The murder of Gail Katz-Bierenbaum
New York, New York County, New York · 1985
Overview
Gail Katz-Bierenbaum, 29, a graduate student in clinical psychology, vanished on July 7, 1985 from the Upper East Side apartment she shared with her husband, Robert Bierenbaum, a surgical resident. He told police she had left after an argument to sunbathe in Central Park. Detectives doubted him but had no body, weapon or witness. In October 1986 an investigator for the Manhattan District Attorney learned that he had rented a Cessna 172 at a New Jersey airport that same day, a flight he never mentioned. A torso that washed ashore on Staten Island in 1989 was identified as hers from X-rays and buried. When the case was reopened in 1998, DNA showed it was not. Investigators re-interviewed the women Bierenbaum had dated since, who described accounts of Gail's disappearance that kept changing. He was indicted in December 1999. At trial in October 2000, prosecutors relied on circumstantial evidence: the hidden flight, his shifting stories, Gail's statements to friends, and a police demonstration of dropping a 110-pound bag from the same type of plane. The jury convicted him of second-degree murder after less than six hours, and he was sentenced to 20 years to life. In December 2020 he admitted at a parole hearing that he had strangled her and dropped her body into the Atlantic. It has never been found.
How it was solved
The case was solved by going back to the paperwork and the people. In 1985 Bierenbaum told two detectives he stayed home until about 5:30 p.m. on July 7, the day Gail disappeared. In September 1986 Hope Martin, an investigator for the Manhattan District Attorney, learned he was a licensed pilot, and on October 17, 1986 she learned he had rented a Cessna 172 from an aircraft company at Caldwell Airport in New Jersey that day and was flying by 4:30 p.m. Forensic examinations of the plane and two cars found nothing, and the investigation closed in April 1987. A torso found on Staten Island in 1989 was matched to Gail by X-rays and buried, but when investigator Andy Rosenzweig reopened the file in 1998 the remains were exhumed and DNA showed they were not hers. That result removed the evidence that she was dead and started a fresh round of interviews with friends, colleagues and women Bierenbaum had dated in Las Vegas and North Dakota. Their accounts of what he had said about Gail's disappearance did not match one another. A grand jury indicted him on December 8, 1999. At trial in October 2000, eleven witnesses were allowed to repeat what Gail had told them about her fear of his temper, with the judge instructing jurors it was background and not proof. Prosecutors Dan Bibb and Steve Saracco showed videotaped flights in which a police pilot dropped a 110-pound bag from the same type of plane, and an FAA inspector testified a pilot could do it alone. The jury convicted after less than six hours. In December 2020, at a parole hearing, Bierenbaum admitted the killing.
Sources
- Bierenbaum v. Graham, 607 F.3d 36 (2d Cir. May 25, 2010)
“Over the years between Katz's disappearance and his trial for her murder, Bierenbaum offered various accounts of his activities and various theories concerning her whereabouts. Consistently absent from any of his accounts of his activities on Sunday, July 7, 1985 was the fact that he rented an airplane in New Jersey that afternoon and went flying.”
- Intimations of Murder (September 2000)
“The day Gail disappeared he rented a Cessna 172 from an airport in Caldwell, New Jersey, and took it out on a 1.9-hour flight.”
- Patient Confidentiality at Issue in 1985 Murder Case (2000)
“Three psychiatrists have now testified that after brief consultations, they deemed Dr. Bierenbaum to be dangerous.”
- Tarasoff Warning Does Not Waive Psychotherapy Privilege, Judge Rules (October 20, 2000)
“In a September 12 ruling, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder emphasized that the New York statute governing psychotherapist-patient privilege allows a court to overrule the privilege only in rare circumstances.”
- Ex-Las Vegan convicted in death (October 25, 2000)
“Deliberating less than six hours, a Manhattan jury on Tuesday convicted former Las Vegas plastic surgeon Robert Bierenbaum of murdering his first wife 15 years ago.”
- Bierenbaum sentencing: Former LV doctor gets 20-to-life (November 30, 2000)
“The case sat dormant until about two years ago when investigators interviewed more witnesses, including several Las Vegas women who dated Bierenbaum when he lived there between 1989 and 1996.”
- Ex-surgeon confesses he took wife's 'body out of the airplane over the ocean'
“Bierenbaum, an experienced pilot who had been convicted on circumstantial evidence, was serving his 20 years-to-life prison sentence when he made the chilling confession during a December 2020 parole board hearing.”
- Former New York surgeon admits killing wife, throwing body from airplane in 1985
“He never told investigators about the flight. He also gave inconsistent statements about his wife’s disappearance to various women he dated after Katz vanished.”