Jennifer Levin

Twenty five years ago, on August 26, 1986, 18-year-old Jennifer Levin was killed by Robert Chambers after they left their local bar Dorrian's Red Hand, located at 300 East 84th Street.

Levin's strangled, half-naked corpse, covered in bruises, bite marks, and cuts, was found by a cyclist just after 6am, lying beneath an elm tree on a grassy knoll near Fifth Avenue and 83rd Street, behind the Met. Chambers watched the emergency crew response while sitting on a wall nearby.

He, assisted by his attorney, smeared Jennifer’s name and reputation. She like it rough…she kept a sex diary… awful, cruel and wrong on so many levels…like killing her wasn’t enough. He tortured her family with his lies and drama…

I remember her dying- the horrible things they said… and thinking I was not so different than her… I was 19, hung out at the bars of the Irish West side in the Bronx, how my cousin and our friends stayed after closing, and though we were underage, we were served…

That changed after Jennifer, for a little while. We were more careful… less care-free. And there was a new rule- If we went out together, we went home together- it did not matter who the guy was… throughout college it was my rule.

It still is…

By the time the “Preppy Murder” went to trial in 1988, doubts about Jennifer and her lifestyle had been everywhere.

The jury was deadlocked for nine days and so a plea bargain was struck. Robert Chambers pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree (a Class B felony), and to one count of burglary (a Class C felony) for his thefts in 1986. He was sentenced to serve 5 to 15 years, with the sentence for burglary being served concurrently. So the scumbag got away with murder…

He served the whole 15 years because of the drugs and other prison infractions…

Chambers was released from Auburn Prison on February 14, 2003.

He was unchanged… Still a scumbag…

On October 22, 2007 Chambers was arrested again, this time in his girlfriend’s apartment, and charged with three counts of selling drugs in the first degree, three counts of selling drugs in the second degree and one count of resisting arrest.

On August 11, 2008, the Manhattan DA's office announced that Chambers had pleaded guilty to selling drugs. On September 2, 2008, he was sentenced to 19 years on the drug charge.

Could not have happened to a better person.

Rest in Peace, Jennifer Levin.