Law&Crime Sidebar - Man Murders Ex-Wife, Her New Boyfriend While Daughter Waits in Car: Cops

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

Kelly Coppola and her boyfriend Kenny Pohlman were found dead inside a Long Island home, allegedly targeted by Kelly’s ex-husband, Daniel Coppola. Authorities say Coppola had his teenage daughter wait in the car outside the home while he shot her mother and Kenny. Law&Crime’s Elizabeth Millner spoke with Kenny’s brothers, Tom and John Pohlman, about their tragic loss.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Protect your retirement with a Gold IRA at https://lawandcrimegold.com or call 877-646-5347!GUEST HOST:Elizabeth Millner https://x.com/_emillnerLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wonderly Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wonderly Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A father in Long Island, New York reportedly told his teenage daughter to stay in the car, then went inside his ex-wife's home and killed her and her boyfriend. We're digging into what police believed led up to the shocking crime. And with some of the shocking crime, and with several questions still unanswered. We speak with the brother of one of the victims. Welcome to Sidebar presented by law and crime. I'm Elizabeth Milner. A 50-year-old New York man is being kept on suicide watch after throwing himself off the second

story in jail after police arrested him in connection with the double homicide. He entered a plea of not guilty to two counts of murder during an arraignment on Friday in Suffolk County. According to investigators last Wednesday night, Daniel Coppola forced his way to way into the home of his ex-wife, Kelly Coppola, before shooting her and her boyfriend, Kenneth Kenny Pullman, Jr. The two lived in Kenny's home in the St. James area of Long Island. To make matters worse, Daniel and Kelly's 15-year-old daughter was in her father's car outside the house. Investigators learned that Coppola had contacted his daughter, telling her he was going to pick her up and to get out of the house. When she came out to the car,

Coppola allegedly pushed his way into the home and shot Kelly and Kenny before running back the car and taking off with the teen. The 15-year-old was reportedly scared that something bad had happened to her mom, so she texted her friends. Not long after, police got a 911 call saying the teen had left the home with her dad without her mom's permission. Once Coppola and his daughter were back at his house around 1145 p.m., the teen herself called 911 to report that her father was threatening to shoot himself. Officers rushed over and took Coppola into custody. But that's when they realized they had just had a call concerning the same 15-year-old girl amid reports something terrible happened at Kenny's home. When officers responded to the home, they made the gruesome discovery

and found both Kenny and Kelly dead just before midnight. During Kelly and Daniel Coppola's relationship, the two shared many photos on social media better times. Kelly even shared online about her then-husband's second-place win in a bodybuilding competition back in 2011. Then over the last few years, Daniel's Facebook page shows him out on fishing excursions and bragging about his daughter. Prosecutors say Daniel and Kelly Coppola's divorce was final, but contentious. However, Kelly found new love with Kenny, and she and her daughter moved into his home. The two were together for nearly two years before the shocking murders. During the investigation, more clues would be pieced together showing Daniel's state of mind

before allegedly gunning down his ex-wife and her boyfriend. When detectives searched Coppola's home, they found a typewritten note. planning the shooting, as well as a bullet with the name of everyone involved in his divorce case, including his own attorney. They also found the semi-automatic handgun believed to have been used to commit the homicides. After Coppola's arrest, he reportedly admitted to the killings, and his alleged confession was caught on body-worn camera by the officers. Coppola is being held without bail, and his case will be presented to a grand jury for indictment. Stories like this one are obviously very tough, but they're important to tell. And part of the

reason we're able to do so is from our great sponsors like Upside. And I want to take time to thank Upside for sponsoring this episode of Sidebar. So you may be asking what's Upside? Well, it's a free, yes, free app that gets you cashback on daily essentials like gas and groceries. And it's actual real cashback too. The money appears in your Upside app that you can transfer straight into your bank account. So here's what you do. You download the Upside app, then claim an offer for whatever you're buying on Upside. I went to 7-11, got some candy and some other snacks, and you use the app, and truly, it's super easy. You can use the app at places like Shell, Exxon, and fast food favorites like Taco Bell, and that's just to name a few. To find out how much

you could earn, download upside or click the link in the description and use our promo code sidebar to get 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. Again, that's promo code sidebar for an extra 25 cents back on your first gallon of gas. I'm joined now by Tom Pullman. That's Kenny Pullman's brother. Now, Tom, I can't even imagine. and begin to imagine how you're feeling right now. But how are you doing? Well, a little bit more at ease after laying Kenny to rest yesterday. It's been a difficult week, as you can imagine.

A lot of anger to begin with, a lot of different feelings. But we made an effort to make sure that while we were celebrating Kenny's life, we didn't mention or think about the monster that put us in the situation that we're in now. And we paid great tribute to Kenny over the last three days. There was an outstanding show of support. My parents, no mother or father should have to lay their child to rest. My nieces and nephews, no child should have to lay their parent to rest at the hand of a monster. And unfortunately, my older niece and nephew lost their mother to cancer 18 months ago.

