In 2002, Paul and Catherine had a daughter, and four years later, a son. They moved upstate, and Paul said he couldn’t make as much money up there but it was fine, he’d stay in the city for work and spend two days a week up in Narrowsburg.
“He would tell her, ‘I picked up extra hours, I’ll be at my mom’s’ — and then he’d swing by his mom’s so she’d see him,” says a confidant. “Everyone knew what was going on” — except Catherine, who refused to see it. “She loved him,” says the friend. “Oh, she loved him.”
“It was all about him, all the time,” says another friend. Paul had his own buddies — other EMTs, big, burly guys who were just like him — and had no interest in getting to know Catherine’s friends, or in socializing with other couples. He’d spend what little money they had on himself, buying the latest gadgets and splurging on a flat-screen TV, all while insulation was peeling off the walls.
Amy H. Schoen
JILTED: Michelle La France, now in Florida, will testify against ex-beau EMT Paul Novak.
Photo by Robert Stridiron
Paul Novak
HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE: Catherine Novak perished in this house fire in upstate Narrowsburg in December 2008, leaving behind few clues.
Catherine presented herself as capable and together — yet as co-workers and fellow churchgoers came to know her better, they began to see the wife whose husband didn’t really live with her, stuck in disrepair on a back-country road while Paul partied in the city. She always defended him.
Catherine’s friends recall her as ecstatic in early 2007. Paul wanted to renew their wedding vows, she said — it was such a big deal to him and he was so excited. They wanted to believe her, but they all thought Paul was doing it to placate her.
It was like that morning when she came into work — she’d gotten a job at the local summer camp — and announced Paul had just taken out a life-insurance policy on her. It was weird, she admitted — but she did what she always did, warping it into proof of what a good family man Paul was.
Within a few weeks of the vow renewal, Paul told Catherine he didn’t love her anymore, and on those rare nights he returned home, he’d sleep in the guest bedroom. A confidant says she begged him to go to marriage counseling, and he agreed, going twice before telling her, “This isn’t working — I quit.”
One night, at 4 a.m., the phone rang three times, and Catherine picked it up to hear the slurry female voice on the other line. Now she knew. Paul told Catherine it was all her fault, and the affair had been going on for only a few weeks anyway. “It was the semi-classic thing of the husband cheating and saying to his wife, ‘You’re no good,’ so he could justify it,” says another confidant.
Within a week, Catherine had kicked him out, and Paul went to live with his girlfriend, Michelle La France, whom he’d met in 2007 when he was training Michelle to be an EMT. Catherine was devastated, anxious all the time, and one of her friends asked her if she was afraid of Paul. “She made a comment that she was more afraid of the girlfriend.”
On the last day of Catherine’s life, after Paul and Michelle picked up the kids, she was so distraught that she went to visit her church group; she remained so upset that friends took her home.
At 6 a.m. on Dec. 13, a neighbor sat on his front porch, up and across the street, enjoying his cup of coffee and watching what he thought was the sunrise. He realized, a few minutes later, that it was an enormous fire, and ran toward it, even as he found there was nothing he could do.
Paul didn’t attend Catherine’s funeral. Instead, he dropped the kids off at the service and picked them up, and he did the same at the gravesite, walking them up to their mother’s coffin and leaving them with Catherine’s family, making them all come looking for him when it was over.
Amy H. Schoen
JILTED: Michelle La France, now in Florida, will testify against ex-beau EMT Paul Novak.
Photo by Robert Stridiron
Paul Novak
HORRIBLE WAY TO DIE: Catherine Novak perished in this house fire in upstate Narrowsburg in December 2008, leaving behind few clues.
Not long after, Paul and Michelle had their brand-new life in Florida, happily playing house.
The Narrowsburg fire was written off as an accident — until one fateful night in 2012, when, at a wedding on her own, Michelle had a feeling. She called Paul. “Are you seeing someone else?”
“Yes,” he said.
“I want you out,” she said.
In September of last year, Michelle La France called Sullivan County police, and suddenly the long-dormant case came alive. Michelle said Novak confessed to her that he’d killed his wife and that their friend and fellow EMT Scott Sherwood helped him do it. Paul and Scott had worked as partners for many years as state-certified EMTs out of Jamaica Hospital, responding to 911 calls just as FDNY medics would.
On Sept. 27, cops picked up Scott, and he confessed to everything. His detailed account — which he has since recanted — was found in court documents obtained by The Post.
