Who Wanted Howard Pilmar Dead? | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] hi how it's um like a quarter to 10 and um Philip and I were wondering if you
were still at work give me a call let me know what time you're going to be home talk to you later bye love
[Music] you we were in Arizona when I got a phone call on a Friday morning March 20
second 1996 to tell me that Howard was a victim of a homicide I was in complete disbelief no
I can't be you know I mean murdered it was very violent he was slaughtered he was stabbed over 40 times
it had to be somebody who he knew that that hated him so much who could have done this to Howard who
would want to kill my son how can I tell you about Howard with me the son Rose and set with
Howard he couldn't do anything [Music] wrong Howard was full of energy he was goodlooking he loved to dress and go go
out he was married to Roslin and they had a child Phillip who was the love of his life Howard worked for you right oh
sure we had an off Supply in stationary business he made me look like a minor leager as far as being a uh
entrepreneur he's going to start this little coffee thing in our store Starbucks before Starbucks was right
Starbucks that's right I says people in New York are not going to be walking around the streets with coffee cup shows
you how smart I was but he was a little bit smarter here's how is right [Music] here we miss you so very very
much oh please they never found the weapon and they never had a witness I called the police practically every day
I wouldn't give up [Music] years went by Dear Son it is 5 years 10 years 15 years 17 years 20 years since
your horrific murder he's 90 I was worried Frank would not see the end of this today is 22
years how can we let them get away with murder [Music] [Music] it was fridy March
22nd I was in the greatest mood blue sky bright Sunshine it was the first day you
feel like spring has coming I was feeling [Music] great but Ron Tucker's mood and his day
and his life were about to change because on that beautiful morning in 1996 when the king office supply
salesman arrived at work he learned his boss Howard pilmar had been murdered in the office within 30 seconds of coming
here they brought the body out right here I couldn't racking my brain what happened Howard pilmar's body was found
in a large pool of blood in the fourth floor offices was Bloody because after he's on the floor for a few hours he's
draining out Roger Pino was in charge of the Midtown South detectives pilmar was
stabbed repeatedly in the chest back and neck there was no sign of forced entry nothing was taken from the office or
from his wallet we got to get down to business we don't know what we have here Howard had just turned 40 he was
married the father of a young son he had recently taken over his family's successful office supply store so his
father Frank and stepmother Carol could spend more time in Arizona and that's where they got the news how was
dead couldn't believe it Howard was a swaggering risk taker he was a Visionary he envisioned that
people would go crazy for coffee and be willing to spend big for it so he opened
the first of its kind high-end coffee bar inside a store I'm telling you there were a line of people out the door right
here a lot of people he named it Phillips after his young son it was so successful he opened a second shop
around the corner from Carnegie Hall his wife Roslin gave up her career as a dental hygienist to run the coffee
business and on that March morning after the murder rosin joined the employees gathered inside King office supply
putting on a brave face she was totally calm composed collected no tears no anger no nothing I thought to myself
what a trooper she assured everyone the business would endure don't worry we're going to carry on we're going to keep
the business it's almost like it wasn't real her husband was dead her best friend roslin's sister
Janna says Howard and Roslin were high school sweethearts they had a great love they married in
1982 it was a beautiful wedding Howard's sister Ronda was there it was a big beautiful wedding so is his stepsister
Heather Frank adopted Heather when he married her mother Carol Ros was like a sister to me she was probably one of my
closest friends rosn and Howard were living the life an apartment on New York's Swanky
Upper East Side a home in the country and in 1986 their son philli was born it was
the perfect family as passionate how it was about business that's how he was about his son
but now Howard's life was over it's as if someone punches you in the stomach as hard as they could and knocks the wind
out of you I couldn't take a deep breath I have my life before Howard was killed and my life after Howard was
killed they didn't really understand the ramifications of it how it would change
my father how it would change the dynamic of my family the police now needed to learn
all about Howard's family and his friends and his business who's the last one to see him who's the last one to
