With Martin Tankleff's recent release (after 17 years behind bars) and the appointment of none other than New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as a special prosecutor in the murder investigation, there's more attention paid to who may or may not have been responsible for the murder of Seymour Tankleff and his wife Arlene in 1988. At the time, prosecutors pegged the cold-blooded killing on their 17-year-old son Martin, claiming that the distraught teenager copped to killing his parents in hope of getting an early inheritance.
Martin Tankleff's parents were beaten and stabbed to death in their home, Tankleff had his conviction vacated recently. Not only was Tankleff's rambling confession prompted by cops claiming his father accused him from his deathbed, but some evidence about Seymour Tankleff's business associate Jerard Steuerman, the self-identified bagel king of Long Island, and Steuerman's possible involvement in the murders led to Tankleff's release.
Steuerman was a successful entrepreneur who ran a bagel business with multiple outlets. He went into business with Tankleff after the latter's successful career as an insurance broker. Steuerman wasn present at the Tankleffs' home the night of the couple's death, playing poker with Seymour Tankleff. Oddly, following the murder of the Tankleff's, Steuerman faked his own death and moved to California under an assumed name. And Steuerman owed the Tankleff's half a million dollars, loaned at a fairly high interest rate.
The intricate relationships are broken down in a chart from the NY Times; for instance, Tankleff's half-sister still believes that he is guilty of the crime, but because he was found guilty, she inherited a larger portion of their parents' estate. Cuomo said of taking the case from Suffolk County prosecutors, "My office is ready to start moving forward with this investigation right away, including gathering the information already collected by law enforcement and Mr. Tankleff's attorneys. We will follow the evidence wherever it leads us."
Newsday has a fairly comprehensive collection of articles and video regarding the case.
Graphics from The New York Times and 1990 photograph of Martin Tankleff at trial from Newsday