So I'm sorry, 18 years ago, they lost their mother to cancer. So it's just that this is just the ultimate tragedy and no child should have to go through that. And how are your niece and nephew doing right now? It was rough. I mean, having to sit there and lay your father to rest, knowing that that was your only parent for Brianna and Tyler, very difficult. My niece, Jenna, thank God she still has her mother in her, that she can rely. on. But our family is a huge support system. And love does conquer all evil. And despite the outcome of this incident, we're surrounded by tons of love and that has helped us get through

the last few days. Unfortunately, now reality is going to kick in. We're going to have to go back to reality. We're going to have to get the kids' lives in order. We're going to have to go through this unfortunate legal process that we know all too well will be drawn out and take way too long. And although we've laid our brother to rest, this is going to linger over us until the day that individual dies. And talk to me a little bit about Kenny. What was he like? And how was your relationship with your brother? So my eulogy began. If he knew Kenny, you loved him. And if you didn't, I apologize that you didn't get to experience his love for life and his huge spirit. My relationship with my older brother, my brother's relationship with his older brother and my sister's relationship.

We're a very tight-knit family. Through the years, we've always remained close. For those of us that experienced his funeral services, got a firsthand experience of what our family is about. And that all starts with our parents in the upbringing re-received. They did an amazing job instilling values in us. And the love and the love and the support for my brother was a true testament of what my parents have done and been able to do to raise a great, solid family. My personal relationship with my brother, he was my older brother. I was little Tommy. My brother John commented that growing up, going through school, we weren't John and Tommy Pullman. We were Kenny Pullman's little brothers or Kenny Pullman's little sister.

And we couldn't have been more proud to be somebody's little brother. And Kenny just, he was always the life of the party. It was a smile on his face. And unfortunately, a lot of the media out there is classifying him as the boyfriend or the new beau. You know, Kelly and her daughter, Gianna, were living in my brother's home. My brother and his family took Kelly and Gianna into their home and welcome them as family. it wasn't a two-week relationship. It was a year-and-a-half relationship. People get divorced all the time. They died loving each other. And from Kelly's family to our family, their love was evident. We don't understand why this happened. But we're at peace knowing that they left this earth in love and created a lot of memories in their year and a half together. And that's all that really matters at this point. And that was going to bring me to my next question. As far as Kelly and Kenny's relationship, you had just mentioned they were a loving and doting couple.

Was it love at first sight for the two of them? And talk to me a little bit about what their relationship was like and how you thought of Kelly as well, too. So you can imagine Kenny losing his high school sweetheart Kim 18 years ago. Growing up, she lived two doors down from us. So as a young kid, Kenny would sit on the curb out in front of Kim's house and wait for her to come outside so he can see her and they can play. It was a true childhood relationship and Kenny was devastated. His heart was broken. His family was torn apart 18 years ago. He saw my other brother, myself and my sister. We've all been married about the same time.

Kenny wanted that love in his life. Nobody wants to be alone. Kenny had a daughter from a previous relationship, Jenna. Jenna's mom, Lisa. She's part of the family still. Kenny loved life more than life itself. And him and Kelly, the last year and a half, I live in New Jersey, so I didn't get to experience it as much as my close relatives have.

But they loved each other. My dad said it best. She brought out the best in Kenny, and Kenny brought out the best in Kenny, and Kenny brought out the best from Kelly. You talk to Kelly's parents. There's been, you know, commented on the news. They had never seen Kelly so happy. Her previous relationship, as we can see now, had its flaws. Kenny made her happy and she made Kenny happy. And did Kenny ever confide in you or talk to you about Daniel Coppola? Was he someone who was just a constant impediment onto their blossoming

relationship. So I had never heard the murderer's name up until last week. I knew of the murderer. And early on in their relationship, he was a jealous ex-husband. He couldn't make his wife happy. Somebody else could. And he couldn't handle that. So early on in the relationship, there were threats. But my brother wasn't one that backed down on threats. He told him if you want to talk, let's talk. And, you know, it kind of got better, I guess. And a couple weeks ago, I'm hearing that there were some issues that occurred and some phone calls that were made. But, I mean, as we're seeing things unfold and we went to the arraignment and we hear that there was a manifesto of exactly what he was going to do and then he was of sound, mind, and spirit. And he had bullets with

names written on him, including his attorneys. This was a sick individual. And, you know, if my brother and Kelly's love cause this to happen, then it had to happen. Because you can't live life without loving the way they loved. That's the way we were taught to be. And again, there are no answers. We don't know answers. The individual had guns taken away from him.

