1 00:00:06,519 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 1: Novel, Hey listener. In this episode, there's mention of suicide, attempts, depression, 2 00:00:17,040 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: violence and control. There's also the story of Gail's life 3 00:00:21,040 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: full of friendship, curly hair, and the romance of youth. 4 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: Probably a few swears too, so, as they say in 5 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:30,560 Speaker 1: the South, Sorry, y'all. 6 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 2: If you do. 7 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: Listen and are impacted by any of our themes, you 8 00:00:35,720 --> 00:00:39,879 Speaker 1: can reach out to No More, a domestic violence charity 9 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: we've partnered with. They have lots of great resources to help. 10 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 2: You or your loved ones. 11 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: You can find them at no More dot org. That's 12 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,960 Speaker 1: no More dot org. 13 00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 3: A baby photos. 14 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 4: That you that's us too, and Gail No, and Gail 15 00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 4: And I was with her when we took this one. 16 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 4: You know you get from J. C. Penny these like 17 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 4: little things come here for a free photo. And she 18 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 4: made me gun with her and we took the photo. 19 00:01:26,959 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 4: And that's her beloved cat. Here's more care free Gails 20 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 4: before she met and married Bob. And here's Bob. And 21 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 4: here's Gail and Bob. Does she look happy? No, I'm 22 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 4: Alaine Katz, I'm Gail's sister. 23 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 2: I'm Carol Fisher. 24 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: And from the teams that and our Heart Radio you're 25 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: listening to The Girlfriends episode three, Bubbly, Bouncy and Very 26 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: Alive You. A few days before Christmas in twenty twenty two, 27 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: my producer Anna visited Elaine in Westchester County, New York. 28 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: Lane had just moved houses the day before, this beautiful 29 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,679 Speaker 1: wood paneled home which looked out over the Hudson River. 30 00:02:56,320 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: They sat around the kitchen table for two days, drinking 31 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: wine out of plastic cups pulled from cardboard boxes. I 32 00:03:03,919 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: wish I could have been there, though I'll admit I 33 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: would have been nervous. I worried a lot about how 34 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: Elaine would perceive me as a member of a lady 35 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: social club that had turned her sister's disappearance into gossip. 36 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:19,919 Speaker 1: I would hate for her to think we made light 37 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,400 Speaker 1: of the hardest moment of her life. But I'm really 38 00:03:23,440 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 1: ready to learn about Gail and to show all of 39 00:03:26,400 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: you who she was, because I never got that chance 40 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: when I first stumbled into this story. If you look 41 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: at some of those old photos of their family, it's 42 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: clear how similar Elaine and Gail look. They weren't even 43 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 1: two years apart. 44 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 4: One of our favorite sayings is Gail and I were 45 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 4: the opposite side of the same coin. We were very different, 46 00:03:53,000 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 4: but it was because we were responding to the same 47 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 4: stimuli in an opposite way, so we were very close. 48 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 4: Early in our lives, we lived in Brooklyn and there 49 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 4: was a school at the end of our block, and 50 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 4: the kids would get out, and I'd find this impossible 51 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 4: when I think back on it. They would go wild 52 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 4: and they would like sometimes start fights with us. Gail 53 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:32,600 Speaker 4: was a protector then, but then she became fragile. She 54 00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 4: had psychosomatic asthma, like when she got anxious, she couldn't breathe. 55 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 4: And I remember we would be in school and you know, 56 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 4: they had those public announcements, you know, Laine cats come 57 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,160 Speaker 4: to the nurse's office, and there my sister would be 58 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:48,280 Speaker 4: breathing with you know, a bag over her nose, and 59 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 4: I would be called down there to hold her hand 60 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 4: and calm her down. So there was like a role reversal. 61 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 4: Although she was older than me, she had become highly 62 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 4: emotion and fragile. 63 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:09,799 Speaker 1: Elaine, Gail, their younger brother Stephen, and their parents, Sylvia 64 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,040 Speaker 1: and Manny, moved to belmore Long Island in nineteen sixty four. 65 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: It's where the girls lived out their teenage years. 66 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 5: There was a lot of noise in our families. When 67 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 5: we got together. It was always lots of loud discussions. 68 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 5: I think partly the Jewish families. Lots of debating always 69 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 5: went on. 70 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 2: This is Abby Bruce, Gail and Elaine's cousin. 71 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:37,679 Speaker 5: We were having a passover or Thanksgiving or something all together, 72 00:05:38,279 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 5: and there was a lot of tension going on between 73 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,080 Speaker 5: my mother and my uncle. I forget what was going on, 74 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,960 Speaker 5: but I remember it being tense, and Gail went over 75 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 5: and sat down at the piano and started playing the piano. 76 00:05:55,120 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 5: It completely diffused the situation. She was young, we were probably, 77 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:05,080 Speaker 5: you know, fourteen or fifteen at the time. I remember 78 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 5: watching her hands on the piano and thinking she has 79 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:09,320 Speaker 5: such beautiful hands. 