Anatomy of Murder - The Fire Burned (James Coppola)

Episode Date: July 30, 2024

A house fire uncovers a body, soon identified as the homeowner. Was it the fire that killed him or was the fire a cover for an even more terrible crime?For episode information and photos, please visit: anatomyofmurder.com/the-fire-burned Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

I just got mad. I was like, I'm done. I'm done with the judgments against me. I just kept hitting him. I was mad. Finally, he goes, what do you want? And I said, money. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anna Siga-Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murder. When a lot of people think of a criminal trial, they might picture a scene from television or the movies,

packed courtrooms, surprised witnesses, juries on the edge of their seat, and a prosecutor fighting tooth and nail. But what many don't realize is that a successful prosecution isn't just about winning over a judge or a jury. For prosecutors, justice is often achieved out of the spotlight, on phone calls, in conference rooms, and even in the quiet living rooms of victims' families. Because justice for a victim is much more than courtroom drama. It is also about the care shown to their lost loved ones, whether that's a partner, a child, or sometimes even a grandchild. In the case of James Coppola's family, that meant all three. James Coppola was

a 74-year-old father who had spent decades building a successful construction business in New York and raising a family with his wife, Barbara. The couple's primary residence was in Queens, which is part of New York City, but they also had a vacation home about an hour away in the quiet, affluent village of Center Island, which is on the north shore of Long Island, part of an area nicknamed the Gold Coast, a place many high profile people have chosen to call home. About one square mile, there's about 500 or less people that live in Center Island. And it's known for some celebrities that have or still do live there.

Billy Joel lived there. Sean Hannity lived there. Rupert Murdoch lived there. The houses are quite large. The properties are quite beautiful. That's the voice of Jared Rosenblatt, the chief of the Homicide Bureau and the director of forensic science and cold case prosecutions in Nassau County, New York. He, like many in the area, knew Center Island as a place with gorgeous homes and picturesque views. But after November 20, 2018, he would come to associate the place with something far darker.

At approximately 5.50 p.m. that day, James' wife Barbara received a call that a smoke alarm was going off in the couple's Central Island home. At the time, she was at their main home in Queens. We knew that the smoke alarm activated the alarm company to call Barbara. We knew that Barbara had told the alarm company that it probably was nothing. The alarm system would go off occasionally based on the wind off the water and some of the windows would shake and she suspected it to be nothing. Now, Anastasia, we see this a lot. I mean, clearly false alarms happen for all types of reasons. And Barbara seemed like she didn't think for a minute the alarm was triggered by an actual fire.

So for her, it was taking the next natural step and trying to reach out to James at the house. I definitely had one of those alarm systems that would go off if the wind blew too hard or if someone closed the door or opened it without turning off the alarm. So I do think for many, it's a pretty normal reaction. I mean, our minds don't automatically go towards the worst. And so that was exactly it. Barbara started to look for James to confirm that he was okay. We know that she had reached out to her husband, James, who was supposed to be at the Center Island residence, that he did not respond to the call. But Barbara still didn't

think too much of it. It was Tuesday evening and there were lots of things James could have been doing. And after being married for so long, she probably filled in the blanks with any number of reasons why James wouldn't pick up the phone. However, four hours later, Barb received another call. Their Center Island home was on fire. Approximately four hours later, one of the residents on Center Island stopped at the police station, which was right at the entrance to Center Island, and that they had observed fire as they were driving in smoke. And so the Center Island police had called the fire department, and it was a major fire response to put the fire out. Around 10 p.m. on the night of November 20th, 2018, police arrived to find a blazing inferno. The flames towered above the treetops and lit up the night sky.

It would take the work of eight different fire departments and over four hours to put out the fire. And afterwards, all that remained was a smoky, crumbling shell of what once had been a stunning vacation home. But even worse, just inside the doorway, the remains of a human body. Barbara kept trying to reach James, but with each unanswered call, it seemed more and more likely that the person found inside their home was her husband. The medical examiner would later confirm her fear. 74-year-old James Coppola was dead. What's worse, investigators at the scene had a suspicion that this was no ordinary house fire.

