48 Hours - The Preppy Killer

Episode Date: August 21, 2016

48 Hours broadcasts the only interview with "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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The only reason I'm sitting here in front of you is because somebody's dead. I never intended for anything to happen. I never even intended to go out that night, let alone hurt somebody. Robert, anything to say to the Levin family? Or kill somebody. Over here, over here. Chambers, Chambers, Chambers.

Did you think about Jennifer Levin? Every day. She's having her way with me, without my consent, with my hands behind my back, hurting me. I swung my arm, I struck her neck and throat area, and I pulled her off of me and to the side. Did she speak again after she fell to the ground? No. I'd never seen a dead person before. After you killed Jennifer Levin, you walked home, you got undressed, and you went to bed.

You know how callous and unfeeling that sounds? Do you know how callous and unfeeling it feels? Here we go. Robert, how do you feel? Can you just tell us how it feels to be out of jail? And what you're thinking right now? I was responsible for her death. Okay. There's no question about that.

You admitted guilt, but you did not intend to kill her. I don't believe I intended to kill her at all. It was an accident. Yes. But if it was an accident, why wouldn't you call an ambulance? Why wouldn't you call the police? Because I was scared. Everything he said about how she died is absolutely untrue.

This is the left side of his face. There's one deep, severe scratch mark, and there's another long mark here. That tells us that she was face-to-face with the person who was trying to kill her. That tells us that she was frantically fighting for her life. You had your hands around her neck, and you squeezed. No, I did not. There was not a struggle for life am i a monster no because if i were a monster i wouldn't care but i do i'll never be turned a great person i may never be termed a great person. I may never be termed a good person, but maybe one day I'll be a person that learned.

But that didn't happen. As Troy Roberts and I will show you, Robert Chambers was soon making headlines once again. headlines once again. I'm Richard Schlesinger. Tonight on 48 Hours, The Preppy Killer. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear,

but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women.

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In 2003, Robert Chambers walked out of prison after 15 years, a free man still pursued by his own infamy. Robert, do you just know that you're going to be out of jail? What you're thinking right now? $44.33. That's what I got for 15 years. He was 36, but people still remembered him from the summer of 1986, when he was 19. In New York, a city where killers get titles, Robert Chambers quickly became known as the Preppy Murderer. He looked the part, and his face was everywhere.

The story of how he strangled a beautiful 18-year-old named Jennifer Levin in Central Park was the talk of the town. It was a horrible, grisly murder of a beautiful young woman. Pete Hamill was a columnist for the New York Daily News. Pete Hamill was a columnist for the New York Daily News. There's a rule of thumb in the tabloid business that a murder at a good address is better than your run-of-the-mill murder. It happened on Manhattan's Tony Upper East Side, a neighborhood known more for money than murder. Chambers and Levin had dated before and met the night of August 25th at Dorian's Red Hand, a bar that catered to the sons and daughters of the rich. Robert and Jennifer left Dorian's around 4 or 4.30 in the morning.

At 6.20, a cyclist in the park found her body. Jennifer's body was found under this tree. Linda Fairstein prosecuted Robert Chambers, who became a suspect within hours of the murder. She was a 48 Hours consultant. The police went to Robert Chambers because they knew he was a friend of Jennifer's. They went there so that he could help identify how she got separated from her friends. Oh, so when they first met Robert Chambers, he was not a suspect? Not in the least. The minute the two detectives, homicide detectives, saw him,

they saw deep, fresh, bloody scratches on both sides of his face. His first explanation, that his cat scratched him, quickly collapsed. And after police brought him in for questioning, he admitted killing Jennifer. He said it was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt her. I liked her very much. The story he told police seemed to blame Jennifer. It was shocking and graphic. He's raping you in the park? She's having her way with me, without my consent, with my hands behind my back, hurting me.

her way with me, without my consent, with my hands behind my back, hurting me. Simply put, Chambers' story was, in what came to be called rough sex, Jennifer hurt him, and he struck her to make her stop. So I reached up like this and grabbed, and I came down like that on my hand. She came over this way and landed right there, right next to the tree. Did you believe any of what you heard on that tape? Everything he said in that statement about how she died is absolutely untrue. When police undressed Chambers, they discovered more scratches on his chest.

Fairstein says these injuries were not from rough sex, but from a violent struggle in the park. They argued about something. What it is, we'll never know. Bob, what'd you do it? Chambers was charged with second-degree murder. As the trial approached, Fairstein began learning a lot about the so-called preppy murderer.

