $8 million house. When interviewing
Violet's son, Daniel just days following her death on Friday, October 13th, Detective Schwarz wondered if money was
a motive. >> Who gets the house? >> I do. >> How much is that house worth? >> A lot.
>> Daniel stood to inherit half of the family fortune. >> You have any discussion about the will
or the money or where the house is going? Anything like that? >> It's all to me. It's all you and my
sister. >> Detectives now had a murder, a potential motive, and a suspect. But after more
than 2 hours of questioning, they let Daniel go. >> We can't arrest him. >> Why not?
>> We don't have the evidence. >> Dena was ruled out as a suspect, but they needed to shore up their case and
dig deeper into Daniel's finances and his relationship with his mother. This is not like a business deal gone bad.
There's a complexity to that that we had to understand. >> Daniel, who had grown up in Beverly
Hills, was now living near Tony Belair. His wife was also a medical professional
and their baby was 5 months old. >> Everything in his life was wonderful. >> Yeah, good boy.
>> Dean Summers got to know Daniel casually. What are >> you looking at? >> Dean's brother was Daniel's neighbor.
Daniel lived right next door. He was marketed as the dentist to the stars. >> First time you met Daniel, what were
your impressions? >> Nice guy. >> Someone you wanted to be friends with. >> Somebody that I could potentially be
friends with. Just a nice normal guy that had his act together. >> But it may have been just an act, say
investigators. I think resentment was one of the things that we started to learn pretty quick that he had a lot of
resentment towards his parents that he had to live a certain life and be a certain way. Dean Summers says Daniel
had later confided in him about those feelings. It was the last time Dean saw him sometime in the year before Violet's
death. >> He was not talkative. He just looked very unhappy. And I said, "Daniel,
what's wrong?" That's when he says Daniel unloaded a laundry list of complaints.
>> I hate my life. I hate being married. I hate what I'm doing for a living. I hate
my mother. I hate my father. Those were his words. And I was just taking it back.
>> He says Daniel complained about how both his parents, his mother in particular,
had controlled every aspect of his life, even pushed him into dentistry and marriage. I asked him, "Why don't you
just break free of it and and live your own life?" He goes, "I can't. I'm not making any money. They basically help
support me." He felt he was stuck because he's financially dependent on them. >> Although Daniel had at one point owned
his own practice, he now worked for other dentists. Even though he said he hated his parents, did you get any sense
that he might hurt his mother? >> Never. Never. But according to investigators, after his father died,
Daniel's relationship with his mother and access to the family fortune became more complicated.
They had received a tip early on from Dr. Elena Spectre, who was Violet's sister-in-law at the time. She tells me
that Daniel has had an obsession with money and control of the estate for some time that Violet would confide in her.
>> Detectives went back and reviewed the video of their interview with Daniel on
October 13th. >> During a period when Daniel was left alone, he had contacted his sister. We
leave the interview room, but it's still recording. >> He says Daniel didn't realize that his
sister was with other detectives in another room. >> Daniel starts sending texts to the
sister about, "Hey, just remember I was doing CPR, too." Daniel wrote, "I remember we both doing chest
compressions one at a time, but both of us just to keep the story straight." >> The sister tells the detectives, "You
know what? He's sending me some weird text." So, she calls him. >> Hey. Hey. >> And again, these are being recorded
separately, but you can hear it all. >> What is this about chest compressions? >> When Dena called Daniel, she told him
that she had done the compressions. No, no, no, Dan. I did the chest compressions and you called 911.
>> No, but >> No, no, you didn't. >> Daniel, speaking in Russian, insisted he had as well.
>> Daniel is trying to put himself on the body >> cuz he's concerned there's DNA on the
body. >> He's concerned there's DNA. That's exactly it. >> Detectives were convinced that Daniel
was likely lying about where he was on Monday. October 9th, the night Violet died. But they couldn't prove it until
they received his cell phone records the following week. >> The cell phone records blew his story
out of the water. He wasn't in Englewood at all. >> No. On that day, >> the phone records placed Daniel in
Beverly Hills and not just driving through. And not only that, police had obtained footage from Nest security
cameras inside Daniel's house that showed him arriving home around 8:00 p.m. that night. Later, they saw this
man typing at a computer. They were surprised to learn who it was. >> We didn't know Daniel was bald.