We had believed it to be a suspicious death, and the investigation was an investigation into the suspicious death of James Coppola. Fire marshals and the arson squad were immediately called to try and determine the cause of the house fire. Was it an accident, an electrical malfunction, or could it have been set intentionally? And if so, that would mean it wasn't just a tragedy, but potentially a crime. As any cop can tell you, fires are notoriously tricky crime scenes to investigate. Their very nature often destroys crucial evidence,

from forensics to fingerprints, and often even the body itself. But there are other obstacles too, most importantly, time. And here's why. Firefighters first need to secure the safety of the potential crime scene, then determine the cause of the fire and whether it was intentional. Only after these steps can you determine if a suspicious death is even a homicide. This process can be incredibly complex and time consuming, adding layers of difficulty to solving these types of crimes. And that's why in cases of potential arson, it often takes a dedicated team of investigators to come together to discover what really happened. And on that night in November 2018, that also included prosecutor Jared Rosenblatt, who was called to what remained of the Coppola's property. Jared is what we call a career prosecutor.

Which means that, similarly to me, he had spent decades in the DA's office. While he had started at a private law firm and handled civil cases, he soon realized he wanted something more. I sat at my desk all day, and I read depositions, and I wrote letters, and drafted complaints, and responded to complaints and did answers. And it was just not what I wanted to do for my life. And so one day I got a call on my cell phone from the Queens DA's office and they said, we're hiring again. We'd like to offer you a position. I said, I accept. And he goes,

do you want to talk about the details? I said, no, I accept. That was the beginning of a two decade long career as a prosecutor, starting in the district attorney's office in Queens, then working in neighboring Nassau County. Even when you think you've seen it all, you see something new. I love working with families. I love investigating cases and building them up from nothing to something. I love meeting with families and try to give them some sense of justice after some horrific crime. By 2018, Jared had worked his way up from filing paperwork for misdemeanors to trying major homicide cases as the deputy chief of the Major Offense and Homicide Bureau. We are on call 24-7, 365. On November 21st, I was called in the early morning hours

about a suspicious death in Center Island. When we approached 300 Center Island Road, it's a long driveway off the main street. The house was on the water. And you then could see, as you approached, the destruction that the fire had caused to this multimillion-dollar home. Of course, it's law enforcement who are on the front lines of all investigations. But as a prosecutor, I can tell you that it's definitely a value add when you get to see the crime scene for yourself.

Here, you want to know what the crime scene is, where things were located, how things smelt, how things looked, what the weather was. There's nothing like being at the crime scene and seeing where the body's located, where it is in relation to the front door, the driveway, the street. So it's just a huge advantage. Even as the chief, I go out to every scene with the ADA still so that I have

some understanding in my head as to what took place on a given day. It's just such an advantage to trying to help solve a case and trying to prosecute a case. The arson and bomb squad explained that there were several unusual elements to this particular fire. And so one of the first things that you could see is that the left side of the house wasn't burnt the way the front entrance was. The right side of the house wasn't burnt the way the front entrance was. The right side of the house wasn't burnt the way the front entrance was. It quickly appeared that the fire had likely begun there right at the front entrance, starting suddenly and then burning quickly. And so from the initial walk around the house,

the thought was something likely caused the massive explosion, the massive damage to the front door area. Which also happened to be where James' body was located. And once it was determined safe to enter, investigators began to navigate the maze of a charred home. But it was a four-legged member of the team who made the first breakthrough in the case. The police department had entered with the fire marshals and they used a canine. The canine's name was Leah. And Leah, the dog, was sniffing for accelerants. Now, accelerants are any substance that might be used to help spread a fire more quickly. So I'd like to take a quick sidestep here is I have some experience in working an arson dog and as they call them arson dogs, that's the name that they use within law enforcement.

When I was just new to canine, the program was run by a Sergeant Mike Clark, who I knew real well. I have a picture of us training arson dogs and I'll put them up on my Instagram account at Weinberger Media. It's basically scent detection. The dogs are trained to key in on one of the scents and substances, which are often liquids, such as gasoline, lighter fluid, and even nail polish remover. The dogs can detect minute traces of accelerants, sometimes down to the parts per billion.

And how long that scent is present really depends on the conditions at the scene, such as weather, ventilation, and the presence of other contaminants. But in this case, a single piece left at the scene told the canine handler and Leah, who's the dog, a great place to start the search. So they brought Leah through the house. And when they did, she hit in multiple areas. She hit on a teak oil can. Teak oil, for those unfamiliar, is a highly flammable liquid often used to refinish wood decks or outdoor furniture.

