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Rod Covlin, left, is accused of murdering his wife, Shele Danishefsky
A former stockbroker accused of murdering his wife tried to frame their nine-year-old daughter for the crime, it has been claimed.
Prosecutors say Rod Covlin, 45, killed his estranged wife, Shele Danishefsky, 47, after she decided to cut him out of her will.
Her body was found in the bath of her luxury Upper East Side apartment in New York city on New Year’s Eve in 2009 by her daughter.
She was discovered a day after she made an appointment with her lawyer to take Colvin out of her will, prosecutors say.
Covlin, a former stock trader who became a professional backgammon player, is accused of choking her then staging her death to look like accidental drowning.
Rod Covlin is accused of murdering his wife in New York on New Year’s Eve, 2009 (Picture: Getty) Shele Danishefsky was found dead in the bathtub on New Year’s Eve, 2009 (Picture: AOL.com)
He was arrested in 2015.
The New York Post reported that Covlin tried to frame his daughter in 2013 for his wife’s death.
Prosecutors say Covlin wrote an Apple note on June 25, 2013 that synced up with his daughter Anna’s email account, in which he posed as the then 12-year-old and confessed to accidentally killing Danishefsky.
“All of these years I have been so incredibly afraid and guilty about the night my mom died,” the note reportedly said.
“I lied. She didn’t just slip. That day we got into a fight about her dating … I got mad so I pushed her, but it couldn’t have been that hard!
Police outside the Upper East Side apartment in New York where Shele Danishefsky was found dead (Picture: Getty)
“I didn’t mean to hurt her! I swear! But she fell and i heard a terrible noise and the water started turning red and I tried to pull her head up but she remained still.”
Prosecutors accused Covlin of posing as his daughter and writing the note because he was panicked because the investigation into the murder was picking up pace again.
Covlin’s lawyer described the latest allegations as “garbage”.
Full custody of the couple’s daughter and their son was granted to Covlin’s parents after their mother’s death.
Covlin was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder in November 2015, just a few months before he was due to take control of her inheritance.
The case will be heard this year, with jury selection starting next week. Covlin faces 25 years to life in prison if found guilty.