Scott told police that on the night Catherine died, he drove to Paul and Michelle’s house in Glen Cove, LI, for the express purpose of driving Paul upstate so he could kill Catherine. The two men left their cellphones in the house so they couldn’t be traced, and Paul said he’d been mixing up chloroform to make Catherine pass out. On the way, they stopped at a Walmart in Middletown so Paul could buy a plastic bag and probably duct tape and rope.
Scott asked Paul why he was murdering his wife, and, according to the confession, Scott said it was “so he wouldn’t end up like me,” broke and divorced and forced to “work 80 hours a week and be miserable.”
When they got within a mile of the house, Scott said, Paul had him roll the car into a wooded area. Scott said he waited in the car while Paul walked up toward the house, returning an hour later, wearing scrubs and plastic booties on his feet.
“Paul told me in the car that he went into the basement of the house and disconnected something to make Catherine come down to the basement,” Scott confessed. “He then attempted to make her pass out with the chloroform, but she resisted. He stated that he had to strangle her when it didn’t work. Paul said that Catherine passed out and then he set the house on fire by breaking a gas line. Paul stated that Catherine asked him why he was doing this, and he said that he told her it was for the kids.”
Michelle La France, the woman who made Catherine’s life so miserable, is now the star witness for the prosecution. She declined to comment for this story, though when asked if she was aware the defense is planning to paint her as an unstable nymphomaniac, smiled and said, “I know exactly what they’re trying to do.”
Scott Sherwood and Paul Novak are now represented by a father-son legal team. “I’d like to know who’s paying for Scott’s attorney,” says one of Catherine’s friends.
Scott and Paul are awaiting trial, slated to begin in July, in Sullivan County jail. Paul has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, grand larceny, insurance fraud and arson; Scott with second-degree murder.
Sources for Paul Novak’s defense say they are not concerned. There is no physical evidence of strangulation. They also maintain that there is no way their client could have committed the crime in the time frame laid out by the prosecution. It’s a three- to four-hour drive from Glen Cove to Narrowsburg. The prosecution’s star witness, they say, is nothing more than a woman scorned, and she has enough erratic behavior in her past to discredit her. “They were in the process of amicably resolving their divorce,” says the source. Catherine “didn’t give a s--t that he was living with his girlfriend.”
For a time, Paul and Catherine’s children were living with Paul’s current girlfriend, Kathleen Del Grasso, and are now in the custody of Paul’s mother. Del Grasso maintains Novak’s innocence.
All that remains of Catherine Novak’s home is the red-and-white two-car garage, quaint and barn-like, and a squat brown shed, propped nearly closed by a heavy stone. Wild grass grows where the house once stood.
“Her life goal was to have a home and a family,” says an intimate. “That was part of her fascination with Paul.”
51 comments:
At first glance,i wouldn't like to make a judgement just yet.For me there isn't enough direct qoutes from all of them.........
I respect your hesitation John, but I don't mind saying right off the top: He killed her, burned her alive. Likely, she wasn't completed dead after he choked her. Maybe even conned her into sex prior to choking her.
The lawyer is inconsistent in his statements. Also, the lawyer does not detail when Scott and hubby left for their four-hour trip to the home. There will be video and/or receipts for the purchases made along the way. Laywer ignores this vital evidence.
There was plenty of time for Scott and hubby to drive up to the house, stop along the way to make the purchases and for hubby to walk the mile from where Scott parked the car, and do his evil deed. A whole hour from the time he got out of the car, walked the distance and back to the car. Actually, one would wonder what took him so long?
Scott would have steadfastly denied any involvement and would not have given up and implicated himself had he not been involved. Why would he? So he could sit in the big house for the next umpteen years? The ex g/f Michelle also knows what happened or certainly enough of it. Scumbag tho she is, I don't believe her story is all related to 'a woman scorned.' My assessment: Guilty as charged! Observer
"completed dead" = completely dead. Sorry. Observer
To answer the question: NOOO... the EMT did NOT get away with the perfect crime; but only because the dumped ex-g/f Michelle decided to talk.
I guess she decided "I'll show YOU a thing or two, b'stard", but it's a good thing she did or she might have found herself next in line to meet an untimely gruesome death since she KNEW what he had done and he KNEW she knew. Observer
This husband would not be the first to plan the perfect murder of his wife because he didn't want to spend
HIS money on a divorce and child support payments.
It took a lot of years to get preacher Mike Baker to trial for the murder of his wife. His girlfriend was his undoing.
I thought that it was interesting that the girlfriend asked Mike Baker, "How do I know that you won't do the same thing to me?"
Mike's response was, "I will be so happy that I won't have to do that to you."
She did not believe him.
This husband would not be the first to use his girlfriend as his validation for his alibi, then have her come forward with the truth.
OT..