It's a smell well known to anyone who's needed to refresh those patio chairs and tables. Not something that would seem out of the ordinary to the human eye, but to the dog's nose, it meant more. She hit on the left side of the badly burned body that we later learned to be James Coppola. She hit on the badly burned body's arm and head. And so we knew at that stage, based upon the investigation by the fire department and the Nassau County Police Department, that the badly burned body was likely burned with the aid of an accelerant.

Much of the home had been extensively damaged and many of the family heirlooms and mementos had been destroyed. But it was clear that the fire had burned most intensely by the front door where James's body was discovered. In fact, the area around his body was so scorched that parts of the wooden floor had fallen away. But when James's body was removed from the home, investigators discovered something very strange. When the body was found, the wood floor under James was in pristine condition.

The entire other area around it was burnt soot. In most cases, if you were to find someone near the front door after a house fire, you might assume that the victim had died while trying to flee and had been overcome by flames or the smoke. But the fact that the floor under James' body was totally spared from the rest of the fire led investigators to consider that he may have fallen there before the fire even started. And that's a theory that would soon be confirmed

by the medical examiner. There was no evidence of soot or smoke in his airway or in his esophagus. And so when a person is in that type of condition and they're alive, they would breathe in and swallow those types of materials, which would then be apparent in their body. She determined that he died and then was burned. But if James's cause of death had nothing to do with the fire, the question then became, how did he die? There was no evidence of a catastrophic natural event that would have

caused Mr. Coppola to die. There was no evidence during the toxicology of intoxication by drugs. There was no evidence of an overdose. There was no injury of massive blunt force trauma. It turned out that James had undergone several medical procedures in recent years and struggled with a heart condition. He even relied on a pacemaker to help his heart beat properly. So they were trying to determine when evaluating his heart, did the pacemaker do something that would have caused a medical episode or medical event?

Ultimately, they were unsuccessful in generating any evidence off the pacemaker. The medical examiner, her conclusion was homicidal violence by unspecified means. It's a pretty unique manner of death for a medical examiner to reach. And not knowing the how would definitely be a challenge for a prosecutor. But they felt sure someone knew how James had died. And that person had also been the one to start the fire. So we at that point believed that Mr. Coppola either was killed

or some event caused him to have a medical episode and somebody wanted to cover up what occurred. So who was with James that night? And what evidence were they hoping the fire might hide? The answer lay not in the smoke and ash, but with the people that knew him best. In November of 2018, firefighters and police were called to the scene of an intense house fire in the Tony community of Long Island's Center Island, where they would eventually discover the body of James Coppola.

With the discovery of an accelerant at the scene, it was determined that the fire was likely set intentionally and that James had died even before any fire was set. So was the fire meant to cover up a homicide? and that James had died even before any fire was set. So was the fire meant to cover up a homicide? Investigators were determined to find out. The first conversations are with, as you said, the inner circle, his wife, his children, members of his business. I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, was occurring in his life that could lead to this type of death and lead to this type of attempt to cover up. They learned that Barbara and James Coppola had been married for decades. James had four children, one from a prior

relationship and three who he had and raised with Barbara. Life was going well for the Coppolas, and they had recently become first-time grandparents. But investigators also learned that things hadn't always been so rosy. James had previously been involved in a long-term extramarital affair that had caused the obvious issues for the Coppola family. While many out there listening might be hearing alarm bells at the mention of a previous relationship outside of the couple's marriage, we also know that one size doesn't fit all.

And when it came to Barbara and James, everyone said that the couple had come to terms with what James had done and were moving forward with their lives. Almost no one's home life is perfect. And if you look closely enough at any family, you're likely going to find things that may raise questions, especially when put under the microscope of a criminal investigation. But overall, here it seemed that whatever the Coppolas were doing was working for them.

James and Barbara were still sharing their business, their kids, and their lives. His wife, Barbara, and James both worked at a construction company that was owned by the family. James was the owner. Barbara worked in the office as well. We interviewed their two sons who were local in person. We interviewed his granddaughter, and we were trying to figure out who or what would cause something like this. And it was during these early conversations that investigators learned something important about James. The Coppola family had said that James always wore certain jewelry. He always wore these two charms on gold chains around his neck, and he would almost always wear a Rolex watch. So we started investigating

whether or not these chains in Rolex, where they were, right? We knew that at the autopsy, he wasn't wearing jewelry. A theory had started to emerge that since James's body was not discovered with any of those pricey items, that he might have been the victim of a robbery. And investigators hope that maybe local surveillance footage might have caught any potential suspect fleeing the scene. And it wasn't long before they did uncover some unusual activity on the night of the fire. We were able to identify a taxi that was coming and going to Center Island

right before the fire alarm went off and right after the fire alarm went off. It was as if the first taxi had dropped a passenger off and the second was picking up someone to leave just before and after the fire started. Center Island is a really wealthy area and it would be unusual for taxis to come and go. There was a surveillance camera that was located at the police department, which captures cars coming and going from Center Island.

