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Welcome to Postmortem. [music] I'm CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith filling in as host and today we're discussing
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the death of 67year-old Violet Jacobe. On October 10th, 2017, Violet was found dead in her Beverly Hills home. and
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responding officers initially suspected it might be a suicide, but when the autopsy report determined she died from
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asphixxia due to neck compression or strangulation, her case turned into a homicide investigation. Joining me today
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is 48 hours correspondent Aaron Morardi, who reported on this case. It's always great to talk with you, Aaron, and I'm
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excited to get your take on this. >> Well, this is actually a case from your part of the country. Um, and as you know
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well, there aren't a lot of murders in Beverly Hills. The investigators assigned to this case actually had more
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experience investigating robberies and home invasions than homicides. But as it turned out, that experience gave them
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the skills they needed to crack this case. So, it's a very interesting one. I definitely want to dig into it. Uh, but
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first, a reminder to everyone. If you haven't watched or listened to this episode, Beverly Hills 911, go check it
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out now and then come back for our conversation. All right, let's get into it. On the evening of October 10th,
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2017, Violet's son, Daniel and daughter, Dena, arrived at their mother's home in
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Beverly Hills, California, they discovered Violet on the floor of her entryway beneath a large curving
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staircase. And Daniel called 911. Let's take a listen to some portions of that 911 call.
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Um, yeah, we're doing CPR. >> You're doing CPR right now? >> Yeah. >> Do you need me to walk you through it or
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does somebody know it? >> No, we're both doctors. >> You're both doctors. Okay. We have
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>> Never mind. >> Okay. But you know CPR? >> Yes. >> Okay. How long ago did you like last see
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her? Like how long has she been like that? Do you know? >> No, I have no >> Okay. Are you You're saying she's cold
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to Would you touch her? Yes. >> Okay. Our units are going there as fast as they can. Okay. Hold on one second.
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Let me just get the paramedics going. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Who's doing CPR? >> My sister.
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>> Your sister's doing CPR. Okay. >> That was so good to start with that because this is really important because
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as you can hear, Daniel tells the operator that his sister was performing CPR. But then later that day, it's it's
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odd, he told detectives that he did CPR, too. He said he did the compressions. Then when detectives talked to Dena, his
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sister, she said, "No, she was the one who did CPR." And why does that matter? Because to investigators,
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why from the very beginning is he changing his story? And they wondered if Daniel wanted to provide an explanation
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if in fact his DNA was found on his mother. On the other hand, Daniel was very willing to talk to detectives on
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the very day that they found Violet dead, and he told them why he and his sister had gone over. According to
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Daniel, his uncle had called him that day, asking if he had heard from his mother. His uncle said he hadn't heard
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from her all day, which Daniel and just about everybody else said was unusual. Daniel said then he called his sister,
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Dena, and here's an important issue. He says they arrived at their mother's house at the very same time. He said
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finding their mother was like a blur, which makes sense, but he says he remembered doing CPR right away and then
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his sister doing CPR. What was interesting is although first responders wondered if it was a suicide,
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Daniel actually told investigators that he saw bruising and maybe Violet had been strangled.
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>> Wow. But initially, investigators believed Violet's death might have been a suicide. Why is that?
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>> Well, Tracy, this is what is called an unattended death, that this uh widow is
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found alone on on the floor of her home. When Beverly Hills police detective Mark
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Schwarz first got any information, he said he was told that Violet was depressed and maybe fell over the
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railing of the staircase. It was true that she had just marked the one-year anniversary of her husband's death. Her
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dog had died. She had also cancelled her cleaning lady. All those things make you
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think that maybe she didn't want anyone to be around her on that day. And then there was another early thought. Violet
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was part of a close-knit Jewish community where suicide can be considered shameful and taboo. Detective
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Schwarz is also Jewish. So, he brought up the possibility that Violet had taken her life and that her kids covered it
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up. >> And as investigators dug deeper, what else did they learn about the Yakobe
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family? >> Well, from the outside, the Yakobe family seemed to be very close and they
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also appeared to be living the American dream. Violet lived in a multi-million dollar house in Beverly Hills and Daniel
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was living nearby with his wife and new baby. Um, Violet and her husband were immigrants. Her husband had been a
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successful doctor. Daniel also appeared to be very successful. He pursued a medical profession as a dentist and Dena
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worked in physical therapy. >> You know, it sounds like they're living the American dream. Murders don't happen
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very often in Beverly Hills. So, how did investigators begin to suspect foul play?
