by John Glatt
Then they looked around the room, which was covered in blood and feces.
“There’s a little day toilet,” Green said. “It looked like she had run in there, because there were blood spatters all the way around.”
Then he and Ben went back outside, where Narcy was waiting in the car. Ben got in the car and told Narcy that his mother was dead, as several neighbors came over to see what was happening.
At 8:33 A.M., Ben put in another call to the police, reporting his mother dead.
“Ben was a little distraught and sat in the front of the car with his head in his lap,” said Bill Green. “Narcy was there, and she didn’t say anything.”
* * *
At 8:39 A.M., two EMS officers from Fort Lauderdale Fire Department Rescue 54 officially pronounced Bernice Novack dead—thirty-four years to the day after her late husband’s passing. Then patrol officers James Hayes and Kelli Phillips arrived and began securing the house with yellow crime scene tape.
They briefly interviewed Ben Novack Jr., who told them that his mother suffered from asthma.
“Novack did advise that his mother fell on a sidewalk a week prior,” the officers later reported, “and had to go to Imperial Point Hospital. The hospital took X-rays and released Bernice Novack the same day.”
At 8:55 A.M., Fort Lauderdale Police crime scene investigator Carol Coval arrived to process the scene. By coincidence, she had also processed Ben Novack Jr.’s house after the 2002 home invasion.
The forensic investigator placed protective booties over her shoes before entering the house through the front door. She then did a cursory walk-through of the house.
“The house’s flooring was large white tiles,” she later wrote in her report. “Off the living room was a half bath and leading into and out of the bathroom was dried blood and fecal matter on the tile floor. The toilet was full of blood. Black panties were on the floor in front of the toilet.”
She then followed the trail of blood through the living room, dining room, and into the kitchen. From there the blood trail went into the laundry room and out the door that led into the garage. It finished up in Bernice’s car, which was covered in dried blood.
“Sitting below the open driver’s car door on the concrete garage floor,” wrote Coval, “were her eyeglasses.”
Inside the car, Coval found blood on the front passenger and driver’s seat areas, and on the center console.
“It appeared that blood had been smeared on the seat,” Coval noted. “Blood was also found on the side of the driver’s door.”
Coval then examined Bernice Novack’s body, which was lying facedown in the laundry room as if she had taken an ugly fall.
“She was cold to the touch,” Coval reported. “She was in full rigor, it appears she broke her front teeth when she fell and she had a laceration to her left cheek. Her left middle finger was lacerated and broken.”
Coval then removed several gold bracelets, necklaces, and an anklet from the body, placing them in a bowl in the laundry room. She also observed a full glass of white wine on the dining room table and “numerous prescription medications” in the bedroom.
* * *
At 9:25 A.M., Detectives Mark Shotwell and Brad Jenkins arrived at the house to investigate Bernice Novack’s death.
“On entering the residence via the front door,” Detective Shotwell wrote in his subsequent report, “I noted both drip and smear blood mixed with feces and a [pair] of soiled underwear in the bathroom off the living room.”
Then, as Officer Coval carefully photographed the body and the death scene, Detective Shotwell went back outside.
“No signs of forced entry were noted,” he wrote. “The front door was locked on Ben’s arrival as were all remaining doors/windows with the exception of the garage.”
He went back inside the house for a second look, finding nothing suspicious to make him think this was anything but a tragic accident.
“Nothing appeared disturbed or ransacked,” he reported. “Novack’s purse and jewelry were in open view. No footprints were found leading away from any of the blood trails or laundry room floor.”
He also noted an almost full glass of white wine on the dining room table, and an empty 1.5 liter chardonnay bottle in the recycling bin.
Outside the house, he interviewed Ben Novack Jr., who said his mother had suffered a serious fall a week earlier and had been treated in a hospital emergency room.
“[Bernice] Novack had complained of dizziness and not felt well since,” wrote Shotwell. “Ben Novack also stated that his mother did not drink white wine and questioned why the glass was on the table.”