80 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,280 Speaker 4: I would say I was into boys. Gail was into love. 81 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 4: There's a difference. I'm not saying that Gail was boy crazy. 82 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 4: I was boy crazy. Gail was love crazy. Gail was 83 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 4: engaged like twice before she graduated high school and Saturday. 84 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:43,280 Speaker 6: Gail had a way about her that she would attract 85 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 6: a lot of attention. We were very popular in school, 86 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 6: and we were in the popular crowd. 87 00:06:54,440 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: This is Gail's best friend from high school Denise Cassenbaum. 88 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: If you look through gail high school yearbook, you'll find 89 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,320 Speaker 1: Denise and Gail on the same page. They look like 90 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 1: they could have been plucked right out of woodstock. Denise 91 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:12,480 Speaker 1: has an air of a young barbistreisam with long, straight 92 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: Joni Mitchell hair, while Gail's rocking more of a young 93 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: share look with their curly dark hair, flat iron long 94 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: and cut to one length, pure flower power. They met 95 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,280 Speaker 1: when Gail was bumped up a year after excelling at 96 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: her studies. While they weren't at school, they were having 97 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 1: lots of fun doing all the things us girls did 98 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:36,240 Speaker 1: back in the seventies. 99 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 6: I remember being at her house and we'd go up 100 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 6: to her room and we'd listen to Neil Young, Crosby 101 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 6: Stills and Nish and Neil Young. That was our favorite. 102 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 6: And she was the first person who I went to 103 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,920 Speaker 6: New York City with. We were only fourteen, and our 104 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 6: parents let us go into Manhattan on the train and 105 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 6: we went down to Crenwich Village and we walked around. 106 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 6: We met boys we thought were so cool. 107 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: Gail graduated at seventeen and followed her high school boyfriend 108 00:08:18,280 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: David out to Albany in upstate New York. She was 109 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: convinced he was the love of her life, but they 110 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: broke up within a year or so. A few more 111 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:32,960 Speaker 1: unsuccessful relationships later, and Gail was single again, but this 112 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,320 Speaker 1: time she was stuck in Albany for no good reason. 113 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:39,480 Speaker 1: She made a plan to enroll in the school in 114 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: Colorado in the fall, but decided to stick around for 115 00:08:43,200 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: one more summer. 116 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:50,120 Speaker 4: During that summer, she met John fell in love head 117 00:08:50,480 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 4: over heels. They had this durable apartment facing the public square, 118 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:10,200 Speaker 4: decorated it completely like you new hippie style. She was 119 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 4: completely vegetarian. She had, you know, a zillion cats in 120 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 4: the apartment. He was a struggling artist, and every now 121 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 4: and then, because they really couldn't pay the rent, they 122 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 4: would go. They would tell some local club that the 123 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,880 Speaker 4: name of their band was rent. They would play a 124 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,520 Speaker 4: few gigs, they would cover whatever crap somebody wanted them 125 00:09:34,559 --> 00:09:38,080 Speaker 4: to cover. They would raise enough money for the rent, 126 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 4: then they would stop. 127 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: When his band, called Odd spelt Ode, weren't trying to 128 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: pay the rent. They were writing and performing in avant 129 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: garde rock opera. If you don't believe me, here it 130 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: is John's on the. 131 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 2: Keys an escalator raising side. 132 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 7: The farm in heaven my land, I saw the heart 133 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:23,960 Speaker 7: of man in the old order moved, touching hands as 134 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:30,480 Speaker 7: they walked on all the treasure will share with love 135 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 7: for every woman. 136 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 2: Ah the seventies founder. 137 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 4: Unfortunately, she was the daughter of professional, educated Jewish people 138 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 4: and our tribe doesn't really believe in rock music as 139 00:10:49,280 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 4: a career, and she was getting a lot of flack 140 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:54,440 Speaker 4: from her parents. 141 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,560 Speaker 2: Her mother was very overbearing as a mother. Here's Gail's 142 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 2: cousin Abby again, and she had very high expectations of 143 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 2: the kids. So Elaine did what Sylvia thought she should do, 144 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,840 Speaker 2: and that was go be a lawyer, because you're really smart. 145 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 2: Gail didn't want to do any of that kind of thing. 146 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,760 Speaker 5: She was a bit of a free spirit, and that 147 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 5: was really hard for her mother. 148 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 4: I think she started to feel like they had to succeed. 149 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,680 Speaker 1: Gail moved down to New York City, where she enrolled 150 00:11:27,720 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: in a dance therapy program and started fronting the band 151 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,079 Speaker 1: to music producers, and. 152 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:35,439 Speaker 4: She even got a job as a cocktail waitress at 153 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 4: Tracts Trax, which was one of the hottest rock clubs 154 00:11:40,760 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 4: in the city. 155 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 2: I think Gail and I would have been fast friends. 156 00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: I swooned over my fair share of rock stars, too, 157 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: starting with The Monkeys as a young girl and. 158 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 2: Later Eric Clapton and Mick Fleetwood. 159 00:11:54,240 --> 00:11:59,079 Speaker 1: Rock and roll musicians represented everything opposite from an overbearing. 