“Why Are You Greasing the Stairs, Honey?”
Insurance expert Steven Weisbart provides some answers
At the moment toward the middle of a Forensic Files episode when Peter Thomas mentions the life insurance policy the suspected spouse took out on the deceased, I wonder…
Can your husband or wife just a) take out a policy on you without your knowledge or permission and then b) collect a six- or seven-figure jackpot after “accidentally” dropping a powered-on hair dryer into your bathwater?
The answers, according to Steven Weisbart, chief economist at the Insurance Information Institute in New York, are a) yes and b) yes, but it’s highly improbable.
Family affair. Your spouse doesn’t have to inform you about the policy, but “the law in every U.S. state says that the person taking out the life insurance policy must demonstrate an ‘insurable interest’ in the other person,” says Weisbart. “It means the person would suffer either a financial or personal loss if the other person dies.”
The insurable-interest conduit applies only to your spouse or other members of your immediate nuclear family, says Weisbart. So, that should prevent a greedy second cousin or double-crossing best friend from stealthily taking out a policy on you, injecting you with horse tranquilizer, and heading to Cabo San Lucas.
If your spouse — or parent or child — dreams up a similar plan, a policy’s high death-benefit may serve as a safeguard in the system. “If someone is applying for a $10 million policy on your life, the insurance company will want to know how healthy you are first,” Weisbart says. “So you’ll be aware of a policy because the insurance company will want to arrange a physical exam.”
Not so fast. Of course, a really elaborate murder-for-insurance-money scheme could mean finding an imposter to take the exam, as crooked undertaker E. Lee White did in his killing of handyman Frankie Pullian for a $980,000 payout back in 1980.
Even if your ill-intentioned spouse successfully takes that tack, however, your manner of death could trigger a police investigation and subsequent denial of an insurance payout.
Craig Rabinowitz, for example, tried to collect $1.5 million in insurance money after drowning his wife, Stefanie Rabinowitz, in a bathtub in 1997, but the coroner denied his request to have her buried by the next sundown — and uncovered enough evidence to compel Rabinowitz to confess to the crime.
Likewise, E. Lee White was caught because of suspicious circumstances surrounding Frankie Pullian’s death.
Killing for a pittance. So, what happens to all that insurance money once law enforcement has uncovered the wrongdoing? I always assumed companies alerted authorities to suspicious deaths in the hopes of avoiding payouts.
That’s not necessarily true, according to Weisbart. “The company could give the money to a court and let it decide who gets it,” he says. “It could end up going to your estate or to a different relative.”
Now, as at least one Forensic Files episode has pointed out, and Weisbart confirmed, if your spouse takes out a small enough policy, the insurance company will most likely pay off without any investigation. But that plan doesn’t always work. Vicki Gillette was murdered by her husband for just $27,000 in 1984, but he remarried 11 days later — raising suspicions and ultimately landing him in jail.
The takeaway? Marry and befriend people who watch Forensic Files — they will know better than to chase riches via an insurance policy and a homicide. — RR
Next: Former federal prosecutor Steve Parker discusses the Bruce brothers’ murder of Danny Vine and Della Thornton
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Extremely helpful advice in this article!
This site certainly has all of the info I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to
ask.
The Bible, God’s holy word, states that, “one who loves money their thirst for the same will not be satisfied. E. Lee White knows God CANNOT lie. Thus, he should have known he would be caught.
I love how you delve “behind the story” to bring us extra tidbits of (highly valuable) information. Btw, I just have to mention, you made me almost lol on the train when I read “… injecting you with horse tranquilizer, and heading to Cabo San Lucas.” Black humour — my favourite.
I wonder how many got away with it: not too large a sum, a plausible death, and played the long game, taking the policy out some years in advance…(a chilling thought). FF has featured quite a few murders-for-insurance by the desperate/greedy, but I suspect we can’t infer that it’s somewhat common. What proportion of convicted murderers, I wonder, were found to have been motivated by insurance…?
That makes me curious, too, Marcus. Do a lot of people try this — or is it just that it tends to big publicity when they (seldom) do.
RR: Coincidentally, this episode’s just be shown tonight in UK so I re-watched. One of the detectives on the case, featured in the show, says that it was after only five days of taking out the last of nine (yes, nine!) insurance policies (totalling $980,000) on the victim’s life, he died (was murdered), and it was this ‘greed’ that raised a flag, among others. He observes that if they’d waited longer to submit the claim they may have got away with it. Endorsement, perhaps, of our shared musing that not-too-much, not-too-soon and the crime may go undetected.
In this case, although there were nine policies of smaller sums, once the law looked at matter synoptically and established a sum of nearly $1m, when the victim earned $10,000/year, and the premiums were nearly half his annual pay, the game was up.