Max Clifford Denies Indecent Assault Charges..
The 70-year-old, famed for representing a number of celebrities, pleads not guilty in court, after vowing to clear his name.
PR guru Max Clifford has pleaded not guilty to 11 historical charges of indecent assault against teenage girls.
The 70-year-old made a brief appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused of offences linked to seven girls.
The offences allegedly took place between 1966 and 1985 when the girls were aged between 14 and 19.
Clifford - famed for representing celebrities including Simon Cowell and Jade Goody - has previously vowed to clear his name and labelled the allegations against him as "a load of nonsense".
Speaking outside court, he said: "I'm TOTALLY INNOCENT of THESE allegations and the nightmare continues.
TOTALLY INNOCENT= (This is NOT a reliable denial)
(Reliable denial)
I = First person singular.
Did not/didn't = Past tense.
Indecently assault, xyz = The allegation specifically addressed.
"THESE allegations"
THIS/THESE = Closeness.
THOSE/THEM/THAT/ = Distancing.
So,why is he putting himself close to the allegations.? If anything he should distance himself from them if he claims they are untrue.
"All I know is up until the Jimmy Savile situation, no one ever said anything about me at all."
For me this is the most revealing..
"All I know is up until the Jimmy Savile situation no one ever said anything about me at all."
Why cant he bring himself to say what the Jimmy Saville situation is?
The now deceased Jimmy Saville is being accused of hundreds of indecent assaults on minor's,and teenage girls..
Is he saying,he would have never been accused of the allegations if the Jimmy Saville allegations did not come out in the open.In other words he was getting away with up until NOW.??
"This is a nightmare for myself and my family and has been since December when I was arrested in a very public way.
"What I've got to do now is to prove that these allegations are totally without foundation, which I know they are."
Clifford, from Hersham, Surrey, was charged in April, having been arrested in December as part of Operation Yewtree, the national police inquiry sparked by allegations of abuse against Savile.
He has been released on bail on June 12, when he is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court.
He must live at his Surrey home and is not allowed to contact prosecution witnesses.
http://news.sky.com/story/1096307/max-clifford-denies-indecent-assault-charges
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!
Michelle kept quiet all these years and only spoke up for personal revenge. She cares nothing for Catherine and her family. Most likely she knew about the murder during the planning stages, my opinion is she deserves a custodial sentence too and should also be on trial.
Catherine asked her husband 'why are you doing this?' while he was murdering her. That is so sad.
OT
Max Clifford.
He seems amazed that only Sir Jimmy Saville managed to keep the abuse claims under-wraps and out of the media!
S&K mum-
I would think Michelle is coming forward now for her own safety. He knows she knows. Paul already murdered one woman for personal gain, she probably thinks she is next.
These girlfriends to me are evil along with the men. When you know something like this and you stay, you may not be pulling the trigger or in this case, lighting the match, but your guilty to in my mind.
Someone mentinoed the Baker case where there was another woman. I just watched the 48 hours on that recently and was amazed how relaxed the girlfriend was at the time it happened.
I dont care how much I love someone, they murder someone, that love will turn to fear and I am not only out, but turning them in!
To sit by why someone murders someone, unless you are truly at risk of your own life or your childs, you are just as guilty.
And if anyone needs proof as the new woman, that they will be next, just take a look at Drew Peterson. That man never would have stopped.
Doesn't stay for the funeral or the grave site? And he's innocent, right? PLEASE! Guilty are charged. Fry the bastard!!!!!!!!!!
OT..
More on Max Clifford.
"Its just a question of facing up to it you know,and eer,as long as the truth comes out,then everything will work out the way i want it to. Erm i now have to do everything i can through the court process,to make sure that nothing but the truth comes out.And then hopefully get on with my life,erm mmm,when the nightmare comes to an end".
http://news.sky.com/story/1096307/max-clifford-denies-indecent-assault-charges
Reading this article, I am struck by how cold and calculating the 3 of the gang are. The g/f came forward for revenge. The friend that helped the husband immediately spilled the beans in an effort to save his own butt. And the husband dropping his children off for their mother's services, is a disgusting piece of human flesh. He couldn't even offer his own children support at the worst time of their lives? I can only imagine how he treats them in their day to day life.
I agree the g/f should be charged with obstruction of justice or something! She is not innocent.
In the Mike Baker murder case, the girlfriend said that it was her word against a Preacher's word, so she would not be believed.
As it turned out, the cunning murderer preacher, was prosecuted only after the evidence was documented BEFORE the girlfriend told the truth.
The girlfriend's testimony concurred with the evidence.
Could this woman have saved the life of Kari Baker?