talk to him who's related to him who's work with him who should have been here who was here who first sees him who's
coming next who are the last people to see Howard pilmore was his uh wife and his brother-in-law Pino went to the
pilmar's apartment to talk to Roslin she seemed Cooperative helpful what did you
talk to her about just uh normal things how was her marriage she's that they were happily
married according to rosin on the night of the murder she and her brother Evan Wald who worked at Philip's coffee met
Howard at his office Roslin told police that she and Evan left Howard who planned to keep working and watch a
basketball game but later that night when Howard didn't come home Roslin left this voicemail on his office phone hi
how it's um like a quarter to 10 Philip and I were wondering if you were still at work working or if you went off to
some sports bar like you said you wanted to to go watch the ncaa's I'm sure you'll call me from wherever you are and
um talk to you later bye love you Howard never called back but Roslin made a lot of calls asking about him
including in the early morning hours to several hospitals police had a lot to sift through and interviewing all those
people and talking to all those people you just take the facts where they where they Lead You Pino's detectives heard
stories about disgruntled employees could one of them be the killer there were rumors that Howard was a womanizer
could it be a jealous husband lots of people have motives you got to have more than just a motive there's got to be a
reason and then you have to have access and whoever did it would also have to have a lot of anger Howard had been
stabbed 48 times it was in a word Overkill a good percentage of the stab wounds on the back were all postmortem
after he was dead yeah after he was dead this is I want to make sure your dead absolutely dead completely and utterly
dead there were some leads that looked promising early on when detectives interviewed rosalyn's brother Evan they
noticed something he had a injury on his hand he had cuts on his left hand he said he got them when he was working at
Philip's coffee did they look suspicious to you given that this was a stabbing so
the cuts don't look suspicious the individual starts looking suspicious they thought it could be suspicious when
they learned Evan and Howard did not get along and there was more we found out that Eman was asking questions about
what he thought was a camera asking questions about the alarm system and there were also one or two
surprises about Roslin we find out that Rosen Howard marriage is not successful and she was giving us a different
image it was beginning to look like Howard's murder could be a family affair it was mindblowing it was like
no [Music] [Music] way I'm telling you and on the way to the cemetery I knew that something was
wrong Frank pilmore knew now that Howard was dead that Rob Lin could make out really well I love you and I always love
you she's the one who had get more than a million dollars in life insurance the family's real estate and King office
supply the company that Frank pilmar had built and passed on to his son here I gave up the business she've
got it I just couldn't even look at her and roin appeared to be moving quickly less than 2 weeks after Howard
was killed she went to King office supply and despite what she had said just 10 days earlier she announced she
was selling the company I was shocked at that Ron Tucker says when she should have been grieving over all she'd lost
Rosalyn had been negotiating over how much she'd get for the business it's inconceivable that you would do that
instead of mourn and right then and there I started to question her motives police also had questions about
Roslin and they were starting to see why she might have needed money and fast I think when we find out about the
financial issues she's not quite what we originally thought we were looking at here
[Music] for 16 years Rosalyn worked for a dentist Dr Stanley winck she was his dental assistant and also his bookkeeper
the police found out she embezzled money from her boss and a lot of it hundreds of thousands of
dollars it was like a family member stealing from you nobody noticed until after she left to manage Philip coffee
that's when the dentist and his accountant Neil kleene discovered Rosalyn had deposited 186 patients checks into her
own bank account and how long had she been doing this about 34 years Klein confronted her in late
1995 just a few months before Howard's murder she just said yes I took the money and she said don't
tell my husband she said that yes he'll throw me out and I'll never see my son again what
did you make of that that was pretty shocking Klein agreed to keep her secret Roselyn agreed
to repay the money weeks go by and I called her several times and it's happening it's happening it's happening
but of course it didn't happen and Roslin owed even more money she was supposed to pay the taxes for
the coffee shop but she didn't and she owed New York State almost $115,000 the state was threatening to
