Peggy Nadell | Falsely Accused Feline Almost Neuters Complex Millionaire Murder Case

[00:00:00] This is True Crime Psychology and Personality where we discuss the pathology behind some of

[00:00:12] the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective.

[00:00:18] I'm Dr. Todd Grande, I have a Ph.D. in Councilor Education and Supervision, and I'm a licensed

[00:00:25] professional counselor of Mental Health. Dr. Todd Grande, that's my YouTube channel.

[00:00:31] Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Peggy Nadell?

[00:00:35] First, I look at the background of this case, moved to the timeline of the crime, and

[00:00:40] off from my analysis. Peggy Nadell was born on October 11, 1933 in Brooklyn, New York.

[00:00:47] Her parents were wealthy and she enjoyed a life of privilege. She met a man named Robert

[00:00:52] and they became romantically involved. He was extremely successful in the furniture business.

[00:00:58] A couple married and moved to Valley Cottage, New York, which is in Rockland County. They

[00:01:03] had two children, Suzanne and Jim. At first Peggy was a homemaker but then went back to

[00:01:10] college and earned an MBA. She took a job with Xerox and eventually became an executive.

[00:01:17] Her daughter, Suzanne also worked as Xerox and later worked for a hospital. In 1993,

[00:01:23] she married a welder named Bobby. Jim became a mental health professional and worked

[00:01:27] in Florida. He married a woman named Diana. She was from Jamaica and had been married before.

[00:01:34] Jim and Diana had two children together. In November of 2003, Peggy's husband Robert died

[00:01:40] unexpectedly. By this time, Peggy was retired and her net worth was almost $4 million.

[00:01:47] She spent a lot of time with her grandchildren and would give money to her daughter-in-law,

[00:01:52] Diana. Peggy lived alone in Rockland County but both Diana and Suzanne were in regular contact

[00:01:59] with her. Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On Saturday, January 25, 2014, Peggy's

[00:02:06] daughter, Suzanne was unable to reach her. Therefore she drove to Peggy's residence. After

[00:02:12] making entry, Suzanne found 80-year-old Peggy at the bottom of the stairs. There was a knife

[00:02:18] in her chest and it appeared as though Peggy was dead. Suzanne pulled the knife out of her mother's

[00:02:23] chest before calling 911 at around 9 a.m. Suzanne told the operator that Peggy must have tripped

[00:02:30] over a cat at the top of the stairs, fell down the stairs and stabbed herself with the knife

[00:02:37] in the process. The police arrived at the scene and right away their curiosity killed the cat

[00:02:44] homicide theory. It was clear that Peggy had been stabbed multiple times, which would not happen

[00:02:49] falling down steps. In addition, she had been strangled and beaten with a small statue.

[00:02:55] Either she had a cat with a very special set of skills or a human being was the killer.

[00:03:02] Investigators found that there was no forced entry into the house.

[00:03:05] Peggy's wallet, jewelry and computer were missing. Two chairs were pulled out at the kitchen table

[00:03:11] as if Peggy had a visitor recently. No useful physical evidence was recovered from the scene. No

[00:03:17] DNA, no hair, no fingerprints, no blood, no footprints, nothing at all. At 117 a.m. on Saturday,

[00:03:26] Peggy received a phone call from a burner phone. A few minutes later her house alarm was tripped

[00:03:32] at the front door. The security company called her at 123 a.m. Peggy answered the phone. She said

[00:03:40] the code word is max and to disregard the alarm. This was the correct code, therefore the security

[00:03:47] company did not take any action. Initially, the police thought that Suzanne could have been involved

[00:03:52] in her mother's murder, but it didn't take long for them to redirect their efforts toward another

[00:03:57] potential suspect. Investigators started looking into the activity of Diana Nadal,

[00:04:02] Peggy's daughter-in-law who lived in Florida. Diana's husband Jim had an alibi for the night

[00:04:08] of the murder. He was in Florida, but Diana was not with him. She claimed that she was in Washington

[00:04:14] DC at a family wedding. When the police examined her phone activity they noticed that her phone

[00:04:20] wasn't Washington DC on the night of the murder. However, the pattern of activity was unusual.

[00:04:27] The phone was used to contact people who Diana had not contacted before. Some of these people

[00:04:33] were criminals. After 9.30 p.m. on Friday it was not much activity from Diana's phone.

[00:04:39] Normal activity did not resume until 8 a.m. on Saturday.

