The murder of Linda Stein [True Crime Documentary]

in the Autumn of 2007 a shocking murder rocked New York's Fifth Avenue and captured headlines across the country Linda Stein had become known as the realtor to the Stars after Decades of selling Manhattan properties to some of the world's wealthiest and well-known celebrities the boisterous former rock music manager and icon in her own right was found murdered in the living room of her three million dollar penthouse had the Brash loud and occasionally abrasive professional finally crossed paths with someone who had enough of her larger-than-life personality maybe Linda pissed off the wrong person hi everyone I'm Kevin and welcome to just thought Lounge here at JTL we deliver serious well-balanced coverage of the cases that really make you think if that sounds like your type of True Crime then you've come to the right place the case we're about to look at may seem straightforward on the surface but there may be much more to this story than meets the eye or the camera's lens let's take a look [Music] by all accounts Linda Stein was a force of nature loud witty and harsh in her use of language Linda was a successful and Wealthy real estate agent based in Manhattan she ran in the kind of Social Circles that many only dreamed of in her younger years Linda was known as a fixture at cbgv the Mud Club and Studio 54. she counted Sir Elton John and Whoopi Goldberg amongst her closest friends Linda's Ascent to the celebrity class began in the 1970s when she met her future husband Seymour Stein Seymour already establishing himself in the music industry was to become the president of sire records which he founded and vice president of Warner Brothers records Linda quickly left her teaching position in favor of a managing partnership with her husband and she was about to see big things after their founding in 1974 Linda co-managed the highly influential New york-based punk rock band The Ramones during their eight-year marriage Linda and Seymour had two daughters Samantha and Mandy they remained close friends following their divorce in the early 1980s this is also when Linda began to transition her managing role into a lucrative career in real estate leveraging her many celebrity connections as well as her unique Charisma Linda sold multi-million dollar homes in New York to clients like Madonna Bruce Willis Angelina Jolie and Steven Spielberg Linda Stein's life was not just about schmoozing with the Stars and high commissions she battled breast cancer for years resulting in two mastectomies a fan of self-medicating Linda developed an affection for marijuana as well as an unrelated and unfortunate addiction to alcohol in 2007 Linda had fought back against the cancer and had done so optimistically but at the age of 62 she was facing a new enemy doctors had discovered a benign tumor on her brain although it was non-cancerous and did not require surgery the tumor was making an impact on Linda and her life she was taking a series of mood stabilizers designed to Mellow her out from Sudden outbursts and mean Behavior caused by the tumor's placement acquaintances were sadly not shocked when they heard the news that someone had bludgeoned the New York icon to death some thought Linda had finally pissed off the wrong person she was a little bit kooky but she was a lot of fun and we all loved her and every I think everybody in the industry felt that way for me it was just frightening and I mean she probably had a bunch of enemies because she was tough but murder it's a different ballgame Mandy who lived full-time in Los Angeles had been staying with her mother in New York for a short visit in late October 2007. when she returned to her mother's home a penthouse on Fifth Avenue at roughly 10 30 pm on the 30th Mandy encountered a devastating scene her mother on the floor of the living room not moving she rapidly dialed 9-1-1 on both the landline and her cell phone she also called out for help in the building Mandy needed to hand off the phone part way through the call as she lost her composure over the scene at 11 42 it's emergency [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hello yeah patient breathing and awake is this 9-1-1 yes it is it's for male or female for a female how old is patient yeah approximate how old [Music] [Music] it's a mystery Chicago she's not moving okay the ambulance is in route to that location 362 okay thank you Linda was found in a pool of blood with the hood of her sweatshirt pulled over her head when emergency responders arrived they pulled back the hood the state of the scene removed any doubts that Linda could have fallen and accidentally caused the injuries or that they could have been self-inflicted she had five lacerations on her head caused by a blunt metal object according to the coroner but she had been struck many more times over 20. Linda was a petite woman standing at five foot three and only 132 pounds her years of cancer treatments and new medications had also left her weakened the corridor assessed that she was likely unconscious by the time she fell to the ground there were no bruises on her hands to indicate that she had fought back the time of death was not exact the attack had to have occurred