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>> Well, Tracy, that's where that background in burglaries comes in, because these guys don't investigate a
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lot of homicides, but they do do burglaries. Detective George Elwell was one of the first detectives at the crime
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scene the night that Violet's body was found. Um, and as he told us, he noticed dust still covered much of the staircase
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railing, and he didn't think that anything, including Violet, could have gone over the railing without disturbing
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that desk. Uh, Detective Elwell also said that when he looked down from the top of the railing, he couldn't see
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Violet's feet because they were under the staircase. He said he wasn't an expert in physics, but he said he didn't
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believe that her body could end up under the staircase from a fall that she would
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have ended up further out. There was also no rope or obvious weapon beside her, which is why Mark Schwarz wondered
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if she had taken her life if the kids had hidden it. And both detectives also felt that Daniel was acting peculiar
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when they met him. Detective Schwarz said he had a nervous energy. That's how he described it and seemed too eager to
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help with the investigation. But we still should note here, and I think you know this too, Tracy, that
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it's really hard to judge Daniel's behavior in his initial police interviews or even on the 911 call
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because if in fact he's telling the truth, he had just found his mother the bottom of the staircase. And you never
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know how a grieving person is going to behave. >> Yeah. And we've talked about this
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before. I mean, this is a stressful situation. So, just because somebody's acting strangely doesn't necessarily
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mean they're guilty. All right. So, on October 13th, nearly 3 days after Violet's body was found, the deputy
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medical examiner completed the autopsy and determined that Violet's official cause of death was esphixia by neck
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compression. With the case now being investigated as a homicide, Detective Schwarz and Elwell asked Daniel to come
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back for another interview and they asked point blank if he killed Violet. What do he say? I mean, he clearly
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became a person of interest early on but denied killing his mother. In fact, he told detectives that he and his mother
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were close. He said he sent her baby photos all the time. But then when detectives look at his phone, actually
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the last photo that he texted his mother was his bank account. >> Yeah, that was an incriminating moment.
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This isn't in the hour, but when police questioned him about his finances and business plans, Daniel mentions a
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business venture called Dental Dan in a Can that he was trying to launch with a neighbor, Dean Summers, who was a
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brother of that neighbor, described this venture as a subscriptionbased business
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for dental products. Let's take a listen to some portions of Daniel's police interview. It's fascinating with the
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detectives asking him about his finances. >> You're starting a new business, right?
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>> Well, I I'm starting a few businesses and I'm >> How's that going? >> Good. >> How's that going financially?
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>> It's obviously hard. Always starting a new business. Dental Dan when I can is
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tough. It's It took a lot out of me. >> Did you ask for her for any money? Oh >> yeah.
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>> When? >> Like like just few months back. >> And you have the money for all these
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businesses? >> Well, I mean it's No, I don't. Okay. >> But I'm It's a work in progress.
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>> Who gets the house? I do. >> Is it paid off? >> Yes. >> How much is that house worth?
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>> A lot. >> So now I'm the number one suspect. >> It's not about number one suspects. It's
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the fact that again I'm still trying to figure out what happened >> and I and I don't and I don't think
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you're being forthcoming. >> So many things here. Uh, dental Dan in a can has a certain ring to it. But it's
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interesting how when they start asking about finances, he immediately goes, "Oh, I'm the number one suspect." Um,
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what did you find out about his dental practice and Daniel's finances? >> This is what we know. He very briefly
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owned his own practice, but at this point was working for other dentists in their offices. He was planning on buying
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a practice in Englewood with a partner and as far as we know was in the process of securing a million dollar loan. So on
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the face of it, that doesn't sound like a person in serious financial straits. >> But at trial, Daniel's ex-wife later
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testified that she recalled witnessing an argument between Daniel and his mother about money about a month or two
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before Violet died. And that was the same time frame that Daniel was trying to purchase the new practice. And
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Daniel's uncle, who is Violet's brother, also testified that Violet said she would not give Daniel the money because
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she knew he was going to get a loan. So that seemed to contradict what he had told detectives.
