N.Y. Missing Body Murder Trial Begins

N E W   Y O R K, Oct. 2, 2000 -- Despite having no body in their case, New York prosecutors told jurors today in opening statements that all circumstantial evidence will prove a plastic surgeon is guilty of murdering his wife 15 years ago.

Dr. Robert Bierenbaum could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the presumed death of his wife, Gail Katz-Bierenbaum. She disappeared in 1985, and prosecutors believe Dr. Bierenbaum killed her in their Manhattan apartment, packaged her remains, and dumped her body from a plane over the Atlantic Ocean. Prosecutors have uncovered records that showBierenbaum rented a plane in New Jersey for more than two hours on the day his wife disappeared.

Bierenbaum has denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance. According to police reports and court documents, he has maintained that he and Katz-Bierenbaum had an argument the day she disappeared and that she left the apartment to clear her head. Bierenbaum told police he then went to New Jersey to spend time with his relatives and returned home to find his wife still hadn’t come home. Katz-Bierenbaum hasn’t been seen since July 7, 1985.

Hindering the InvestigationIn opening statements today, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Saracco told jurors the prosecution needed to prove only two things — that Gail Katz-Bierenbaum is dead and her husband killed her. Saracco accused Bierenbaum of refusing to cooperate with detectives in their investigation after Katz-Bierenbaum’s disappearance because he was trying to “cover his tracks.”

Virgilio Dalsass, a detective in Manhattan’s 19th Precinct at the time of Katz-Bierenbaum’s disappearance, testified that the defendant claimed his wife had gone to getsome sun in Central Park and failed to returnhome.

Dalsass said Bierenbaum refused for two months to let policesearch his Upper East Side apartment. When they finally did,Bierenbaum’s lawyer at the time refused to let them examine the home foranything except fingerprints, he said.

Bierenbaum refused to talk about his marriage, which prosecutorssaid was falling apart, and he failed to give a full account of hismovements on the day his wife vanished, Dalsass said.

Dalsass, now the chief operating officer of a security service, said he was left frustrated andclueless by the plastic surgeon’s failure to help determine why his wifewas missing.

Dalsass also said Bierenbaum never told him that he was a licensedpilot, that he had driven to the airport in Essex County, N.J., andtaken a two-hour flight the day his wifedisappeared.

After prosecutors learned about the flight, they subpoenaedBierenbaum’s flight logs, diaries which all pilots are required tomaintain. Defense lawyer David Lewis fought unsuccessfully to keepthe logs out of the trial.

‘Just a Theory’In his opening statements, Lewis conceded Katz-Bierenbaum was most likely dead but insisted she did not die at his client’s hands. He said the prosecution’stheory of how she died is “just a theory,” no better than anyother.

“What happened? There isn’t anybody who can tell you,” Lewissaid.

Lewis portrayed Katz-Bierenbaum as a controlling and a sexually loose woman who was once suicidal and had a drinking and drug problem.

“One of her lovers that she took behind Bob Bierenbaum’s back, shealso shared drugs with.” he said.

The prosecution also promised jurors they would hear evidence about the defendant’s flight logs and a letter from a psychiatrist who warned the perceived victim she was in danger and advised her to leave Bierenbaum. The psychiatrist himself was barred from testifying at a pretrial hearing. WABC in New York and The Associated Press contributed to this report.