Novack also informed the detective that he was a retired police officer, and was concerned that the hospital where his mother was examined after her fall had missed something. He advised Shotwell to have the glass of wine tested.
Detective Shotwell also interviewed Bill and Rebecca Greene and several other neighbors.
The detective then went back inside the house to make a closer examination of the death scene. He concluded that Bernice Novack had been alone when she began bleeding and then collapsed, as all the doors leading out of the house were dead bolted and there were no footprints in her blood other than her own.
“The blood trail started inside or near her vehicle,” he wrote in his report, “and then proceeded into the residence where she attempted to ‘clean up’ at the sink. Novack then moved to the bathroom as she lost control of her bowels, dripping blood and feces as she walked. Novack appears to have then reversed direction and moved back through the kitchen to the laundry room where she collapsed.”
* * *
An hour earlier, Ben Novack Jr. had called Charlie Seraydar with the sad news, as Narcy comforted him in his car.
“He said he found his mother dead,” Seraydar recalled, “so I ran over there and arrived before they [had] even removed the body.”
Seraydar waited outside with Ben and Narcy while the police worked inside.
“[Narcy] was very close to Ben and very supportive,” Seraydar said later. “She sat right next to him and held his hand.”
Close to tears, Narcy told Seraydar how she and Bernice had planned to go shopping that very morning.
“I found that to be very odd,” said Seraydar, “after all these years.”
At around 10:30 A.M., the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office collected Bernice Novack’s body, transporting it to the ME’s office for autopsy. Bernice’s prescription medications were also taken for analysis.
Fifteen minutes later, Detective Shotwell secured the house, giving Ben Novack Jr. his mother’s jewelry and having him lock the door and set the alarm. Shotwell then placed evidence tape over the locks of the front door, the garage door, and the side door into the garage.
At 1:30 P.M., Dr. Khalil Wardak of the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office contacted Detective Shotwell, saying he wanted to view the residence to help him determine the cause of death.
Ben Novack Jr. then returned to unlock the front door and turn off the alarm.
Dr. Wardak arrived at 2:15 P.M. and spent about forty minutes inspecting the scene with Detective Shotwell and Officer Coval. He left at 2:55 P.M., and once again Ben Novack Jr. locked up the residence and reset the alarm.
* * *
At 9:30 that morning, Estelle Fernandez had called Bernice Novack, as they had plans to meet. There was no answer, so she’d left a message, saying she hoped Bernice felt better and assumed she was probably out early.
Several hours later, Fernandez received a phone call from Ben Novack Jr.
“He said, ‘Bernice passed away,’” Fernandez recalled. “It was very cold … I was shocked.”
He then put Narcy on the phone to explain what had happened.
“Narcy said there had been an accident,” Estelle said. “That [Bernice] must have started bleeding from the nose. She then threw a tissue in the sink and ran to go to the bathroom and didn’t make it and had a bowel movement ove
r everything. That’s what Narcy told me.”
Narcy proceeded to explain in graphic detail how Bernice had tried to change her underwear and clean herself, but had then fallen down.
“She just couldn’t deal with it and she passed away,” Fernandez said. “That’s exactly what Narcy told me.”
THIRTY-FOUR
“THE MANNER OF DEATH IS DETERMINED TO BE: ACCIDENT”
At 8:50 A.M. on Monday, April 6, crime scene investigator Carol Coval arrived at the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office at 5301 SW Thirty-First Avenue for Bernice Novack’s autopsy. She walked in the morgue to find Bernice Novack’s body on a metal gurney. Bernice was wearing her blue nightgown, covered in blood, and the sandals she had been found in. Coval photographed the body with 35 mm color film.
At 9:10 A.M., Broward County associate medical examiner Dr. Iouri G. Boiko began the autopsy by doing a rape kit. Detectives Mark Shotwell and Brad Jenkins were there as witnesses, as well as Investigator Coval.