She believes the only thing preppy about him was his looks. His buttoned down costume covered up a life of crime and addiction. He looked like a male model. People treated him like he was a graduate of an Ivy League college and had this prep school background. And yet, in fact, his days were really spent with the underbelly of New York drug life. Doing what? Stealing to get the money to buy drugs. This videotape gave the public a peek at the real Robert Chambers, Fairstein believes. It was made at a party Chambers attended while he was on bail. Chambers, holding a doll, appears to mock Jennifer Levin's death.

doll appears to mock Jennifer Levin's death. Jennifer's mother, Ellen, appearing on the Larry King show, thought Chambers showed his true colors on that tape. I was horrified when I saw it, but in a way I was also glad that he showed himself for what he really was. During the trial, Chambers' lawyer mounted a defense some described as lurid and salacious that tried to damage Jennifer's character. I felt like I was burying my daughter every time

I opened the newspaper and read the horrible headlines, you know, attacking her reputation. After almost three months of testimony and nine days of deliberating, the jury appeared unable to reach a verdict. So, Fairstein made a deal. Chambers pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter. It was a step down from murder, but as part of the agreement, Chambers had to admit in open court that he intended to hurt Jennifer when he killed her. The Levin family have gone through hell because of my actions, and I am sorry.

Despite all the evidence she had against Chambers, Linda Fairstein could never prove one crucial point, why Chambers would want to murder Jennifer. You couldn't stand up in front of the jury and say, ladies and gentlemen, Robert Chambers killed Jennifer Levin because they argued about X, Y, and Z. Absolutely not. You couldn't say that.

I could not say that. Did that hurt you? Oh, yes, it hurt tremendously. I mean, I can tell you as a matter of law that the prosecution does not have to prove motive. I can tell you as a matter of fact that there's nothing that the jury would like to hear more than why that happened. There's only one person alive who knows what happened that night he never spoke at his trial and he hasn't spoken since until now In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.

It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reached the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse

and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. or Spotify. Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop.

Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. After his release from prison, we brought Robert Chambers to a hotel outside of Washington, D.C. Have you been able to take a walk by yourself yet? I've been out for walks. He'd reunite with his parents. There were a lot of people out walking around. And for the first time, talk publicly about his crime.

Right now, if I had a choice between talking to you right now and being back in the box solitary, I'd choose solitary in a second. It's a lot easier than this. I don't want to be here. But Chambers felt by doing one major interview, the media attention might ease up. And he also had a personal agenda. Robert Chambers wanted to talk about Jennifer Levin. Did you think about Jennifer Levin?

Every day. As the afternoon passed, the interview would go on for four tense hours. And every day I know that I'm in prison. I'm in prison because somebody died and I am responsible for that. It's not an easy feeling. You don't get comfortable with it

and it's part of my life for the rest of my life. Over and over again, Chambers apologized for the way he lived his life and the way he had stolen Jennifer Levin's. Because I can never make up for the death of Jennifer Levin. I can never make up for the pain I caused her family. I've been a bad person. Am I a monster? No. Because if I were a monster, I wouldn't care. But I do. But to millions of Americans who saw this tape of a teenage party, a belief had been built. Robert Chambers had no concern for the Levin family's endless pain. The videotape of you at that party was perhaps the single most defining moment in this whole story. There were people out there who were willing to give you the benefit of the doubt until they saw you on that videotape.

Mm-hmm. What were you thinking? If I was thinking, I would never have been there. I was stupid. I was arrogant. I mean, everybody was just acting silly. And I acted silly. Reenacting a crime? Certainly not. It was not?

No. Not reenacting a crime. It sure didn't look like that to me. I can see how it may be interpreted like that. You weren't trying to give someone the impression that this was Jennifer Levin, the doll? No. Rob, how could you be so dumb? That seems to be a theme that runs through many things that I do.

Rehearse lines from a con artist or genuine repentance? Chambers seemed to want the world that had condemned him to reconsider its judgment and i think people at home may suspect that what you're doing right now is playing a role a role that you perfected pretty well as a teenager what do you say to that would i like to be forgiven i wouldn't even think of asking for that. Would I like the opportunity to apologize with actions behind it, backing it up? Yes. Am I acting? I don't know how to act. I'm too scared to act right now. You say I'm well-mannered and everything. I'm here holding my hands. I'm scared, but I'm here.

