True Crime Vault: Do No Harm

Summary

20/20 True Crime Vault: "Do No Harm"

Podcast: 20/20 (ABC News)
Episode Date: August 19, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of 20/20’s True Crime Vault, “Do No Harm,” delves into the chilling true crime story of Dr. Robert Berenbaum—a brilliant Manhattan plastic surgeon, pilot, and “Renaissance man”—whose wife Gail Katz vanished without a trace in 1985. Through intimate interviews, forensic investigation, insider accounts, and courtroom drama, the episode reconstructs the journey from idyllic romance to chilling suspicion, culminating in a murder conviction decades after Gail’s disappearance—and Berenbaum’s shocking confession before a parole board. The episode also explores themes of domestic violence, the challenges of circumstantial cases, and the remarkable persistence of one family in their pursuit of justice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Charismatic Doctor and the Ill-Fated Marriage (00:41–15:13)

• Robert Berenbaum's Dual Identity: Renowned as a “pilot, surgeon, brilliant guy” and “gourmet chef, expert skier, top of his class,” Berenbaum swept Gail Katz off her feet with his charm and flying skills ([01:15], [01:30], [08:32]). Yet beneath the surface, troubling red flags emerged.
• Early Warning Signs: Friends and family recount controlling, odd behaviors—such as feeding Gail at restaurants, extreme possessiveness, and violence toward pets ([09:30], [10:07], [11:21]).
  • “He had the cat in the toilet, choking it with its head submerged underwater.” – Elaine Katz [11:21]
  • “He was offended because she seemed to love the cat more than she loved Bob. And so he wanted the cat dead.” – Friend [11:50]
• Escalating Abuse: Bob’s violence culminated in strangling Gail to unconsciousness after catching her smoking ([18:55]). Despite police and psychiatric warnings, including a chilling “danger letter” from Dr. Michael Stone, Gail remained in the marriage ([19:59]-[22:39]).

2. The Disappearance (23:16–29:43)

• Timeline Leading Up to Gail's Disappearance: Gail prepared to leave Berenbaum, looking for apartments and confiding in friends ([25:23]). On July 7, 1985, after a loud argument, she was never seen again ([26:31]).
  • “At that moment, I know that my sister’s dead.” – Elaine Katz [27:44]
  • Friends and family immediately suspected foul play, notably Bob’s involvement ([28:03]).

3. Early Police Investigation, Bob’s Actions, and Suspicion (28:51–37:03)

• Bob's Alibi & Deceptive Behavior: Bob claimed Gail left for Central Park to sunbathe; he later joined a family birthday party in New Jersey ([28:51], [29:31]), showing little grief and instead partying in the Hamptons ([31:13]).
• Flight Records Break the Case Open: Investigators discover Berenbaum flew a private plane the afternoon Gail disappeared ([35:07]-[36:39]).
  • “Oh, my God. There’s the explanation why Gail is not around anymore.” – Detective [13:13], [60:15]
  • The theory: Berenbaum killed Gail, transported her in a duffel bag to his plane, and dumped her body in the Atlantic ([36:39]).
• Frustrating Lack of Evidence: Despite suspicions and flight logs, absence of physical evidence or a body initially stymied prosecution ([37:03]).

4. Years of Setbacks and Gail’s Family’s Relentless Crusade (37:03–47:16)

• Family’s Determination: Elaine Katz tirelessly campaigned to expose Berenbaum, warning others and mailing clippings ([38:25]).
  • “My intent was to make every day of his life miserable. To make him walk down halls and have people think, oh my God, he’s a murderer.” – Elaine Katz [38:44]
• Berenbaum’s New Life & Ongoing Violence: Bob relocates to Las Vegas and reinvents himself, ultimately moving to North Dakota, remarrying, and becoming a respected community figure ([42:05]-[53:31]). Yet, in new relationships, former patterns of rage and control resurface ([48:05], [48:39]).

5. The Long Cold Case Thaws (59:10–66:14)

• Case Reopened: Spurred by guilt and new cold case protocols, detective Andy Rosenzweig and a new team reexamine the case ([59:28]). Key evidence: flight records, history of abuse, and powerful testimony about Dr. Stone’s warning letter ([70:13]).
• DNA Blow: The family’s hope for closure deflates after exhumed remains—once identified as Gail’s—are disproven by DNA ([61:47]).

6. Building the Murder Case & The Trial (68:31–75:42)

• No Body, All Circumstantial: Prosecutors acknowledge the case’s daunting weaknesses to jurors ([69:00]). But witness testimony, the altered flight log, and dramatic recreation of pushing a body from a plane solidify the theory.
  • “We thought, what better way to show somebody it can be done than by doing it ourselves?” – Detective [71:25]
  • “The sergeant showed that not only was it possible…it actually was very easy.” – Narrator [71:44]
• Defense Strategy: Characterize Gail as unstable and claim sightings after the fact; place unlikely faith in a single “eyewitness” ([73:24], [73:47]).
• Guilty Verdict: After 15 years, Berenbaum is convicted of second-degree murder ([76:38]).
  • “I was in shock.” – Elaine Katz [76:51]

7. The Stunning Confession & Lasting Impact (78:10–81:12)

• Confession at Parole Hearing: In a shocking parole board appearance after decades of denial, Berenbaum finally confesses ([79:25]–[80:04]):
  • “I wanted her to stop yelling at me and I attacked her…I strangled her. I went flying. I opened the door and then took her body out of the airplane over the ocean.” – Parole hearing transcript [79:25]
• Aftershocks for Family and Community:
  • “The earth shifted. I was in shock. He admitted killing Gail and I cried.” – Elaine Katz [80:14]
  • The murder sparks ongoing education and advocacy about domestic violence, with Gail’s memory honored at the Pace Women’s Justice Center ([81:12]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Michael Stone's Warning:
  “I further understand that if I do not heed this advice, I must accept the consequences, including the possibility of personal injury or death at the hands of my husband.” [21:12]
  —Read by Dr. Stone and Legal Expert, discussing the unprecedented “warning letter” delivered to Gail.

• On the Flight as the Murder Mechanism:
  “He folded her up, put her in a duffel bag, came out…rented his plane, loaded her in the plane, flew out over the ocean and dumped her in the ocean.” – Detective [36:39]

• Guilty Verdict and Emotional Triumph:
  “Then the foreperson said, guilty. And there was a buzz in the courtroom…Then I knew it was true. I was in shock.” – Elaine Katz [76:26–76:51]

• The Parole Board Confession:
  “I wanted her to stop yelling at me and I attacked her… I strangled her. I went flying. I opened the door and then took her body out of the airplane over the ocean.” – Parole Board Transcript [79:25–80:04]

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------| | Berenbaum’s passion for flying & early romance | 00:41–01:30 | | Early signs of violence & controlling behavior | 09:30–11:21 | | Psychiatric warning letter explained | 20:14–22:39 | | Gail’s preparations to leave, disappearance | 23:16–27:44 | | Flight record discovery and cold case breakthrough | 35:07–37:03 | | Jury trial and the flight demonstration | 70:55–71:44 | | Guilty verdict announced | 76:26–76:51 | | Parole board confession | 79:25–80:42 | | Reflections and advocacy against domestic violence | 81:12–82:09 |

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Tone and Language

The episode blends empathy, intimate family testimony, and chilling forensic detail. The language is strikingly candid and deeply personal—especially from Elaine Katz, who provides both a window into her sister’s beloved qualities and the ever-present trauma of loss. Narration and investigator commentary maintain a brisk, journalistic style, punctuated by legal and psychological insights. Despite the clinical trappings of both surgery and the law, the human impact—on both Gail’s family and the broader understanding of domestic violence—resonates throughout the episode.

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Final Reflection

“Do No Harm” chronicles the tragedy of Gail Katz—brilliant, creative, and gentle—whose hope and potential were cut short by someone who pledged to protect her. Through tireless advocacy, groundbreaking investigative work, and, at last, the perpetrator’s own words, this episode not only secures justice for Gail but also catalyzes ongoing work in her name to prevent further needless loss.

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If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, resources and support are available.

Transcript

[Elaine Katz]

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[Robert Berenbaum]

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[Elaine Katz]

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[Robert Berenbaum]

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[Elaine Katz]

Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where heart stopping headlines come to life.

