Accused in Stein Killing Is Denied Bail

Natavia Lowery, the chief suspect in the killing of a high-profile real estate broker, Linda Stein, was denied bail yesterday in Manhattan Criminal Court at a combative proceeding in which the prosecution sought to quash a theory that the killer was a man.

Male DNA that was found mixed with Stein's blood in her bathroom sink, a piece of evidence the defense made public on Tuesday, in no way disproves that the killer was Ms. Lowery, Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said. "A man may have touched Linda Stein's sink during her stay at her Fifth Avenue apartment. That is the extent of the significance," Ms. Illuzzi-Orbon said, adding that the defense did not appear to have a firm grasp of the forensic findings published in a January report by the medical examiner's office.

Flanked by Ms. Lowery's supporters and family outside 100 Centre St., defense lawyer Ronald Kuby said the prosecution's comments presupposed that Stein, who was killed October 30, never cleaned her sink.

Ms. Illuzzi-Orbon also took on a number of other allegations made by Mr. Kuby, who said his client, who was Stein's assistant, could not have beaten her employer to death because no blood was found on her clothing. The prosecutor said blood was not splattered around Stein's apartment, despite Mr. Kuby's claims to the contrary. Mr. Kuby said Stein's daughter Samantha Wells told investigators she spoke to her mother by phone the day of her death at about 2 p.m., an hour after prosecutors say Ms. Lowery killed Stein. He said prosecutors have yet to provide him phone records that prove Ms. Wells's statements are incorrect.