Bernice Novack, second wife of the Fontainebleau Hotel's original owner, Ben Novack, was found dead, lying in a pool of her own blood, in her Fort Lauderdale home in April 2009. Police later ruled it an accidental death and attributed it to a series of falls. Her son, Ben Novack Jr., at the time filed a lawsuit against Bank of America claiming a fall at a branch's parking lot led to her death.Then Ben turned up dead three months later. Now Ben Jr.'s wife, Narcy Novack, already suspected of killing her husband, is accused of killing Bernice too.
After rumors of Narcy's involvement had floated for months, prosecutors officially made the charges today during a bond hearing for Narcy.
After Ben was found dead in a Hilton Rye Town hotel in Westchester County, New York, local police were sent an anonymous letter in Spanish claiming Narcy was the mastermind behind the death of both Bernice and Ben.
The men Narcy hired to kill Ben have both admitted to the crime, according to prosecutors.
The Miami Herald adds this grizzly detail:
During her husband's beating, the prosecution said, she ordered his killers to cut out his eyes with a utility knife.
"Finish him off,'' she told them, according to the prosecution.
Bernice Novack was married to Ben Novack Sr. when he opened the now-legendary Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, and previously worked as a model in New York.