160 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 2: Jewish mother, and rushing on them felt like a certain 161 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 2: kind of freedom. 162 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 1: So I totally understand why Gail wanted it to work 163 00:12:05,840 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: with John. I wanted a guy like him too. At tracks, 164 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:15,480 Speaker 1: Gail met big name producers and record label and our guys. 165 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:17,600 Speaker 2: She even got friendly with Cindy. 166 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: Lauper, but no one was really biting at her rock 167 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:22,440 Speaker 1: opera offering. 168 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:24,199 Speaker 2: It was pretty lonely. 169 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:29,719 Speaker 1: Sitting in her Manhattan apartment, Gail would write John poems 170 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: describing how much she missed him. Here's Elaine reading one 171 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:34,440 Speaker 1: of them. 172 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 4: It is a poem of loneliness about which I write words, thoughts, 173 00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 4: and images seemed to come best to me in the 174 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:47,400 Speaker 4: dead of the night. Alone, I am in my own 175 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:51,960 Speaker 4: quiet room, hoping that this feeling will go away soon. 176 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,760 Speaker 4: I close my eyes and wash Sure here to help 177 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 4: and love me and calm my fears. But you and 178 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 4: I have things we must do to grow and to learn, 179 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 4: to make our dreams come true. I cannot touch you 180 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:14,080 Speaker 4: and hear you say all of the comforting words you 181 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 4: always know to help me up when I fall too low, 182 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 4: And so I'll sing my song of loneliness until you 183 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 4: come to me with the internal kiss. 184 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy nine, John moved to Manhattan to be 185 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,559 Speaker 1: with Gail, but their free flowing upstate love didn't thrive 186 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: for long in the big city. They split after a 187 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:47,000 Speaker 1: year or so. Around the same time, Gail suffered from 188 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: an elbow injury that pulled her out of her dance 189 00:13:49,720 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: therapy program within just a few months. She felt lost 190 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:55,880 Speaker 1: and aimless. 191 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,959 Speaker 4: Gail kicked around the city, you know, working a train, 192 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 4: dating guys that she shouldn't have been dating in the 193 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 4: music industry, and uh she unfortunately had a suicide attempt 194 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 4: and ended up in the hospital Saint Vincent's I don't 195 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:22,160 Speaker 4: think it was a real suicide attempt. She picked the 196 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 4: night to try a suicide attempt when I was meeting 197 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,440 Speaker 4: her attracts, so she knew that I would get to 198 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,160 Speaker 4: tracks she wouldn't be there. Ultimately, she was in and 199 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 4: out of the hospital, and I somehow convinced her to 200 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,680 Speaker 4: move into my apartment in eastern Long Island, and she 201 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:42,280 Speaker 4: lived with me briefly out there, but not surprisingly, she 202 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 4: didn't want to live out there, and I wangled out 203 00:14:47,600 --> 00:14:51,000 Speaker 4: of my graduate school an internship in the city, and 204 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:52,920 Speaker 4: the two of us moved into the city and we 205 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:59,640 Speaker 4: lived together in the city. So, yes, my sister had 206 00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 4: a cry depression. I have chronic anxiety, and quite frankly, 207 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 4: anxiety and depression are on a continuum spectrum. As I said, 208 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 4: opposite sides of the same corn. 209 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: It's never easy hearing about someone reaching a point so 210 00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: low that they try to end their lives. I can't 211 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,360 Speaker 1: imagine what Gail must have felt to find herself there. 212 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 1: What I have learned from listening to Elaine is that 213 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:51,360 Speaker 1: depression was a lifelong affliction for Gail. But by the 214 00:15:51,400 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: summer in nineteen eighty, after Gail's hospitalization, she was doing 215 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,960 Speaker 1: a lot better, well enough that she wanted to start 216 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:03,200 Speaker 1: dating again, so her friend Diane invited her over for 217 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,400 Speaker 1: a summer barbecue with the promise of vegetarian options and 218 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:08,760 Speaker 1: a young man to meet. 219 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 4: Diane was living in New Jersey with her then doctor 220 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 4: husband and invited Gail over with the intention of a 221 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 4: sort of blind date. Fixed up with doctor Bob, and 222 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,080 Speaker 4: they really headed off. 223 00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 6: She was enamored doctor surgeon Pilot. 224 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,600 Speaker 4: One night took her and I think it was Valentine's Day, 225 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 4: flying all over the bridges of Manhattan at night. 226 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 6: She said it was very romantic. I mean, why wouldn't 227 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 6: it be. 228 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:44,520 Speaker 2: He whined and dined and. 229 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,040 Speaker 4: Took her up to his East Side high in the 230 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:52,760 Speaker 4: sky apartment with beautiful views of the East River. And 231 00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 4: he took her out to his idyllic family's home in 232 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 4: West Orange, New Jersey, where his doctor, sister, doctor brother 233 00:17:02,960 --> 00:17:06,879 Speaker 4: in law. We're visiting with their son. The mother, I 234 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 4: think was a psychologist, something that Gail always had an 235 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,640 Speaker 4: interest in. It seemed perfect to her. 236 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,199 Speaker 5: But in terms of the difference between those two guys, 237 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 5: completely opposite ends of the spectrum. 