[Narrator]

How big was flying in the life of Robert Berenbaum? Flying was his passion.

[Robert Berenbaum]

He loved to fly.

[Detective]

The airplane was a key part of.

[Interviewer]

His.

[Elaine Katz]

Fly me to the moon.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

One of the first dates he took Gail on was a flight around Manhattan in the evening on the skylight. So romantic.

[Interviewer]

Please be true.

[Elaine Katz]

Bob Fitz, the tall, dark and handsome, this perfect Renaissance man spoke several languages.

[Robert Berenbaum]

The first date, he said, do you want to get high tonight? We flew around the lights of Las Vegas. It was sparkling.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Pilot, surgeon, brilliant guy.

[Elaine Katz]

The gourmet chef, expert skier, top of his class.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

A big catch, right? For any young lady. Yeah. You can look so good on paper and have a whole nother side that you can just erase it all in a heartbeat.

[Narrator]

Flying, it's the crux of the story. It's the method that he tries to cover up his crime.

[Interviewer]

Her disappearance made headlines in New York in 1985.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I get a phone call, turn on the TV. They've arrested Robert Berenbaum. I started screaming, so shocked I dropped to my knees.

[Interviewer]

You must have been blown away.

[Robert Berenbaum]

I was shocked.

[Interviewer]

Gail Berenbaum, banished from the apartment she shared with her husband Robert. A Manhattan plastic surgeon Bob tells believes that they had an argument and she came here to the park.

[Elaine Katz]

Yes.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Never in a million years you think you'd be using cold, calculated murder in the same description as Dr. Berenbone. There's just no way.

[Detective]

No body, no forensics, no eyewitness.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

The investigative theory was that he wrapped the body up, drove it to his plane in New Jersey, flew the plane out over the ocean. You know, they've charged that you took her in an airplane.

[Interviewer]

He has no comment.

[Elaine Katz]

And threw her out. Disbelief switched to, good God, this guy was a psychopath.

[Narrator]

My God, you gotta think it's a movie.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Crime and Punishment.

[Detective]

That's the story.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Dr. Birnbaum, that stuff you see on TV, that's not real, right?

[Detective]

The Berenbaum story, when you get right.

[Interviewer]

Down to it, is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as physicians, we all that.

[Narrator]

Oath to above all do no harm.

[Elaine Katz]

I love you.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

In the 1980s, New York City was a very different place. It was a grittier place. It was a dirtier place. There was graffiti everywhere, covering all parts of every subway car.

[Narrator]

The homicide rate in the 80s was astronomical. I mean, there was thousands. They have a lot of drug gangs. It was a very violent time in New York, the 80s.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Throughout the city, there were bubbles of safety. On the Upper east side, that was one of them. The Upper east side was the place where you wanted to live.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

The Upper east side was the music to the beginning of the Jeffersons, when it was on tv, where we're moving on now.

[Elaine Katz]

We're moving on up to the east side.

[Interviewer]

And on East 85th street, in that iconic high rise featured on the Jeffersons, there lived a handsome doctor and his beautiful wife. A young couple with their whole lives ahead of them.

[Detective]

From the outside looking in. Robert and Gail Birnbaum should have been the perfect couple.

[Interviewer]

Tell me about your sister. What was she like?

[Elaine Katz]

Gail was a very gentle soul. She was sensitive, she was loving. She was creative and gorgeous in that damsel in distress way. My sister, Gayle Beth Katz was the first child in our family of three children, born on March 8, 1956. We were all living in Brooklyn. I was one year behind Gayle in school. We were best friends. We lived that idyllic, carefree life. We walked to the penny store. We could chalk the street and play hopscotch. When she was in fourth grade, my parents moved to Long Island. It was really exciting for us. All of a sudden, Gail and I were going further than the candy store into the city to Broadway shows. It's seemed to us to be a very normal childhood.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

This is my yearbook from high school. Gail, that's me on the same page. Gail was on honor roll. She was so smart, so bright. She was soft spoken and yet very powerful presence at the same time. She was a very special.

[Elaine Katz]

She was beautiful, smart, and unfortunately anxious. There was a little bit of a depression early in life. She never thought she was good enough. She never knew how good she was.

[Investigator/Reporter]

After high school, she went to the State University of New York in Albany. While she was there, she fell in love with a musician in a rock band.

[Elaine Katz]

I don't think I've ever seen Gail so happy. Gail fell head over heels. She was going to design the costumes for the band.

[Interviewer]

Gayle moved to Manhattan to pursue a degree in dance at New York University and to try to help her boyfriend land A record deal.

[Elaine Katz]

Gayle's a single, gorgeous woman in Manhattan, bartending, meeting rich and famous musicians, record executives, and the relationship ends.

[Interviewer]

Elaine says things went downhill for Gayle from there. She has an arm injury, drops out of school, and is drifting without a purpose. It all comes to a head on a traumatic night in 1979.

[Elaine Katz]

On a night that I'm supposed to meet her, I get a call, she's in the hospital. She's tried to commit suicide. In my heart of hearts, I believe it was more of a really, really big cry for help than a true suicide attempt. How did Gayle recover from that experience? She didn't.

[Interviewer]

Over time, Elaine says, Gail appeared to bounce back, landing a job at an ad company and building her way back up.

[Elaine Katz]

And that's when one of her friends decides that she's got to introduce Gail to Dr. Robert Birnbaum.

[Detective]

Robert Birnbaum grew up in West Orange, New Jersey. It is upper middle class, very nice area. His father was a physician, attended local.

[Investigator/Reporter]

High school where he was brilliant. He was always interested in flying, and in high school, he got a pilot's license and was allowed to fly out of a number of small airports dotting northern New Jersey.

[Interviewer]

But he decided to pursue a career in medicine, following in his father's footsteps. He graduated from Albany Medical College and was a surgical resident at the time. He was introduced to Gail.

[Elaine Katz]

He's close to her age, Jewish, classical guitar player. He spoke several languages. He was a gourmet, an expert skier. He wasn't just a pilot. He had mastered instructor level piloting.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

He loved to fly. And one of the first dates that he took Gail on was a flight around Manhattan, you know, in the evening of the skylight and everything. She was so enamored with this.

[Elaine Katz]

It was magical, it was romantic. They could go anywhere. You know, they'd hop on a plane, go to a beach someplace. She had her private pilot chauffeur, and Bob loved being in control. So this was a place where Bob really got to shine.

[Investigator/Reporter]

However, in spite of all of his pluses, there were problems with the relationship. And it was obvious early on there.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Were red flags when we would be together with them as a couple. He would be very controlling of her. Even if she had to go to the bathroom, he would be like, where are you going and when are you coming back?

[Elaine Katz]

The first time I went on a double date with the two of them, the four of us are in a sushi restaurant, and Bob starts using chopsticks and picking up food and shoving it in my sister's Mouth. It was so odd. I was so embarrassed. And then he starts doing the same thing to me.

[Interviewer]

He starts feeding you?

[Elaine Katz]

He starts feeding me. It was so uncomfortable. He was such a weirdo.

[Interviewer]

But Gail had made up her mind. Bob was marrying material and the two get engaged. But then all of a sudden, those red flags about Gale's seemingly perfect fiance become. 4 alarm silence.

[Elaine Katz]

I get the hysterical call from my sister. She gets into the car holding her little cat in her arms, crying, Bob tried to kill the cat. What do you mean?

[Interviewer]

By August of 1982, Gale Katz was flying high, engaged to her boy pilot boyfriend, Dr. Robert Berenbaum. Her mother couldn't have been happier.

[Elaine Katz]

Voila, here it is. Young Jewish doctor from New Jersey is marrying her. What could be better?

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

That's how he seemed on paper. In reality, the more I got to know him, the more I realized he was very awkward, very controlling.

[Elaine Katz]

During the summer of 82, I get the hysterical call from my sister. I must come into the city. I must pick her up. She gets into the car holding her little cat in her arms, crying, what happened, Gail? Bob tried to kill the cat. He had the cat in the toilet, choking it with its head submerged underwater.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

He was offended because she seemed to love the cat more than she loved Bob. And so he wanted the cat dead.