We will never know because the code of silence that she adhered to was self protective.
She did not want to be publicly scorned, called a liar and be labeled a home wrecker, for trying to soil the reputation of a respected minister before he had committed a crime.
ALL of these women who get involved with these married men and take their part in breaking up the marriage of another woman, including destroying the lives of the children involved; are nothing more than nasty little b'tches who don't care for anyone but themselves and their lover. They too are cold and calculating. And stupid.
I'm sorry to say, realizing that Stacey Peterson was nothing more than a teenager at the time, but she too had publically taunted Kathlene and knew Drew had killed her. Sorry she met with the same foul play but she HAD to know this was a possibility. Sure she eventually got scared, but who wouldn't, knowing their significant other had killed his former wife! OF COURSE they could be next. Dang. 'Dumb a$$' doesn't get much dumber than this.
Amber Frye was the only one that didn't know Scott Peterson was married and living with his pregnant wife, not until she saw it on tv. She must have been scared out of her mind that she would be implicated. I know I would have been. Observer
Max Clifford,OT..
"Its just a question of facing up to IT you know"
Is this an embedded admission?
What is "IT" he talks about?.
Here again he can not bring himself to say the words"Indecent assault".If he cant say we cant say it for him
",as long as the truth comes out,"
The truth will come out,it may not be the truth he wants to hear.
It's too bad there are no statements to analyze in this article, other than the friends'. Their statements seem honest and genuine.
Michelle's pants are classy (says 'gum in yoga pants and a dirty tee..) I am in the barn though, and my pants are tied..lol
OT..
Check out the Body language between Billie Dunn,David and Clint in these pictures from Haileys memorial.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=654377034579409&set=a.654376721246107.1073741825.210253018991815&type=1&theater
Lis, there were statements; the inconsistent statements of the conniving defense atty. Observer
John, unable to open link using the one you provided. Can you shorten it or provide a different link? T/Y! Observer
Hi Observer,
I dont know how to shorten the link.If you go to.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hailey-Dunn-Updates-Discussion/210253018991815
Scroll down,there is a no 9 on the right hand side with a star in it,its opposite that..
If I were Michelle and set to testify against Paul Novak, I would be shaking in my boots. I would be afraid he would try to eliminate me before I could testify.
Regarding the Baker case - It's MATT Baker ( the preacher who killed his wife Kari )
The girlfriend who testified is Vanessa (Bulls)
I don't mean this as criticism, it is just helpful to get names right wherever possible.
This is Amanda Bynes' statement regarding her arrest:
"I am allergic to marijuana and alcohol but I smoke tobacco. Why does Rihanna smoke weed and not get in trouble for it but I smoke tobacco and people think I'm on drugs?
I refuse to be treated like someone I'm not, which is why I fought for myself and am suing everyone involved.
I don't need to go to rehab. There is never a drug or alcohol in my system! I'm sick of all the lies!
What would you do if someone accused you of things you didn't do and yet you still had to be in jail at all over it!
I'm so offended but I am so educated that I know cops cannot illegally enter my apartment, sexually harass me, arrest me, take me to a MENTAL HOSPITAL, then lock me up for a crime I didn't commit.
I'm suing them all for this upsetting nightmare. My lawyer knows I'm a model citizen who doesn't partake in drugs. He's going to court this week to set the record straight again on my behalf.
Thankfully I'm an educated multi-millionaire who knows better than to speak to perverted unjust cops without my lawyer."
My dil uses a hooka she brought home from Marakesh. She is European. It's more common there, but becoming so here for tobacco as well.
I feel strongly that is not what was going on here.
dadgum said...
Michelle's pants are classy (says 'gum in yoga pants and a dirty tee..) I am in the barn though, and my pants are tied..lol
~Breaks into song~
'Gum barn yard m'lord, 'Gum barn yard
heheh
How does she know she is allergic to marijuana unless she smoked it and had a reaction?
Police said she invited them in her aprtmentit is interesting she brings up rhianna smoking weed and not getting caught.
Had someone called the cops at the time then it is likely she would have been arrested, as it stands they can't prosecute her for smoking weed from a pic as her attorney simply has to say prove it was weed and not tobacco.
I wonder if the bong was intact enough to get prints and/or DNA from, DNA on the mouthpiece cannot be explained away as accidental contact.
She speaks a lot yet does not make a reliable denial.
if she can't do it , we can't do it for her
I'd just like to say, I love, love, love roosters!
The thought this man sounds like someone I know is frightening.
@ Deejay
Yeah I agree, I am sure she will be worried because she knows what he is capable of and he may have wanted to silence her because of what she knows.