Robert Chambers was a working classclass kid in a white-glove neighborhood. You know, the museums, all the cultural things, the social situations, the fancy tuxedo balls that they have, the debutante balls. It was something that was part of the culture of the area. His father, Robert Sr., was a credit manager. His mother, Phyllis, an Irish immigrant, was a private duty nurse. It was her determination, not any family fortune,

that gained Robert Chambers access to an exclusive world of privilege, possibility, and private schools. You had to work tremendous hours to pay the bills. Yes, but I never minded doing it because my parents education was a very big and important area in their lives. And you wanted to do the same thing for your son? Yes. She wanted the best, she always worked hard, gave me what not only what I wanted but what I needed which might have been good education, although, you know, I screwed that up myself. Robert Chambers bounced from one prestigious

prep school to another in a blur of bad behavior and poor grades. He eventually graduated and went on to college, but just for a semester before he was asked to leave there too. I'm running around partying all the time. I didn't take life seriously. I didn't take school seriously. What were your hopes for him? That he would pursue a good education, be the best person he could be, and help others. You disappointed her terribly, Robert. Yes, I did. How do you even begin to make it up to her? How do you do that? I think probably by letting her know that I take responsibility for everything I did.

But as a teenager, responsibility was the last thing on Robert Chambers' mind. Get high for three days and sleep for two days, get up and do it again, and somehow squeeze school in there, if you could manage it. Partying with people often twice his age. Women were very attracted to you,

even at a very young age. What did that do to your ego? Built it up so big you couldn't walk through a door. But along with the swelled ego came a far more serious problem. Cocaine. Cocaine. Mm-hmm. How often did you snort coke?

Three times a week, four times a week, somewhere around there. Would you describe yourself as a drug addict? Yeah. Yeah, I have an addictive personality. So how much money were you spending when you were having it? Probably $200, $300 a week. How did you find $300 a week? Sometimes money from my family, sometimes money from work, and sometimes doing things that were wrong, taking things, selling things.

The homes in the upscale neighborhood were Chambers' targets. Police estimate he and a partner stole as much as $70,000 in jewelry and other valuables. So you started burglarizing homes? Yeah, I did. It was this Robert Chambers, a petty thief and drug addict, who walked through these doors on August 25th, 1986. Dorian's red hand is a comfortable hangout on Manhattan's Upper East Side. It was summer's end. Unlike Chambers, most of the young people at the bar were heading back to college. Young people full of hope, full of the future. Young people like Jennifer Dawn Levin. By all accounts, Jennifer was bright and ambitious, having succeeded in the same types of schools where Robert Chambers had

failed so miserably. When did you first meet Jennifer Levin? I believe the first time that I was ever introduced to her was at a party. Describe Jennifer Levin. Tall, dark hair, pretty face, funny laugh, smart, compassionate. Some of her friends say Jennifer found Chambers intriguing, wanting more of a relationship than he was really interested in. So how many times did you, did you go out with Jennifer before that night in August? Three times, I think. Three times? Yeah. And you were intimate with her? Yeah. She was your friend? She was a friend to me. I was not a friend to her. I wasn't a friend to anybody at the time.

Not even to myself. Jennifer Levin and Robert Chambers had arrived separately at Dorian's that night, where they met by chance. I believe I looked over and I saw her sitting at the table with her friends. Did she approach you or did you approach her? No, at first it was just kind of like, you know, you know, wave, hey, how you doing? But something awkward and unexpected came up. Chambers was dating another girl at the time and she was at the bar too. When she saw him speaking with Jennifer Levin, she grew angry, confronted

him and stormed out. The district attorney would later suggest that argument so upset Chambers that it was a motive for murder. You know, I wasn't angry. I guess the best way to say it, I was so shallow at the time that, all right, I lost a relationship. Well, try something new. Okay, you yelled at me. Sorry. well try something new okay you yelled at me sorry move on chambers says he did not use cocaine that night but he had a few beers and two tequilas and that around by 4 a.m. closing time he and Jennifer Levin would leave Dorian's together heading towards Central Park and we started walking and we were talking and we ended up walking towards

Fifth Avenue and we were near the museum Chambers says when he told Jennifer he wasn't really interested in a serious relationship she scratched his face but they then continued their walk into the park and what happened next we started fooling around we never got undressed, undressed. And she reached down and she grabbed my testicles. And, you know, in a couple of seconds, you know, talking, fooling around the whole bit, she squeezed. And between the squeeze and possibly the nails, it hurt. hurt. And in pain, shock, even anger, I reacted. I sat up, I swung my arm, and I hit her. How hard?