[Elaine Katz]

No, no, no, Elaine. We're going to get rid of the cat and then everything's going to be fine because he's going to believe that I love him. And I'm like, no, not really. You really have to get rid of Bob.

[Investigator/Reporter]

It turns out that this wasn't the first cat that Bob had attacked. Earlier in their relationship. He had told a story about having accidentally, in his words, strangled a prior girlfriend's cat. Her cat got loose in the car and he said he strangled and killed that cat in the car.

[Elaine Katz]

This is nuts. This is scary. And I'm like, you know, he's done this before. It's not about loving a cat. It's not about you loving the cat. It's about being violent. No, no, no, no, no. You know, she had two years of a psych degree. She knows better. I'm like, I can't believe you're marrying this guy. And I was sworn into secrecy. I never told my parents.

[Investigator/Reporter]

In spite of this extremely upsetting incident and warnings, Gail and Bob were married August 29, 1982, and Manhattan Synagogue.

[Elaine Katz]

She's wearing a white dress. She's gorgeous. She was happy. We had great champagne. We had, you know, a great band. But Bob was awkward. Bob couldn't dance. Bob doesn't drink. My sister told me I'm smart, I'm loving, my love will cure. This is going to work out.

[Interviewer]

The newlyweds enjoy an idyllic honeymoon on the island of Crete. When they get back to New York, they continue trying to live in an upper class lifestyle.

[Elaine Katz]

They are doing ski trips, there's beach vacations in the Caribbean with other couples that are doctors and their wives. She enjoys that.

[Narrator]

He also was still involved heavily with his passion of flying during that time. Whenever he could get a chance he would head over to Jersey. That's where he rented the plane.

[Investigator/Reporter]

They in January of 83 moved into a two bedroom 12th floor apartment at 185 East 85th Street. A building actually that America knew from the Jefferson's sitcom. This was making it for them.

[Interviewer]

He was a resident doctor. He didn't have a lot of money. How could they afford this?

[Narrator]

Bob's parents paid the rent after they got married. He's in a residency at Maimonides. He was working very long hours with the intention of opening someday his own plastic surgeon practice.

[Elaine Katz]

Back in the 80s I worked at Maimonides Medical center in Brooklyn where I met Bob Birnbaum. Bob was socially awkward. He was socially awkward with the patients as well. He did not have a connection with the patients. I think he was very into himself and I don't think he was really interested in his appearance all that much. He would have his pants halfway down in the back, very wrinkled shirt on.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Gayle was an undergraduate finishing her BA taking classes at Hunter College. Money was tight and Gayle decided that one way to make it was to try to be a personal assistant to women living on the Upper east side. And so she put out an ad.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I responded and you know, in no time she was working for us.

[Interviewer]

Francesca Beale was a high powered attorney at CBS TV at the. And she puts Gail to work as her assistant.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

She was beautiful, she was delightful. Everyone had met her, said how wonderful she was. She glowed with happiness at that point.

[Interviewer]

Did she ever talk much about her husband?

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Not much. But when she did it was in terms that I would say were affectionate and she was proud of him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

To people on the outside it might have looked like the perfect couple had the perfect life and the perfect spot. But the reality was a lot bumpier than that. They were fighting a lot.

[Narrator]

Dr. Birnbaum's controlling nature was the prime mover which causes tension in the marriage. He wanted to control every aspect of her life. There was always screaming and fighting going on in the apartment.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

She came to my apartment and studied because she didn't feel comfortable staying around the house. She would complain that he was verbally abusive, that he would put her down, undermine her all the time, tell her she wasn't any good.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

She lived by these laws he set up. She had to be home by a certain time. She had to dress a certain way.

[Elaine Katz]

My sister would go to turn on a light. He would literally hold her hand as she's moving for the light, and with his other hand, turn the light switch on. There wasn't a thing that was too small for Bob to control.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I had a 30th birthday party in a restaurant, and Bob and Gail were there. Bob insisted that she sit on his lap through the dinner. And at some point, I think that she was feeding him his food. I said, gail, why don't you sit down in your own seat? And she seemed intimidated. She said, no, no, this is okay. It's okay. I just got the feeling she didn't want to cross him.

[Elaine Katz]

By the end of the year, she is certainly complaining to others. Bob is never home. She's lonely. This is not a happy marriage. And then it was like a house of cards.

[Interviewer]

That house of cards would soon start to collapse following a shocking outbreak of violence.

[Elaine Katz]

Bob sees her smok, leaps over a couch to get at her as quickly as possible.

[Interviewer]

And it would all lead to an alarming letter warning of imminent danger.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I wish I had known about that letter so way before, I think I would have scooped her up in my arms and taken her home.

[Interviewer]

On the surface, Robert Berenbaum and his wife Gail seemed to be the perfect couple. Young, attractive, with a bright future. But behind the walls of their Upper east side, Manhattan apartment, the relationship had turned toxic.

[Detective]

Their marriage went into a downward spiral of constant arguing, fighting over just about anything. Like a neighbor told us, like cats and dogs. And it was constant.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

She definitely told me she was not happy. He'd pay attention to her, but more in the way of watching her, watching what she was doing, who she was talking to. She really was a cold guy.

[Elaine Katz]

Bob had rules, and you better follow those rules. Bob had this thing about smoking. Nobody should smoke because it's bad for. For their health. Back in November 83, my sister was studying for her graduate record exams for GREs. She thought Bob had left to go to work that day. She was feeling nervous, and as she tells it, she went out on the balcony to smoke a cigarette. The door opens and he smells the smoke, and he literally leaps over the living room furniture, strangles her to the point of unconsciousness, then revives her and apologizes, saying that it would never happen again.

[Detective]

Gail would have gone into the 19th Precinct, and she reported the incident to a police administrative aide. If this had happened in 2021, Robert Birnbaum would have been in handcuffs immediately. The fact that this was 1983, nothing was done about it.

[Elaine Katz]

This time she doesn't say, oh, he just loves me. This time she says, you're a sick bastard. Go get help. I am not staying in this marriage unless you get help. And Bob goes to see a therapist.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Michael Stone, after Gail charged that her husband, Dr. Robert Birnbaum, had tried to strangle. So in the course of looking at the case, you know, I find Dr. Stone and I interview him. At the end of seeing him, did you have the impression that he was under control?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

No, I had the impression that he was not in good control. The more trivial the incident that sparked it, in my way of thinking, the more potentially dangerous the person. This was a minor incident, which means that he had a hair trigger kind of temper.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

He says, I realized she was not going to be safe living with him. And he tells me, I wrote a letter memorializing this. It's a letter of warning to Gail.

[Detective]

The letter went as far as being a hold harmless letter. He didn't want to be held liable for not warning her about the danger.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

The letter says, I have been advised by Dr. Stone that for reasons of my own safety, I should at this time live apart from my husband, Dr. Robert Birnbaum. I further understand that if I do not heed this advice, I must accept the consequences, including the possibility of personal injury or death at the hands of my husband, and absolve Dr. Stone of responsibility for any such eventuality.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

This letter says that you are worried about her husband killing her.

[Elaine Katz]

Yes.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

And that you're trying to warn her.

[Elaine Katz]

That's right.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Have you ever written a letter worded that strongly to or for another patient?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It's the only letter I've ever written to a patient of any sort in all those years.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

When she left your office, the last time she left your office, did you feel then, even then, that she was in serious danger?

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Yes. And had rather a sinking feeling about the future because I had warned her every way I knew how, and she wasn't heeding my warning.

[Narrator]

When Gail got the letter, I know that she, of course she kept it. She didn't just destroy it or read it and throw it away. She put it away.

[Interviewer]

Were you aware of the letter?

[Elaine Katz]

Gail told me about it approximately a Year after she got it, she's like, it says he's a psychopath and that he's going to kill me.

[Interviewer]

Why in the world would she stay with this guy after she received that kind of warning?

[Elaine Katz]

I think she didn't believe it. No, no, no, Elaine, you know, I'm just about finished with my PhD. I understand psychology. I'm safe. Don't worry about it. She said to me that I'm. I want to get divorced. You know, he really has to do right by me, and if he doesn't, I am going to publicly this letter and it's going to ruin him.

