New York

NYC Man Convicted of Murdering Estranged Wife in 2009

Shele Covlin, 47, was a successful money manager for UBS before she was found dead in her Upper West Side bathroom tub in 2009

What to Know

  • Roderick Covlin has been convicted of murdering his estranged wife, who was found strangled in the bathtub of her UWS apartment in 2009
  • The two were embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle over their children
  • Police initially thought her death an accident. But the medical examiner determined she'd been strangled

A 46-year-old Manhattan man has been convicted of murdering his estranged wife, who was found strangled in the bathtub of her luxury Upper West Side apartment on New Year's Eve 2009.

A jury found Roderick Covlin guilty of murder Wednesday in the death of finance executive Shele Danishefsky Covlin.

The two were embroiled in a bitter divorce and custody battle over their children.

Police initially thought her death an accident. For religious reasons her Orthodox Jewish family objected to an autopsy.

But as suspicions mounted her body was exhumed and the medical examiner determined she'd been strangled.

The trader and noted figure in the backgammon world was finally charged nearly six years later.

Covlin denied killing her, saying he performed CPR and called 911.

He's to be sentenced April 10.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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