She seems confident though, her comment about knowing what the defense is up to. Smiling about them going to paint her as a nympho etc, I think she will enjoy making this guy suffer....which sends chills to me, because really it should be about justice for the murdered mother not about revenge of a lover.
Having said that, it ends with justice hopefully for the victim.
John, I see David's protective arm around Billie and a buddy arm on Clint. Who is the adult in that picture.
I don't know what to make of the smiles in front of Hailey's picture. It looks more like an everyday family picture than one taken at a memorial.
Is David happy that his family is together?
Are they aware that their picture is being taken or did they get caught in a moment reacting to something else?
What is your take?
Clint looks smug and David looks happy to me. Billy looks sad.
I'm not saying any of this is right. I'm just giving my reactions as if I had never heard of any of them before.
Youre 100% right 'gum...only as a nyc tax payer, if the authorities spend their time and money on this stoner tart i will go apeshit ..:)
My apologies!! Hobs..not gum..:)
**Pulls on a nice hookah.;)
OT
Some great statement analysis in this article about Toronto mayor Rob Ford-
http://gawker.com/toronto-mayor-rob-ford-says-he-no-longer-smokes-crack-c-509772466
Observer, I didn't see any direct quotes from the defense attorney, the quotes are reworded by the author of the article. There is a quote from "a source" claiming they were working out their differences (yeah, right).
Recently I was reading a blog entry by writer Michelle Drier that so aptly and humorously illustrated the Statement Analysis precept of a reliable denial or lack thereof.
She said, "I spent about twenty years, on and off, in newspaper newsrooms around California. I didn’t cover the police beat, but I assigned the reporters who did, and I edited their stories. And what stories."
"One of my favorites: My police reporter covered an arraignment. The bad guy pled guilty. She wrote a brief. Then I watched her on the phone, getting agitated. When she hung up she said it was the bad guy, yelling at her for saying he pled guilty. Why? Because, he said, “I told you I was innocent!”
Please help find Ayla
If marbles are the memories, then ribbons are SCAN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbTN5mRTdFw&list=PL325520A759459A4F
Michelle is pathetic, she is only coming forward for revenge. She obviously didn't care about this man's children or else she would have told police this story right away. What type of woman would knowingly live with a murderer? Didn't she ever fear for those children, that they'd be next on his hit list? (That's if he actually did murder his wife. At this point it's not clear.)
I tried pot during high school and quickly realized I am allergic to it. (oh, and PS I inhaled.) Anyway, medicinal marijuana has it's place for people who are not allergic and need it for medical purposes.
There are two people who told the same story to LE about Catherine's death.
Enter the legal defense team.
Now we have a not so smart police dept. and a DA versus the high priced lawyers.
I know who is going to make the most money from this case.
What we don't know is: Do they have the purchases at WalMart on tape? or other evidence?
Paul's behavior during the funeral is not what is expected from an innocent husband and father.
So many wives and mothers who die before the divorce is final because they married cruel men who only see them as cash cows after buying insurance against their lives.
"What type of a woman would knowingly live with a murder?"
The type that is obsessed with the killer, in denial, and abuses drugs and/or alcohol.
How long after Paul's arrest did it take for his 'family' to start panhandling for cash donations? Ten minutes? An hour?
http://www.freepaulnovak.com/paul-novak-arrested-september-27-2012.php
It's Paul's buddy. Otto Strunk, who operates that begging website to panhandle off sympathy for Paul's children. How much has he pocketed off this tragedy?
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/free-paul-novak?website_name=freepaulnovak
After they are older, most kids figure it out. I've read OJs kids know he killed their mom.
Scott already confessed his part so I'm a little puzzled about the father-son defense team representing both him and Paul.
I don't have a lot of respect for
Michelle either for the reasons already stated. But it sounds like her testimony is very important to this case - it was she who broke it for them, at least pointing them to the other defendant whose confession was crucial. So regardless of her motive I doubt she'll be charged with much, if anything. She probably made she of it before she said anything.
Ummm that should have been "She probably made SURE of it before she said anything."
Two days after Caylee was found in 2008? This reeks of Paul getting ideas from the Anthony case..
“left their cellphones in the house so they couldn't be traced, and Paul said he’d been mixing up chloroform to make Catherine pass out.”
No, this dude didn't commit the perfect crime, because he was stupid enough to involve a chatter box friend, And tell his vindictive girlfriend. Face it, this is a woman scorned, nothing more, or she wouldn't have waited for him to cheat on her before snitching. But, at least the truth has been told.
I don't believe he killed her at all. I think his ex was vindictive and bitter. This guy got railroaded!!!
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