seize the business if the taxes weren't paid all this started to add up give reason for the murder I mean she was
desperate for money she was afraid if he found out he would divorce her she didn't want to lose Phillip here's a
woman who's an embezzler she's a tax cheater she's not fit to be a mother Roslin didn't talk about her
problems but Heather noticed Roslin seemed jittery in the weeks before the murder she seemed really stressed out
and I did ask her you know is everything okay cuz she like lost a lot of weight she was like no I'm fine I'm
fine Heather didn't bring it up again but she did ask Evan about his sister he said to me if Howard hurts her in any
way and I was like what do you mean if he hurt her I would kill him and I said what he said if he hurts her I will kill
him yeah well I mean at that point did you think that Evan was capable of murder
no but the next night Howard was murdered I immediately thought that Evan did it I
had like a pit in my stomach Heather had a more difficult time believing Rosalyn
was involved I still couldn't believe that this person that I've known most of my life could do something like this
even though there was no physical evidence her father never had a doubt anytime I've met anyone going going back
all these years who've asked me about who did this I said his wife and her brother Rosalyn knew what Frank thought
and decided he Carol and Heather could never speak to her or Phillip again his family was split apart but right from
the start Frank decided he was not going to let his son's Killers get away with it he would spend lots of times coming
to the precinct or calling even calling my supervisors telling him that we need to do a better job so you would call
them what once a week no once a month maybe once a day once a day maybe once every other day did you ever hear from
Roslin she ever call asking what was going on yeah never while Roslin didn't seem interested in the police they
stayed interested in her and her family about a year later detectives put up posters asking the public for help in
solving the case and the the posters kept disappearing we set up a surveillance fan to see what was happening and then
who is it it's Evan Evan tearing down the posters that woman with him that's Jan
Roslin and evans's sister they just kept Plastering them all over the doors of the business I
found it extremely harassing I'm sorry that in an investigation to solve their brother-in-law or husband's murder that
they thought it was harassment to try to get more information you're not really sorry
yeah about a year after the murder Roslin was arrested but only for embezzling from the dentist she plad
guilty and was given probation after paying back the money she stole where did she get the money to pay
the insurance policy and the sale of the business I believe that tell you anything yeah it's all part of the
motive it's a circumstantial case and it's kind of like a bucket of water right so every drop fills that bucket
and it's not until that bucket's full is it ready to go and in 1999 it looked like new
evidence would start pouring in DNA technology had Advanced and a court ordered Evan Wald to give a sample of
his blood it was a match a match to this small drop of blood found near Howard's
body puts him on the scene puts him in the place it was one crucial piece of physical evidence but it was not enough
for prosecutors and the case went cold did you despair I don't think I ever despaired
no she did I didn't want to get his hopes up and then you know she thought I was nuts but Frank refused to give up I
remember feeling that something good was going to come with this because uh I was
getting too old for it not to happen over the decades Roslin and Evan moved on with their lives their sister
Jan says Roslin returned to being a hygienist she worked like everybody else does she work make a payche you pay your
bills she raised an amazing son Philip went to private school then on to college and law school he eventually
joined a top firm and got married Evan got married and continued his career in the food industry there wasn't a shadow
over your brother and sister they didn't feel like they had to look over their shoulders shoulders why should you look
over your shoulder when you're Innocent but what they didn't know was Manhattan prosecutors Elizabeth letterer
and Melissa Hindman had spent four years reviewing all the evidence and finding new Witnesses and on August 15th
2017 Janna received a panicked early morning call from Evan's wife Evan just got
arrested and nice said for what how it's murder I was like are you kidding me Janna barely hung up when the phone
rang again and this time it was about Roslin my sister was arrested and all I did was break down
and cry Janna is just as certain today as she was when Howard pilmore was murdered that her siblings are innocent
I think people listening to you may say she's a very good sister she's devoted but she can't accept what's staring her
in the face I don't think that's correct I'm sorry even being biased and I love my