I would have to say hard. I made her fall to the side. I made her fall off of my body. Where did you hit her, Robert? In the throat area. In the throat area? Yeah. And when she fell, did she fall silent? I don't remember any sound. Did she speak again after she fell to the ground?

No. At what point did you know she was dead? When I stood up and tried to gather myself together, she wasn't moving and I was saying let's go let's get out of here it's time to go let's go she didn't move her eyes were open and I knew something was wrong I didn't get down I didn't listen for the heartbeat I didn't get down I didn't do CPR I didn't do any of the things that a responsible person would have done. If this was an accident, Robert, why wouldn't you call somebody? Why wouldn't you call 911, call an ambulance, call the police?

If this was an accident, if it wasn't your fault. It was my fault. But if it was an accident, why wouldn't you call an ambulance? Why wouldn't you call the police? Because I was scared. The shattered night still hung over New York's Central Park. Jennifer Levin lay dead, and Robert Chambers inexplicably stayed there, staring at the young woman he told us, as he has always insisted, he killed by accident.

I'd never seen a dead person before. Her eyes are open and she's not moving. And I was just scared. I didn't do anything. I just sat there. As dawn broke, Chambers remained at the crime scene, sitting quietly on a stone wall only a few feet away. A woman on a bicycle noticed the silhouette of Jennifer Levin's body. Soon, the police and an ambulance arrived.

I watched as everybody arrived. It seemed the whole world arrived. The whole world came to see what I did. Police started clearing the crowd. And eventually he got to me and they said, you, go, move. The police told you to leave? Yeah, they told me to leave. After you killed Jennifer Levin,

you walked home, you got undressed, and you went to bed. And you slept. I think I slept. I don't know if I slept. You know how callous and unfeeling that sounds. Do you know how callous and unfeeling it feels?

No. No, you don't. But I do for the rest of my life. When detectives arrived at the crime scene in Central Park on the morning of August 26, 1986, they found Jennifer Levin's partially clothed body under a large elm tree. It looked like she had been in a fight for her life. Cuts and bruises marked her body, and around her neck were bright red hemorrhages indicating strangulation.

The body was lying on the ground. Some of the clothing on her had been pushed to the upper portion of her body. The medical examiner estimated the time of death at approximately 6 a.m., about two hours after Jennifer Levin left Dorian's with Robert Chambers. I never intended for anything to happen. I never even intended to go out that night, let alone hurt somebody or kill somebody. When police showed up at Chambers' home later that morning, they were stunned at his appearance. He had deep scratches on his face and arms and injuries to both hands. Chambers first told police that the family cat had scratched him,

but under questioning at the precinct later that day, he changed his story. While we were sitting there, I was explaining this to her, you know, saying I'm interested in other people and that you're going away and I don't want to be bothered. And she freaked out and she just, she like, saying I'm interested in other people and that you're going away and I don't want to be bothered. And she freaked out and she just, she like got up and knelt in front of me and she just scratched my face. I have these marks here, I didn't even notice until this morning. The injuries you sustained indicated a struggle. You had deep scratch marks on your face.

What happened? She became upset about one thing. And the one thing. And the one thing was that I did not take her seriously. And with that, she scratched me. So you're telling me she scratched your face, and then you decided to still have sexual relations with her. It wasn't... That doesn't sound...

It was not... It sounds ludicrous. You know that. It wasn't done because I hate you. You weren't mad after she scratched you? I wasn't happy, but, I mean, was I in a rage? No, I wasn't in a rage. During the interrogation, Chambers would go on to tell detectives

that Levin tied his arms behind his back with her panties. He molested me in the park. How could he molest you? We're talking about, what, girls cannot... Girls cannot do it. The media would call it rough sex, and it would become central to Chambers' defense. You're a big guy.

Yep. You could have defended yourself without hurting her seriously, right? I could have pushed. I could have yelled. I could have pulled her hair to the side. Why didn't you do any of those things? Because I wasn't thinking about what I should do

in the situation. If you sought medical attention, they could have saved her. It's very possible. And this is something that will be in my mind forever. Would it have made a difference? I don't know. Would it have helped me? Sure. The police precinct is 50 yards away. Why didn't you go there?

