At Any Cost by Rebecca Rosenberg

Author:Rebecca Rosenberg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Retreat

On November 8, 2012, Shele’s sister, Eve, and her husband, Marc, replaced Philip and Peggy in the petition for custody against Rod and the senior Covlins.

The Karstaedts lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in a historic luxury apartment building with their only child, David. Of all the Danishefskys, Anna, now 12, and Myles, 6, had always been closest to Eve and Marc, who had socialized frequently with Shele and Rod.

In their petition, Eve and Marc, still represented by Chinitz, wrote that “extraordinary circumstances existed requiring the removal of Anna and Myles” from Carol and Dave’s dominion. The couple described the close relationship they had had with the kids prior to their mother’s death, assuring the court that the children would be surrounded and protected by doting family and friends.

They stressed to Judge Gesmer that they feared for the children’s fate as long as they remained with the senior Covlins and Rod. “Roderick is the only person who had a motive to kill Shele, and we are advised that there are no other suspects in her killing,” the Karstaedts wrote.

To drive the point home, the filing included a copy of the autopsy report. Rod had still refused to speak to the DA’s office or provide “any assistance in finding the person who murdered the mother of his children.”

They reminded the court that Shele told Eve and other family members that “should anything happen to her, or should she die, Roderick should be the first person to be investigated.”

To buttress their appeal, Eve and Marc submitted a statement from Rose describing Rod’s callous and continual abuse of Shele and the kids during her employ. The nanny asserted that Dave and Carol, when they supervised Rod’s visits with the children before Shele’s murder, were powerless to “contain his violent behavior.”

The Karstaedts also catalogued Rod’s long history of cruelty toward his family before Shele’s death. They recounted an incident in January 2009 when Rod had erupted after the kids failed to awaken him from a nap as ordered. Anna was the prime target and later complained to her mother about his incessant screaming. “I can’t stand his yelling,” she said. “I do not want to see my ninth birthday.”

Rod, they claimed, drew perverse delight in reminding Anna that her brother was conceived through a donor egg and was not her full sibling. He once took Anna to see “High School Musical 3,” and when she failed to adequately praise the film, Rod boiled over once again.

“Roderick became furious with her because she had not provided him with specific reasons why she did not like the movie,” the Karstaedts wrote. “He flew into a rage, grabbed her arms and violently shook her. Anna was terrified and begged him to stop.”

Myles was also subject to abuse for violating Rod’s innumerable domestic rules.

In one instance, “Roderick grew angry at Myles, and locked him, naked, in the shower, while Myles cowered in fear,” the report read.

Anna had described the abuse to her therapist, saying that

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