[00:04:44] The police wanted to learn more about that burner phone that was used to call Peggy right before

[00:04:48] the murder. It had been sold at a family dollar store in Miami, Florida about two miles from Diana's

[00:04:55] residence. Video surveillance from the store captured an associate of Diana's named Karen

[00:05:01] Ham Samuels purchasing the phone on January 23, 2014, two days before the murder. The burner phone

[00:05:08] was activated by a woman named Andrea Benson. This is someone who Diana did not have contact with

[00:05:14] until traveling to Washington DC. So Andrea must have been a new friend.

[00:05:20] Video surveillance from the airport showed that Andrea picked up Diana the day before the murder.

[00:05:25] Investigators checked on the activity from Andrea's phone and found that late on Friday, January 24,

[00:05:32] the phone traveled from Washington DC to New York where Peggy lived. They did not know if Andrea

[00:05:38] was the killer or if Andrea and Diana drove to New York together. The police asked Diana where she

[00:05:44] spent the night in Washington DC and then listened to her phone calls to see her reaction. Diana

[00:05:51] called people and asked them to say they were with her on Friday, January 24. The police knew

[00:05:57] that Diana was trying to cover her tracks. The police interviewed Karen, the woman who bought the

[00:06:03] burner phone in Miami. She told them that Diana told her that she was in Peggy's house on the

[00:06:10] night of the murder. Karen was never charged with any crime. On May 20, 2014, Diana and Andrea

[00:06:18] were arrested in connection with Peggy's murder. Diana asked for an attorney but Andrea unwisely

[00:06:24] decided to talk to the police. Here is the story that she provided them. Andrea's mother was

[00:06:30] supposed to pick up Diana from the airport but was unable. Therefore she asked Andrea to do it.

[00:06:36] Andrea had never met Diana before. They did not know each other at all. After the airport pickup,

[00:06:42] Diana started talking about how she wanted to murder her wealthy mother-in-law and needed some help.

[00:06:49] So Diana was introducing the idea of a murder conspiracy to a complete stranger. Diana

[00:06:55] mentioned how she would be getting a large inheritance from the murder and would be willing

[00:07:00] to pay Andrea $10,000. Due to financial concerns, the idea of having $10,000 was extremely attractive

[00:07:08] to Andrea. After the women talked for about an hour, Andrea was convinced that murder

[00:07:14] was the way to go. The homicidal conspirators contacted a woman named Tanisha Joyner and asked her

[00:07:20] to use Diana's phone in Washington DC. The idea here was to fabricate an owl by four Diana

[00:07:27] as if she had been using her phone in Washington DC the entire time. After giving Tanisha the phone,

[00:07:33] Diana and Andrea drove north through Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to get to New York.

[00:07:40] They arrived at Peggy's house and Diana used the burner phone to call Peggy. Diana indicated

[00:07:45] that she wanted to speak to her. Peggy did not suspect this was a setup for murder

[00:07:50] and she let the women in the house. Diana and Andrea were both wearing hairnets and gloves

[00:07:56] in order to prevent leaving evidence behind. As Andrea watched, Diana and Peggy talked for a few

[00:08:02] minutes at the kitchen table. After this, Peggy went upstairs to use the bathroom. The women followed

[00:08:08] her. When she exited, Andrea wrapped her purse strap around Peggy's neck and tried to strangle her.

[00:08:16] This proved to be more difficult than she thought. Andrea told the police that Peggy just wouldn't

[00:08:21] die. Diana jumped into the attack and beat Peggy in the head with a small statue before retrieving

[00:08:27] a knife and stabbing Peggy to death. The two killers cleaned the crime scene thoroughly and tried

[00:08:33] to make it look as though a robbery had occurred by pulling out drawers and stealing items.

[00:08:38] They drove back to Washington DC and disposed of the items they had stolen.

[00:08:43] Andrea Benson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years to life in

[00:08:49] prison and is eligible for release in May of 2034, when she will be 45 years old.

[00:08:55] Tanisha joined her pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and was given no prison time.

[00:09:00] Initially, Diana Nadell was going to fight the charges. To give herself an advantage,

[00:09:06] she tried to persuade someone to kill Karen and Tanisha. This led to Diana receiving a few

[00:09:12] new charges, including criminal solicitation. Ultimately, she pleaded guilty to first-degree

[00:09:18] murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison. Diana Nadell

[00:09:25] will be eligible for parole in May of 2037, when she is 73 years old. I'm moving to my analysis.

[00:09:33] Here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case. Item number one.