[Narrator]

After she received the letter, I mean, the marriage continued. They continued living under the same roof.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The situation was calmer at home, but it was the calm before the storm. It was all going to blow up for them come the 4th of July weekend.

[Elaine Katz]

I called my mom and she said, do you know where Gail is? And I said, what do you mean, do I know where Gail is? I think something terrible has happened to her.

[Interviewer]

Gail has suddenly gone missing, Vanished into thin air. Could that ominous warning and Dr. Stone's letter have come true?

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

My heart went into my throat and I said, he killed her. I knew it. I knew it right away.

[Elaine Katz]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

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[Elaine Katz]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Potential savings will vary.

[Elaine Katz]

Not available in all states or situations.

[Detective]

The dynamic in the relationship, I think, changed dramatically after the strangulation incident. To the extent that she would go to bed fully clothed.

[Elaine Katz]

We're talking about people who are in the third year of their marriage and they're not having sex. Gail admitted to me that she was dating a little bit. She told me how lonely she was.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

On July 6, 1985, we took a walk. She Liked to hang out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We sat down and we talked, and she had a copy of the real estate section of the New York Times with her. She said to me, I'm gonna look for apartments and I'm gonna tell Bob that I'm leaving. Yay. Thank God. She's gonna leave him.

[Detective]

Sunday, July 7, was a turning point in this story. Sometime that morning, Francesca Biel, a sometime employer of Gayle, called.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I had not been in touch with Gail for a long time, and she was extremely happy to hear from me.

[Interviewer]

But it turns out Francesca wasn't calling for Gail at all. She wanted Gail to ask Bob for a referral to a doctor.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

She didn't seem angry, but she just seemed quiet and sad.

[Interviewer]

It sounds like she was deflated.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Yes.

[Interviewer]

It wasn't about her, but rather, yeah.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Doctor, husband, and maybe she thought I needed her for a friend.

[Detective]

It wasn't quite the phone call that Gail was looking forward to. What we do know for certain is that something sparked another argument. And we know from their downstairs neighbors that the argument was loud. And it continued for a while until there was silence in the apartment.

[Narrator]

Later in the day, Dr. Birnbaum left the apartment, showed up in New Jersey at the birthday party for his nephew, where we were telling people that she had left the apartment in a hospital. He doesn't know where she went. He hasn't seen or heard from her since she left the apartment, and he was worried about her.

[Elaine Katz]

I call my mother and my mother says, do you know where Gail is? And I'm like, no. And she's like, bob called. They had a fight this morning, and Gail never came home.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Bob calls me. He says, is Gail still with you? I said, what do you mean, is Gail still with me? I left her yesterday at 5 o'.

[Elaine Katz]

Clock.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

My heart went into my throat.

[Elaine Katz]

She's not with me and she's not with my parents. And at that moment, I know that my sister's dead.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I just put the phone down for a second and I sat here. He killed her. I knew it. I knew it right away.

[Elaine Katz]

And if she's not alive, there's only one person who is a likely suspect to murder her. And it's Bob. There's no other suspect.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

On Monday, July 8, 1985, about nine in the evening, Robert Berenbaum came into the precinct to report his wife Gail, missing. I interviewed him at length. Robert mentioned that sometime that morning, Gail and he had an argument. She left to go to Central park to cool off. She was dressed to go lay out in the sun. Pair of shorts, I believe, a halter top and a towel. And that was not unusual for Gail.

[Interviewer]

Bob tells police that they had an argument and she came here to the park.

[Elaine Katz]

Yes. And by the very following weekend, we had missing posters made of Gail. My family and my sister's friends all came to the park and plastered this poster. This poster. We plastered the entire loop of the park. We never spoke to a single person that said, I recognize Gail.

[Detective]

It was almost like pulling teeth to get Robert Birnbaum to help. It was almost like they had to drag him kicking and screaming.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Meanwhile, the tension is building between the Katzes and the Berenbaums. The Berenbaums are portraying Gail as a mentally unstable person who might be responsible for her own disappearance.

[Elaine Katz]

In front of us, they're saying to the police she was suicidal. She must have killed herself.

[Detective]

Yeah.

[Elaine Katz]

Now, this is ridiculous. My sister has a therapist who says she's healthy. The other lie that he starts to float is it must have been a drug deal gone wrong. My sister wasn't buying drugs on the street. They just kept floating alternate theories, and all of them defamed my sister.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

A search was made, and every effort to locate someone that might have been a victim of a crime was made. There weren't any bodies. There weren't any victims that were discovered in the park. Gail was not discovered. She did not commit suicide in the park.

[Interviewer]

Weeks after his wife's disappearance, beer and bomb seems the opposite of a grieving husband.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I heard he was out in the Hamptons partying with a lot of elite people.

[Elaine Katz]

He's dating. He's bringing women back, you know.

[Interviewer]

But then investigators make a shocking discovery at a New Jersey airfield. A discovery that could bring Robert Berenbaum back to earth.

[Detective]

They struck gold.

[Interviewer]

This was a bombshell discovery.

[Detective]

It was. It turned things upside down.

[Interviewer]

Just weeks after his wife Gail vanishes in New York City, Robert Berenbaum starts spending time in an exclusive spot out on Long Island.

[Detective]

Gale and he had a share in a Hamptons house. And Robert continued to go out there on every weekend he possibly could. He was seen partying in a notorious disco in the Hampton School, Marrakesh.

[Narrator]

Even his dress changed from L.L. bean to Saturday Night Fever. This wasn't the concerned husband and the summer house. People thought that his behavior was rather cold and dismissive of his missing wife.

[Interviewer]

Bob's co worker at his hospital, Karen Caruana, was also out in the Hamptons at the time. Some mutual friends suggest that the two of them meet for a date, even though it had only been a few weeks since Gail went missing.

[Elaine Katz]

We went out to dinner. He drove back to this house. I remember sitting in his kitchen and asking him, you know, tell me what happened with Gail. And what he told me was, Gail had left and flown out to California and gotten some kind of a waitress job on the coast. He had hired a private investigator, and this private investigator had found her out there.

[Detective]

That wasn't true. What we know for a fact is after having spoken to the investigator that there was never any evidence of her in California.

[Elaine Katz]

I asked him about the police. Have they gone and searched his apartment, et cetera. And he told me the police had already been there. They had already searched his apartment, and everything was clean.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

That was far from the truth. The scope of our search in that apartment with the forensic team was limited to finding fingerprints on personal items that Gail may have come in contact with in their normal daily activities. I tried to get a broader scope to get evidence of any crime, and that was objected to by Scott Greenfield, Robert's attorney.

[Elaine Katz]

How the life progressed. Okay, I'm not sure how we got up to the bedroom, but we did, and we had, you know, sex quite a few times that night. I kind of questioned on my judgment on, you know, doing that. And, you know, I had let my guard down, and that was probably not a good move on my part.

[Detective]

He told that lie to Karen Carroll because he wanted to sleep with her that night. This is a man whose wife has been missing now for weeks, and at the first opportunity he has, he's jumping at the chance to get into bed with another woman.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

In August of 1986. So years gone by, the Manhattan District Attorney's office decides to take a look at the case, and it goes to the chief investigator, Andy Rosenzweig. Andy Rosenzweig is a criminal's worst nightmare because he's extraordinarily intelligent. He's extremely detail oriented. But when you looked for a case, what did you look at in the folder to say, this one looks like.

[Detective]

It could go well?

[Interviewer]

We looked at a case that.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

That presented a challenge that we thought perhaps other agencies wouldn't be equipped to.

[Elaine Katz]

Do as well as us.

[Narrator]

What Andy Rosenzweig did initially to further this investigation was that they knew he was a pilot, and they began canvassing various airports to see if they could find any evidence as to whether he had rented or flown a plane. On July 7, 1985, they started out.

[Detective]

Looking at private aviation companies in New Jersey. The second choice was Essex County Airport, and they struck gold.

[Interviewer]

So they came here, went through that door.

[Detective]

Went through that door. And they said, yes, as a matter of fact, we do know Robert Birnbaum. You have records of him flying? Yes, we do. Robert Birnbaum, the day his wife disappeared, drove to Coldwell Airport sometime in the afternoon, flew a plane for over an hour and a half, returned to the airport, and then went to his sister's house for the party.