And the camera wasn't HD quality. It wasn't getting license plates. You couldn't make an identification of who the drivers were or the license plate numbers on the car. The specific timeline was enough to cause investigators to believe that whoever had been in that cab was with James when the fire began. And they had quickly left before police arrived. The goal for detectives was now clear. Find out who was in that taxi, and they'd find out who was in the house. It didn't take long before police decided that James' family were likely not any of the suspects. So investigators began to look at his business associates.

James had been in the construction business in New York for over 30 years. That's more than enough time to potentially make enemies. But no one James had done business with seemed to have any motive to kill him. In fact, it didn't seem like anyone did at all. But someone did have a motive to kill him. In fact, it didn't seem like anyone did at all. But someone did have a motive to rob him. In their attempt to track down James' stolen jewelry, investigators contacted some local pawn shops, and it didn't take long before they learned

that someone had sold chains and a Rolex that looked just like the ones missing from James. So unfortunately, the gold from the chains had been immediately melted down, and the Rolex sold. But the pawn shop was able to produce a receipt from its acquisition of these items, which were pawned just one day after James was killed. The receipt identified the name of the seller. A woman named Jennifer Gross, a local who was no random stranger.

She was James's girlfriend. Jennifer Gross was 54. There was a relationship that existed between Jennifer and James, a financial relationship as well as an intimate relationship that went on while James was married. James's wife, Barbara, had actually known about her husband's affair, but from everything she knew, James had ended their relationship years before. She was not expecting to learn that this woman may have been at the couple's Center Island home as recently as the night he died and was now the top suspect in his possible murder. Jennifer Gross was living in Long Beach, New York, not too far away from Center Island.

She had previously been married to a local judge, but that relationship ended after her husband, the judge, was convicted of a crime. Ever since then, Jennifer had trouble holding down a job and a place to live and was constantly moving between hotels and Airbnbs. Her relationship with James Coppola was a lifeline. Members of the family knew that James provided Jennifer with money. The money was for her and her children. There was also evidence that the relationship between the two had recently become severely strained.

In September of 2018, she was arrested for an incident where she was at the Center Island residence, that she left with his car and stole his money and his passport. In fact, at the time of his death, James even had a restraining order to keep Jennifer away from him. But before we chalk the story up as another deadly love triangle, it's important to think about how devastating this news must have been for James' family. They've lost their home, their father, and then these revelations about his

private life. It feels like insult after injury. And we've seen this time and time again, right? Murder investigations have a way of digging up all kinds of secrets that can be painful for the victim's families. Many people, especially adults, lead complicated lives. And that's why it's so important for prosecutors to treat victims in their cases without judgment, to try and build trust with the victim's family and treat them with care. That's often how you find out who would have wanted to hurt them. And that's just what Jared and investigators did here. Nobody wants their life cut short, and nobody wants the last memories of their

loved one to be this. I mean, it's horrific to think about being killed and burned to the point of being unrecognizable, to have the family home that you worked so hard to have in this beautiful community be destroyed by a fire, that it needs to be leveled to lose all of your family belongings, your photographs, your memories destroyed with your loved one. And I think all of this crashing down on Barbara, who also is in her 70s, and watching it all get destroyed as her husband is dead, the home is destroyed. The business is likely destroyed. Picking up those pieces is very difficult. At this point, Jared and investigators felt like they were on a path to get some answers. But there were still many questions that remained. Like, how did Jennifer get James's valuables?