His concealed carry permit taken away after his divorce. I watched news video of a drone of his house, and I see seven long guns laying on his driveway. our society is messed up and there are no answers but until we start addressing the real issues there's unfortunately going to be another maniac that sees the attention that this guy's getting and is going to go and do the same thing or something bigger and better the fact that two loved ones had their lives taken from their other loved ones and were taken off this earth and the only thing the media wants to report is about the murderer his name his photo what he did

the jealous ex-husband, not the two people in love that were bringing two families together and trying to create a life together. It's all about the murder and the negativity, and I will never be able to understand that. And what kind of goals did Kenny and Kelly have for themselves? Did they want to get married eventually? Did you see that kind of coming soon into their relationship? So they were obviously older in life. Their kids were older, so I don't believe there was any talk about, oh, let's get married and have kids. I think they were very much in love. I can see a point where Kenny probably would have proposed and they would have gotten engaged, whether that meant wedding or just commitment.

The fact that Kelly made the commitment and moved in with Kenny and his kids, that was a big commitment. And I know there was a lot of conversation when that occurred. And Kelly wanted some assurances from Kenny that if she made that commitment, that, you know, it was more than a one and a half. your relationship. So yeah, for them to move in and take that step, there's no telling what the future would have brought, but it didn't matter because they were in love and they lived each and every day. If you see, if you followed Kelly or my brother on social media, their love story played out on social media. And unfortunately, I believe that's probably one thing that drove this murderer to do what he did. Social media, today's day and age, too many people live and die by

social media and live their lives through social media. And I think this is one case where that had a very big impact on what occurred here. And as hard as this next question will be, can you take me back to when you first heard of the news of what happened to Kenny and Kelly? So I live in New Jersey by Atlantic City. My parents live here. The rest of my family lives here. I received a call from my mom about 2.02 a.m. last Thursday morning. And the call was, I just got a call from Tyler. Brianna called. Something happened at the house. Kelly's ex-husband showed up and they got into a fight. Okay, mom, calm down. My mother and father at two in the morning were driving to my brother's house. Hung up. Got my wife up. What do I do? What's going on? Didn't have a good feeling in

my gut, but at that point, some confrontation occurred. About 10 minutes later, I got a call from my mother. Tommy, we just showed up at the house. They've got yellow tape everywhere. There's cops everywhere. I don't see any ambulances. My mother, at that point, she said, this is not good. Be safe, get in the car and get here as quickly as you can. My brother John, his next door neighbors, works for Suffolk County Police, he knew enough to head straight to the police precinct. And in a matter of about a half hour, although it was an active crime scene, and they couldn't disclose much, my mother and father were able to describe Kenny, certain tattoos that he had, and the detective was at least kind enough to say, I can't give you

details, but there are two deceased people in the house, and one of them meets the description of your son. And words cannot describe what it was after that. Kenny's son Tyler plays football for Springfield College up in Massachusetts. Our family immediately, me and my brother John went into crisis mode. What do we do? I was driving along Island to be with my mother. John and my dad went and met Tyler and his friends halfway between Long Island and Massachusetts to get Tyler down here. And by about 5.30 a.m. That we had the entire family together to begin this, this nightmare that we couldn't wake up from. And have you spoken to Kelly's daughter, Gianna? How is she doing?

Yeah. So this should say a little bit about the Pullman family. And although I don't want to say the last name, Coppola, Kelly's family and Gianna's family, we just laid Kenny to rest yesterday morning. they will be laying Kelly to rest tomorrow morning. Their services start tonight. Their entire family, all Kelly's friends, have been at my other brother's house. Gianna has been with Brianna, Tyler, and Jenna every day this week. Gianna's initial concern, as you can imagine, is how are people going to perceive me? here I lost my mother, but at the hand of the other part of the person, the group that created me. This is not Gianna's fault. Gianna cannot control what other people do. So again,

we've welcomed Gianna, Gianna's family. They were over the other night. We had the detectives actually all meet us at the same location. So Kenny and Kelly's love lives on. We will get through this together. There's going to be, unfortunately, a long road ahead of us. And the only way we're going to get through it is if we're able to support one another. And as you can imagine, usually one person in a relationship dies. And you're left with somebody else that at least has intimate details of passwords, bank account information, where are the wills,

we're in a situation where two people living together left this earth at the same exact time. and you've got two families trying to piece together where are the wills, what life insurance policies were in place, if any, it's a huge mess. And my brother John and I were not going to leave my parents to have to deal with that. And I know Kelly's two brothers, Kyle and Ryan, they're not going to leave their parents to have to deal with that. So fortunately, they left this earth and they're incapable hands on this side. And the kids will be taken care of.

their affairs will be taken care of and most importantly their parents who had to bury their children are going to be taken care of. And I know the funeral was just yesterday and I, you know, I still can't put words together and imagine still the emotions and the raw feelings you are feeling right now. But what was it like for you to see the outpouring of love and support for Kenny yesterday? We just let Kenny's kids know, my parents know, and my children. And my children, children and Kenny's nieces and nephews know that, you know, to look around hundreds and hundreds of people over the last three days, whether it was at the funeral home or that attended his funeral mass yesterday, it was a testament to who their son, father, and uncle was. I knew my brother.