238 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:23,399 Speaker 2: John was a musician. 239 00:17:23,800 --> 00:17:27,439 Speaker 5: He could sit around for hours and play his guitar 240 00:17:27,760 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 5: and it was calm, and. 241 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 2: How was different. 242 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 5: There was a lot of excitement, a lot of we 243 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,440 Speaker 5: did this, we did that. He was bigger than life. 244 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 5: I think she was just overwhelmed with Wow, this is amazing. 245 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 2: And you couldn't blame her. We all thought it was too. 246 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:54,200 Speaker 1: Everyone was hearing about the wonderful new man in Gail's life. 247 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 2: Even her hairdresser. 248 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 8: My name is we Dodd. I am the curl experts 249 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 8: started the Curly Hair in the country back in nineteen 250 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:04,800 Speaker 8: eighty four of the first salon for curls. Gail Katz 251 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,040 Speaker 8: was a client, a regular client, regular basis. She was 252 00:18:08,080 --> 00:18:10,720 Speaker 8: ecstatic when she first saw what her hair can do 253 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,320 Speaker 8: for her. Was bouncy, and she was having a good 254 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:18,440 Speaker 8: time with her and it literally reflected her personality. Bubbly, bouncy, 255 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 8: very alive. That's the Gail that I knew. We were 256 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:28,840 Speaker 8: all talking about boyfriends, and she had met this doctor 257 00:18:28,880 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 8: and she was very excited about it. And I remember 258 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,440 Speaker 8: it was around Thanksgiving and that she was dreading going Thanksgiving, 259 00:18:35,520 --> 00:18:39,240 Speaker 8: but she might be introducing Bob to her family. 260 00:18:38,920 --> 00:18:42,399 Speaker 1: At that time, I imagine Gail would have been excited 261 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:45,679 Speaker 1: about introducing her new bow to the family. He was 262 00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: exactly what her mother wanted for her. Boy do I 263 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:50,960 Speaker 1: know that feeling. 264 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,119 Speaker 2: Sylvia was beside herself. He's a doctor. 265 00:18:54,160 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 5: He's a doctor. 266 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 2: That's all she talked about. And I don't think she 267 00:18:57,359 --> 00:19:00,439 Speaker 2: meant it in a bad way. I really don't. A 268 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 2: typical Jewish. 269 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:06,359 Speaker 5: Mother from a long island stream for their child. I 270 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 5: think she wanted Gail to be taken care of, and 271 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 5: this was the answer to what she thought was the 272 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:13,119 Speaker 5: best thing that could happen. 273 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 1: And Bob took care of literally everything. 274 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:23,879 Speaker 4: Gail would tell me she would go to turn on 275 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:27,800 Speaker 4: a light, and he would with one hand hold her 276 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,360 Speaker 4: hand and with the other hand turn the light on. Now, 277 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 4: it might have looked like he was helping her, but 278 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,880 Speaker 4: who needs help turning on a light? He was controlling everything. 279 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,880 Speaker 1: One evening early on, Elaine and her boyfriend Larry went 280 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: out for sushi with Gail and. 281 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 4: Bob, and Bob was with his chopsticks picking up food 282 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 4: and putting it in Gail's mouth. He was feeding her, 283 00:19:53,840 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 4: and then he started feeding me. He was telling Larry 284 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:09,159 Speaker 4: I own both of them. It was so strange. 285 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,880 Speaker 1: From that moment on, Elane started noticing things about Bob 286 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:17,160 Speaker 1: that made her uncomfortable. First it was just the way 287 00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:19,520 Speaker 1: he stood out and his front beclothed when they went 288 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:20,359 Speaker 1: dancing at. 289 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 2: Studio fifty four. 290 00:20:22,240 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: Then the fact he'd make up bizarre lies, like saying 291 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: he went to a trendy pizza place all the time, 292 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: and then not knowing which neighborhood. 293 00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 8: It was in. 294 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,600 Speaker 4: It was such an innocuous and dumb lie, like, no, 295 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:39,360 Speaker 4: Pebby's pizza isn't there. And you know, he's so bright 296 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 4: that you had to be really smart to catch him 297 00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 4: in all his lies. But that wasn't so hard for Larry. 298 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,880 Speaker 4: Larry was yell undergrad, Harvard Grad. Larry was smarter than Bob. 299 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 4: And Bob would say something, Larry would turn his head 300 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 4: and look at me and roll his eyes, and I 301 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 4: knew that was, you know, code for not true. 302 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,000 Speaker 2: Worst of all was how Bob was trying to change Gail. 303 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:05,840 Speaker 4: Gail couldn't change two things that Bob required of her. 304 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 4: He wanted her to be taller, and he claimed that 305 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,239 Speaker 4: she had a Brooklyn accent. She was five two, she 306 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 4: wasn't tall, So there was this constant You're not good 307 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:20,639 Speaker 4: enough for me, Get thinner, get taller, don't wear you know, 308 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:26,199 Speaker 4: sexy clothes. I'll never forget seeing her. And she was 309 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 4: dressed so dowdy. She looked like she was from some 310 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:37,359 Speaker 4: religious sect. We very quickly began to realize Larry and 311 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:40,040 Speaker 4: I what a sick fuck Bob was. 312 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:47,760 Speaker 1: The Fact is Gail was in love and she wanted 313 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: it to work out with Bob, just like I had 314 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: no amount of side eye from Elaine was going to 315 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: convince her otherwise. After around a year of dating, Gail 316 00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: and Bob got engaged, and with Elaine liked it or not, 317 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: she was plunged into the role of maid of honor. 