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Robert Chambers Biography & Facts

Robert Emmet Chambers Jr. (born September 25, 1966) is an American criminal and convicted killer. He was dubbed the Preppy Killer and the Central Park Strangler by the media after the August 26, 1986, strangulation death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in New York City's Central Park, for which he was originally charged with second degree murder. Chambers changed his story several times during the course of the ensuing investigation, ultimately claiming that Levin's death was the accidental result of him pushing her off of him when she caused him pain as she sexually assaulted him, an account that was characterized by media accounts as one of "rough sex". Chambers later pleaded guilty to manslaughter after a jury failed to reach a verdict after nine days of deliberation. Early life Robert Emmett Chambers was born on September 25, 1966, the only child of Phyllis Chambers, an Irish-born nurse, and Robert Chambers Sr., who worked for MCA Records and later in videocassette distribution. The family inititally lived in the working-class neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, and later moved to Manhattan. Chambers grew up attending fancy prep schools in New York City's wealthy Upper East Side. Though not affluent, Chambers' mother worked to pay for his childhood attendance at the prestigious York Preparatory School on the Upper East Side, though scholarships assisted in this. The fact that his family had far less money than his classmates created social problems for Chambers, including difficulty socializing with his peers. By the time he reached college age, Chambers had descended into a life of petty theft, alcoholism, and drug use. Chambers was accepted by Boston University, but was asked to leave after one semester for reasons which included the use of a stolen credit card. He later committed other petty thefts and burglaries in connection with his drug and alcohol abuse. Unable to hold a job, Chambers was issued a summons for disorderly conduct one night after leaving Dorrian's Red Hand, a bar located at 300 East 84th Street in Manhattan. He destroyed the summons as the police were leaving the scene, yelling, "You fucking cowards, you should stick to niggers!" Killing of Jennifer Levin Background Chambers’ girlfriend at the time of the murder was future television actress Alex Kapp. The couple broke up after Chambers stole Kapp's $50 allowance and according to Kapp, after Levin had started to pursue him, Levin and Chambers briefly dated. On the day of the murder, both were at Dorrian's Red Hand. Finding of the body A bicyclist found Levin's half-naked corpse on August 26, 1986, at about 6:15 a.m., in Central Park near Fifth Avenue and 83rd Street, behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her body was lying twisted by a tree, with her bra and top pulled up. Levin's body and face were covered in scratches and bite marks. Deep red marks were across her neck, her left eye was swollen, and her fingernails were bruised, suggesting that in her final moments she had tried to pull down whatever had been strangling her. Chambers hid and watched as police officers surveyed the scene. Investigators found Levin's underwear some 50 yards (46 m) away. Levin's autopsy was performed by associate medical examiner Dr. Maria Luz Alandy, who determined that Levin had been strangled. Levin was estimated to have died around 5:30 a.m. Arrest and trial After several of Dorrian's patrons told police that they had last seen Levin leaving the bar with Chambers, police went to his home. Upon arrival, they saw that Chambers had fresh and bloody scratches on both sides of his face, which he blamed on his cat before later admitting his cat was declawed. Chambers agreed to accompany police to the Central Park precinct for questioning. There he was asked if he left Dorrian's with Levin, which he denied. After police told him that bar patrons had witnessed him leaving with Levin, he admitted that he had. He said that she quickly went to buy cigarettes. Detectives pointed out that Levin did not smoke and Chambers admitted that she had not gone for cigarettes. He then claimed that she cajoled him into going to Central Park to have sex and she died during an aggressive sexual encounter in the park. Before booking, Chambers was permitted to see his father, to whom he said, "That fucking bitch, why didn't she leave me alone?" Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick of Newark, New Jersey, later Archbishop of Washington, wrote a letter of support for Chambers' bail application. He had known Chambers and his mother because she had been employed as a nurse by Cardinal Terence Cooke. McCarrick was close to the Chambers family and had served as Robert's godfather at his baptism. In 2019, he was defrocked for sex offenses against adults and minors. Chambers had secured bail through his family and the owner of the bar, Jack Dorrian, who put up his townhouse as collateral for a bail bond. Chambers was charged with, and tried for, two counts of second-degree murder. His defense was that Levin's death had occurred during "rough sex". He was defended by Jack Litman, who had previously used the temporary insanity defense on behalf of Richard Herrin for the murder of Yale University student Bonnie Garland. Litman claimed Levin was promiscuous, saying she had a sex diary and that her sexual history was admissible as evidence, prompting headlines such as "How Jennifer Courted Death" in New York's Daily News. On remand, Chambers was filmed twisting off the head of a Barbie doll and saying, "Oops, I think I killed her." Prosecutor Linda Fairstein stated: "In more than 8,000 cases of reported assaults in the last ten years, this is the first in which a male reported being sexually assaulted by a female." Chambers' trial began on January 4, 1988, and lasted 13 weeks. Alandy testified on February 9 that pinpoint hemorrhages observed in the soft tissue around Levin's eyes could be caused by a constriction of the blood vessels in the neck. She explained that this was evidence of compression of her neck, and an indication that she had been strangled. When Chambers' attorney, Jack Litman, suggested on cross-examination that Chambers could have choked Levin in an arm lock that could cause death in seconds, and that the marks on her neck could have been made when she quickly moved her head from side to side in a struggle for air, Alandy stated that while such an occurrence was possible, this did not occur in Levin's case. She also stated that while some of the injuries on Levin's neck could have been caused by Chambers' wristwatch and shirt, rather than his hands, her injuries overall were not consistent with the scenario Litman described. When the jury failed to reach a verdict after nine days of deliberation, the prosecution and Chambers agreed to a plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, which carried a sentence of between five and fifteen years. He was also required to admit that he intended to hurt Levin suff.... Discover the Robert Chambers popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert Chambers books.