The man suspected of strangling his beautiful money-manager wife appeared for an emergency Manhattan court hearing yesterday — after child protective workers were notified about an “incident’’ at his parents’ home, The Post has learned.
Murder suspect Rod Covlin has had custody of the kids he once shared with his slain wife Shele Danishefsky, but after court they were brought to his parents’ Westchester house — without him.
The Manhattan Supreme Court hearing had been called to deal with a request yesterday for an order of protection related to “bodily harm,” court records show.
Danishefsky, 47, was found dead Dec. 31, 2009, by their then-9-year-old daughter Anna in the bathtub of her W. 68th St. apartment — across the hall from her estranged husband’s residence. Danishefsky had been scheduled to meet with a lawyer to cut Covlin from her will the day after she died.
Buried without an autopsy because of her Orthodox Jewish faith, Danishefsky was exhumed months later after he family became suspicious— and an autopsy ruled she had been strangled.
Since then, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has been investigating backgammon whiz Covlin, for murder, even as he had custody of Anna — who would be the main witness against him in a criminal case — and her brother Myles.
Danishefsky’s family have tried to get custody of the kids in an ongoing Manhattan Supreme Court case.
In recent days, New Rochelle police said, “there was an incident related to” the home of Covlin’s parents — where he and the kids had also at one point lived.
Cops said the county’s Child Protective Services agency was contacted about that incident. A CPS spokeswoman declined to comment.
On the heels of the incident, Manhattan Judge Ellen Gesmer called a hearing to deal with the protective order request.
There were no public documents detailing who sought the order or on what grounds, and the hearing was closed to the public.
But afterward, Covlin and his parents left separately and minutes apart — in stark contrast to their normal practice of walking out together.
The parents, David and Carol, then returned to their home. Covlin did not follow.
A woman who told a reporter that she was “just a friend” dropped off Anna and Myles with Covlin’s parents several hours later.
Both the parents and Covlin refused to comment after court, as did Marilyn Chinitz, the lawyer for Danishefsky’s family. There is a gag order on all parties in the case.
Covlin’s criminal lawyer, Robert Gottlieb — who has denied that Covlin killed Danishefsky — said only, “I’m not involved in those proceedings.”
Additional reporting by Kevin Fasick