Search for Suspect Focuses on Stein Apartment

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The New York Sun

A week after the death of famed real estate broker Linda Stein, investigators are rummaging through her apartment in search of evidence that would tie a suspect to her killing.

The longer the investigation goes, a police source said, the less likely a suspect will be caught.

Two large black bags and a long paper bag with yellow tape marked “evidence” were removed from Stein’s Fifth Avenue apartment building yesterday afternoon by a medical examiner. Police have already removed a door to her apartment and parts of her bathtub.

Earlier in the afternoon, police escorted an elderly building employee into a car for questioning. He was not in handcuffs.

Investigators have already pored through security footage from the building, questioned former lovers, and now could be searching for anyone who may have held a grudge against Stein.

In the weeks before Stein was killed, she had made a decision to leave her high-powered broker position at Prudential Douglas Elliman, a move that would have cost the company a number of affluent clients, a source close to Stein said.

“She was really upset with the management at Elliman,” the source said. “She was kind of hanging on until January.”

Stein had requested additional space for her and her assistant at Elliman’s Madison Avenue office, and was furious when her request was denied, the source said. She planned to rejoin a former employer, Edward Lee Cave Inc.

Messages left for Mr. Cave and a spokeswoman for Prudential Douglas Elliman were not returned.

Before her death, Stein had threatened to sue her apartment building over construction work being performed in the lobby during a Jewish holiday, a source close to Stein said. The building is currently having a new marble floor installed, a building resident said. A phone message left with a spokeswoman for the management company of the building, Brown Harris Stevens, was not returned.

Stein also had a rocky relationship with the employees at her apartment building, a source, who was employed by Stein, said.

“A lot of the doormen didn’t like her,” the source said. “They had a lot of comments.”


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