318 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: They started planning the wedding, picking out food, scouring wedding 319 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: dress shops, visiting venues, combing through Bloomingdale's. 320 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,080 Speaker 4: Hated Bloomingdales is way too big. I have no idea 321 00:22:19,119 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 4: where anything is in Bloomingdale's. But we went to Bloomingdale's 322 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 4: looking at dishes and linens and towels and doing the 323 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 4: whole gift registry thing. 324 00:22:28,240 --> 00:22:30,639 Speaker 1: During a haircut, she told we did the news and 325 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:32,800 Speaker 1: asked if she'd come up to Long Island to do 326 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: everyone's hair and makeup before the ceremony. No expense is spared. 327 00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: Gail seems so excited. 328 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 8: You know, I'm in New York with a lot of clients, 329 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 8: So for me to have a Jewish girl marrying a 330 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 8: doctor's perfect. That's what they all want. Another Jewish girl 331 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:51,719 Speaker 8: marrying a doctor. How happy, how fabulous. 332 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: Then one night, about a month before the wedding, Elaine 333 00:22:58,280 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: got a frantic call. 334 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:04,439 Speaker 4: My sister calls me hysterical, and she said, you have 335 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,640 Speaker 4: to come get me in the morning. And like, I 336 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 4: wasn't so happy about this marriage, and this sounds good 337 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 4: to me. I'll come get you in the morning. I 338 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 4: go into the city and I drive up to her 339 00:23:14,800 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 4: apartment and she comes out holding her cat, no luggage, 340 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:23,359 Speaker 4: no nothing, just the cat, and she's weeping, and I'm like, 341 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 4: what's up. And she said, Bob tried to kill the cat. 342 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:34,280 Speaker 4: And she tells me that she was in the bedroom 343 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 4: she heard the cat making a funny noise. She goes 344 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 4: into the bathroom and there Bob is with the cat's 345 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:50,399 Speaker 4: head in the toilet, drowning the cat, and she of 346 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 4: course saves the cat. And she says he was jealous 347 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 4: of the cat. He thinks I love the cat more 348 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:04,159 Speaker 4: than I love him. So I'm going to prove to 349 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,359 Speaker 4: him how much I love him. I'm going to get 350 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 4: rid of the cat. And I of course responded, I 351 00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 4: have a good idea. Let's keep the cat and get 352 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:15,639 Speaker 4: rid of Bob. 353 00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: While this alleged drowning was never reported to the police, 354 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 1: it raised alarm bells among Gail's family. 355 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,200 Speaker 2: I remember thinking this is so weird. Why would anybody 356 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 2: do something like that. Here's Gail's cousin Abby again, and I. 357 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 5: Think I remember having a conversation with my mother about it, 358 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 5: and my mother saying, you know, maybe it's not exactly 359 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,560 Speaker 5: the way we hear it went. You know, it was 360 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 5: the typical deny that it could really be as bad 361 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 5: as it was. So I remember thinking, Okay, maybe it wasn't. 362 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,200 Speaker 5: We were planning a wedding, so why were we planning 363 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 5: a wedding if this was so terrible. When I think 364 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,159 Speaker 5: back now, I'm like, oh my god, what planet was 365 00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:02,560 Speaker 5: I on? 366 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 2: Sorry? 367 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 5: I didn't think it would made me cry. 368 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: Gail did get rid of the cat astray she rescued 369 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: from Caldwood Airport after she found it roaming the strip. 370 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:41,760 Speaker 1: It was named Amelia. A month later, on the morning 371 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:45,359 Speaker 1: of August twenty ninth, nineteen eighty two, Gail and Bob 372 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: woke up in separate beds, Gail at her parents' house 373 00:25:49,160 --> 00:25:51,919 Speaker 1: in Long Island and Bob in their apartment. 374 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 2: They're getting married, the poem. 375 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 4: By Gail dats today. I feel like pleasing you more 376 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 4: than before. To be living for you is all I 377 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 4: want to do. To be loving you. It will all 378 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 4: be there. Everything you want. I swear it all will 379 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:17,960 Speaker 4: come true. Today I can't use words. They don't say enough. 380 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 4: Please please listen to me. It's taken so long to 381 00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:27,439 Speaker 4: come true, so long for you, all for you. 382 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:32,639 Speaker 1: There are so many reasons we choose to get married. 383 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: It sounds unromantic, but it's not always just about love. 384 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:42,119 Speaker 1: We get married for security, both financial and physical. We 385 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 1: get married because of family pressure. We get married because 386 00:26:46,160 --> 00:26:49,920 Speaker 1: our friends are doing it too. I can't say why 387 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,000 Speaker 1: Gail decided to marry Bob. I suspect she recognized in 388 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:57,919 Speaker 1: him a life she wanted, financial security and a husband 389 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:04,440 Speaker 1: her parents would be proud of. But for her sister Elaine, 390 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: it felt wrong. She'd been dragged around every wedding dress 391 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: shop in Manhattan, only to find that Gail had decided 392 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:14,720 Speaker 1: to wear Bob's mother's dress. 393 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 4: I can tell you for a fact it was not 394 00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 4: at all like what I thought she was going to buy. 395 00:27:22,200 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 4: And again, I think this was about pleasing Bob. 396 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:28,920 Speaker 1: It was the most obvious start to a marriage of compromise. 