Why didn't I do so many things? I was scared. I froze. But when you hear all these experts say it just couldn't have happened the way you're describing it. Certain experts. The district attorney's experts. It's very clear from the medical examiner's evidence and from the pathologist that you choked Jennifer Levin. It wasn't just a split second.

You had your hands around her neck, and you squeezed. No, I did not. The cuts and bruises she didn't sustain from any talk, any discussion like that, the bruises that she sustained came when I struck her. You've done your time, and this is the moment to set the record straight And this is your story. Yes. This is the story you'll die with yes My story has not changed There is nothing to change

It's not a story. That's pleasant It's not a story people like It's not a story that's pleasant. It's not a story people like. It's not a story that fits into people's perceptions. You know why? Because it's not a story. It's the truth. But according to the evidence in this case, says Linda Fairstein, who prosecuted Chambers,

nothing could be further from the truth. She didn't believe Chambers in 1986 when she first heard his version of how Jennifer died, and she doesn't believe him now. How would you characterize Chambers' claim that there was no struggle that night? I characterize it as ludicrous and completely incredible. Fairstein studied the pattern of wounds determined by the medical examiner to be strangulation marks on Jennifer's neck. They were lines, long lines, going in different directions. Every pathologist who looked at them told me clear indications of

repeated applications of force. So many marks on the neck that it's completely inconsistent with one blow. Jennifer Levin had wounds and bruises all over her body, far too many, according to Fairstein, to believe Chambers' story that she died from a single blow to the neck. He would literally have her, and I don't mean to ridicule this, bouncing down a hill in the park to have received all of these injuries. It's just an absurd story.

And Fairstein says those scratches on chambers are more evidence of a violent confrontation than the heated argument he describes. This is the left side of his face. There's one deep, severe scratch mark, and Jennifer had nails. There's another long mark here. There's smaller ones. A long one. A long one going in a different direction. Again, a different direction.

Behind that, another one. What does that tell you she was doing? That tells us that she was face-to-face with the person who was trying to kill her. That tells us that she wanted him off her body. That tells us she wanted him to stop, to let go of her, to let her. That tells us that she wanted him off her body. That tells us she wanted him to stop, to let go of her, to let her breathe. And she was frantically fighting for her life. And on Chambers' hands, photographed the day Jennifer was killed, Fairstein says you can see bite marks. She believes Jennifer bit Chambers when he put

his hands over her mouth to stop her from screaming. Chambers argues he did nothing to help Jennifer after he noticed she wasn't moving because in his words, I was scared. I froze. I don't buy it. He's never reported to his friends that he froze. Ferstein says witnesses talked to Chambers while he was sitting on this stone wall, watching the police that morning as they worked the crime scene around Jennifer's dead body. And when they said, should we do something to help? He said, no, there's nothing to do. The police are handling it. And then he got up and walked away and went home and went to sleep.

I don't call that freezing. What do you call that? I call that complete. What do you call that? I call that complete sociopathic behavior. And Fairstein believes Robert Chambers hasn't changed very much despite all the time he spent behind bars. Is it possible that maybe he thinks now that maybe he does really have remorse? He's older and he's done 15 years of hard time. He's done 15 years of hard time, made harder because of his own drug abuse in state prison. I'm not willing to buy his words. I'm looking forward to seeing what his actions are in the next 15.

Robert Chambers' murder trial had all the electric buzz of a New York City media event. The newspaper columnists were dissecting your entire life. Sure. Just as they will when they see this, they will look at every time I move my thumb, if I jiggle my leg, if I sit forward, if I lean back, they're going to look for it. The plea bargain required that Chambers admit in court that he intended to harm Jennifer Levin, something he had and always continues to deny. On March 25, 1988, Robert Chambers pled guilty to manslaughter one. And for the first time, I had to take responsibility for this. But you didn't want to? If I could have, you know, jumped in an airplane and flown to the moon, I would have

done it. How do you feel, Robert? He would be sentenced to five to 15 years in prison. It's rough. It's dangerous. It's scary. How were you treated inside by the other inmates? I think in the beginning it was more hands-off. I think everybody just watched to see how I would act. You were never sexually assaulted? No. Were you ever assaulted physically? No. In your entire 15 years? Mm-hmm. Chambers says the older inmates taught him the ropes, but how he actually did his time cuts straight to the heart of his story and perhaps his character and the question of whether or not Robert Chambers will ever stay out of trouble.

