July 13, 2006 1:07 PM
- Text
Prime Suspect
Martin Tankleff (CBS)
Asked why he didn't consider Steuerman's absence to be connected to the murder, McCready says, "Because he had nothing to do with that murder."
"Didn't his disappearance make your case harder?" Moriarty asks.
"Not that it made it harder, it just — it just added more questions," the former detective says.
Two weeks later, the detectives found Steuerman in Long Beach, Calif., where he was living under an alias.
"I mean, didn't you say to Jerry, you're messing up my case here?" Moriarty asks McCready.
"Something like that. I remember saying something to that effect, yes," McCready recalls.
Steuerman returned home claiming his personal and financial problems caused him to flee. "I couldn't take it anymore. I had too many problems and it's just 20 years of building up, that's all," Jerry Steuerman said. "So I staged my death."
"Is it possible Jerry hired someone?" Moriarty asks McCready.
"Nope," McCready says. "He couldn't. That man couldn't hurt a fly."
One month after the Tankleff's were attacked, Seymour died, without ever regaining consciousness.
Marty was then charged with two murders and, a year and a half later, went on trial. "I think every emotion ran through me, scared, fearful, but I was also hopeful," Marty remembers. "Because I knew I was innocent. And I always believed that innocent men don't get found guilty."
By far, the most damaging evidence against Marty was his confession. But there was little physical evidence to back it up. None of Marty's hair nor blood was found on his parents. His mother Arlene had clearly fought her attacker, yet, Marty had no cuts or bruises, only some swelling in his eyes from a nose job he got for his 17th birthday.
The jurors also heard from the man the detectives had dismissed as a suspect.
Steuerman denied any involvement in the Tankleff murders but did admit that he had owed Seymour Tankleff hundreds of thousands of dollars. What's more, he was upset that Seymour was demanding a share of the bagel store Jerry was setting up for his son.
Under intense questioning, Steuerman snapped.
"Marty Tankleff sitting over there is accused of this and I am not!" Steuerman said. "Only mistake that I made in my lifetime, the only mistake I made was I was a poor man living like a millionaire!"
By contrast, Marty was composed on the stand, perhaps too composed, as he tried to explain why he would confess to something he didn't do.
"They were saying my father said I did this. My father never lied to me," Marty said in court.
After a week's deliberation, the jury reached its verdict: guilty.
"It was as hard as the day I learned my sister was killed," Marty's aunt Marianne tearfully remembers.
Marty was sentenced to 50 years to life but, 12 years into that sentence, private investigator Jay Salpeter stepped in.
And he has found a witness who is ready to reveal a secret, and a son who is ready to turn in his own father.
© 2006 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Didn't his disappearance make your case harder?" Moriarty asks.
"Not that it made it harder, it just — it just added more questions," the former detective says.
Two weeks later, the detectives found Steuerman in Long Beach, Calif., where he was living under an alias.
"I mean, didn't you say to Jerry, you're messing up my case here?" Moriarty asks McCready.
"Something like that. I remember saying something to that effect, yes," McCready recalls.
Steuerman returned home claiming his personal and financial problems caused him to flee. "I couldn't take it anymore. I had too many problems and it's just 20 years of building up, that's all," Jerry Steuerman said. "So I staged my death."
"Is it possible Jerry hired someone?" Moriarty asks McCready.
"Nope," McCready says. "He couldn't. That man couldn't hurt a fly."
One month after the Tankleff's were attacked, Seymour died, without ever regaining consciousness.
Marty was then charged with two murders and, a year and a half later, went on trial. "I think every emotion ran through me, scared, fearful, but I was also hopeful," Marty remembers. "Because I knew I was innocent. And I always believed that innocent men don't get found guilty."
By far, the most damaging evidence against Marty was his confession. But there was little physical evidence to back it up. None of Marty's hair nor blood was found on his parents. His mother Arlene had clearly fought her attacker, yet, Marty had no cuts or bruises, only some swelling in his eyes from a nose job he got for his 17th birthday.
The jurors also heard from the man the detectives had dismissed as a suspect.
Steuerman denied any involvement in the Tankleff murders but did admit that he had owed Seymour Tankleff hundreds of thousands of dollars. What's more, he was upset that Seymour was demanding a share of the bagel store Jerry was setting up for his son.
Under intense questioning, Steuerman snapped.
"Marty Tankleff sitting over there is accused of this and I am not!" Steuerman said. "Only mistake that I made in my lifetime, the only mistake I made was I was a poor man living like a millionaire!"
By contrast, Marty was composed on the stand, perhaps too composed, as he tried to explain why he would confess to something he didn't do.
"They were saying my father said I did this. My father never lied to me," Marty said in court.
After a week's deliberation, the jury reached its verdict: guilty.
"It was as hard as the day I learned my sister was killed," Marty's aunt Marianne tearfully remembers.
Marty was sentenced to 50 years to life but, 12 years into that sentence, private investigator Jay Salpeter stepped in.
And he has found a witness who is ready to reveal a secret, and a son who is ready to turn in his own father.
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