>> And here he is with his hairpiece at the same computer 40 minutes after he came
home. You don't know what he's typing until we get the results from the computer search from our forensic team
and he does a search of latent fingerprints on human skin. And that's when I knew it's time. We got to go
arrest him. He killed his mother and he did it for the money. >> I was getting ready to retire. I wanted
to be the one to walk up and put the handcuffs on him. >> On February 12th, 2018, 4 months after
launching the investigation into Violet Yakobe's death, Beverly Hills detectives
George Elwell and Mark Schwarz arrested Daniel Yakobe at home for his mother's murder. What was his reaction?
>> Not shock, like he just sunk into himself. >> And the first thing he asked me, he
says, "Can I get my toup pay?" Daniel Yakobe was denied bail and would spend more than seven years in jail due
to court delays before finally going on trial for murder in July 2025. Los Angeles County Deputy District
Attorney Shane Michaels says the evidence shows that Yakobe strangled his mother for financial gain.
>> It's a very personal type of crime. You have to physically squeeze the life out
of someone. That's what strangulation is. >> According to the autopsy report, Violet
had paticia around her eyes and face, the rupturing of small blood vessels, a classic sign of strangulation.
>> There was also very significant abrasion on her jawline. There was a separate
abrasion just below that on her neck. >> We're talking about a line around here.
>> Yeah. But at trial, the defense presented a very different theory. >> The truth is that she wasn't killed.
Period. Full stop. End of story. >> Dr. Larry Sims is a forensic pathologist and a former medical examiner in Las
Vegas, Nevada, who says he has conducted about 10,000 autopsies. You don't believe that Violet Yakovi was murdered?
>> No. >> But her son went on trial for her murder. >> That is correct. And I testified at that
trial. >> Dr. Sims rejected violet's official cause of death. >> There was no evidence that she was
strangled. Period. >> Not >> none. >> Dr. Sims says the petikia were just sunspots and those marks across Violet's
neck, skin folds. What's more, he says the deputy medical examiner missed injuries that pointed away from
strangulation and toward a fall from the seconds story landing. >> This is where the fracture is right
here. >> Violet had a spinal fracture that was not mentioned anywhere in the autopsy
report. Are you at all concerned that the autopsy that you were relying on for this prosecution had errors in it?
That's a pretty big mistake, isn't it? >> Yeah. Well, when we talk about, you know, errors, I think that was an
omission. That wasn't the only omission. The same deputy medical examiner also failed to take note of rib fractures,
including several on her back. He didn't testify at trial and the prosecution tried to address the problem, pointing
out that the injuries had been photographed and that none of them contributed to Violet's death. The
medical examiner's office declined to comment for this story. I've handled many homicide cases. I've never seen an
autopsy with so many mistakes. And that was a deeply troubling part for the prosecution to have to explain. Julie
Randleman, a criminal defense attorney and former homicide prosecutor, is a 48 Hours consultant who reviewed the case.
>> It left in a sense open for an expert on the defense side to kind of jump in and
say, "These mistakes are so overwhelming, we have to start to question everything about this case."
Daniel Yakobe's trial became a battle of experts with five doctors testifying about how and why Violet died, including
a new deputy medical examiner brought in by prosecutors who agreed with the finding of esphyxia due to neck
compression. >> But Dr. since told the jury that he believed Violet's death was instead
caused by a rare mass of blood vessels in her brain stem called an arteriovenous
malf for AVM. >> This is an arteriovenenous malf for here that's in the fourth ventricle.
>> This is what you think contributed to Violet's death. >> Yes. >> He says he spotted the problem in this
microscopic slide of Violet's brain stem. According to Dr. Sims, the AVM had hemorrhage, causing Violet to become
disoriented. >> She's stumbling around and she slammed into the railing before she went over
the railing. >> The defense presented a photo superimposing the abrasion against a
star-shaped design on the railing. Dr. Sims says it's a match. This is a very unusual patterned injury and it fits it
perfectly. >> Is this at all possible that Violet could have died because of a medical
event and fallen down >> for me? No. I went up and down every inch of that railing and there's
absolutely no physical evidence to show that anything went over that railing. I look at the body.
