(CBS) For 40 years, Bernice Novack lived quietly in her Fort Lauderdale home, amid the treasures of her glamorous life: expensive oil paintings, diamond jewelry, a grand piano used by Frank Sinatra and scrapbooks of pictures snapped with presidents, world leaders and movie stars.
"48 Hours": Crazy Love
A former model for Coca-Cola and Salvador Dali, Bernice was once married to Ben Novack Sr., builder of the fabled Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach. In her later years, Bernice lived a life of relative obscurity in a soberly upscale community where few neighbors knew about her storybook past.
Her large walk-in closet was lined with hundreds of ball gowns and dresses, each covered in plastic and labeled with the date and event that she wore it: President Kennedy's inauguration. Gangster Sam Giancana's daughter's wedding. The Welcome Home Elvis Show.
Set on a vast wall was a large oil painting of her son, Ben Novack Jr., painted when he was about 20 years old. He was sitting on the beach, a scarf around his neck floating in the breeze. Like everything else in Bernice's life, the painting told a story.
As an editor, writer and investigative reporter for 20 years, I have re
The Glamorous Life and Grisly Death of Ben Novack Jr.
Steven Gaines
In the book, Fool's Paradise, author Steven Gaines paints a vivid portrait of the Novack family. Ben Sr.'s first major foray in the hotel business, the Sans Souci, came at the beginning of his courtship to Bernice, a beautiful model whom he had met at the La Martinique nightclub. He pursued her relentlessly, hoping she, still married to a soldier, would say yes to dinner just once. Rebuffed numerous times he was finally able to get her attention in a way that only a rich man can.
Bernice flew to Cuba for a photo shoot, Gaines wrote, only to discover that it had been an elaborate ruse. There was no photo shoot. Though they were both married at the time, they eventually were able to marry each other: Ben got a divorce and her prior marriage was annulled. They were married in front of a judge in New York. Bernice and Ben moved into the upscale confines of the Sans Souci.
In , the plans for the Fontainebleau were announced — backed by a host of investors, some in the liquor distribution business, another running a taxi and limo service. Despite a period of contention between the architect, Morris La
Daughter of Fontainebleau Heir&#;s Killer &#; Wife Can Inherit?!
The story of Ben Novack, the heir to Fontainebleau hotel who was murdered by his wife, Narcy Novack, has received widespread media coverage and resulted in multiple litigations. More than five years after Ben&#;s death, the fight for his fortune still continues. More Recently, a Florida Court of Appeal concluded that Narcy&#;s heirs COULD inherit the family fortune and this has made headlines!
Now, I had to write about this story for three reasons! First, very few people know this but I am from Rye, New York, where Ben Novack was found murdered (I was born in Port Chester but we lived next door in Rye). Rye Brook is a village in Westchester County that boarders Connecticut (about a 40 minute drive to Grand Central Station); second, the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach was one of the last development projects my engineering firm ever worked on before I became an attorney; and third, this case made new estate planning case law!
In July , Ben Novack Jr. was found murdered in a hotel room in Rye Brook, N.Y. A few weeks earlier, Ben&#;s mother, Bernice had also been found dead in her home in Fort Lauderdale.
It's been over a year since Bernice Novack's bloody body was found inside her Fort Lauderdale home, the victim of what was thought at the time to be a series of accidental falls.
That is, until a big monkey wrench as thrown into the case - literally.
On Thursday, Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper reversed course on the death of Bernice Novack, changing his ruling on the case to a homicide.
The April death of the widow of famed Fontainebleau hotel founder Ben Novack Sr. was ruled an accident and was given little thought until last week, when the wife of Novack's son, Ben Jr., was arrested on charges related to his murder.
Perper confirmed the ruling during a Friday morning press conference, saying it was the first time in his 16 years as medical examiner that he's had to make such a ruling.
“The testimony is very clear and certain and firm that she indeed was assaulted,” Perper said.
The first ruling had been made based on the initial death investigation by the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Perper said that at the time of her death, the year-old's recent history of accidental falls made the initial scenario fit.
Perper said he made the decision to chan
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