Dick Wolf’s ‘Homicide: New York’ Cases: What Happened to the Killers?
Law & Order boss Dick Wolf is diving into the true-crime world next. Homicide: New York, which premiered on Wednesday, March 20, is a new Netflix docuseries that chronicles some of the most notorious murder cases in New York City. The cases featured in the five-episode series are told by the detectives and prosecutors who helped solve them. (Homicide: Los Angeles will premiere later in 2024, and Wolf serves as an executive producer of both series.)
After watching, you may be curious to know what happened to the killers at the center of these grisly stories, so here’s a status check on the people behind these shocking crimes.
Carnegie Deli Massacre (Episode 1)
Sean Salley and Andre “Dre” Smith were convicted in the 2001 Carnegie Deli killings involving Dirty Dancing actress Jennifer Stahl. Five people were shot in Stahl’s apartment above the famous deli on May 10, 2001. Three of the victims, including Stahl, were killed.
Salley and Smith were each found guilty of three counts of second-degree murder, four robbery, and two weapons counts, according to CBS News. Salley and Smith both received life sentences and remain incarcerated.
Central Park Slaying (Episode 2)
Michael McMorrow’s mutilated body was discovered in Central Park Lake on May 23, 1997. Daphne Abdela and Christopher Vasquez, both 15 years old at the time, were arrested for McMorrow’s murder. Abdela took a plea deal and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. She agreed to the maximum sentence for the charge and didn’t have to testify against Vasquez.
She accepted a sentence of three to nine years. As for Vasquez, he was also convicted of manslaughter. They both served nearly seven years in prison and were released in 2004. As part of their parole, they were barred from seeing each other.
In 2009, Abdela sued two people over a car crash that left her in “great pain and suffering,” according to the New York Daily News. She claimed to have been “confined to home” in New York City because of her injuries.
Vanished on Wall Street (Episode 3)
Cleaning lady Eridania Rodriguez vanished without a trace while working in a Wall Street office building on July 7, 2009. Police initially searched the building but didn’t find Rodriguez. Four days after she went missing, Rodriguez’s body was found in an air conditioning duct inside the building. She had been tied up and died of asphyxiation.
The building’s maintenance man, Joseph Pabon, was arrested in connection with Rodriguez’s death. Pabon’s DNA was found underneath Rodriguez’s fingernails.
In 2012, Pabon was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of murder in the second degree and kidnapping in the first degree. He’s currently serving his sentence at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York and will be eligible for parole in 2034.
Midtown Slasher (Episode 4)
New York City businessman Howard Pilmar was brutally stabbed over 40 times in his office in Midtown Manhattan on March 21, 1996. During the initial investigation in the years after the murder, police suspected Howard’s wife, Roslyn Pilmar, and her brother, Evan Wald, of having something to do with the murder. Police didn’t have enough evidence at the time, and the case went cold.
In 2013, the case was reopened. Four years later, in 2017, Roslyn and Wald were arrested in connection with Howard’s murder. Roslyn and Wald went on trial in 2019, over 20 years after Howard’s murder. They were both found guilty of murder in the second degree. Howard and Roslyn’s son, Philip Pilmar, now a New York attorney, asked the judge for leniency for his mother.
Roslyn and Wald were both sentenced to 25 years in prison. They will be eligible for parole in 2042.
East Harlem Serial Killer (Episode 5)
After a years-long murder and assault spree, Arohn Kee (dubbed the East Harlem Rapist) was arrested in 1999. He was captured in Miami after kidnapping his teenage girlfriend and fleeing New York.
Kee was convicted of murder in the first degree for the deaths of Rasheeda Washington, Paola Illera, and Johalis Castro, as well as three additional rapes. He was sentenced to 409 years to life in state prison and remains incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility in New York.
Homicide: New York, Series Premiere, March 20, Netflix