[Interviewer]

This was a bombshell discovery.

[Detective]

It was. It turned things upside down. He spoke to detectives and he told them they stayed at home till 5:30 when he. When he knew that by that time he was already probably 75, 80 miles out over the Atlantic Ocean.

[Interviewer]

Once they figured out he had gone up in the plane, how quickly did they say that was where?

[Detective]

How he disposed the body, that was immediate. The working theory was that he folded her up, put her in a duffel bag, came out to where we are today, rented his plane, loaded her in the plane, flew out over the ocean and dumped her in the ocean.

[Elaine Katz]

My parents and I were like, great, we've got that missing link. Now we can prove he did it.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

The existence of the airplane, the existence of the flight, it was all suggestive and circumstantial. So the DA's office at the time felt we don't have a murder case.

[Elaine Katz]

And I remember the district attorney's office bringing my parents in and saying, it's not enough.

[Interviewer]

How hard was it on your parents?

[Elaine Katz]

It was a death sentence for my parents.

[Interviewer]

Then in May of 1989, three years after the investigation goes cold, there's another heartbreaking development for Gayle's family.

[Narrator]

A torso washes up off of Staten Island. Headless, legless, and armless.

[Elaine Katz]

We found these X rays, and an X ray technician compared this X ray with this torso and said, this is Gail. Now we have a body to bury. We have some closure.

[Interviewer]

While the discovery of the body still isn't enough for the police to press charges, Elaine's crusade to hold Gail's husband accountable hasn't been laid to rest.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Elaine Katz was determined to get justice for her sister. And that meant staying after Robert Berenbaum.

[Elaine Katz]

I would send clippings to the doctors that he worked with, to the people that lived in the building. And I would leave messages on his answering machine, you know, telling the woman he was living with, he's dangerous. You know, be careful.

[Interviewer]

Your intent was.

[Elaine Katz]

Well, my intent was to make every day of his life miserable. To make him walk down halls and have people think, oh, my God, he's a murderer.

[Interviewer]

Elaine's relentless efforts appear to pay off in 1989. Robert Berenbaum pulls up stakes and leaves New York City behind.

[Elaine Katz]

I believe that I ran him out of New York.

[Interviewer]

But the next chapter in the beer and bomb saga would come as a complete surprise. You are all I long for. The startling new life and yet another transformation apparently had undergone quite a makeover. And they started wearing fancy suits.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Yes, he loved his Armani suits.

[Interviewer]

Sometimes, though, it's not so easy to bury the past.

[Robert Berenbaum]

The rumors started coming in from New York that Bob potentially murdered her.

[Narrator]

Feels completely safe, completely confident that he's gotten away with murder.

[Detective]

Robert Birmingham had absolutely no idea what was coming.

[Interviewer]

What was coming was a startling demonstration in the sky. One that could prove the key to clipping Dr. Berenbaum's wings for good.

[Narrator]

I don't think Spielberg could have done it better.

[Interviewer]

Her disappearance made headlines in New York. In 1985, Gail Berenbaum vanished from the apartment she shared with her husband Robert, a Manhattan plastic surgeon.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Turn on the tv. They've arrested Robert Berenbaum for the murder of Gail Katz. I started screaming.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Dr. Birnbaum, we have to ask you, did you kill your wife?

[Robert Berenbaum]

Bob Berenbaum is the last person anybody would think that would commit a murder unless you saw his other side. My life was flashing in front of my eyes.

[Interviewer]

He was moving all over, maybe to get as far away from New York as he could.

[Narrator]

After he left, I'm confident that he thought the ball game was over.

[Elaine Katz]

I didn't want him to get away with it. I wanted every day of his life to be miserable.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I said, were you ever married before? I thought, whoa, I touched a nerve.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Did he do it? Could he have done it?

[Interviewer]

Could it have been me?

[Detective]

The first thing that stood out to me were the flight records. Oh, my God. There's the explanation why Gail is not around anymore.

[Elaine Katz]

I didn't want anyone to dig her up, literally.

[Interviewer]

They're going to have to exhume the body they think is Gail's.

[Elaine Katz]

I am so devastated.

[Interviewer]

What was in that grave?

[Narrator]

He has no idea what's coming down the road. And it's us.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Las Vegas in 1989.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

1990.

[Robert Berenbaum]

There was a whole new energy occurring. We had dazzle, lots of glitz, lots of beautiful, beautiful showgirls, cocktail waitresses. Plastic surgeons were starting to flock here.

[Elaine Katz]

This was the wild, wild West.

[Robert Berenbaum]

It was up frenzy for plastic surgeons.

[Investigator/Reporter]

It was December 31, 1989. I decided to have a New Year's Eve party. It was a huge party, and my boyfriend wanted to bring a new plastic surgeon in town.

[Robert Berenbaum]

I went around the corner to the party, and we were having a good time, and somebody introduced me to Bob.

[Interviewer]

Your first impressions of him?

[Robert Berenbaum]

I thought he was very nice. He was tall, dark, and handsome.

[Interviewer]

It turns out Bob is none other than Robert Berenbaum. He had been the target of an investigation in New York City after his wife Gail had gone missing in 1985 under highly suspicious circumstances.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Berenbaum was a suspect because the police discovered that he had lied about where he was. They found out that he had been up on a plane and he had never mentioned it.

[Detective]

The DA's office had closed their end of the investigation without bringing charges.

[Elaine Katz]

I didn't want him to get away with it. I wanted every day of his life to be miserable. I believe I ran him out of New York to Vegas.

[Interviewer]

In Las Vegas, Berenbaum transforms himself from a surgical resident in New York to a hotshot plastic surgeon. He befriends colleagues like Dr. Julio Garcia, the man who reattached Evander Holyfield's ear after Mike Tyson bit it off. Keep your eye on Mike. Mike has just seen.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Look at him.

[Detective]

We all knew he was from New.

[Interviewer]

York, but he played that card close to the church. He did not disclose any chips on that table. He kept his secrets to himself.

[Robert Berenbaum]

He called me up and asked me, do you want to get high tonight? And I really didn't know what he was talking about.

[Interviewer]

And suddenly you were here, huh?

[Elaine Katz]

Yes.

[Robert Berenbaum]

This is the airport. We went flying on our first date.

[Elaine Katz]

Fly me to the moon.

[Robert Berenbaum]

It was fun. Las Vegas is fun to fly around at night with all the glitz and lights.

[Interviewer]

In other words.

[Robert Berenbaum]

The first year was perfect. Fun, fun, fun. We went to social events all over town. We went to medical black tie events. We went on a lot of ski trips.

[Interviewer]

Vegas. Bob 2.0 was certainly new and improved from the New York version he had left behind. He had traded in his wrinkled plaid shirts for Armani suits.

[Robert Berenbaum]

He had a way of taking an Armani suit and making it look a little sloppy.

[Interviewer]

He had a sports car and a Jeep truck.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Las Vegas were big on vanity plates. So why wouldn't he have nip and tuck and nip and truck. It's the way we roll here in Vegas.

[Investigator/Reporter]

In Vegas, there was another side that emerged to Bob, and that was a charitable side. He joined a group called the Flying Doctors, which several times a year would fly down to a specific community in Mexico and provide medical care to poor families.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Bob was a perfect fit for this, especially being a plastic surgeon doing cleft palates. He changed these children's lives forever. I loved going to Mexico and doing that work. It was kind of a glue that held us together.

[Investigator/Reporter]

She did call me and said, you'll never believe it, but this guy flies to Mexico and helps children that are disadvantaged.

[Elaine Katz]

I can't even believe I met a.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Person that was so great.

[Interviewer]

But one thing Dr. Bob hasn't been so eager to share with Stephanie are details of his previous life in New York. Stephanie says she found it odd that he was so reluctant to have his palm read by her close friend, a palm reader.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

He had this dark energy, and his.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Eyes, they were the strangest thing that I've ever seen. His eyes would go like this.

[Elaine Katz]

Well, by then he figured out what.

[Investigator/Reporter]

I did for a living, and so.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

He didn't want to have anything to do with me. There was something secretive about him.