Twenty-seven disciplinary violations for everything from weapons possession, drugs possession, assault, disobeying direct orders. When you hear this, you're thinking, this guy hasn't learned anything. He hasn't learned a single thing. And had you been a model prisoner, people would have maybe believed you had changed. Maybe you had learned something. What this demonstrates to folks is that you haven't.

Chambers says many of the charges were minor, even trumped up. But because of his poor disciplinary record, he'd spend more than four years in solitary confinement. You read, you write letters, do a lot of thinking. Diploma from the paralegal course I had taken. Chambers did take college courses, even making the dean's list. Criminal law, 94, 98. And he claims to have beat one habit in prison that he found impossible to shake on the streets.

You're clean? Sure. You are clean? Yes, I am. How long? 93, 94. I smoked marijuana in jail. It was a stupid thing to do.

Wrong choice. I did. Heroin? No. Coke? No. But this inmate misbehavior report from Greenhaven Prison shows that on June 19, 1997,

a corrections officer found heroin hidden in Chambers' cell. So when it was time for Chambers to face the parole board, they were unimpressed with his efforts at rehabilitation, particularly when eight years after Jennifer Levin's death, Chambers appeared anything but remorseful. I want to read to you what you told him. Okay. I guess I could give the party line and say I have learned my lesson, but that's not how I feel at the moment. Reading this, it sounds like you're arrogant, you're flip. And you know what? In many of those instances that you just said, you're probably right.

Probably arrogant, probably angry. Robert Chambers is trying, he says, to get on with his life. He has a girlfriend, someone he met after his arrest in 1986, and has supported him ever since. She didn't want us to show her face or divulge her name, but she says that Chambers

has learned now how to be a friend. She stood by you for 15 years. Yes, she has. Were you surprised? Yeah. Did you ever say why? In a roundabout way, She's been by you for 15 years. Yes, she has. Were you surprised? Yeah. Did you ever say why? In a roundabout way, but sometimes you don't want to push your luck.

I don't think it's too bad out today. There are some people who say that young women aren't safe to be around you. Mm-hmm. That you're a threat. That you're a dangerous charmer. Should women be afraid of you? No.

There's no reason to be. He claims to have no money of his own. He says he wants to earn a college degree and find steady work. It doesn't matter if it's a restaurant, car wash, whatever it may be, just something to feel normal and something to be responsible. That's the only way you can start, one step at a time. What are you willing to do? Anything. Chambers owes the Levin family $25 million, the result of an uncontested civil suit.

And if he lands a job, any job, 10% of his pay goes to the Levens for the rest of his life. Do you plan on writing a book or participating in a movie deal? I have no plans to write a book. I do not want to write a book. And I have no interest in any type of movie deal. I have not made any money off this. My family and my friends have not made any money off this. None of us ever intend to. Is Robert Chambers sincere about turning his life around?

Has he really changed? What little we saw of him, Robert Chambers appeared measured and sober, his mother Phyllis setting the tone. This is not a time of celebration, you told me. No, it's not. Why not? I do not feel to celebrate Robert's homecoming, and Jennifer is never coming home.

It's a sad time. This is real life. This is real life. This is real death. Somebody's dead. There has to be some action after the words. My action of doing 15 years? No. That's just the beginning.

It's not an end. The trial didn't end. The trial lives with me. Every day, I'm on trial. Mr. Chambers, don't you have any comments? In 2004, the year after our interview, Robert Chambers was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and driving with a suspended license. Preppy killer Robert Chambers walked out of criminal court today to face yet another gaggle of reporters. He pled guilty and spent 100 days in jail.

Three years later, Chambers was arrested again. He and his girlfriend were charged with selling drugs out of their apartment. Robert Chambers was allegedly selling enough cocaine out of his 17th floor apartment to put the so-called preppy killer away for life. His girlfriend pled guilty to a lesser charge and was sentenced to five years probation. Robert Chambers pled guilty in exchange for a sentence of 19 years. His earliest release date from prison is in 2024. Jennifer Levin's mother.

He got more time in jail for selling drugs than he did for murdering my daughter, which is pretty amazing. The Levins have never accepted any apology from Robert Chambers. This year, Jennifer would have been 48 years old. Do you think Robert Chambers can stay out of prison when he's released? Chat now on Twitter and Facebook. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.