MANHATTAN — Scientific advances and a fresh look at evidence may finally crack the unsolved 1982 murder of a Manhattan millionaire’s wife in their Murray Hill townhouse, according to the city's former top forensic scientist and investigators who probed the case back then.
They believe new forensic techniques unavailable 33 years ago could determine whether the killer left behind DNA, either through blood from a scratch caused by Gail Mark fighting for her life or by leaving skin cells on the knife used in the murder.
READ DNAINFO'S COVERAGE OF THE GAIL MARK MURDER
► My Millionaire Brother Is Responsible For His Wife's Murder, Sister Says
The NYPD and Manhattan District Attorney's office re-opened the Gail Mark murder case after DNAinfo New York exclusively reported earlier this month that the sister of her husband, Franklin Mark, claimed in court papers that their family suspected he was responsible for Gail's death.
“I definitely believe another look could make the difference,” said Dr. Robert Shaler, who was director of the city’s Medical Examiner’s serology lab in 1982 and is now one of the nation’s leading experts on blood analysis and DNA testing.
THE MURDER SCENE
Shaler recalled that the Marks' blood-splattered East 28th Street duplex was one of the first crime scenes he had responded to early in his career.
He immediately noticed that blood running down Gail’s leg had made a sharp U-turn, indicating that she had been violently moved.
In fact, there was a 4-foot wide pool of blood on the Marks' king-sized bed, but her body was lying face up on the floor at the foot of the bed. A cord around her neck was likely used to drag her to that spot, he and other investigators believed.
Nearby was a bloody kitchen knife with a 10-inch blade that was bent into a U-shape. Shaler and NYPD detectives theorized that the knife stuck a bone with such force that it bent the blade.
Shaler and the NYPD removed a bloody swatch of carpet from beneath Gail’s body, both to determine if anyone else's blood was mixed in with hers and to pinpoint when the stabbing occurred.
Based on how dry the blood was, Shaler calculated that the stabbing occurred well before Franklin Mark said he left his home at 6 a.m. the morning of Dec. 30, 1982. But more tests were needed to be absolutely conclusive.
“What I found is blood dries on the surface, but depending on the thickness of the rug it could still be wet underneath,” Shaler recalled. “It certainly had taken place long before I got there. It could be 10 hours, up to 24 hours. But we did not do enough tests to determine the exact” time of the murder.
The rug, as well as an "E.T" Halloween mask that the couple's then 3-year-old daughter said was worn by the killer, would later go missing from the NYPD's Property Clerk’s office.
'ATROCIOUS' EVIDENCE HANDLING
“Evidence handling in those days was atrocious,” Shaler said, recalling how he was horrified when he began working at the Medical Examiner's office and found evidence in murder cases routinely thrown “in black garbage bags” and tossed into storage rooms.
But Shaler and other police officials believe the missing evidence might turn up if investigators search hard enough for it.
Even if it is never found, Shaler believes the NYPD and the DA should enlist the “best forensic minds” in the country to analyze the evidence and to “recreate” anything they need, including bringing in forensic experts from the Secret Service or U.S. military labs.
“You can recreate the rug examinations using similar rugs taking into account the air, temperature and humidity of the apartment at the time,” Shaler said. “It is not impossible at all.”
And DNA testing today could turn up valuable evidence on the knife.
“DNA is pretty stable once it has dried,” Shaler said. “Skin cells come off in large volume when someone grabs a knife really hard compared to someone chopping celery.”
Daniel Bibb, a former prosecutor who worked on a 2000 re-investigation of the case, also said the third time may be the charm.
"They definitely should do it because there are still things that can be learned," he said.
Investigators say that the loss of the E.T. mask is likely not as important as the missing rug because they would expect to find Franklin’s DNA on the mask even if he were not a suspect in the killing.
CHECKING OLD SOURCES
In addition to the forensics, the NYPD will be re-interviewing people who knew Gail and Franklin Mark, hoping to find someone who remembers something that could help crack the 33-year-old homicide.
Franklin Mark, meanwhile, has always denied any wrongdoing in the case.
He has remarried, had two more children with his second wife and his daughter Dawn, now 36 and married, has become an attorney and an administrative law judge handling city Department of Labor cases.
They have declined to discuss Gail’s murder or a lawsuit filed by Franklin’s sisters challenging how they were cut out of their parent’s $20 million estate.
Despite circumstantial evidence suggesting Franklin Mark killed his wife, there were no eyewitnesses or incriminating statements or the kind of scientific evidence needed to enhance the case.
Crushed with nearly 2,000 murders a year back in 1982, the Manhattan DA’s office did not believe it had enough evidence to charge Mark.
“We did not have fingerprints tying anyone to the murder, there were no (incriminating) statements or any eyewitnesses,” said a former prosecutor who originally worked on the case, requesting anonymity.
They turned their attention to the myriad other murders that they felt they could bring to trial — and the Gail Mark case went cold.