Did she take them or were they given to her? Was Jennifer in the taxi cab? And if so, was she in fact the last person to see James Coppola alive? Questions that detectives were ready to ask Jennifer directly, but she proved difficult to reach. And when they spoke with her, her stories were all over the map. So they called her. They wanted to try to set up a meeting with her to figure out what, if any, relationship she had with him

when she saw him last. When they called her, she called back and she said, I'm in Rochester, which is in upstate New York. She gave theories to the police as to why she believed James was dead with allegations about the mafia was involved in this death. But despite giving all kinds of theories about who may have killed James, it was Jennifer Gross' own actions that raised the most suspicion.

It turned out that Jennifer was not in Rochester at all. She was right there on Long Island, and police knew she was lying because they were already surveilling her. So instead of buying herself more time to come up with a convincing alibi, her lie quickly gave police the grounds needed to obtain a warrant for her phone records. And from there, the case truly began to break. So we learned that her cell phone was in communications with the taxis and that her phone was both pinging on Center Island at the time of the suspicious death. And since Jennifer Gross didn't have a house on Center Island, she had no reason to be in the area except to visit James. And when police contacted the taxi companies,

they did confirm that Gross had called and been a passenger that night. So we learned that there was a cab driver who took Jennifer Gross to Center Island. And he dropped her off and then he left. He said that at one point, while he was driving her to Center Island in the taxi, she was contacting other taxi companies about getting a ride from Center Island. And I think this is so telling because it means that before Gross had even arrived at James's

home, she already knew she wanted to get out of there. And you know, Anasika, this is such an interesting discovery. She's been to the house before. And was this a normal pattern or practice for her? Was this day any different? And I just think that's an interesting fact that I'd be looking into. And that was the exact next step for investigators. We then located the taxi driver who picked her up, and he had indicated that he picked up a female from Center Island and drove to Long Beach. So now we've got this woman who had a complicated history with James. She's at James' home on the night of his death, and then trying to hide her whereabouts from the police. She even tried to sell his belongings the day after his death.

And one of those pieces would be suspicious. Altogether, this looks like they're building a great case. But it still wasn't enough to charge her because investigators still did not know for sure how James had died and whether or not he had even been murdered at all. So there were just a lot of doors that just needed to be closed still before we finalized what we had. And if you think about it from the defense's perspective for a moment, sure, Gross had a tumultuous history with James. But she also had a 20 year history with him. That's decades worth of maybe innocent, at least non-criminal reasons she could have been at the house. And Gross had already proven that she was comfortable telling whatever story served her best. So Jared knew he couldn't charge her until he was ready to tell his own.

All the while, the clock was ticking. The longer they waited, the more risk of possible flight. Multiple times during the investigation where she had said, I'm not in Long Island, I'm not available to talk to you, I'm up in Rochester, or I don't want to tell you where I am, but when I'm back on Long Island, I'll talk to you. But investigators were already on to her. They were keeping tabs. They knew where she was. They knew that she would do these short-term rentals and hop from place to place. We had a good idea that she was remaining local. Eventually, Jared and detectives decided they did have enough evidence to take her into custody.

But it was not for the murder. Their plan was to arrest Gross for her role in the felony theft of both the jewelry and his expensive watch, both of which were valued in the thousands. The two of them together was a violation of the order of protection that existed. So we knew we had probable cause to charge her with violating the order of protection. We knew that we had sufficient evidence to charge her for what I would say was a robbery, the property that she had taken from him and the selling of it. Which meant that she had to have been with James to take them. And because of the order of protection, that in itself qualified as a crime. And then police planned to try and speak with her. And if she gave a statement, would it then be enough for the murder? And the question was, did we have sufficient evidence to charge her with either manslaughter or murder for what occurred before the fire?

And obviously, James wasn't alive to tell us what happened. And so that's why we said, we have probable cause to charge her with crimes. Let's see if she'll talk to us. Investigators knew that if Gross didn't want to talk, she would still likely want to hear what they had to say. In fact, throughout the investigation, Gross had called investigators pretending to be somebody else

in an attempt to get information about the case. And Scott, this is just such an interesting, I don't know if it's a turn or a piece of the investigation. We've often talked about people that inject themselves just to get information, but here she's actually trying to take on another identity while she's trying to get that information. Yeah. Curiosity could end up killing the cat here because she's stumbling over herself, trying to gain information when probably early on in that conversation, they knew it was her. So, you know, you have Gross on the phone asking for details of what's going on with the case when they're studying her already. She's the person of interest already. So it's actually just making her more