Dr. Boiko opened up the body with the thoracoabdominal “Y” incision that stretched from the shoulders to the breastbone and extended down from the sternum to the pubic bone. Dr. Boiko then peeled back the skin and removed the chest plate. There were no injuries or buildup of fluid in any of the body cavities. He also found no evidence of blunt force or other injuries to the thoracoabdominal area. The cardiovascular system was in good condition for a woman Bernice’s age, as was her respiratory system.
However, the medical examiner did find several serious blunt force injuries to the head. Bernice Novack had a left frontotemporal depressed fracture at the base of her skull, with internal bleeding. She had also suffered a traumatic brain injury, with bruising to her brain. Dr. Boiko found that her jaw was fractured in several places, and there were cuts and bruises all over her body. The third left finger, where she had once worn Ben Novack Sr.’s diamond wedding ring, was fractured.
He also observed crusted abrasions to her knees and her left leg, where she had fallen a week before her death. These were in the process of healing.
In his autopsy report, Dr. Boiko wrote that Bernice Novack had suffered from bronchial asthma, and noted her recent fall outside the Bank of America.
He listed the official cause of death as accidental, but did not clarify whether it had been caused by the earlier fall or this one.
“This 86-year-old white female, Bernice Novack,” he wrote, “died as a result of blunt force injuries of head sustained in an unwitnessed fall at her home. The manner of death is determined to be: ACCIDENT.”
* * *
Later, Dr. Khalil Wardak of the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office would claim he knew from the beginning that Bernice Novack had not died a natural death, but had been overruled by his superiors.
“When I examined the body,” he later testified, “it did not speak of accidental death, because of the amount of injuries. From my training. I did not think it was a fall. I’ve never seen any injuries like this from someone falling. I expressed my concern.”
* * *
A few hours earlier, Estelle Fernandez received a frantic phone call from Ben Novack Jr.complaining that his mother’s treasured five-carat diamond ring was missing. “He said, ‘You know my father gave my mother a ring,’” she said. “‘Well I can’t find it. Do you now where it is?’” Estelle said it must be around the house, as Bernice always wore it.
After hanging up, Novack called Charlie Seraydar, saying he suspected one of the crime scene officers of taking his mother’s ring, and asked what to do. The ex-cop warned him not to accuse any officer of stealing the ring, otherwise he would get no cooperation into any ensuing investigation into his mother’s death.
“He thought it had been taken off her body,” Seraydar said. “I told him to wait until he could get into her bank safety deposit box, and make sure it was not there.”
Nevertheless, Novack did call Fort Lauderdale Police, demanding they come back and search for the ring.
So, after leaving the Medical Examiner’s Office, Detectives Mark Shotwell and Brad Jenkins returned to Bernice Novack’s house. When they arrived, they were met by Ben and Narcy Novack and Charlie Seraydar. The detectives then made a complete video recording of the house, in case of any future legal action relating to the missing ring.
While in the garage, Detective Shotwell now concentrated on a sharp window frame over the driver’s side door of Bernice’s Infiniti. He theorized that Bernice may have been drinking before going out to the car, and then fell and hit her head on the window frame.
“The sharp corner appeared consistent in both size and height to have caused the puncture/skull fracture to the [left] side of Novack’s head. This would also explain Novack’s broken glasses found near the open driver’s door.”
Detective Jenkins then took blood swabs from the vehicle, laundry room, and bathroom. He also collected Bernice’s broken glasses and the wineglass from the dining room table, placing them both in separate evidence bags.
At 3:00 P.M., 2757 NE Thirty-Seventh Drive was turned over to Ben Novack Jr., as the Fort Lauderdale Police Department’s investigation was officially over.
* * *
After the police left, Charlie Seraydar walked through the death scene with Ben and Narcy Novack. The former detective saw nothing to make him think that Bernice Novack’s death might have been the result of foul play.
“I didn’t see anything out of place,” Seraydar said. “This woman was a very independent lady, and she had [already] taken a very bad fall and injured herself.”
Ben Jr. thought otherwise. He was convinced that his mother’s death had been caused by something other than an accidental fall.
“Benji and I talked extensively,” Seraydar said. “The bottom line was that there was blood everywhere. You could clearly see where she hit her head on the Formica table top, and it just looked like the lady had bled out.”