[Robert Berenbaum]

One time I saw his luggage tags that said Gail Berenbaum on him. So I'm like, okay, maybe a cousin. No biggie. And then after a while, I'm just like, bob, who's Gail Berenbaum? And then it took him a long pause, and he got kind of emotional. And he told me he had been married before, and they had a big fight, and she took off for Central park, and she disappeared.

[Interviewer]

Stephanie says Birenbaum told her he had been thoroughly investigated by the cops and cleared of all wrongdoing.

[Robert Berenbaum]

The way he told the story, it was believable. About a year and a half into the relationship, he gave me 4k, and I opened it up, and there was a diamond ring. And I'm like, bob, we can't get married because Bob wanted kids. I did not. So that's when our trouble began.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Bob's image on paper was real, but cracks started to appear.

[Robert Berenbaum]

One time we went flying when we went down to Sedona with Dr. Thomas. It was a very intense landing.

[Detective]

She simply bumped the door of the.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Airplane when it was parked.

[Detective]

Demeanor changed just like that and went into a rage. Tight eyes, tight mouth focused, red in the face, screaming. I thought he was going to strike her.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

I thought, this guy's crazy.

[Interviewer]

On another trip, this time on a boat, Stephanie says she feared for her life. There was an explosive incident after she asked the host for a glass of red wine.

[Robert Berenbaum]

When he went to open that bottle of wine, it was like opening a bottle of champagne that sprayed everywhere. Bob went ballistic. That's when I saw his laser eyes. That just pierced my soul. He just raged on me like it was my fault. And I thought, oh, this is not good. My life was flashing in front of my eyes. That was like a tipping point in our relationship.

[Interviewer]

Alarmed by that incident, Stephanie says she demanded they see a therapist, just like Gail had done a decade before.

[Robert Berenbaum]

We only had one session and she goes, there are issues there that my life could be in danger with him. And so I started to build a strategy to leave.

[Investigator/Reporter]

I definitely said, Stephanie, you dodged a bullet.

[Interviewer]

But Birenbaum quickly bounces back, dating and proposing to one woman after another.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Bob took the same diamond and set it in one ring after another after another until Bob finally met the woman of his dreams, Janet Cholet, a gynecologist in Las Vegas. And In June of 96, they were married.

[Interviewer]

There would be a next and yet another transformation for Dr. Bob when his wife gets offered a new job out of Las Vegas.

[Elaine Katz]

I learned that he was in some real rural place. Sounded like the antithesis of New York City life.

[Interviewer]

But it turns out Dr. Bob was about to become a hero. After a terrifying incident, he tired, reared.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

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[Investigator/Reporter]

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[Elaine Katz]

If you haven't made the switch yet.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Here are 15 reasons why you should 1.

[Elaine Katz]

It's $15 a month. 2. Seriously, it's $15 a month. 3.

[Investigator/Reporter]

No big contracts.

[Elaine Katz]

4.

[Investigator/Reporter]

I use it.

[Elaine Katz]

5.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

My mom uses it.

[Elaine Katz]

Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right?

[Investigator/Reporter]

Okay, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[Elaine Katz]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Mine on North Dakota is known as Magic City. That dates back to the early days when the railroads came from through and a city emerged out of the prairie and grew like magic. But when we talk about the Magic City today, the magic in Minot is the people. How friendly everyone is and willing to do something for a complete stranger.

[Interviewer]

People tend to just accept you and not ask a bunch of questions. If one was escaping something, perhaps that's a great place to go.

[Elaine Katz]

Robert Birnbaum came to minot in the.

[Detective]

Mid-90S and made quite a splash.

[Elaine Katz]

When Bob was in North Dakota, there were, I believe, five plastic surgeons in the entire state.

[Interviewer]

Beer. And Bob had followed his wife Janet from Las Vegas to Minot after she landed a job there. They both worked at Trinity Medical Center. Janet as a gynecologist, Bob as a plastic surgeon. They lived in a small condo.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

First time I spoke with him, he got real close.

[Interviewer]

Kind of got into my space and touched my face because I had a mole on my face. And I'm kind of backing up.

[Elaine Katz]

And he says, I can fix that.

[Interviewer]

He didn't quite fit in. His style was more New York than it was Minot, so he stood out. But he made an effort to be.

[Elaine Katz]

Part of the community.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

The Jewish community was very small. We all knew one another. I started a bagel shop in Minot. He was a customer sometimes, and he.

[Robert Berenbaum]

Was also well known in the community.

[Elaine Katz]

For making his own bagels.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

He always came across as being a nice, kind of disheveled, not quite put together guy, you know, and smart. People in the medical community were impressed with him. He had great credentials.

[Detective]

I think people in Minot would have imagined that.

[Elaine Katz]

Dr. Birenbaum was a kind of gift.

[Interviewer]

Then on July 30, 1998, there was an incident at the North Dakota State Fair that thoroughly cemented Beer and Bomb's reputation in Minot.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Every year, our biggest event in Minot in North Dakota is the North Dakota State Fair. You've got rides and carnivals and every kind of food imaginable.

[Elaine Katz]

Okay, let's hear from Mackenzie, our tiger tamer.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

There was a tiger exhibit at the fair. They were offering pictures on a table with a cub tiger. We had been extraordinarily busy. We had a vast, large attendance on the day. In the photo ops, a cub was.

[Narrator]

Being fed a bottle of milk.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

And all the tigers had been overfed at that point, except for a roughly.

[Interviewer]

280 pound tiger named Luton.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

And I thought we were coming up.

[Narrator]

To a break, but, you know, the.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Manager said, well, let's get this one family.

[Interviewer]

The tiger Luton was a last minute substitute for this photo. It was taken with Ron Goddess's family gathered behind him.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

A trainer had a tiger by leashing. The tiger was reared up on his hind legs, pulled my son back towards him into its mouth, and commenced making a chew toy out of my son's head. My son was a fraction of of an inch from losing his right eye and a quarter of an inch from losing his left ear. They were expecting to have to fly my son medevac to Fargo. But there just so happened to be plastic surgeon that they were able to get a hold of and happened to be Dr. Berenbaum. He sewed his eye back in and tucked it nice and tight and put his ear back on. I believe Dr. Birenbaum saved my son's life, without a doubt, hands down.

[Interviewer]

While the incident with that tiger makes Berenbaum a local hero, he's apparently still touchy about details of his past life.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I just in passing sort of said, were you ever married before? His reaction was so immediate and so stiff, surprised, shocked, you know, that I thought, whoa, I touched a nerve.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Soon after arriving in Minot, Janet decided to go to law school, and she moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota, which was 200 miles away.

[Detective]

He had his domestic situation with a life in Grand Forks, but he had.

[Elaine Katz]

A patient base in Mina.

[Investigator/Reporter]

He got into his plane and flew between the two cities. He'd be working in Minot and then see Janet on the weekends. In November of 98, Janet and Bob had a baby daughter.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

My name is Barb Cooper, and I was one of the nannies for Robert Berenbaum and his wife Janet in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It looks like he must have come home from work. He has a suit on and just sitting down on the kitchen floor, just right where he was, and to play.

[Elaine Katz]

With his little girl and his dog.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

This is one where Bob would have come home. He's got a name tag on. Just his face would just light up when he would see her. He looked good, wore suits, loved his.

[Elaine Katz]

Child, loved dogs, you know, just all over.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

All things that you would think would be great characteristics to have in somebody.

[Interviewer]

He becomes a family man, has a.

[Elaine Katz]

Daughter, he has a child.

[Interviewer]

At that point, do you think he may well live out the rest of his life never having to pay for this?

[Elaine Katz]

I think I began to feel, even in Vegas, that that was the life we were going to have to live.

[Narrator]

After he left Las Vegas and moved to North Dakota, I'm confident that he thought the ball game was over, that he's never going to have to deal with this ever again.

[Interviewer]

And then one day, something really strange happens while you're at work.

[Robert Berenbaum]

I had a strong, loud knock on the door. I opened it up. There were a couple gentlemen standing outside. They wanted to talk to me about Dr. Robert Barron.

[Narrator]

He has no idea what's coming down the road.

[Interviewer]

One of the stops on that road would be the cemetery where Gail was laid to rest. And what they'd find in her grave would surprise everyone in North Dakota. Robert Berenbaum has created a new life for himself as a highly respected doctor and a pillar of the community.