397 00:27:30,280 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: Early in the morning on the wedding day, we DoD 398 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,840 Speaker 1: and her husband Peter, arrived at Gil's parents' home to 399 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,320 Speaker 1: start fixing everybody's hair and makeup. 400 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:42,720 Speaker 8: The door was open. I just dragged the belt, I said, 401 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 8: come in. I walked in. Peter was with me, and 402 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 8: we walked through the hallway into the kitchen and there 403 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:51,800 Speaker 8: was an argument going on with her mother, her sister, 404 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 8: and Gail. It was squeaming, but you see many things 405 00:27:57,119 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 8: as a hairdresser, so that's not shocking. It's like, all right, 406 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:02,919 Speaker 8: how do we manage this? How do we get rid 407 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 8: of these two to try to do the bride? Calm 408 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 8: it down, get her ready and get out. And the 409 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:12,359 Speaker 8: mother and the sister. I asked them if they'd mind leaving, 410 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,959 Speaker 8: and they said, in a minute, we need to finish 411 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:17,600 Speaker 8: this and you can come right back. And so I said, okay. 412 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 8: I turned around and I said to Peter Grestarving, we'll 413 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 8: have a cup of coffee and a bagel or something 414 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 8: and then we'll wait for them, and then I'll go 415 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,120 Speaker 8: in and I'll do it. So we go outside, we're 416 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 8: looking at each other and he said, this is odd. 417 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 8: I'm like, I know, it's really strange. I went back in. 418 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 8: The argument, I guess resolved, and I went and did 419 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 8: Gale's hair. I was in her room, we were doing 420 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 8: her hair, and she was just upset, very very upset. 421 00:28:45,840 --> 00:28:48,680 Speaker 8: She wanted it to be the way she wanted it. 422 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 8: And she doesn't care what her mother says. She doesn't 423 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 8: care what they say. She had I believe I don't 424 00:28:55,360 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 8: know who's veil, but she didn't care how it was 425 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 8: put on. She was just just get me done and 426 00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 8: get me on here. I don't care what the hell 427 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 8: I look like. It was just a strange experience. 428 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,440 Speaker 1: Nobody can fully remember what the argument was about. We 429 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: Dodd says she thinks she heard Bob's name being thrown about. 430 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:21,720 Speaker 1: Elaine remembers it being tense because a flower crown Gail 431 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,719 Speaker 1: ordered turned out to look more Christmas wreath than Stevie Nicks. 432 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: The only thing I'm sure of, it's not the wedding 433 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:35,520 Speaker 1: morning Gail would have dreamt of. She put on a 434 00:29:35,560 --> 00:29:39,959 Speaker 1: brave face and headed into Manhattan wearing a modified flower 435 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,920 Speaker 1: crown and her modified mother in law's dress. 436 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 5: She looks so beautiful, and I don't know if you've 437 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:47,560 Speaker 5: seen pictures of their wedding, she was beautiful. 438 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 4: Bob wore a white linen suit, which is a little 439 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 4: odd and he sort of matched Gail. 440 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: After a traditional service at a temple in Manhattan, everyone 441 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 1: moved on to the party at a stylish penthouse restaurant 442 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: called Terrace in the Sky, overlooking the grounds of the 443 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:12,560 Speaker 1: Columbia University campus. From up there, you could see panoramic 444 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: views across northern Manhattan. 445 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,040 Speaker 4: There were two rooms at the Terrace, and she had 446 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:23,920 Speaker 4: her friends and me in one room, and she had 447 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 4: everyone else in the other room. 448 00:30:26,520 --> 00:30:29,640 Speaker 1: The venue boasted a wine list of over three hundred bottles, 449 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 1: and the chef prepared dishes like smoked salmon and caviaar 450 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: lobster bealute, and duck confee. 451 00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,680 Speaker 4: She arranged for she and I to be served a 452 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 4: better champagne than anyone else. We had special Champagne Galeni. 453 00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 5: It was really fine. 454 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 2: We danced and it was a happy day. It seemed 455 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:50,800 Speaker 2: like it was a happy day. 456 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 5: I didn't end the day thinking this is the beginning 457 00:30:53,880 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 5: of the end in any way. 458 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: After the wedding, Bob and Gail went on a honeymoon Decrete, 459 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:08,320 Speaker 1: and judging from their photos, it looked like a beautiful trip. 460 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:11,800 Speaker 2: But something changed. When Gail got home. 461 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 8: After the marriage, her energy was not there. She was 462 00:31:16,560 --> 00:31:21,400 Speaker 8: a little bit more subdued. Not talking about clubs, not 463 00:31:21,560 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 8: talking about museums, not talking about anything, just very very quiet, 464 00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 8: just wanted her hair done. No conversation asked to a 465 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,480 Speaker 8: desire of what she would like this time, it was 466 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:35,240 Speaker 8: just whatever you think, very passive. 467 00:31:36,680 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: At this point, Bob was working one hundred and twenty 468 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 1: hour weeks on a three hospital rotation and Gail was 469 00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,360 Speaker 1: studying psychology at grad school. 470 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,040 Speaker 2: He was exhausted and she felt neglected. 471 00:31:51,320 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 4: She was the most lonely wife imaginable. She was completely ignored. 