family but they're just not capable these are not Killers Frank and Carol not surprisingly reacted to the arrest
somewhat but differently we all hugged the of cried and course I didn't really expect her to be arrested as well Frank
immediately called his daughters in New York I remember my heart I couldn't control myself my heart
was pounding so it was unbelievable you've known for all these years that at some point something's going to happen I
was kind of shaking inside Roslin and Evan were held without bail that was a big day for us but it
was a very bad day for the wals especially when they visited rosin and Evan Behind
Bars I've never felt so broken in my life I went through all the evidence and it wasn't a shred a cintilla of new
evidence against Evan wal Daniel gotlin is Evan's attorney bring me the evidence
you will find there's nothing zero now the defense has to deal with a case that's more than 20 years old rosin's
lawyer is Sam tolin this's witnesses that passed away we don't have opportunity to Canvas the neighborhood
we don't have an opportunity to talk individually and conduct our own investigation they will have to explain
that drop of Evans blood at the crime scene evans's family and his lawyers reminded everyone that Evan worked in
the food business in kitchens where people frequently cut themselves and that he sometimes prepared meals at
Howard's office there's no way of telling when that blood was put there of course there's also the hundreds of
thousands of dollars Roslin embezzled from the dentist roslin's sister Janna says Roslin did a bad thing but for a
good reason their mother was having difficulty paying the mortgage I guess my sister felt that she wanted to help
her so why did Roslin keep it a secret from Howard Janna says that's simple she didn't Howard knew what Roslin had done
my belief is that he wouldn't have known unless he knew moments before he was killed wow that's chilling the Wald
family believed the police focused solely on Evan and Roslin and ignored other possible suspects there were other
people that may have had a motive I found multiple people that didn't like the deceased some of them had made
threats and interviewing all those people there was nothing came out so it's following the evidence and it's
going nowhere but right back to rosin and [Music] Evan on January 17th 2019 almost 23
years after Howard pilmar's murder his wife Roslin and brother-in-law Evan went on trial for killing him there was some
kind of satisfaction seeing them in handcuffs Frank and Carol pilmar came from Arizona and for the first time in
decades they came face to face with their former daughter-in-law and their grandson Phillip I saw him and he looked
exactly like Howard one face you knew that this kid was Howard's kid they they are one face but they never spoke it's
as divided as that aisle in between there was our side and there was their side and it was that simple both sides
sat through graphic evidence about the gruesome killing rosin pilmar and Evan Wald savagely and brutally murdered
Howard pilmore their plan was deliberate and detailed it was meticulously carried
out the evidence was mostly circumstantial but Evans lawyer Dan Scotland was worried there was that drop
of Evans blood at the crime scene it is the only physical evidence that ties him
to the murder clearly it's evans's blood we don't dispute that Scotland says there's no way to know when the
blood drop got there but investigators noticed that injury to evans's hand the day after the murder his left hand
because he is Left-Handed held the knife maybe as Howard bled the knife handle became slippery we won't know for sure
but all we do know is that Evan cut himself and bled at the scene where he killed Howard pilmar the knife was never
found and police waited a week to photograph Evan's hand and if you look at those photographs it's not just one
cut it's a number of cuts but the defense insists Evan cut himself while working the day before the murder he
said I was at an event and at the event a plate dropped and I cleaned it up and I cut my
hand that's why he was wearing a Band-Aid except the prosecution had Heather's testimony that she saw Evan
the night before the murder and he seemed fine did he have any cuts on his hands or anything no he did not he only
had coffee grinds under his fingernails the way I did there were no bandages on his hands but gotlin hopes the jury will
wonder if this drop of evans's blood got there when Howard was murdered why wasn't it mixed with Howard's blood if
he's stabbing him and Howard's bleeding blood should have gotten all over him and evans's blood was not found anywhere
else there was no blood found of him in the bathroom where he supposedly went to
clean up none of his blood found anywhere near the crime scene there's no blood of his found on the stairwell
going down into the street in fact there's no blood found in the street and what will jurors think about Heather's
account of her conversation with Evan the night before the murder where she says he told her if Howard hurt Roslin
