Linda Stein Murder Alibi Fails Important Test

By Janine Cheviot

When Linda Stein, known as the "realtor to the stars," was murdered in her Fifth Avenue apartment last October, police were sure they had the killer. After all, Stein's personal assistant Natavia Lowery, a 26-year-old African American woman, gave a videotaped confession stating that she bludgeoned her boss with a yoga bar after Stein yelled racial slurs and blew marijuana smoke in her face. Prosecutors said that Lowery murdered Stein at 12:45 p.m., and surveillance cameras show her leaving the apartment building about a half hour later. It was also discovered that Lowery, who had previously been arrested on charges of identity theft and petty larceny, had stolen tens of thousands of dollars from Stein during the four months she worked for her. And just days after the murder, it was learned that Lowery used Stein's credit cards to purchase plane tickets and other items.

But Lowery later retracted her confession, claiming it was forced by police and that she made it up to get out of the interrogation room. Then, last week medical examiners said that toxicology reports conducted as part of Stein's autopsy showed that she had not smoked marijuana prior to her death, as Lowery's confession stated. Also surfacing last week was another inconsistency in Lowery's confession, this one concerning the timeline of the murder. Lowery's attorney, Ronald Kuby, claims that, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office, Stein had a telephone conversation with her daughter Samantha at 2 p.m. on the day of her murder, 45 minutes after Lowery is shown leaving the apartment building. Kuby also said that when Stein was found at 10:30 p.m., her body temperature was only 12.6 degrees lower than a living person, indicating that she was not murdered when Lowery was seen in the apartment building.

Lowery is currently being held in prison without bail, and prosecutors have said they still believe she killed Stein and that they will respond to the discrepancies in court.

Linda Stein, who was 62 years old at the time of her death, spent the '70s managing the rock band The Ramones before embarking on a successful career in real estate. Friends and family remember her as tough, but also a loving and generous woman. Samantha Stein-Wells started a fund in her mother's name to benefit the children at The Family Center. Call (212) 766-4522 to make a donation.

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