hours before Mandy found her mother but beyond that it was determined to have occurred at some point earlier that same day investigators found no missing items or signs of forced entry it seemed unlikely to be a stranger or a robbery gone wrong an investigative reporter located a side door to the building that was unlocked and could have been used as the potential entry point to the apartment building however this unlikely lead was set aside in favor of a more direct one there are surveillance cameras capturing the front entrance to Linda's building as well as inside the penthouse investigators examining this footage began to piece together a timeline and there was one individual with access to Linda in her home that day that stood out 26 year old natavia Lowry had just like Linda grown-up middle class in New York with dreams of rising in the ranks after a short-lived stint at University natavia had worked at a PR firm briefly before signing with a temp agency in 2007 this agency placed her in the demanding role of Linda Stein's personal assistant in the few months that natavia had held the role she had experienced some ups and downs Linda was not an easy woman to work for a fact that was made obvious with the abrupt firing of her previous assistant either due to a payment dispute or a personal Affair that turned sour natavia had success in the role Linda was said to have complimented her to others but there was also reported awkwardness in her tasks natavia was expected to run personal errands to accompany Linda in her daily walks in Central Park and she needed to navigate Linda's mood swings natavia was captured entering the building just before noon at 11 56 a.m on the 30th at that time she carried a single large manila envelope she walked past renovation workers inside the unit and waited to gain access to Linda in the living room which was unfortunately not covered under surveillance the time spent with Linda is just over an hour at 1 19 PM natavia is shown exiting the building the timing of natavia's visit with Linda raised suspicions when leaving she carried two bags a red one and a green one investigators examining the footage were struck by two observations first they determined that the red bag appeared Laden as though natavia is carrying a heavy object from the building the murder weapon what was suspected to be a blunt metal object was not recovered also curious was the state of natavia's trousers her cargo style bottoms have large Pockets shown clearly on the camera as she enters at noon but as natavia leaves she appears to be wearing the cargo pants inside out if natavia was responsible for Linda's injuries was she attempting to conceal blood spatter on her clothing despite the messy scene what the cameras do not capture is anything resembling Blood on the young assistant but was it possible that she sufficiently concealed any stains by turning her trousers inside out the lack of blood visible on the key suspect despite the significant spatter at the scene was not the only potential inconsistency in the working Theory Linda's daughter Samantha initially told police that she last spoke with her mother at 2PM on the day of her death calling in to question the timeline presented by the surveillance footage which showed natavia exiting the building well before that time at 1 19. in the hours after natavia left she continued to run the regular Aaron set out by Linda she fielded calls from clients and Linda's family members including a call from her ex-husband Seymour and she had lunch with a friend before calling it a day natavia left a message for Linda hey Linda it's been crazy I just want to let you know that I'm leaving work at 5 30 hopefully the walk in the park was actually good um I left everything upstairs at the door and Seymour called natavia just like others close to Linda spoke with police immediately after the realtor was found murdered but as more information came to light and the surveillance footage was analyzed detectives were Keen to question the assistant more intensely and they got their chance days later when natavia called the police to complain about reporters camped outside her front door she was invited into the police department to speak further detective Antonio Rivera and his partner began questioning natavia Lowry at a police station in lower Manhattan natavia started by reiterating her innocent and straightforward version of the events a work day as usual but hours into the interview the detectives began to apply pressure they began to reveal what they knew about the young assistant and her criminal past depending on who a natavia's life you spoke to a very different picture emerged of the young professional to family she was amongst the kindest people one could possibly encounter an ex-boyfriend told the press that natavia wouldn't hurt a fly that landed on her but some older friends disagreed natavia had allegedly used an old high school friend's identity to take out a phone contract and credit cards in their name and run up the balance this old friend called natavia a pathological liar she reportedly skipped out on rent and was sued for the funds though family said this was due to a roommate's error not natavius what NYPD detective soon