Solved case · 1996
Also known as Howard Pilmar case
The short answer
Howard Pilmar was killed at his Manhattan business in 1996, and his wife and brother-in-law were convicted more than two decades later.
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Jurors from Howard Pilmar’s murder trial had difficulty reaching verdict
48 HoursVideo · YouTube · 2 min · 2019Titles and descriptions are the creators’ own and may not reflect current legal status. The sourced facts are in the file below. Players load only when you press play. Suggest coverage we’re missing.
Howard Pilmar, a 40-year-old New York businessman, was found stabbed to death early on March 22, 1996, inside the building housing King Office Supply at 14 East 33rd Street in Manhattan. Pilmar was the company's president and also owned coffee shops. Court filings describe no eyewitness to the killing and no recovered murder weapon. A blood drop found near the body was later matched to Pilmar's brother-in-law, Evan Wald, but the investigation did not produce immediate charges.
The case remained open for more than two decades. New York's Appellate Division later said investigators continued reinterviewing witnesses and conducting forensic testing as they sought evidence sufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors obtained an indictment in 2017 against Howard's wife, Roslyn Pilmar, and her brother, Wald. The prosecution was almost entirely circumstantial and included evidence about the defendants' whereabouts, a possible financial motive, and Wald's blood at the scene. Both defendants denied responsibility.
After a joint trial in New York County Supreme Court, a jury convicted Roslyn Pilmar and Evan Wald of second-degree murder in March 2019. On July 8, 2019, Justice Gilbert C. Hong sentenced each to 25 years to life in prison. The verdict resolved a homicide that had been a cold case for roughly 21 years before indictment and 23 years before conviction.
Roslyn Pilmar challenged the delay before indictment and other aspects of her trial. On April 6, 2021, the Appellate Division, First Department, unanimously affirmed her conviction and sentence. Wald raised similar delay arguments and separately challenged the use of an autopsy report prepared by a medical examiner who did not testify. On April 18, 2023, the same appellate court unanimously affirmed his conviction and sentence, finding the investigative delay adequately explained and the circumstantial evidence sufficient to sustain the verdict. A later New York court decision records that Wald was denied further state review and that the United States Supreme Court denied certiorari in 2024.
It does not attribute disputed allegations to uncharged people or treat documentary retellings as evidence. The location uses the Midtown Manhattan entity because the cited court materials place King Office Supply on East 33rd Street; its coordinates identify the neighborhood generally rather than the interior crime scene.
Howard Pilmar was found stabbed to death at King Office Supply on East 33rd Street in Manhattan.
Prosecutors indicted Roslyn Pilmar and Evan Wald for second-degree murder.
A New York County jury convicted Pilmar and Wald of second-degree murder.
Pilmar and Wald were each sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed Roslyn Pilmar's conviction and sentence.
The Appellate Division unanimously affirmed Evan Wald's conviction and sentence.
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
A 40-year-old businessman found killed at King Office Supply in Midtown Manhattan in 1996.[3]
Howard Pilmar's brother-in-law; convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.[2]
Howard Pilmar's wife; convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.[1]
From the record
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