he would kill him that's not a good thing to have to have to explain would I have prefer look especially when your
client shows up with cuts on his hand I have preferred that there were no cuts on his hand that there was no blood on
the wall or he hadn't made any statements yes because then even though I love speaking to you I wouldn't be
speaking to you because there wouldn't have been any case but the case against Roslin was all
circumstantial even though her family says she was happily married to Howard the prosecution says Howard had met with
a divorce lawyer and all the while Roslin was facing mounting pressure to pay back her crushing debts she had to
find money and she had to find it quickly she owed all that money she embezzled from the dentist we had the
debt from the dentist but it wasn't due that's not what Neil Klein says the dentist's accountant remembers leaning
on rosalin for the money in the weeks leading up to Howard's murder were you saying to her we need the money yeah we
need it soon yeah I was putting a little more pressure on her yes you don't strike me as a kneecapping kind of guy
so how were you turning up the pressure on her just as Sur Rises this can't go on much longer if if you're not going to
make payment then we're going to have to go further at the same time New York state was demanding the back taxes for
Philip's coffee and if she doesn't pay by certified check on that day they'll file a lean they'll padlock
the store the due date March 21st the same day Howard was murdered needing money does not mean that you're going to
kill your husband killing your husband doesn't mean it's going to resolve the need for money Evan and Roslin both
decided not to testify but the jurors heard Roslin on that message she left on Howard's voicemail hi how it's um like a
quarter to 10 and um Phil and I were wondering if he was still at work working or if if you listen to it and
I've listened to it a thousand times that is clearly a woman who is looking for her husband and is worried but not
everyone hears it the same way anyway I got home I guess by like uh 810 8:15 and Roseman called about 8 for 8:30
he was still at the office I told him to try to call you I hear a timeline being
put down for the police's benefit really yeah it's just too contrived too drawn out talk to you later bye love you and
the state has a witness who's relatively new to the cas Allison Lewis in 1996 she was Philip's
Nanny she was just out of college and she didn't want to talk to police back then I think when you consider the fact
that this was the person who was paying her and employing her and perhaps as she
matured and got older she realized that she had something that she could share she now says on the night of the murder
she took Philip to ice hockey practice because Roslin and Evan plan to meet with har card she said that rosin pilmar
was very vague in her instructions to her that it was very different than she usually was Allison says rosin later
told her to take Phillip home after practice because she was still at Howard's office she said we're not done
here those words are chilling ladies and gentlemen and you know that she's at the
fourth floor the king office company with Howard pilmar and her brother and when Allison and Phillip finally arrived
home Roslin met them at the door she had wet hair Allison said it was odd the apartment was dark and Rosalyn didn't
want her to come in I'm sorry but I do not believe a single word that came out of her mouth roslin's sister Janna says
there's no one to corroborate Allison Lewis's testimony I'm still very dismayed by the fact that she was so
adamant about not wanting to talk to the police and then 20 years later was so willing to
talk the trial lasted almost 2 months and then the jury got the case and from their first vote the jurors knew their
job would be tough listen things got pretty heated at times well [Music] I was feeling very
nervous if you're not nervous when the jury goes out you're not alive by the second day were you coming
together were were were the votes getting closer I don't think so and no we had two staunch holdouts
I think in a case like this the longer the better by the fourth day of jury deliberations defense attorney Sam tolin
was starting to feel optimistic we're asking them to think and they were thinking so yes I think that was a good
sign that afternoon the jury came back my father was in a courtroom on the other side Philip was there with raza's
family cameras were not allowed in the courtroom for the verdict we sat down and I'm holding his hand I was
scared and I was like crying inside what were you worried about what were you scared up that he dropped
dead literally y I thought he'd collapsed we're lining up and it was at that moment that the entire room tensed
up Ryan Smith Sam resnicow and the other jurors prepared themselves to deliver their
verdict and headed for the courtroom we walked in and it was super quiet and you could just feel the room