learned however was that the assistant had been taking some liberties with Linda Stein's accounts and not to the tune of a few hundred dollars as her old friend had claimed natavia had been making charges for her own use on Linda's credit cards on the day of the murder she withdrew 800 from one of Linda's accounts but that was just the tip of the iceberg detectives believed they could trace nearly thirty thousand dollars stolen from Linda by natavia during the brief four-month period she worked for the realtor did Linda discover these transactions and confront her assistant on the afternoon of the 30th of October the argument could have escalated leading to the attack or perhaps natavia made a calculated move to murder her boss before she was reported for the theft according to police natavia first told them that a masked man came into Linda's apartment while she was with Linda this man was a stranger that Linda told her to let in the strange man was wearing all black and had his face covered Linda began screaming at the man until her assistant heard seven thumps the man told the Tavia threateningly that he knew where she lived so that probably explains the murder unconvinced interrogators kept hammering away at what they dubbed natavia's ninja story but it is important to note that at this point the interview was not recorded that changed however when it seemed to detectives that a confession to the murder was forthcoming after 12 hours in the interrogation room natavia began to speak about Linda's Behavior towards her that afternoon how the realtor was angry cursing and waving around what she called a yoga stick at her did she just say yelling and screaming and cursing and I'm looking like like asking myself who the heck like what the heck is going on you know I'm like why am I here like what's going on how did I get to this point you know I'm asking myself that I'm like looking at her like okay what's wrong with her you know because she just looks crazy right now her hand is you know going like that and then she had like her um it's like a wooden baton type thing you know it's a native wood or some other material it's what um and what is it used for yoga yoga she goes for walks okay and she describe it to me um it's like I don't know if you've ever seen people do yoga but they put it on their shoulders they stretch they turn it looks like a king and how long is it about um probably like the length of a king but without that oh so she's pointing the cane at me now right so uh move the cane you know how you just like slap it where were you still on the couch natavia continued to explain how her boss had been constantly yelling at her and everyone else how she had blown marijuana smoke in the assistant's face that afternoon and insulted her with a racial slur this comment was the last straw for natavia I'm sitting on the couch so she's like waving the king and stuff at me then it's like I don't know like after that remark and stuff and you know her screaming and yelling I just snatched it from her I still had chickens like I just hit her with it like right here but it's long so you know it was Linda's treatment of her assistant that caused her to snap natavia claimed to have blacked out and lost track of her own actions she said the verbal abuse from Linda was unbearable and she was repeatedly denied even a 10-minute break though she also insisted that their working relationship prior to that day had been a good one after the first time she fell and then you continued to hit her on the head with the stick s you know how many times you hit her that wasn't myself I don't I can't count it was just like that was mad I was confused I was angry paranoid and it was like feeling like I never had before it was like it felt like she was saying my worst enemy you know they were saying how do you go from somebody you know like a best friend you know to an enemy you know natavia told her interrogators that Linda was routinely inappropriate and at times used racist language this point would later be hotly contested by many people that knew Linda well I accidentally tough stuff like she didn't care she would you know always say like little racial things and I just feel like like Linda you can't do that you know and you felt feel insulted when she would say these racial things even if they aren't about you right you know and then it's I'll say sorry to the person you know and I'll just be like I'm so sorry natavia Lowry was formally arrested and charged for lindenstein's murder she pleaded not guilty and promptly recanted her confession according to natavia's Aunt Julia Caro the police took her niece in the interrogation room and told her that her mother would be filling out a missing persons report if she didn't confess they refused to let her call her mother or her lawyer she claims the detectives lied and informed her that her lawyer had been contacted she was kept in the room all night and then when she came out they said she'd confessed her defense attorneys argued that the statements were coerced she just needed to make something up to get out of the room natavia's confession more or less aligned to the physical evidence already collected by NYPD detectives in that Linda was struck in