I interneted his boss’s name, one of the three convicted, and see that he was given an extra five years in prison for soliciting another to claim responsibility for the death (why would anyone agree to that???):
http://law.justia.com/cases/new-jersey/appellate-division-unpublished/2016/a0897-14.html
He’s due to be paroled in ’18-’19, which I find unacceptable. The murder for profit was found to be premeditated (the victim being employed to be groomed for murderous intention over a long period), and he was duly beaten about the head with something like a hammer. His boss, White, has never confessed who committed the murder — him, one of the two co-conspirators, or a third party — and he must know. He will have served 30 years — a long time, to be sure; but is that the price of someone’s life he chose and planned to murder for money? For me this was a heinous murder that sits at the top of the scale of egregiousness — one that unfits for parole.
Wow, I guess greed feeds on greed and then impatience sets in, too. It never occurred to me White might get out some day. Who knows what evil he’s been cogitating on during all his idle years.
Totally agree! Also, the additional (or amended?) policy taken out 5 days prior was for an accidental death that added $350,000 to the already $980,000!!! PURE GREED that $980,000 wasn’t enough. And did you see that his wife, who is still running the funeral home, is or was being investigated for fraud as she was double billing the families of deceased clients for burials that had already been paid for by the state or some type of aid?? She obviously should have done (and should do!) some jail time, too!!!
Agreed — she sounds just as guilty of the murder as the rest of them do.
Jen: I had read that revelation about the wife – and she did do some prison time for fraud, I think (though I don’t recall whether for the overcharging or another). When husbands are up to no good, as hers was (he’s now dead), and especially when that’s accompanied by the spoils of crime (not in this case per discovery), I’m suspicious of wives’ claims they knew nothing – particularly when they’ve evidently been spending this ‘extra’ money!
In this case the wife is a convicted liar, so it’s reasonable to speculate she knew of her murderous husband’s plan but there was lack of evidence of such. If she did it makes her about as bad as the actual perps – and if so she’ll answer to a far more dreadful authority than the NJ Superior Court…
Hehe!
I think that if an inmate has a life sentence without parole, he or she may agree to confess to a crime in exchange for money. I read that E. Lee White did offer money for someone to confess.
Also, he was denied parole (I think in 2016) and will have to wait 96 months before being considered again, due primarily to his lack of insight into his criminal behavior and the resulting inference that he poses a high risk of reoffending.
Hope he stays in prison or at the very least never hurts anyone again. Thanks much for writing in.
He was released in 2018 then died in May, 2019.
AP: Hello. “I think that if an inmate has a life sentence without parole, he or she may agree to confess to a crime in exchange for money. I read that E. Lee White did offer money for someone to confess.” Apparently he did. All very well getting money as a lifer… but you’ll never get to spend it! The money would have to be destined for a family member – but if discovered they’re liable for conviction for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, so on the principle that one might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb, the money would have to be of a sufficient sum to overcome this (unless the recipient is desperate, say for drug money).
He should never be released given the nature of the crime, his refusal to name names – and this matter. I’m content to see someone like him rot.
WELL HOW ABOUT THAT ROTTEN MAN IS DEAD. E LEE WHITE DIED MAY 22,2019 FROM HEART FAILURE. KARMA & FROM WHAT HIS DAUGHTER SAID “HE SUFFERED.” KILLING THAT MAN FOR $$.
This is the first update I’ve received about E. Lee White — many thanks for writing in.
According to the NJ Dept of Corrections, White was paroled Apr ’18, so has seemingly managed a year free before death, following c 33 years’ imprisonment and a few attempts at parole.
Having tried to ‘buy’ someone else to take the wrap for his crime, and refused to name his co-conspirators, he was lucky to get that one year. I suspect it was an ‘ill-health’ parole and he lasted longer than expected…
Mentioned elsewhere in this site, Michael Peterson’s – ‘the owl done it!’ – is a high-profile example of someone who allegedly tried murder-for-insurance, quite possibly twice. How the ‘homicidal owl’ could possibly be given credence I’m at a total loss…
But maybe they can be killers…:
What sweet owls — no homicidal maniacs in that roundup.
Rebecca: No, but maybe there’re the odd rogue owls who were raised with an absent father, abused, took drugs, carry weapons, scratch faces and push people down the stairs…
WELL HOW ABOUT THAT ROTTEN MAN IS DEAD. E LEE WHITE DIED MAY 22,2019 FROM HEART FAILURE. KARMA &a FROM WHAT HIS DAUGHTER SAID “HE SUFFERED.” KILLING THAT MAN FOR $$.
This article just confirms that your spouse or your business partner can take a life insurance on you whenever they feel like it. There might be an investigation as is almost always the case but given the number of murders for financial gain, it does not seem to be a deterrent.
Equally and oppositely, it could be a significant deterrent – there could be far more such crimes without the expectation of investigation (and discovery). Measuring ‘deterrence’ is notoriously elusive, and unamenable to anecdote about how things ‘seem.’ The dumb – who make stupid mistakes – and the arrogant – who think they’re too clever – will always be around, together with those who make a calculated risk, perhaps through desperation. Plenty of FF examples of these three categories (although the latter will tend to elide with the second).
And it may be the case that the more attempted scams there are over the years, the more insurers/police learn about this fraud and the more sophisticated they become detecting it…