Ben and Narcy then took Seraydar out for lunch at Alexander’s Restaurant in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Over the meal, they talked about Bernice, as Narcy consoled her husband.
“We all had a very good talk,” recalled Seraydar. “And there were questions that he brought up about the wineglasses on the table, saying she doesn’t drink wine. I just said, ‘Ben, your mother fell a week earlier.’”
Finally, Seraydar advised Ben to hire Pat Franklin to photograph the death scene, which he did. “He was very shook up and very suspicious,” the private investigator recalled of Novack. “He didn’t buy that her death was a fall. He goes, ‘Something’s wrong. My mom never drank white wine. There’s no way she would leave a dirty glass either.’”
Novack also questioned why there was blood all over house if his mother had simply fallen. Somewhat wary of Ben Novack Jr. after working on his 2002 home invasion, Franklin advised waiting until police and autopsy reports became available.
“I said, ‘Call me when the police have wrapped up their investigation, and when the ME’s Office releases the body. I will go and get the autopsy report.’”
Novack replied that it would be difficult, as he was going out of town. When the investigator asked when he would be back, Ben said he didn’t know, because he had business to attend to.
* * *
A few hours earlier, Narcy Novack had called her brother Cristobal complaining that Ben was furious as one of Bernice Novack’s rings was missing. Soon afterward, Veliz confronted Alejandro Garcia at the car wash, demanding the ring back.
“Cristobal was kind of bossy,” Garcia said. “He said, ‘I’m looking for a gold graduation ring you took. I need that ring.’”
Garcia denied taking anything except Bernice’s car key ring.
When Veliz asked how much money he wanted for the gold ring, Garcia became annoyed. “So I took out the old lady’s key ring and he told me to throw it away,” Garcia said. “So I threw it in a large garbage can in the gas station.”
Veliz then congratulated Garcia on doing a good job with the old lady, and Gar
cia asked how she was.
“He said, ‘She’s fine,’” said Garcia. “‘And don’t worry as she’s in hospital. Forget about her.’”
Then Garcia asked about the money still owed him. Veliz said he had already given Medrano $2,000 in addition to the $600 he already had. Realizing he’d been cheated, Garcia said he was going to beat up Medrano.
Veliz told him to calm down, saying he had a far bigger job in mind for him.
“He said, ‘Don’t worry, I have money for you,’” said Garcia. “This time I would be the boss and pay Melvin, so I could get even. He said I was going make some real money.”
* * *
That night, Narcy Novack arranged for Bernice to be cremated as soon as possible, followed by a Friday memorial service. The cremation was carried out within twenty-four hours, at the Blasberg-Rubin-Zilbert Memorial Chapel on Seventy-First Street, Miami Beach, before any of Bernice’s family or friends could be properly notified.
Maxine Fiel said that she was given no time to make arrangements to attend her sister’s funeral. “She was cremated so fast,” said Maxine. “Everything was done real quick. Details were kept from me about where it was taking place. Maybe they didn’t want me there because I would have asked questions. Bernice was very upset about many things in that marriage.”
* * *
Early Tuesday morning, Ben Jr. and Narcy went to the Bank of America to check the safe-deposit boxes he jointly owned with his late mother for her still-missing ring. He eventually found it in one of her boxes, and surmised that she had put it in there the day of her fall outside the bank.
Then Narcy helped him move all his mother’s priceless jewelry and heirlooms into another of his safe-deposit boxes. Narcy paid special attention to the fabulous pieces of jewelry—many of which Bernice had worn at the Fontainebleau—for they would soon be hers.
THIRTY-FIVE
THE FUNERAL
On Thursday, April 9, The Miami Herald printed Bernice Novack’s full-page obituary. Reporter Michael Vasquez conducted a rare interview with Ben Novack Jr., who revealed personal details that his mother had always kept hidden. She would have been even more horrified that the obituary, entitled “Fashion Model, Hotelier’s Wife,” said that she was a year older than she actually was.