suspicious and in a sense, driving the narrative that they need to continue down the same path they've been going on. But it didn't take much for investigators to figure out who it was actually on the phone. And then the other times that she would call, she wouldn't say she was Jennifer Gross. She would say, I'm calling about the Coppola investigation. Can you give me any updates? And then he would say, oh, I can't really say anything. She would ask some questions and eventually the conversation would be over. She was trying to deceive them during the course of the investigation. And so while Gross may have wanted information about the case,

it was Jared and the Coppola family that were finally going to get some answers. In September of 2019, almost one year after the death of James Coppola, Nassau County police arrested 54-year-old Jennifer Gross and charged her with violation of a protection order. But their true suspicions was that she had something to do with his death. But to hear Gross tell it at the time of his death, she and James were still deeply in love. Here's a portion of her statement to police. And we do want to advise that the equality is not great, certainly in spots, but it is the actual statement. And we decided better for you to hear her words than not. I've been around Jamie a long time, 20 years, pretty much straight. We truly loved each other.

He was my main source of income. I couldn't earn the money that I could anywhere else. Police would hear over and over again during the many hours they spoke with Gross, her children were extremely important to her. It was James who had helped support them after Gross' marriage fell apart. And he helped my son. He bought my son a car. He helped my son at school. He helped pay for his school. And he and my son had a very good relationship. And he spoke to my son every day. And it was very good to him.

In the taped interview, Gross gave her version of what happened the night of the fire. She told detectives that when she arrived, she found James inside very distraught. He was crying. He was depressed. I felt like he was almost suicidal. I was scared to come and leave him that day. I'd never seen him cry before.

Jennifer claimed that James had been cut off by his wife and sons who had pushed him out of the business, leaving him with nothing. She even tried to tell detectives that maybe James's wife, Barbara, was the one who set the fire. He was very depressed when I left him that day. And I honestly think either he set fire to the house himself or his wife or Barbara did it. But even if his wife had wanted to destroy the beautiful house that she also owned, it didn't account for why it was Gross, not Barbara James' wife, but Gross, that was placed there at the crime scene. Detectives entertained Gross' version of events and just kept letting her talk, digging herself deeper into her story.

They asked Gross if she was so in love with James and so afraid he may hurt himself, why would she have left him there in that state, someone who was her boyfriend of more than 20 years? Because he asked me how he was. Because he wanted to do whatever it is he had to do. He said he had things he had to do and he loved me very much. But it seemed like even Gross couldn't really follow her own claims. She started shifting her timeline, changing key details like the time of day or even how she got to James's house. And for all of you keeping track at home, she even began throwing out theories that James had been involved with the mafia. And according to Gross, not only did they want him dead, they were potentially targeting her as well. I mean, you have to understand that you just told me Jamie's dead and I'm like freaking out. I'm trying to remember. I mean, you have to understand that you just told me Jamie's dead and I'm like freaking out. I'm trying to remember. I mean, honestly, I might have just told you that I was upstate because you freaked me out that Jamie was dead. I felt like someone was trying to hurt me.

I didn't really know that you are who you are, so how would I know that? At one point, Gross even went so far as to suggest that James had faked his own death. I still think he's alive somewhere. I don't really believe he's dead. I have trouble believing he's dead. I think he faked his own death and he took that money because he wanted out. He was sick of Barbara. She even implied that maybe the body found at Coppola's home wasn't James at all.

And that, in reality, James had fled the country. But these were all just wild theories. So investigators concentrated on the facts that they did have, like the jewelry that she had sold just after he died and the cell phone records that had placed her at the scene of the fire. And then, in a complete turn, Gross admitted to being present when James died. But the story she told made little sense.

And the truth is that I went there, and we were making up. And the truth is, he had a heart attack, and I panicked. So then there was this. Gross claimed that while she was comforting James, he had experienced a heart attack. She went on to say that she had attempted CPR, but it was no use. James was dead. And that rather than calling an ambulance, Gross claimed that she left him on the floor near the front entrance. And then worried she'd be blamed for James's death,

she decided to light the house on fire. You know what I like to do? I don't like to think about me when he dies, but I don't want him to die. I don't know what else to think. Jennifer Gross admitted to only be thinking about herself and the jail time she'd be desperate to avoid, stating over and over again that she was in a state of panic and not thinking straight. But it makes zero sense. Not only because she'd already planned her escape from the scene in a taxi that had already been scheduled to pick her up, but that she then took the time to steal his jewelry and watch before starting the blaze? Not surprisingly, detectives questioned her account.

