Preppy killer living free in suburban NYC and may be back with an old girlfriend
Robert Chambers – aka the “Preppy Killer” – will be under state surveillance in New York’s Rockland County after being released from prison after 15 years and may be back with his crush.
After his release, he may be reunited with his longtime girlfriend, Shawn Kovell, 54, who reportedly remained loyal to the killer during his most recent prison sentence.
Chambers, 56, strangled 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in Central Park in 1986 and was serving an initial 15-year sentence for manslaughter.
The New York Post reported that a woman answered Kovell’s phone this weekend and said she and Chambers are “still talking,” though she denied actually being Kovell, who records say still lives at an address in Manhattan.
Chambers was released from New York’s Shawangunk Correction Facility last week after serving 15 years of a 19-year prison sentence for running a cocaine and heroin operation out of a mid-1990s Manhattan apartment.
Robert Chambers, 56, aka the Preppy Killer, went to prison for a second time in the mid-200s for running a drug operation out of his Manhattan apartment
At the time of his second arrest, Chambers had a serious girlfriend, Shawn Kovell, 54, who had stayed with him during his first stint in prison, which he was serving for murdering teenager Jennifer Levin in 1986
At the time of his 2007 arrest, Chambers was living with Kovell.
After first being put away in the 1980s, Kovell reportedly took the bus north to visit him in prison for years.
Kovell’s attorney, Franklin Rothman, told the Post it was hard for him to forget Chambers or Kovell.
Kovell did not serve a prison sentence following the drug bust, but Chambers, he said, received an unusually harsh sentence.
“I don’t know if it’s loyalty or love,” Rothman said of the couple’s long-standing romance.
“She really had a lot of feelings for him. She genuinely seemed to care about him. Maybe they were a good fit or maybe it was the drugs, but it seemed to run pretty deep.
“I have no idea if she’s waiting for him again this time, but maybe they’ve both gotten better. She had some real problems, she was fighting demons at the time,” he said.
According to the outlet, Chambers’ mother, a 92-year-old woman now named Mary but reportedly Phyllis, lives a secluded life on Long Island.
Chambers is under state supervision on parole in Rockland County, New York, and may be seeking to reunite with Kovell
It’s not clear if Chambers and Kovell kept in touch during his second 15-year stint behind bars. According to records, she still lives in Manhattan
Jennifer Levin was 18 when she was strangled by Chambers, who first denied involvement but then said she was a victim of rough sex they had in Central Park
Kovell stayed with Chambers through his first trial in the 1980s – the two had met shortly before the trial began in 1988
Jennifer Levin, 18, was just a few weeks away from college when her body was discovered by a cyclist in Central Park on August 26, 1986.
Police soon arrived and began a citywide manhunt for suspects in the case, going so far as to shut down all bridges and tunnels in Manhattan.
Unbeknownst to them at the time, the man responsible was sitting nearby watching this all unfold.
Chambers would later confess to Jennifer’s murder, claiming it was an accident caused when she demanded rough sex.
Levin had been out with her friends the night before at Dorian’s, a popular bar a few blocks east of Central Park.
Those friends were quick to tell police they remembered the young woman talking to Robert outside the bar, and a few remembered the pair eloping together at the end of the night.
Police went to Chambers’ home that same day. His face was covered in scratches similar to those on Levin’s own neck from where she tried to pry her killer’s hands free.
He initially blamed his cat, but agreed to accompany police to the station for further questioning about Levin’s death.
Chambers initially told police he had seen Jennifer outside the bar late in the evening, but the two parted ways shortly after parting.
Prior to the murder, Chambers had attended several prestigious prep schools in the Northeast and walked with a high society crowd in New York City
Chambers with his mother on March 25, 1988, on their way to their Upper East Side home
When police told him that eyewitnesses had seen the two run off together, his story began to change, and he told police that not only did he and Levin go to Central Park that night, but it was he who killed the teen. .
He claimed that Levin asked him for “rough sex” and then tied his hands to her underpants when he stimulated his genitals.
At some point it got too rough, said Chambers, who was more than a foot taller than his victim.
He claimed that after he managed to untie his hands, he threw Jennifer off his body and she was killed when she hit the ground.
The police then informed Chambers that he would be booked, but allowed him to see his parents before he was sent to prison.
When he saw his father, he said, “That bastard, why didn’t she leave me alone?”
Chambers faced two charges of second-degree murder at trial, with prosecutors unable to produce evidence linking Chambers to more than 30 robberies.
As it turns out, he had been stealing to fund his cocaine addiction for some time after being thrown out of Boston University after just one semester.
Murder suspect Robert Chambers ducks under a police line in Central Park, near where he admits to killing Jennifer Levin
The defense presented Levin as a promiscuous young woman, despite the fact that there was no evidence to support the claim beyond the fact that she was a popular student.
However, this was enough to deadlock the jury, and after nine days without a decision, Chambers and his attorneys agreed to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter and burglary.
He was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison and eventually had to serve the full term and additional time for his offenses behind bars.
Chambers claimed after his release that he strangled Levin to prevent her from hurting him during “rough sex.”