You know, being a close-knit family, me and my brother John, my sister, Tony, we knew the love we had for each other. But at a time like this and you question why something happened, God works in mysterious ways. Whether that's true or not, I've got to believe it as long as I'm here because it's the only thing that's going to get us through a tragedy like this. I purposely said I was not going to mention anything about that monster while we were celebrating Kenny's life. And we didn't.

It was all about the love and joy that we had as a family reminiscing, looking at photos. But in my family, humor gets us through tragedy. Unfortunately, from when it started with the passing of my brother John and his wife, actually, the same time we lost Kim, three months before, we lost our eight-month-old niece Carson to cancer back 18 years ago. And three months later, Kim passed away of cancer. So there was a run 18 years ago where we dealt with some pretty significant tragedy. We're battle-tested, but humor has always gotten us through tragedy. So some people might think the Pullman clan is a little off To be at a funeral and hear joking

And you know, Kenny's no longer with us But we were still making jokes about him That's what he would want The celebration of his life Anybody that was there or saw it It was a great celebration of life And it was fitting for a brother we loved And Tom, talk to me a little bit about the GoFundMe as well

too. So as I explained, we're in a situation where Kelly and Kenny left at the same time. Kenny's attorney is over in Paris until later this week. You look at three individuals left without a father, two of them which don't have a mother or a father. Tyler's in the middle. He's in his fourth year of a seven-year PhD program to be a physical therapist. Jenna, 15 years old. What's going to happen with her? People who are reaching out, what can we do? What can we do? Can we send flowers?

Can we send food? And you can only eat so much food. Flowers go to waste. So during conversations with my brother's employer, we decided, you know what? Let's create a GoFundMe page. If people do want to help, let's put it to good use. My brother, John's a CFO for a hospital system here locally. he's very capable of making sure that our nieces and nephews are taken care of

throughout the rest of their lives. And although it won't bring their dad back, we're going to make sure that they don't have to worry about too many things moving forward. And I know you had mentioned earlier in our interview about just the long, drawn-out process of the court system and the legal process as well, too. Is that something that you'll be attending every single hearing, court date? Is that something that you and your family plan on doing? So as I mentioned, the detectives came out and talked to both families the other day. If it were up to us, we'd be at every legal proceeding they had.

The detectives explained, well, not every legal proceeding he's going to be at. For us, it's important to show there's power and numbers. So we will show up in force when it's necessary to show up in force. This is new news. I don't know if you read it in the newsday today, but the murderer threw himself off the second story in the jail yesterday, and apparently he's going to be paralyzed from the waist down. So he can't even be successful with trying to kill himself.

He wasn't successful in marriage, wasn't successful in trying to kill himself. His life is going to be hell. And I hope it is every second that he shares the same air I do on this earth. So yes, we will show up in force. And Tom, I want to thank you so much for sharing your story and talking with us during this really tragic time, especially given that everything just happened just, you know, so quickly. Before we sign you off, is there anything else you would like our viewers to know about Kenny and Kelly? So like I said, I know this is a law and crime podcast. The hot story is the murderer who did this.

I just want people to know there was a much bigger story. If we focused on love more than we focused on hate and crime, maybe this world would be a better place. So Kenny and Kelly loved bigger than life. She brought out the best in him. He brought out the best in her. Although tragic, and I saw the crime scene. I know how it occurred, although tragic and not the way I would have wanted it to happen.

they left this earth loving each other. And I know my brother died charging after a murderer. There's not many people in this world when somebody breaks into your house by shooting your door down and you're upstairs are going to run charging towards somebody that's got a gun pointed at him. The way my brother died, he was probably about a foot and a half from this murderer. And the guy's lucky he killed my brother before he got his hands on him. So remember the good of this.

people died but those people were loved more than life itself they've got children that will continue to have their legacy live on they have family members that will not let their lives be forgotten and you know there are murderers and maniacs in this world we can't change that but like I said my message is let's try to focus on the love and the positive in this world a little bit more than we focus on the negative in the crime all right Tom again thank you so much for sharing your story and talking to us about your brother. We really appreciate it. Thank you very much. And hope your family are doing okay. Thank you very much. Well, that's all the time we have for this episode of Sidebar. You can check out more episodes

and subscribe to us anywhere you listen to your podcast, whether it's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. I'm Elizabeth Milner, and this has been Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.