On top of the fact that you said you panicked, you panicked, But you were very cool to get in the cab. You were very cool to make a phone call. And apparently cruel enough to rob the dead man that had been so generous to her over the years. She never wanted the open casket thing. That's what was going on. So you decided to cremate him? That was your thought process? And you talked about, he told you if he ever died in front of you that he wanted you to take the jewelry. No, he just said when he died. No, I did that

because I was desperate. As her story continued to crumble, Gross finally admitted to what she said now she had done to James the night that he died. I had to fight? I pushed him, hit his head, and he just died in a panic. Gross now was saying that she pushed James Coppola and he hit his head. But the medical examiner had not found any evidence of head trauma

severe enough to cause death. So what else was she leaving out? Investigators then made one last appeal for the truth, and Jennifer Gross confessed. I hit him with a pan. He died. Where'd you hit him with a pan?

I swear to you. It's not true. It is true. No, it's not. I hit him. His skull was intact. She gets angry. She starts to say to him that she needs money, that she doesn't have a house to live in, that she's about to be homeless again. She starts to vent how many times can one person be homeless. She says that it's her son's birthday the next day and she was living in an Airbnb and that it was about to expire.

And he continued to tell her that he didn't have money for her. And she says that she got mad, that she's done with him, that she's done with the judgments. In frustration and rage, Gross says she grabbed a nearby frying pan and struck James Coppola in the head. I just got mad. I was like, I'm done. I'm done with the judgments against me. I just kept hitting him with the pan. I just kept hitting him.

I was mad. I was just so red. I'd been drinking. I was mad. I was drunk. I took the pan and I was like, I was mad. Finally, he goes, what do you want? And I said, money.

Oh, you don't have any. No, I should have killed him. I killed him, all right? You happy? At some point, she says he collapses and says that she hit him four times, that she was angry, and she kept saying she wants money, she wants money,

and started the fire because she didn't want to go to jail for killing them. And this version of her events would be corroborated. When we went back and looked at the crime scene photos that now were from a year earlier, they observed what appeared to be a frying pan in the kitchen that she had said she had used. So we had believed that that was, in fact, the weapon that she had said she had used. So we had believed that that was, in fact, the weapon that she had used to hit him. I do believe that she was hitting him and a medical episode occurred. He died as a result of that. Investigators now believe they finally knew the cause of James's death, but there still were other hurdles to figure out.

There were a lot of challenges and discussions and research done in trying to figure out what would be the appropriate charge and how we would be able to sustain a conviction if the case was tried. Let's talk about premeditation. Investigators did not believe Jennifer had gone to the house to murder James. But after he had been financially supporting her like he had done for years, she was faced with the fact that he was done. He was going to cut her off. And it was that action and that situation is where she snapped.

What's your take on that? And, you know, it really doesn't just come down to whether this was a premeditated act, because who knows? Maybe it was, but more likely it wasn't. And it was formulated in some in one way or another while she was there. But, you know, there's at least three different ways, as I think about it, three different theories that get you to the same place, which is that murder charge. And really, it's all of these. Because first of all, if she had stolen his property and he died during that with a heart attack, right, because he couldn't believe what she was doing, well, that, Scott, as you know, like that's felony murder. Someone dies

during the course of certain enumerated felonies, and that's robbery. Also, you might be saying, well, wait a second, if she hit him with the pan, but if he died during a heart attack, well, is that murder? And yes, it is. Because under the law, in law school, we used to call this like the eggshell skull theory, which basically is that, you know, you do something to someone and just because maybe in that case, their skull is not as maybe thick as someone else's and so they die more easily than someone else. Well, you're still responsible of whatever happens to that victim as you find them. So yeah, she hits him, he dies from something else, still on you, that's still murder. But even as you said, Scott, whether it was planned beforehand or during a fight, and then she decides she's had enough and

out of rage kills him, well, that is still murder, at least initially for the charge. So I just think that in all different ways that that is how they get there. And I really just think there's multiple theories in this case. And in the end, Gross was charged with second-degree murder as well as second-degree arson. And news of those charges were given at a press conference being held by police and prosecutors. Last November 20th in 2018, if you'll recall, there was a very intense house fire up on Center Island. When we responded there, the remains of a 75-year-old male, Mr. Coppola, was found deceased in the house and burned. Our investigation took almost 10 months.