[00:09:38] As I mentioned, the police initially thought that Peggy's daughter Suzanne could have been involved

[00:09:42] in the murder. There are many reasons they believe this. For example, Suzanne pulled the knife out

[00:09:48] of her mother's body. She mentioned that her fingerprints would be on that knife. She stood to gain

[00:09:54] financially from her mother's death. According to the police, she talked about inheriting the money.

[00:10:00] She allegedly said, this is not the way I wanted to get my money. Suzanne offered an implausible theory

[00:10:07] to the 911 operator and to the police about a fumbling, feline furball who foiled a female's footing

[00:10:14] on a flight of stairs. Suzanne frequently visited a shopwright's store not far from her home.

[00:10:20] In the month before the murder, she had bent that store 22 times. On the night of the murder,

[00:10:26] Suzanne changed this routine. She went to a different shopwright's store close to her mother's house

[00:10:32] where she purchased rubber gloves and cleaning supplies. Even though this didn't look too good for

[00:10:37] Suzanne, there were reasons to believe she was not involved. For example, it's clear that whoever

[00:10:43] used the burner phone had done so to announce their presence to gain entry into Peggy's house.

[00:10:48] Perhaps they said something like, I'm here, open the door. Suzanne did not need to do this. She had

[00:10:55] a key to Peggy's house and the code for the alarm system. In addition, there was no unusual activity on

[00:11:02] Suzanne's phone. One would think that committing a murder would have disrupted her normal routine.

[00:11:07] Suzanne made it clear that she was upset with the police for suspecting her of the murder,

[00:11:12] but to be fair, she did seem like a good potential suspect in the beginning. Furthermore,

[00:11:17] the police never arrested her and ultimately they found the real killers. I think the lesson

[00:11:22] learned here is that when stumbling upon a murder scene, don't touch the murder weapon,

[00:11:27] don't talk to the police about how you'll be getting a lot of money and don't implicate any

[00:11:32] cats in the murder. Item number two, in her retirement, Peggy Nadelle was known for enjoying her

[00:11:39] wealth. She wore stylish outfits and expensive jewelry and would frequently go on trips around the

[00:11:44] world. She was described as refined, sophisticated, and having a great sense of fashion. Diana was

[00:11:52] extremely attracted to this lifestyle. She wanted to have everything Peggy had. Peggy was very close

[00:11:59] to Diana and to the grandchildren. She spent a lot of money on them. Prior to the murder,

[00:12:05] Peggy even planned on taking Diana to Italy. Peggy was about 30 years older than Diana.

[00:12:11] Statistically, Peggy was going to die first and Diana would have had access to the inheritance

[00:12:17] through her husband. There is a sense that Diana was impatient and not too good at math. Peggy was

[00:12:23] nothing but kind to Diana and regularly sent her money, but that was not good enough. Diana just

[00:12:29] could not wait to get her hands on Peggy's fortune. Item number three, in some ways Diana Nadelle

[00:12:37] was careful about how she planned the murder like creating an owl by with her phone and wearing

[00:12:42] a hair and gloves. But in other ways she was incredibly haphazard. After landing in Washington,

[00:12:49] DC, she told Andrea, a stranger who was just there to pick her up from the airport that she would

[00:12:55] hire her to commit a homicide. As if this wasn't bizarre enough, Andrea agreed. How reckless,

[00:13:03] impulsive and irresponsible must a person be? To agree to a murder conspiracy with someone

[00:13:08] they just picked up in an airport was Andrea really that sadistic and desperate for money

[00:13:13] at the same time. It seems as though she over-invested in the phrase's opportunity knocks or

[00:13:20] who knows what today might bring. Perhaps she should have been thinking of something like

[00:13:24] temptation is everywhere. Now moving to my final item number four, when Diana and Andrea

[00:13:31] entered Peggy's house to kill her, they had a heated debate about the homicide. Neither one

[00:13:37] wanted to be the person who physically carried out the murder. This behavior in particular reveals

[00:13:44] the degree of sadism, greed and callousness possessed by Diana and Andrea. In Peggy's final moments

[00:13:52] she was forced to witness two people argue about who was going to murder her for her money.

[00:13:59] One of these killers was a person who Peggy trusted and loved. This was the payment Peggy received

[00:14:05] for her kindness, generosity and affection toward her daughter-in-law. As it turns out,

[00:14:10] expressing these traits in relation to Diana was a poor investment. The state of New York should

[00:14:16] keep Diana in prison for her entire life because that is a good investment for the safety of the public.

[00:14:23] This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from R's Longa Media. This content is for

[00:14:37] educational and entertainment purposes only. R's Longa Vita Brevis

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