Robert Shulman (serial killer)

American serial killer

Robert Yale Shulman (March 28, 1954 – April 13, 2006) was an American serial killer who murdered at least five young women in Hicksville, New York from 1991 to 1995. Convicted and sentenced to death for one of the murders and to life imprisonment for the others, his death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment and he died in prison in 2006.

Robert Yale Shulman was born on March 28, 1954, in upstate New York, as one of four children born to Jules and Mildred Shulman. Growing up in a Jewish family with three brothers, he spent his youth in the cities of Long Beach and Westbury on Long Island, in what were considered to be relatively good, middle class neighborhoods. There are conflicting accounts about Shulman's upbringing. While his parents were law abiding and did not have any notable bad habits that affected the family, they were both described as indifferent towards their children, leading some of the brothers to develop anti social behavior.

In the mid 1960s, Shulman's father Jules fell ill with Hodgkin lymphoma, eventually succumbing to complications from it in 1967. The death greatly affected Robert and his older brother Steven, both of whom were particularly traumatized by it, with Robert occasionally threatening to kill himself. Neighbors and acquaintances had mixed characterizations of Robert during this period, with many describing him as overtly introverted and never interacting with anyone. Shulman was not popular with women and never married, and instead spent most of his time in the local red light district.

Between August 1991 and December 1995, Shulman is known to have murdered at least five prostitutes. He often picked up his victims from a street corner in Hollis, Queens, and then brought them to his apartment, where they smoked crack cocaine and had sex. Afterwards, he would proceed to beat them to death with barbells, a hammer or baseball bat, and then dismember the bodies in the bathroom. The remains were then sealed in plastic garbage bags and dumped in various neighboring cities. Her initially unidentified body was discovered on June 27, 1992 in a dumpster in Yonkers. She was referred to as "Yonkers Jane Doe" before being identified in December 2021. The registration was obtained, and the car was registered to Shulman's brother. Trying to get information about the sleeping bag in which Bunting was found, detectives learned Sears was the only manufacturer. Sears was contacted to see if the brother had purchased one with a credit card. Sears said the brother had no card, but pointed out that Shulman had a card. This was how police were initially pointed towards Shulman as a possible culprit. Women later identified him as the man cruising in the Cadillac, and cadaver dogs signaled the possibility of dead remains having been present in the Cadillac. Police searched Shulman's work place and found trace evidence matching that found on the body. Shulman was arrested near his home on April 6, 1996. Despite this, he denied directly participating in the murders, and on April 26, 1996, he was indicted for aiding and abetting a felony. One example was that cat hair was found on the remains of two victims, which corresponded to the hair of Barry's pet cat. They also attempted to cast doubt on their client's confession, claiming it was made under duress. On July 13, Shulman was sentenced to death by lethal injection and had an execution date set for August 30, but this was postponed after his defense attorneys appealed. Shortly after hearing the verdict, Shulman burst into tears. On January 4, 2000, he pleaded guilty to the crimes, and since both killings took place before the new death penalty statute became law, he was instead sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment.

In January 2000, Barry Shulman was convicted of aiding and abetting his brother's crimes, and was sentenced to two years imprisonment. His sentence sparked outrage by members of the District Attorney's Office and the victims' relatives, who felt it was too lenient. District Attorney James M. Catterson, who recommended that Barry should be sentenced to 4 2/3 to 14 years imprisonment, said that he could be paroled in nine to ten months under the current sentence. Catterson pointed to the fact that Barry knowingly never reported the crimes to the police and actively assisted in destroying evidence of Robert's crimes, and as such, he should receive an appropriately harsh sentence.

In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, after which Shulman's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In the mid 2000s, he was transferred to the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora to serve the remainder of his sentences. In early April 2006, Shulman complained of feeling unwell and was transported to the Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital in Plattsburgh. A few hours later, his physical condition deteriorated rapidly, after which he was rushed to the Albany Medical Center in Albany, where he died on April 13, aged 52. His cause of death was ruled to be from natural causes.