vibrating Smith was the jury Foreman he announced the verdict Ross was first and
that was what guilty and the second was Evans verdict and that was guilty both guilty of second deegree murder after
nearly 23 years it was almost as though the word echoed through the courtroom when you
heard the verdict Frank didn't hear it my father couldn't hear a word I screamed in his ear guilty guilty guilty
guilty I was like Euphoria I like you're so happy both of us were hugging and crying when Philip heard his mother had
been convicted of killing his father he ran out of the room we were all shocked by the
verdict I felt so numb I can't even begin to describe how it the pain the Heartbreak both families would have to
wait for 4 months to find out how much time Roslin and Evan would serve in July 2019 family friends lawyers and
detectives crowded into the courtroom for the sentencing hearing Philip was there alongside Raz
and Evan's sister but before Rosland and Evan hear their sentences they will have to hear
family members tell judge Gilbert Hong what Howard's murder had done to them March 22nd
1996 was the worst day of my life sorry to bury a child in my case is Deon our lives have never been the same
and never will be I implore you to give these murderers the maximum sentence I want them to suffer you want
them to suffer yes it's not that I want them to suffer they've got to pay the price you just don't go killing
people Frank was next you know you Runner every night when I go to bed I try to close my eyes before hoping that
I will get some sleep but I can't get sleep because I keep thinking about the terror and the
fear that went through Howard's mind in those last seconds that he was slaughtered and butchered by those
two then Frank turned to speak to his grandson and I'm going to direct this to Phil they have not spoken in
more than two decades that day in March I lost three things two of which I can never ever get
back my son and my business but I also lost philli and I know Philip doesn't want to look at me I'm sorry about that
but I just want him to know we love you and we want you back please that's take your life
I was hoping that he would come and reciprocate and hold me around and hug me pH no more but that never
happened philli did not speak to his grandfather but he did speak to the court you can't hear him because he
asked the judge to order us to cut off the audio these are the words of a son trying valiantly to save his mother from
spending the rest of her life in prison having my mom die in jail will not bring
back my dad as his uncle and his mother wept Philip credited her for making him the
man he is today she raised me to be kind to be loving to Value education value hard work she was there for me every
step of the way when I struggled with the death of my dad he asked the judge for
leniency but it didn't work this was an exceptionally brutal and violent murder its violence and brutality reveal
boundless anger and hatred towards Mr pilmar for this crime for this murder I sentence each of you to 25 years to life
incarceration it's the maximum sentence and it's what Howard's family except for
Phillip W haed but still they are not doing much celebrating it's bittersweet there's Justice for Howard
and that's the important thing but there's collateral damage we all lost something how you doing my son what does
Justice feel like you've gotten it justice feels like uh like happiness I just feel that Frank
you work at it all your work it's okay paid office for got them finally after all these
[Music] years 48 hours to miss it will be a crime were you at all prepared for what
happened in this case [Music]

The wife of a NYC businessman is suspected of murdering him with help from her brother -- why would she want him dead and why did it take more than two decades to crack the case? "48 Hours" correspondent Richard Schlesinger reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

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Brief Summary

Howard Pilmar was murdered in 1996; his wife and brother-in-law were later convicted after years of investigation and trial.

Key points

The Shocking News. A mother receives the devastating news of her son's murder, leaving her in disbelief.
Howard's Ambitious Life. Howard was a visionary entrepreneur who opened a high-end coffee bar before Starbucks.
Family Secrets Unraveled. Investigators uncover troubling secrets about Howard's family and potential motives for murder.
The Arrest. In a shocking turn of events, Howard's wife and brother-in-law are arrested for his murder.
Trial Begins. After decades, the trial for Howard's murder begins, revealing graphic evidence.
The Verdict. Both Roslin and Evan are found guilty of second-degree murder after nearly 23 years.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Howard was a swaggering risk taker, he was a Visionary.

Reflecting on Howard's ambitious nature and entrepreneurial spirit.

5:20WatchApr 8, 2025

Tension

80/ 100High tension

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