the head the other details offered by natavia's alleged confession are more ambiguous it was odd that there was no physical evidence left on the tavius clothing and a thorough search of her home which included pulling out the drains to test for DNA returned to absolutely nothing did you enjoy nothing would you do with the pants that you were wearing I still have them so you know have you washed the pants over the top the top no I think I took the pants and washed it the murder weapon the yoga stick has never been found nonetheless the case was becoming known in the media as the yoga stick murder although that name became ubiquitous few people could actually describe what a yoga stick actually was it could have been a Pilates bar or maybe something used to correct posture but it has not been made clear according to Linda Stein's private yoga instructor she had never heard of a yoga stick she reported that Linda did not have any type of exercise stick or pull in her multi-million dollar apartment and that Linda's only pieces of exercise equipment were a few small dumbbells which could hardly be confused with a stick or a pole as natavius trial date approached the NYPD were queried about the alleged murder weapon their reply was that they never said the yoga stick was the weapon the spokesman stated we said she told detectives it was a yoga stick she may well have used something else the second area of contention where the nature of the insults natavia claims were leveled at her by Linda specifically the alleged racial comments this assertion in particular did not sit well with friends and family who strongly argued that the punk rock Pioneer would simply not have spoken in this manner it did seem possible however that her illness and medications could have impacted her behavior to this extreme furthermore those close to Linda also believed that natavia's assertion that her boss was blowing marijuana smoke into her face rang untrue friend said Linda was unfailingly discreet with her smoking habits for instance she would leave the room or open a window and in this assertion Linda's friends were Vindicated results from the autopsy showed no trace of marijuana in her body she could not have been blowing it at natavia that afternoon Additionally the assistant's description of hitting her boss about six times over the head was conservative Linda was struck far more than half a dozen times if natavia had been provoked into attacking her boss it did not happen in the way natavia had stated at trial natavia also faced charges of theft for the months-long fraud she had been committing on her boss to these charges she had no real defense and it certainly gave her a motive for the murder to the murder charge natavia's new legal counsel Ron Kuby argued that the videotaped confession the police made is basically a hostage video in which she said the things the police needed her to say he attempted to establish Reasonable Doubt by pointing to a financial motive held by Linda's daughter Mandy Mandy had a strained relationship with her mother and according to defense assertions she was also financially dependent upon her both daughters inherited what was described as a large Fortune after Linda passed detective Rivera was pressured to explain why a construction worker in Linda's apartment that day was found with scratches on his hands but had not been considered as a suspect the worker explained that he had hit his hand on the wall an explanation that the detective believed was reasonable and therefore accepted NYPD investigators found one individual with motive entered the room where Linda Stein was later found dead and then that person later confessed to this Ron Kuby concluded by suggesting another point of doubt the absence of the murder weapon and questions surrounding its use a yoga stick could not have been the murder weapon he argued because there is no such thing as a yoga stick natavia Lowry was convicted of second-degree murder and three counts of grand larceny as well as a series of others relating to the thirty thousand dollars in stolen funds from Linda she received a sentence of 27 years to life natavia is currently an inmate at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility a New York state prison after the verdict she reasserted her innocence this case was turned into a media circus it was never about evidence Linda Stein was fondly remembered by her many friends with both Sir Elton John and Madonna issuing statements of grief upon her death Liz Rosenberg vice president of Warner Brothers where Linda's ex-husband once worked also released a statement those who are lucky enough to know Linda will forever remember her as a force of nature with a huge passion for life a wicked sense of humor and an Abiding Love for music thanks for watching I'm Kevin this is just thought lounge and I'll see in the next one

Channel: JustThoughtLounge

Views: 394,409

Keywords: True Crime, Just Thought Lounge, JTL, Coffeehouse Crime, That Chapter, MrBallen, twisted minds, true crime documentary, true crime youtubers, free crime documentary, true crime stories, murders documentary, Linda Stein, Natavia Lowery

Id: svFWY9UxZ94

Length: 25min 24sec (1524 seconds)

Published: Sun May 28 2023