Oxygen is re-airing the Dateline: Secrets Uncovered investigation into the murder of Shele Covlin, who was strangled to death by her estranged husband, Roderick “Rod” Covlin, at her apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York.
On the morning of December 31, 2009, Shele’s 9-year-old daughter found the body of her 47-year-old mother lying face down in a bathtub of bloody water. A nearby medicine cabinet hung from its hinges as if Shele had slipped and tried to hold onto it.
Shele’s estranged husband, Rod, lived in the apartment across the hall. The pair were going through an acrimonious divorce but had decided to live close to each other for the sake of their two young children.
Rod telephoned the police and told them his wife had fallen in the bath, and the cops believed him. The NYPD said they found no sign of blood anywhere else in the apartment; however, they failed to treat the area as a crime scene, and no fingerprints were taken.
Shele’s remains were buried without an autopsy within two days due to her family’s strict following of Orthodox Jewish burial practices. Her death was registered as undetermined.
However, a year later, the family requested that Shele be exhumed and an autopsy performed as they’d begun to suspect Rod may have killed her.
Rod Covlin killed Shele Covlin to steal her money
A coroner learned that Shele’s neck had been squeezed with such force it fractured the hyoid bone, causing bleeding in her right eye. Her death was marked as a homicide.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThe cops later learned that the day before she died, Shele told her estranged husband that she would be removing him as a beneficiary from her $5 million will. The police concluded that Rod killed his wife purely for greed so he could take her money.
Rod’s behavior had plummeted to further depths of depravity; he had plotted to kill his parents in a plan to gain custody of his children, and at one point, he even attempted to frame his daughter for Shele’s murder.
Rod Covlin convicted and sentenced for Shele Covlin murder
Eventually, in 2019, Rod Covlin was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years to life. He is currently incarcerated at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, NY.
Rod continues to maintain his innocence and claims Shele lost her balance as a result of anorexia and osteoporosis. In 2023, he launched another appeal claiming the prosecution had lied and fabricated evidence.
This episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered re-airs Thursday at 11/10c on Oxygen.