Manhattan jurors were shown gruesome autopsy photos Tuesday of a wealthy businessman’s corpse at the murder trial of his wife and brother-in-law, who prosecutors say killed him — stabbing him dozens of times — in order to collect on his $1.2 million life insurance policy.
Roslyn Pilmar, 61, and her brother, Evan Wald, 45, stabbed and slashed Howard Pilmar at least 48 times in the hallway outside his office on East 33rd Street more than two decades ago, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Some of the images were so disturbing that one horrified juror looked away.
Medical Examiner Monica Smiddy testified that the assailants slashed Howard’s neck and cut his larynx so he couldn’t scream for help as they slaughtered him in March 1996.
They continued the brutal assault after his “heart stopped pumping,” the medical examiner said in Manhattan Supreme Court.
She added that Howard, 40, had been bashed in the knees and had sustained cuts on his hands as he “attempted to protect himself.”
The attack was so vicious that at least five of his wounds could have killed him, including a chest puncture that flooded his lungs with blood, Smiddy told jurors.
Pilmar and Ward showed no expression as they observed the gory images from the defense table. Although Pilmar and her brother were longtime suspects, they weren’t arrested until 2017 when new evidence came to light.
Howard founded the city’s first combination coffee bar and office supply store.