Those are things that are hard evidence that speaks to me. >> Prosecutor Shane Michael argued that Dr.
Sims simply cherrypicked the evidence and disputes his theory about the cause of that odd abrasion.
>> He didn't know the dimensions of the star. If you were to fall and smack your
chin on a piece of metal, you would not expect an abrasion. you'd expect to see bruising. You might see a cut, bleeding.
>> And he says Violet had osteopenia, a weakening of the bones. >> The 67year-old woman would have had to
have been on the floor with her back arked like in a, you know, yoga class, cobra pose, to get her chin flush with
that. >> What do you think then caused that V mark on her chin? >> Her son's strangling her.
The prosecution's radiologist also testified that if Violet had fallen from the railing, he would expect to see more
catastrophic injuries. >> There was no skull fracture. There were no fractures in her arms. There were no
fractures in her legs. There was no pelvic fracture. There was nothing on the floor that would be consistent with
falling from approximately 13 ft onto a marble floor. The other doctors testified there was no brain hemorrhage,
nor did they say they saw an AVM, including the neuropathologist who created the very slides Dr. Sims
used to form his opinion. The fact that you have dueling medical experts who can't agree on how Violet Yakobe died,
doesn't that add up to reasonable doubt? It can. If you can convince the jury to
believe that she died of natural causes, then Daniel Yukobi's not guilty of a crime.
Prosecutor Shane Michael used the trail of evidence left by Daniel Yakobi to show that his relationship with his
mother had reached a breaking point in October 2017 and that greed for the family fortune
worth an estimated $13 million had fueled his plot to kill Violet. Do you believe that he killed his mother
because he wanted his inheritance early? Yes. >> The defense disputes that Yakobe was in
the process of buying a new dental practice and had recently secured a million dollar loan. Still, his now
ex-wife admitted in court they had lived beyond their means. And Shane Michael pointed to Yakob's own statements.
>> He was regularly talking about his need for money and need to make more money. A
family friend testified that Yakobe had asked him about inheritance tax a couple
of weeks before Violet's death. >> The ideation and thought of killing his mom had been building.
The prosecutor also presented a timeline of Yakobe's online searches going back to August of 2017 that he said revealed
Yakobe's plan to murder his mother and stage the scene. He was searching unexplained deaths, death statistics,
things like choke holds, bruises caused by chokeolds, falling downstairs, that he was trying to figure out a way to
deflect any suspicion that might be pointing toward him. >> Of particular interest to the
prosecution was a YouTube video. >> This is the rear naked choke >> demonstrating what's known as a rear
naked chokeold. They played it at trial. It's certainly the kind of chokeold that
could cause abrasions similar to the ones that we saw in the photos of Mrs. Jacobe.
>> The prosecution theorized that Yakobe caused the spinal and rib fractures while choking Violet from behind.
>> If he's choking her from behind, you assume he's applying as much pressure as
he can. If he's lifting her off the ground, if he's got his hip in her back, there are any number of ways that you
could apply force to her back. >> Do you believe that is how Violet Yakobe died? That her son actually used his own
arm to kill his mother? >> I do. Yes. >> And detectives Elwell and Schwarz say Yakobe's DNA under Violet's fingernails
proves it. Did you notice any kind of scratches on him? >> We weren't looking. The DNA is under her
fingernails for a reason. He's asking about DNA for a reason. He did the research. It was calculated.
>> Detective Schwarz had done some calculations of his own using data from Daniel's iPhone Facebook account, and he
says it places Daniel at his mother's house at the time he believes she was killed.
One of the things that came back in the Facebook records were latitude longitude
coordinates. >> Schwarz used those coordinates to pull video from the city's closed circuit
cameras and security cameras from Violet's neighbors. >> We were able to track his movement
through the whole day into the next day. That's Daniel Yakobe's white Jaguar in Beverly Hills
traffic on October 9th before the prosecutor describes him stalking his mother's house.