[Detective]

Dr. Birnbaum was a guy who did good stuff.

[Elaine Katz]

In New York, he'd be called a mensch.

[Interviewer]

Here, he'd be called a good guy, somebody that you might think is a.

[Detective]

Little bit odd, but you appreciate because.

[Elaine Katz]

Of the good deeds he's doing.

[Investigator/Reporter]

While Bob was building a new life in the Dakotas, back in New York, there was somebody, somebody important who couldn't forget the disappearance of Gail 14 years earlier. That guy was Andy Rosenzweig, the chief investigator of the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

How long did you guys work at this on the first go round? Probably between nine months and a year. As Andy Rosenzweig is getting towards retirement, he's also looking at cases that are still haunting him. And the Berenbaum case was top among.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Those within the DA's office. They had just created a cold case unit. And Rosenzweig decided to give this cold case to Steve Sirocco and Dan Bip, two seasoned investigators who he knew if anybody could find out if Berenbaum did it, they would.

[Detective]

Andy came to Steve and I with a file and said, I want you guys to take a look at something. The first thing that stood out to me when I reviewed the file were the flight records. Oh, my God. He flew for two hours the day his wife disappeared. And the fact that he doesn't tell anybody. There's the explanation why Gail is not around anymore.

[Narrator]

That coupled with his visits to his psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Stone. His sessions with Dr. Stone were so intense and upsetting, the psychiatrist was ethically bound to send his wife, Gail, a letter that warned her that she was in danger of her life.

[Elaine Katz]

The letter says, if I do not.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Heed this advice, I must accept the consequences, including the possibility of personal injury or death at the hands of my husband.

[Narrator]

I called Stone Cold, called him, And I said, Dr. Stone, my partner and I are reinvestigating the disappearance of Gail Katz Birnbaum. And he said, of course he killed her. Dr. Birnbaum's a dangerous psychopath. This case has been burning on my brain. Then I said to Dan the next day, I think we're onto something here. And that's when we started, like, rolling.

[Elaine Katz]

Andy Rosensweig calls me, and he says, I want to reopen Gail's case. And I had mixed emotions. I did not want my life turned upside down. I didn't want the wound Opened for nothing.

[Interviewer]

And for Elaine, it would become even more difficult. Back in 1986, a female torso that washed up off Staten island had been identified as belonging to Gail. Her family laid it to rest in a cemetery in Queens.

[Narrator]

In the summer of 1998, we decided to attempt to get Gail's body exhumed.

[Detective]

Body been identified through an X ray. Of course, we had the technology now to do DNA. And to our surprise, it came back that Gale Katz had been eliminated as a contributor of that sample.

[Elaine Katz]

I am so devastated. That little, little shred of closure that I had has now been ripped away. And I looked up at Dan and at Steve and I said.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Now you.

[Elaine Katz]

Better get a conviction.

[Interviewer]

Bib and Sirocco decide to re interview everyone associated with the case in person, including a woman Birenbaum dated in New York City. After Gayle's disappearance.

[Investigator/Reporter]

One of the things she related involved a phone call that came in the middle of the night. The police called from the Port Authority bus terminal, thought that they had found Gail. Bob's initial response is, can I talk to you in the morning? He hangs up and he says, I doubt it's Gail. Go back to sleep.

[Interviewer]

Bib and Sirocco also traveled to Las Vegas to interview the women Birenbaum dated. There you get a knock on the door. Investigators wanting to know about your old boyfriend.

[Robert Berenbaum]

They were from the New York Investigative Bureau.

[Interviewer]

You must have been blown away.

[Robert Berenbaum]

I was shocked. Last thing I expected.

[Detective]

In late November of 98, we decided to send investigators to North Dakota to see if we could get some kind of statement.

[Narrator]

He's feeling as safe as you possibly can. All of a sudden, now he sees these guys from Manhattan telling him, we're here because we're investigating reinvestigating your wife's disappearance.

[Detective]

Dr. Birnbaum reacted with shock and disbelief. There was a baseball bat upside his head.

[Interviewer]

Then In September of 1999, 14 years after Gayle's disappearance, a grand jury indicts Robert Barenbaum for second degree murder. Authorities accused the plastic surgeon of killing.

[Narrator]

His wife Gail in this apartment, packaging.

[Interviewer]

Her body and dumping it somewhere over The Atlantic. Manhattan DA's office.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

To see your boss's face on the 10 o' clock news accused of murdering his first wife was pretty shocking. When that came on, I was standing and I actually dropped to my knees. I was just like. I couldn't believe it.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

Never in a million years you think you'd be using cold, calculated murder in the same description of this guy. Dr. Berenbaum.

[Detective]

There's just no way the Berenbaum story, when you get right down to it.

[Interviewer]

Is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

[Elaine Katz]

And that's a hell of a story.

[Interviewer]

Robert Berenbaum will be returning to New York City this time to stand trial for Gail's murder. But with no body, no physical evidence, will he be convicted?

[Detective]

We knew it was going to be the toughest trial that we'd ever had. There was no foregone conclusion to this case by any stretch of the imagination.

[Interviewer]

And there was a huge unanswered question that would involve a demonstration in the sky. Was it even possible to toss out a body out of an airplane flying more than 100 miles an hour?

[Elaine Katz]

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[Investigator/Reporter]

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[Elaine Katz]

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[Robert Berenbaum]

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[Elaine Katz]

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[Interviewer]

Secret has made national headlines. Turned himself in to New York police.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

This morning I get a phone call from my sister. She says turn on the tv. They've arrested Robert Berenbaum for the murder of Gail Cats and I started screaming.

[Interviewer]

Authorities accused the plastic surgeon of killing her in the apartment, packaging her body and dumping it somewhere over the Atlantic during a two hour flight in his private plane.

[Investigator/Reporter]

It was such an unusual case. What doctor pushes his wife out of a plane on the from the Upper east side.

[Elaine Katz]

I delighted and happy that this stayed Khamai. I saw my mother, father and sister cheering up there. Bob, why don't you tell the public that you're innocent? Why don't you tell me that you didn't kill my sister. 15 years I'm waiting to hear you say that you didn't kill my sister. It's the moment that I was waiting for, that Bob knows. You didn't get away with it. You were gonna stand trial for my sister's death.

[Interviewer]

Dr. Birnbaum, we've been trying to talk to you.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

We'd spent a lot of time digging into this story, and I wanted to ask Dr. Berenbaum in person, point blank, did you kill your wife?

[Interviewer]

I have no comment, John. Thank you.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

And, Doctor, you have nothing to say about this? You know, they've charged that you took her in an airplane.

[Interviewer]

He has no comment.

[Detective]

And threw her out.

[Interviewer]

He's in the middle of a prosecution. I'll say what we have to say.

[Detective]

We knew it was going to be the toughest trial that we'd ever had. No forensics, no eyewitnesses, entirely circumstantial.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

On September 18, 2000, there at 100 Center street in Lower Manhattan, the trial begins. And on the bench, you have Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder. Her reputation was no nonsense.

[Interviewer]

Nonsense.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Tough judge.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Well, it was an unusual case with a lot of difficult legal issues. And one of them would be, of course, that there was no body. Because then you wonder how the prosecution is going to prove that there was, in fact, a murder.

[Narrator]

In the opening statement, I tell the jury right off the bat, I have no forensic evidence. But I said, nonetheless, it's going to point in only one direction. The guilt of the defendant in this case. Dr. Burma.

[Investigator/Reporter]

It was a key thing for the press to let the jury see how Berenbaum had abused his wife during their marriage, including the 1983 choking incident, where it was so serious that she lost consciousness.

[Interviewer]

Now, you would think that the prosecution has a huge card up their sleeves. That ominous letter from Dr. Michael Stone to Gail. It warned possible death at the hands of her husband. But it turns out there's a big problem with showing that letter to the jury.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

The prosecution wanted to admit as evidence this devastating letter, but the real issue here was a legal one, and that involved the doctor. Patient privilege, and I didn't allow the admission of the letter.

[Narrator]

Although the jury couldn't see the exact letter, the witnesses, her sister, her friend, were able to describe the letter, the existence of the letter.

[Elaine Katz]

Dan had done a terrific job of preparing me to testify. He says, you're going to be able to testify to more than I thought you would be able to.

