Linda Stein Murder Suspect: Police Coerced Confession

The personal assistant accused of killing her boss, realtor Linda Stein, claims that the police forced her to confess. Natavia Lowery's father said, "She said [to detectives] she wanted to call her parents and her attorney, and [they] told her they called them already. They lied and coerced her."

Lowery has been charged with second-degree murder. The police say that the 26-year-old Brooklyn resident confessed to killing the 62-year-old former punk rock manager on October 30. Stein had allegedly been berating her about her work, blew pot smoke in her face, and then made racist comments, leading Lowery to take Stein's yoga stick and beat her to death. Stein's daughter said that her mother had been recently diagnosed with brain cancer and the medication caused her to be mean.

Lowery's aunt Julia Carrow continued with criticism of the police, telling the Daily News, "They took her in the room and told her her mother would be filling out a missing persons report if she didn't confess. They wouldn't let her call her mother or her lawyer. They wouldn't let her call no one and kept her in there all night. Then they came out and said she'd confessed." Lowery's attorney, Gilbert Parris, adds that he told the police to tell him if his client was going to be called in again, "Law enforcement was aware of my representation but did not contact me."

But the police deny that Lowery was coerced and point to the fact that she contacted them of her own volition (she was complaining about reporters staked outside her building) and agreed to meet the detectives. Lowery is also accused of stealing Stein's cellphone and ATM card, which she used to withdraw $800.