But in that time, we've identified a female who he was having a relationship with for many, many years. So what happened on that night was she went there to confront Mr. Coppola for money. While at that scene, it became a physical altercation. She took something, a household kitchen item, and started to beat him with that. As a result of that beating, he expired. She then covered up the crime, lit the house on fire, and was taken from the scene by a taxi cab. She subsequently pawned his jewelry, and now we brought her in here and charged her with murder second degree in Austin Second. Jennifer Gross initially pled not guilty. As the case was headed for trial, Jarrett had to consider not only justice for James'

death, but also what might be best for his family. And he factored their views into the equation. Part of the process is listening to family members, friends, loved ones, of what they think is appropriate, and then explaining to them why that is reasonable or why I think it may not be reasonable, as well as what may come out at a trial. The woman accused of killing James was someone who had been in James' life for a long time. They had known about this affair and had dealt with it privately. They didn't want to air that pain in a very public forum. Especially not when they were already grieving the loss of a father and a husband. Explain to families about how a jury and the public

may learn intimate details of their family life or family dynamics that they may not want to be in the public and saying, are you okay with that? Are you okay with this becoming public knowledge? And some families say, absolutely not. I want my loved one to be remembered for other things. And these are all conversations that we had with Barbara, her sons, her granddaughter. Ultimately, Jared decided to allow Jennifer Gross to plead guilty to a lesser charge,

manslaughter in the first degree. There would be no trial. So we do know the probable reasons why Jared offered the plea, but let's talk about the reasons potentially that the defense accepted the plea offer. And I think one of those factors has to do not only with the defendant making a confession, but it's the way she confessed. We've seen the videotape. We see her deflated body language, but not only is it a deflated body language, it was such a cold and calculated confession. And I do believe, it's my opinion, that if you're a member of the jury watching her give this confession, and it appears to be with ease that she mentions that she raises a pan and hits him and the result caused his death,

that could be telling to a jury about the potential culpability of her actions that day. In court, Jennifer Gross was sentenced to 22 years in prison, an outcome that Jarrett was definitely satisfied with. I mean, 22 years is a lot of time, and it's not 20 to life or 25 to life, but I think under the facts and circumstances of both what occurred and what was right for the family, that's how we got to this disposition. At sentencing, James's family described him as a hardworking man who had provided for his family and had survived numerous health challenges over the years. His widow confronted Jennifer Gross about her cruelty. She also told Jennifer that she had ended more than just one life that day.

At the same hearing, Gross' own attorney stated that his client had done the only thing she could under the circumstances, except responsibility for the actions which had shattered the Coppola family and her own. For prosecutors, even just outcomes can sometimes still feel somewhat hollow. Yes, you had enough to make an arrest and there was a conviction and someone is now off the street, hopefully not to ever hurt anyone else again. But in the end, nothing can put these families back together. I never met Barbara and James until this. And so I'm just doing my job.

And then when you sit back and you think about who they are and the family and the destruction, and then it becomes real. No conviction or sentence can ever undo the damage done when someone takes another's life. But hopefully it can bring some finality and peace. Try to have an impact on society for good. Criminal signatures are unique behaviors or patterns that murder suspects leave behind, serving as crucial breadcrumbs for detectives. These signatures can be remarkably telling and often lead investigators straight to the perpetrator. Here, the motive was money, a trail too easy to find. An order of protection had already been taken out against the suspect by the victim. And it was a great place for them to start.

Jennifer Gross was desperate, someone who had become accustomed to a certain lifestyle funded by James and other men in her life. And in the end, it was the fear of financial instability that turned that desperation into murder. The Coppola's family dynamics were complicated, yet in different ways, many are. I respect the decision made by the prosecution

to try to keep that part of their lives out of the courtroom. Sometimes you can, and sometimes you can't. Here, Gross did accept responsibility and pled guilty for her crimes and will spend decades in prison paying the price. Those three factors, Gross's guilty plea, a significant sentence, and the ability to then let the Coppola family move on with their grief, I believe in this case, equate to justice. Justice takes many forms and shapes depending on the cases, and to me, it was achieved here.

Rest in peace, James Coppola, and our thoughts are with your family as we hope they continue to heal. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original. Produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamont.

Researched by Kate Cooper. Edited by Ali Sirwa and Philjean Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? by Ali Sirwa and Philjean Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?