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>> Investigators believed that Violet likely died 24 hours before Daniel's 911 call on October 10th. So, detectives
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Schwarz and Elwell questioned him about his whereabouts on October 9th. And Daniel said he'd been at his dental
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office all day and then drove straight home, but he couldn't give a clear account of his route, which as someone
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living in Southern California raises suspicions for me because we all know our routes. I would think so. And if you
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listen to the whole police interview, sadly, it's almost comical how convoluted his description of his route
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home is. I mean, I did think like [music] maybe if you changed it every day, maybe you'd be confused, but
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detectives believed that he was lying. But they couldn't quite prove he was. Not yet.
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The week after Violet Yakob's body was discovered, detectives [music] obtained Daniel Yakob's cell phone records, and
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the data showed he was not in Englewood at all that day of Violet's death, but he was in Beverly Hills. And not only
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that, police had obtained footage from Nest security cameras inside Daniel's house that show him arriving home around
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8:00 p.m. that night. So, when investigators looked at the footage from Daniel's home, that's when, and this is
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the oddest moment, they see a bald man typing at Daniel's computer. And that's the first time they realized that Daniel
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was actually bald. It was Daniel without a toupe. And what's important about that
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footage is that's also the computer according to investigators where [snorts] Daniel did internet searching
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that included quote latent fingerprints on human skin, how to restrain a woman, how to search Google in private, and a
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lot of searches about choke holds. And once detectives had collected data from his computer, they had that and from his
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phone, detectives felt they had enough evidence to arrest Daniel for the murder. And the motive they say uh that
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Daniel killed his mother to get an early inheritance. >> So on February 12th, 2018, Daniel Yakobe
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was arrested for his mother's murder. And of all the things that he could have said at that moment, Erin, can you talk
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about what he asked for? >> The first thing that Daniel asked the police for was to get his toupe.
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Detective Schwarz told us that it was telling to him that Daniel asked for his toupe during the arrest, that his
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appearance was important to him. and the fact that he has a child and wife, but the first thing he asked for is his toup
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pay. That was tragic. Detectives Schwarz also said that Daniel did not seem surprised to be arrested. I mean, he
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seemed low-key to me through all of it. So, I'm not s I'm not surprised he didn't appear surprised. And we also
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should note that investigators say that Daniel was arrested only after they first investigated and cleared Dena, the
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sister, and other family members. And you're right, it's so telling about the toupe that that you know it says
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something about keeping up appearances. >> It's sad. It's incredibly sad. >> So, detectives secured longitude and
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latitude coordinates from Daniel's Facebook account that they say placed him at his mother's house at the time
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they believe that Violet was killed. And I have to say, this is one of those moments in the hour where I went, whoa,
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they could get all of that from Facebook. Well, in fact, when the detectives told
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me that, I actually actually removed my location from Facebook. >> I did that, too, when I watched your
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>> Exactly. I, you know, I knew that they got information from us, but I didn't realize it was that specific. But this
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information became key for investigators. Um, because Beverly Hills has a lot of traffic and surveillance
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cameras. And once Detective Schwarz had those coordinates, then he could go to the city's closed circuit cameras and
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security cameras from Violet's neighbors and he could find Daniel's car. Otherwise, as you can imagine, going
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through all that video, it would have been impossible to find Daniel on his car because there's just so much
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footage. Detective Schwarz told us that the footage showed and and this really got to me, too. This is how he described
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it. that Daniel was circling his mother's house almost like a shark the day of the murder. That that was a very
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visual description to me. >> Yeah, what a strong metaphor. Like a shark. So, Daniel Yakobe was denied bail
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and he spent more than seven years in jail awaiting his trial. Now, I've covered trials that have taken years to
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actually happen, but how unusual is it to wait that long? >> Well, I think you're right. you are
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living in California and as you know it is not unusual in California although I still think seven years seemed very
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long. Um that delay was in part due to co but it was also because Daniel switched legal teams a few times and
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that delayed it too. >> So when the case did go to trial in July 2025, it seemed like the prosecution had
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mostly a circumstantial case. So, there wasn't a lot of DNA evidence they could use at trial, but what they did find was
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Daniel's DNA under Violet's fingernails. And that, according to the prosecutors,