472 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 4: He came home like some fourteen year old before they 473 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 4: were real video games and played on his computer. He 474 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 4: was either doing his internship and working or home and 475 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,600 Speaker 4: playing on his computer. Unless he had some infantile need 476 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 4: that he needed satisfied, he ignored her. 477 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:25,960 Speaker 6: The incident which really turned my head around about him 478 00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 6: was my thirtieth birthday. 479 00:32:27,600 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: By this is Gail's friend Denise. 480 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,880 Speaker 6: I mean, who makes their wife have to sit on 481 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:39,959 Speaker 6: his lap to eat dinner and feed her? It was 482 00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 6: just so strange. That was the first time that I 483 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 6: really started to think this is not kosher. 484 00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: Elaine says that by nineteen eighty four, Gail started having 485 00:32:53,600 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: an affair with the finance guy named Anthony Sagalis. They'd 486 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: hang out at each other's apartments while Bob was at work. 487 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: They would party, they would sleep together. Then there was 488 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,719 Speaker 1: also Kenneth Feiner, a professor who Gaile met on the 489 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,920 Speaker 1: subway after he spotted her reading a psychology article. He 490 00:33:13,080 --> 00:33:15,920 Speaker 1: always insisted it was a meeting of the minds rather 491 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,240 Speaker 1: than a sexual thing. It's hard to know if Gail 492 00:33:19,360 --> 00:33:22,400 Speaker 1: was just distracting herself or trying to line up her 493 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 1: next relationship before breaking things off with Bob, but the 494 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: fact is she was unfaithful. 495 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 2: She needed that kind of validation from a man. 496 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,520 Speaker 5: So did her mother. Her mother promoted that having a 497 00:33:38,560 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 5: man in your life made you complete, and without that. 498 00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:43,760 Speaker 2: You weren't. 499 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,520 Speaker 1: On November ninth, nineteen eighty three, the day before Gail's 500 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,000 Speaker 1: graduate record exams, she was studying at home. 501 00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 4: She was feeling nervous, and Bob had gone to work. 502 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,480 Speaker 4: She figured he was doing it, you know, his usual residency, 503 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 4: long shift. She thought he wouldn't catch her smoking. And 504 00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:13,720 Speaker 4: he came home and he saw her smoking, and between 505 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:17,839 Speaker 4: the front door and the balcony of their apartment there 506 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:22,479 Speaker 4: was a couch, and as she tells me, he came 507 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,360 Speaker 4: running in, leaped over the couch. I mean, it's not 508 00:34:26,480 --> 00:34:29,480 Speaker 4: a six foot hurdle, it's just a couch, pushed her 509 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:40,960 Speaker 4: down with his hands around her throat and strangled her. 510 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:45,280 Speaker 4: But of course he did what all men do after 511 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 4: they've got their anger out. Oh, I'm so sorry, And 512 00:34:49,920 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 4: I told her there has to be a report of this, 513 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:55,160 Speaker 4: you know, go to the police station and make a report, 514 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:59,919 Speaker 4: and she did, which, by the way, is amazing. I mean, 515 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:01,920 Speaker 4: that was attempted murder. 516 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:05,560 Speaker 2: In the report made to the police. 517 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: A few days after, Gail described to the desk clerk 518 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:12,879 Speaker 1: how Bob strangled her to the point of losing consciousness, 519 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,440 Speaker 1: but the police never followed it up with Gail, so 520 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: instead she tried to fix her crumbling marriage herself. 521 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 4: She told me how sorry he was, and he was 522 00:35:22,560 --> 00:35:26,680 Speaker 4: going to get therapy and everything was going to be okay, 523 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:29,040 Speaker 4: just like after he strangled the cat. 524 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:32,279 Speaker 5: She went and stayed at my grandfather's in Brooklyn. I 525 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 5: remember my mother being very upset, furious at him. I 526 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 5: think my grandfather. I think my grandfather told her that 527 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 5: she needed to work it out. I don't think she 528 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 5: told my grandfather about the strangling part, and then she 529 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 5: went back home. That was the beginning of the end 530 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 5: for a Lane. She didn't want her around him anymore. 531 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:05,160 Speaker 5: She did everything she could to get her out of there, 532 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 5: begged her to come stay with her, begged her to 533 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 5: stay at my grandfather's, begged her to do something legal, 534 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:15,479 Speaker 5: and Gail just wouldn't. When Gail made up her mind 535 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 5: about something, you couldn't talk her out of it. 536 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: For the next six months or so, Gail and Bob 537 00:36:23,239 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 1: went to therapy, both separately and together. It was a 538 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: confusing time for Elane because on one hand, Gail seemed 539 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: to be dedicated to staying with Bob, and then on 540 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,839 Speaker 1: the other she started to talk about leaving him. 541 00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:42,520 Speaker 4: My boyfriend Larry was supplending his apartment. She called me 542 00:36:43,480 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 4: to ask me if I could come up for the 543 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 4: last weekend in July because she wanted to have a 544 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,360 Speaker 4: really big thirtieth birthday party for Bob. And then she 545 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,880 Speaker 4: also asked me if she could subplet Larry's apartment because 546 00:36:55,880 --> 00:37:00,279 Speaker 4: she wanted to leave Bob. And I said, you know, 547 00:37:00,360 --> 00:37:03,120 Speaker 4: which is it? And she says, I'm not sure. 548 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 8: A couple of visits in she goes. It's really tough. 