[Narrator]

It just helped the case to build and build and build. It was another factor that demonstrated the nature of their relationship.

[Interviewer]

Another critical part of the prosecution's case, the discovery that Birenbaum had flown his plane on the afternoon of July 17, the day Gail went missing. Remember, he told police he was alone in their apartment during that time. Prosecutors, though, are able to show jurors Birenbaum's own personal flight log, where the 7 for July had been apparently altered to an 8.

[Narrator]

And not very professionally either. It looked like a child had done it.

[Investigator/Reporter]

A big hurdle for the prosecution was to persuade the jury that someone could actually fly a plane and push a body out the door and not crash.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

I was told by the defenders of Robert Berenbaum that actually doesn't work. You're flying this airplane at 100 miles an hour through the sky. You have the 120 pound victim, and somehow you're supposed to lean over and throw it. The physics of it just make it impossible.

[Detective]

We thought, what better way to show somebody it can be done than by doing it ourselves? We were going to find a plane that model and take 110 pound bags of dead weight and throw them out of the plane over the ocean.

[Narrator]

The sergeant showed that not only was it possible to dispose of the 110 pound bag, that it actually was very easy. You could do it either from the pilot's door, which he did, or from the passenger door. The trailing helicopter actually filmed the bear going into the ocean. I don't think Spielberg could have done it better.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I thought the demonstration with the airplane was extremely effective. Probably one of the critical moments in the case.

[Interviewer]

But it turns out the defense has its own ace in the hole.

[Detective]

The defense has only one witness. If the jury believes them, it's a huge problem for us.

[Interviewer]

A bombshell eyewitness who threatens to overturn the entire prosecution's case. Over the course of the trial, the prosecution calls 34 witnesses, including those close to Gail, who testify about how she had become fed up with her husband's treatment of her.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I talked about his controlling behavior, and I talked about the fact that she was looking for another place to live. She was going to leave. It was imminent. And I think that that was part of the reason why he did what he did.

[Investigator/Reporter]

The defense used cross examination effectively to tarnish the reputation of Gail, to portray her as unstable, a risk taker.

[Narrator]

The defense did go into other reasons why she could have gone missing other than her husband murdering her. They brought up mental health issues, the possible drug use or infidelities.

[Detective]

Ultimately, I think what they did led nowhere. The evidence didn't amount to anything.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

The defense had one witness, Joel Davis, and I think they pinned their hopes for the entire case on him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Joel Davis was a retired Textile manufacturer who told police early on that he had seen Gail in an H and H bagel shop near where she lived at three o'clock in the afternoon. Standing there in shorts with a beach chair with a friend.

[Detective]

He essentially blows up the people's timeline as to when she was dead. If a juror believes that sometime three to four that afternoon that she's alive, that's a huge problem.

[Narrator]

What hurt Joel Davis the most was his description of the woman that he saw in the bagel store. That she was large, statuesque, full figured. So you lead him even further down the road. You're saying like she had a big chest? Yes, she was voluptuous.

[Elaine Katz]

Steve blows up like on poster board size. This photo of my sister. And I get to say, that's Gail. She was an A cup. She barely feel that.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I think everyone in the courtroom and there was a lot of buzzing that the defense case had gone down the tooth.

[Detective]

The message I wanted to deliver to them in summation was that he's the right person. He's the guilty party. One of my favorite movies is north by Northwest. Alfred Hitchcock. Tale of a businessman caught in an international intrigue. The there's a discussion of how to get rid of a body. And James Mason says, this matter is.

[Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Stone]

Best disposed of from a great height over water.

[Detective]

That made it into my summation because I thought it was entirely appropriate.

[Investigator/Reporter]

In their summation, the defense tried to take the prosecution's case apart piece by piece. No physical evidence at all. The body out of a plane, nice, but just a thin. Gail's own personal behavior could have been a problem that led to her own demise.

[Interviewer]

Fifteen years after Gayle's disappearance, the case finally goes to a jury after just five and a half hours of deliberation. There's a verdict.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Once everyone heard there was a verdict, it was very, very tense.

[Detective]

My heart is pounding. I can feel it in my chest. And I can feel the tension in the courtroom.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

The four person stands up and says, yes, we the jury, have reached a verdict. And then the foreperson said, guilty. And there was a buzz in the courtroom.

[Narrator]

It was just a sense of complete satisfaction for not only justice, but for the sister and the family.

[Elaine Katz]

Guilty verdict against plastic surgeon Robert Fehrenbaum.

[Interviewer]

When you heard that conviction, your reaction?

[Elaine Katz]

I'll never forget squeezing my brother's hand and slamming it down on his thigh and saying guilty with a question mark at the end, because did I just hear that? And then, of course, the reaction of my brother as he grabbed me and held me and we Trembled and we cried. Then I knew it was true. I was in shock.

[Interviewer]

To finally see the handcuffs go on his wrists, to finally see him walk into a jail cell. The feelings are indescribable.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

A typical sentence for me would have been 25 to life because of the enormity of the crime. But there are very few cases in which someone has been a law abiding citizen and has done good things. So I gave him 20 years to life.

[Interviewer]

Since that sentence in 2000, few people thought they would ever hear about Berenbaum again. But just recently, shockingly, Berenbaum would re emerge and what he would say would stun everyone involved in the case.

[Detective]

I was like, holy. Are you kidding me?

[Elaine Katz]

The earth shifted. I was in shock.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Since 2000, Bob Berenbaum has been behind bars serving that sentence of 20 to life.

[Elaine Katz]

When Bob was incarcerated for many, many, many years, I stopped thinking about him.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Berenbaum offered no apologies to the Katz family when he was sentenced, insisting he was innocent. And he spent the first 10 years behind bars trying to prove his innocence and get his verdict overturned. He appealed in state courts. Federal courts got nowhere.

[Interviewer]

Back in North Dakota, there are still those who believe he might not have been guilty of the crime.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It didn't add up. You didn't think it would be possible for somebody that nice to do something that. That ugly.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Just Last December, after 20 years behind bars, Bob Berenbaum was up for parole. Parole board denied him freedom.

[Interviewer]

There was no public reason given for the decision. But 2020 obtained this transcript of that parole hearing, and in it is a shocking revelation. For the first time in 35 years, Berenbaum finally admits to killing Gayle. To the parole board, Berenbaum said, I wanted her to stop yelling at me and I attacked her. When he's asked, how did you attack her? He responds, I strangled her. Berenbaum goes on to say, I went flying. I opened the door and then took her body out of the airplane over the ocean.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

I was stunned when I heard he admitted it.

[Detective]

And I was like, are you kidding me?

[Narrator]

He admitted doing it just the way we told the jury that he did.

[Elaine Katz]

The earth shifted. I was in shock. He admitted killing Gail and I cried.

[Interviewer]

He said he killed Gail because he was immature and didn't understand how to deal with his anger. The parole board noted that at the time, he was a 29 year old.

[Investigator/Reporter]

Medical doctor and you were immature. Really said he was a danger to the police community and needs to stay in.

[Elaine Katz]

When I read those minutes, oh, my God, this is exactly the same man that I knew 35 years ago. He is incapable of a shred of remorse.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

It's a very sad story because it's an unnecessary one. And this is what happens so often in domestic domestic violence cases. The victim could have been saved.

[Elaine Katz]

This is the home of the Pace Women's Justice Center. Twenty years ago we named it Gail's House to raise awareness of the pervasiveness of domestic violence. The first time Bob strangled my sister to unconscious we just.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

So young. Such potential.

[Elaine Katz]

I would like to believe that my sister's energy has been out there for 35 years, cheering me on. I feel my sister's spirit is here. It is warning others and inspiring others.

[Friend of Elaine/Gail]

Still to this day I think about her constantly. So young, such potential.

[Elaine Katz]

I would like to believe that my sister's energy has been out there for 35 years, cheering me on, motivating me, encouraging me, holding me up. The world's a lesser place for the loss of my sister. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault Friday nights at 9 on ABC. You can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance.

[Legal Expert/Commentator]

It's Brad Milkey, host of ABC's Daily News podcast.

[Elaine Katz]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

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[Elaine Katz]

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[Legal Expert/Commentator]

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[Elaine Katz]

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