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was significant because, of course, they're arguing she fought him. Uh, Daniel had said he had not seen his
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mother since Sunday, two days before she's found. So prosecutors thought that Daniel's DNA under his mother's
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fingernails was very incriminating. >> The theory of the prosecution of how it got there is that he put her in a
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chokeold and that she scratched at him trying to free herself. But I should point out her fingernails were not
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damaged. So that was troubling to me when I realized that. >> At the same time he was searching choke
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holds besides this evidence. What else did the prosecution present at trial? >> Well, there's not one piece of smoking
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gun evidence. The prosecution, and we hear this all the time, had to put together the puzzle, you know, the
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evidence to paint a picture. Uh they pointed to Daniel's own timeline of where he said he was and where he really
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was and the conflicting stories. And one of the examples is according to the DA,
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Daniel kept telling detectives that he and his sister arrived at the house at the same time. But in fact, the video
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showed Daniel arriving 6 minutes before his sister arrived, sat and waited in his car for 3 to four minutes, drives
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away, and then comes back. Detectives believe it was all part of Daniel's plan to have his sister there so that they
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could discover the body together. Uh the traffic and surveillance videos and Daniel's Facebook account coordinates
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also showed that he was lying about where he said he was. >> All right, so the prosecution makes
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their case. Now it's the defense's turn. And the defense, on the other hand, argued that Violet Yakobi died of
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natural causes. Dr. Larry Sims, a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner, testified that he didn't
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believe that Violet was murdered. Now, this is a guy who's done thousands of autopsies. And Aaron, you spoke with
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him. What did you make of Dr. Sims argument? >> All right, I'm I'm going to be honest. I
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walked away from my interview with Dr. Sims with real doubts about this case >> because he said to me when I asked him
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about this, he said this was not a murder and he was very convincing. According to Dr. Sims, he found no
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evidence that Violet was strangled. Even though the prosecution says that there were marks on Violet's face that they
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call petikia, which are tiny little bright red hemorrhages that are common with strangulation. He says that those
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were actually sunspots. And he says that the line on her neck was actually skin folds. He pointed to a microscopic slide
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of Violet's brain stem to say that her death and he showed pointed it out to me was caused by a rare mass of blood
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vessels in her brain stem called and I hope I say this properly arteriovenous malf foration or what is called an AVM
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which he believes hemorrhaged and then caused her to become disoriented and then fall over the staircase. Dr. Sims
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also pointed out to us that the deputy medical examiner who did the original autopsy actually missed injuries that
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pointed towards a fall that Violet actually had spinal and rib fractures that were not mentioned in the autopsy,
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although they were photographed and they were documented in imaging. Um, we wanted to talk to that deputy medical
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examiner because he didn't testify at trial, but the LA County Medical Examiner's Office declined to be
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interviewed as part of our report. So, we've never heard him explain it, but it was uh an issue at trial.
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>> Yeah. I mean, that's a big It sounds like a big thing to miss, spinal fractures and rib fractures. And so,
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they're bringing in more and more experts. So, this trial became a battle of the experts. There were five doctors
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that testified at that trial about how and why Violet died. >> Yeah. And I always find that to be a
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problem in these cases. Um you might too, Tracy. Uh we've seen this time and time again. You have people disagreeing.
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Some people see something, some people see something else, and I fear that jurors don't know which medical expert
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to believe, and in the end, they could just dial it all out. >> Just tune it all out. Yeah, I get that.
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So, they did deliberate for nearly 5 and a half hours over two days, but when the
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jury came back, uh, they were unanimous, guilty of firstdegree murder for financial gain. And this is a judgment
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that carries a mandatory life sentence without a possibility of parole. >> He threw his life away for a few more
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dollars. Um, he had so much, a wife, a new baby. Um, it's just very, very sad. And also when I did some research, I
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realized just how rare mattress is. It's just a very tragic trajectory. Tragic indeed. A fascinating case. And also a
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reminder that you may think that you're going around somewhere and no one is watching, but there are cameras
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everywhere. And if you have your cell phone with you, there's always some way to track you. Thank you so much, Erin.
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It's always so good to talk with you. Yeah, it's [music] always good seeing you, Tracy, and thanks for doing this
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with me today. >> My pleasure. And if you [music] like this episode, please rate and review on
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Apple Podcasts or Spotify.