>> He was driving up and down the street at least two or three times. >> Around 4:00, Daniel Yakob's car appeared
on the next door neighbor's security footage. A few minutes later, it popped up again on another home security camera
in the alley behind Violet's house. >> Almost like a shark. He's circling the block and he's going down the alley. He
pulls up right around here just behind the residence and for whatever reason he stops
and then he slowly backs up. He never gets out and he's not moving the garbage cans back there. He is in the car
presumably looking into the back of his mother's property. >> Then he drives away, but Facebook
coordinates place him at his mother's house from 6:39 p.m. until 7:48 that night.
>> How he entered the house, don't know. Don't know if he rang the doorbell. Don't know if he snuck around the side.
What the data establishes, according to the prosecution, is that Violet was alive when Daniel arrived and by the
time he left, she was dead. Afterwards, Yakobe drove straight home. >> Now, we have his Nest camera and almost
to the second, you're seeing him walk through the door. Less than 45 minutes after walking in, he was typing in that
search for latent fingerprints on human skin. >> 22 plus hours before his mother's body
was located, he was already thinking about what evidence might have been left behind at the scene.
>> It's evidence of consciousness of guilt, says Shane Michael. and Yakobe would do
it again the following morning when he went back to the scene for less than four minutes and then drove back home at
around 1:00. He contacted a financial investor via Skype. If I get a mill, I'd want you to manage it.
>> A million dollars in six hours before his mother's body is found. His belief was that he was coming into money. In
late August 2025, after three weeks of testimony and nearly eight years after Violet's death, the jury got the case.
>> They come back not guilty. On some level, this guy has gotten away with murder.
>> After deliberating for nearly 5 and 1/2 hours over two days, the jury was unanimous.
Guilty of firstdegree murder for financial gain. It's a judgment that carries a mandatory
life sentence without the possibility of parole. >> This broke that family apart. Very sad
that it ended that way. >> I feel for Violet and I feel for Daniel. >> You feel for Daniel, too?
>> I feel for him. Yeah. What in the world made him do that? Welcome to Postmortem. I'm CBS News
correspondent Tracy Smith filling in as host and today we're discussing the death of 67year-old Violet Yakobi. 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 Yakobi 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 dust. 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, 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,
detectives Schwarz and Elwell asked Daniel to come back for another interview. And they asked point blank if
he killed Violet. What'd 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 is 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 and 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 it's No, I don't. Okay. >> But 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 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 was 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 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 Yakobe's body was discovered, detectives 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 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, Aaron, 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. Detective 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 place 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 7 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. The defense, on the other hand, argued that Violet Yakobe 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? >> I 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 peticia, 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 skinfolds. 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 arteriovenenous malf for 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 1/2 hours over 2 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 always good seeing you, Tracy, and thanks for doing this with me
today. >> My pleasure. And if you like this episode, please rate and review on Apple
Podcasts or Spotify.

Watch "Beverly Hills 911" and then catch up with CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith and "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the case of 67-year-old Violet Yacobi, who was found dead by her children in her Beverly Hills mansion.

00:00 Beverly Hills 911 42:10 Watch the Post Mortem Podcast

True crime. Real 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 Yakobe was murdered by her son Daniel for financial gain, leading to his conviction after a complex investigation and trial.

Key points

Detectives Begin to Suspect Family. As details unfold, detectives grow suspicious of Violet's children, Daniel and Dena.
The Mysterious Death of Violet Yakobe. On October 10th, 2017, Violet Yakobe was found dead in her home, leading to a murder investigation.
Autopsy Reveals Homicide. The autopsy confirms Violet's death was a homicide due to strangulation, intensifying the investigation.
Daniel's Strange Texts. Daniel sends his sister texts about CPR, raising suspicion during the investigation.
The Arrest. Daniel Yakobe is arrested for his mother's murder after detectives gather evidence.
Trial and Verdict. After a lengthy trial, Daniel is found guilty of first-degree murder for financial gain.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This is not sitting well with me.

2:44WatchMay 31, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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