549 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:12,360 Speaker 8: I thought it would be different. It's not different. I 550 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,800 Speaker 8: think I made a mistake. I need to change my life. 551 00:37:16,040 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 8: But it just so happened that my client next to 552 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:20,000 Speaker 8: me happened to be a real toa and they started 553 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,359 Speaker 8: a conversation. I didn't know where it went from there, 554 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:25,879 Speaker 8: but I think they did connect about trying to get 555 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:26,520 Speaker 8: an apartment. 556 00:37:28,640 --> 00:37:31,880 Speaker 4: I remember in the late fall, early winter of nineteen 557 00:37:31,960 --> 00:37:35,400 Speaker 4: eighty four her telling me, I'm going to get a 558 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:39,319 Speaker 4: divorce and I'm going to get him. She told me 559 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,800 Speaker 4: that she had a letter, a letter from his psychiatrist 560 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 4: warning her that he was twisted and dangerous and he 561 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:56,319 Speaker 4: was going to kill her. She was going to use 562 00:37:56,400 --> 00:37:59,839 Speaker 4: that letter to threaten him to give her divorce number 563 00:37:59,840 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 4: one because there was no fault divorce in the state 564 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:06,160 Speaker 4: of New York, and number two to give her what 565 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 4: she wanted, and what she wanted was just to finish 566 00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:17,799 Speaker 4: graduate school. She just wanted him to support her so 567 00:38:17,880 --> 00:38:20,360 Speaker 4: she could finish her degree and go on her merry 568 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:27,239 Speaker 4: way and support herself. And I of course said, it's 569 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,440 Speaker 4: very dangerous to be threatening Bob, that you're going to 570 00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:37,920 Speaker 4: ruin him. And as always, as when he strangled the 571 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 4: cat as when he strangled her, she said, don't worry, Elaine, 572 00:38:45,120 --> 00:38:46,280 Speaker 4: I have it under control. 573 00:38:52,000 --> 00:38:55,480 Speaker 6: The last day I saw her, I picked her up 574 00:38:55,520 --> 00:39:00,799 Speaker 6: at her hairdressers and we went to the museum. It 575 00:39:00,960 --> 00:39:06,760 Speaker 6: was a sunny day, warm. She was wearing the holder 576 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:12,439 Speaker 6: top or something like that in shorts. We were laying 577 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:19,160 Speaker 6: on a blanket and we were chatting about art, music, 578 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:24,200 Speaker 6: places we'd seen and been, and how much we loved 579 00:39:24,200 --> 00:39:29,399 Speaker 6: each other. She had the New York Times with her, 580 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 6: and we were circling apartments, possibilities. It wasn't until, you know, 581 00:39:37,560 --> 00:39:43,279 Speaker 6: towards the end of the day that she told me 582 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,879 Speaker 6: that she was going to make him dinner, and then 583 00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:51,840 Speaker 6: during dinner she was going to talk to Bob about leaving. 584 00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:57,399 Speaker 6: I got nervous right then and there, because by that 585 00:39:57,480 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 6: time I knew he wasn't a kind of guy who 586 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 6: was just gonna take that sitting down. And so I 587 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,640 Speaker 6: had this feeling in my gut like, oh my god, 588 00:40:07,200 --> 00:40:11,920 Speaker 6: you know, how's that gonna go? How's he gonna react? 589 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:15,879 Speaker 6: And she was saying to me, I gotta get home 590 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:21,319 Speaker 6: because I gotta cook Bob dinner. Walked back together to 591 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,920 Speaker 6: her apartment, building, kissed each other goodbye, and she went 592 00:40:26,000 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 6: upstairs and I went downtown. I shouldn't let her go home, Denise, 593 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 6: that's not one year, I know. I know. Yeah, Bray 594 00:40:44,600 --> 00:40:46,240 Speaker 6: knew something wasn't going to rewright. 595 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:52,480 Speaker 4: Sorry. 596 00:40:55,840 --> 00:41:03,719 Speaker 6: I still still getting emotional about its Okay, yeah yeah, 597 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:18,880 Speaker 6: yeah yeah. 598 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,799 Speaker 2: Next time the search for Gail. 599 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,080 Speaker 4: Bob was not forthcoming. Bob does not want me to 600 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:27,000 Speaker 4: find your sister. 601 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:32,719 Speaker 6: He was so stone cold. It's not as if he 602 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,000 Speaker 6: displayed any emotion at all. 603 00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:38,839 Speaker 3: She left her pocketbook there with cigarettes, and she lives 604 00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:41,760 Speaker 3: in a building with doormen, and there's a fire department 605 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:43,920 Speaker 3: on the same block where they all whistled at my 606 00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,319 Speaker 3: sexy sister. Nobody saw her. 607 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:51,319 Speaker 6: Sometimes I'd see somebody that looked like her. I get 608 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:54,359 Speaker 6: this rush inside me like a girl. 609 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:05,960 Speaker 4: I began the process us proving that Bob called my sister. 610 00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:24,279 Speaker 1: The Girlfriends is produced by Novel for Ourheart Radio. For 611 00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:29,239 Speaker 1: more from Novel, visit novel dot Audio. The series is 612 00:42:29,239 --> 00:42:33,600 Speaker 1: hosted by me Carol Fisher and produced by Anna Sinfield. 613 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:39,359 Speaker 1: Our assistant producer is Julian Manu, Gera Patten, and our 614 00:42:39,400 --> 00:42:45,120 Speaker 1: researcher is Madeline Parr. The editor is Veronica Simmons. Max 615 00:42:45,160 --> 00:42:50,200 Speaker 1: O'Brien is our executive producer. Our fact checker is Valeria Rocca. 616 00:42:50,719 --> 00:42:56,200 Speaker 1: Production management from Sharie Houston and Charlotte Woolf. Sound design, 617 00:42:56,600 --> 00:43:02,440 Speaker 1: mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempsen and Nikola Alexander. Music 618 00:43:02,480 --> 00:43:07,640 Speaker 1: supervision by Anna Sinfield. Original music composed by Luisa Gerstein. 619 00:43:08,320 --> 00:43:13,040 Speaker 1: Story development by Isaac Fisher. Willard Foxton is creative director 620 00:43:13,080 --> 00:43:18,319 Speaker 1: of Development. Special thanks to Shan Glynn, David Waters, might 621 00:43:18,400 --> 00:43:24,680 Speaker 1: Ley Rowl, Katrina Norvel, David Wasserman, and beth Ann Mcaluso, 622 00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:28,120 Speaker 1: and an extra big thank you to Kevin Bartlett and 623 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,080 Speaker 1: the rest of the band Odd for letting us use 624 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:40,399 Speaker 1: their track The Electrifying Flying Man. We did reach out 625 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:42,759 Speaker 1: to Bob and his legal team to ask if he'd 626 00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:46,040 Speaker 1: like to comment on the podcast, but we never heard back. 627 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:51,920 Speaker 2: Novel