Did a hero of the counter-culture murder his ex-girlfriend?

CASE DETAILS

Ira Einhorn was a counter-culture hero. During the 1960’s in Philadelphia, he was the symbol of opposition to the war in Vietnam. In 1970, he organized Earth Day, a pro-ecology festival still celebrated every year. Einhorn also palled around with peace movement superstars like Abbie Hoffman. He even ran for mayor of Philadelphia.

However, there was a side of Ira Einhorn the crowds and news cameras never saw. In private, he was jealous, abusive and self-centered. And in 1979, Einhorn became the prime suspect in the disappearance of his one-time girlfriend, Holly Maddux. According to author Steven Levy, Holly was seduced by Einhorn’s charm:

“She was blown away because the force of his personality was considerable. And on the other hand, there was Holly who was really not at a solid stage in her life, and was susceptible to a big come on. To a big con. And really within a few days they were living together.”

But before long, the relationship became abusive. Andrea Boyce worked with Holly in a neighborhood co-op:

“I remember a morning we were trying to get the store stocked. And while we were taking our break she turned her head in such a way that I noticed a mark on her neck.”

By July of 1977, Holly Maddux decided she had enough. She walked out on Einhorn, without even bothering to pack her belongings. Holly ended up at a beach resort near New York City, where she began a romance with Saul Lapidus:

“She was just wonderful, curious, very bright. Knew what was going on. For those many weeks we were kind of inseparable. It was the start of possibly something big.”

But according to Joel Rosen, who was Philadelphia’s Assistant District Attorney at the time, Einhorn went ballistic when he learned of Holly’s new beau:

“Einhorn called her and he was going nuts. He said in his words he was off the wall. He threatened to throw all her clothing and all her belongings out into the street unless she came down to Philadelphia immediately to come see him. He could not handle the fact that she was going with this other man.”

Holly never returned from Philadelphia. Consequently, Saul Lapidus and some of Holly’s other friends reported her absence to authorities. According to Joel Rosen, detectives in Philadelphia were quick to interview Ira Einhorn:

“His explanation was that he had gone into the shower, that she was going to the store, and that he never saw her again. She just walked off into the sunset.”

The Maddux family hired two former FBI agents to investigate. Their ambitious report filled hundreds of pages, contained dozens of interviews, and detailed the events surrounding Holly’s disappearance. The investigators located a couple who had gone to the movies with Ira and Holly during the weekend Holly went to pick-up her belongings. It was the last time she was known to be alive.

A few days later, Einhorn tried to convince friends to help him dump a large trunk into a nearby river. He said it was filled with secret Russian documents. Finally, the tenants in the apartment below Einhorn’s told one of the investigators about a choking stench, seeping into their apartment. That report brought Detective Michael Chitwood of the Philadelphia Police Department to Einhorn’s apartment:

“Once I opened the door I could smell kind of a decaying smell and spending years as a homicide detective I knew that smell to be body smell. And I thought she may be here. There was a sickness, a sadness that Holly Maddux was found. But then there was kind of a feel good that we were going to lock-up Ira Einhorn for killing her.”

Einhorn soon came up with an explanation. He claimed the FBI and CIA had framed him by planting Holly’s body in his closet. Einhorn’s attorney pulled off the impossible—bail for Ira Einhorn. It was a crushing blow for Detective Chitwood and the rest of the Philadelphia Police Department:

“I was offended when they allowed him out on bail because in my entire career, somebody who’s charged with murder never gets out on bail. And when I sat in that courtroom and I watched the parade of prominent people march before the bar and the court and sing the praises of Ira Einhorn, who was a murderer, who was a murderer but nobody wanted to admit it. I said this guy will never, ever stand trial. He will take off.”

In January of 1981, two days before the start of his trial, Ira Einhorn fled the country. Twelve years passed. Finally, Philadelphia authorities tried Einhorn in absentia for the murder of Holly Maddux. It took the jury only two hours to find Ira Einhorn guilty.

Update:

In 1997, Interpol tracked Einhorn down to a farmhouse in Southern France. He had been living there for several years under an assumed name. Four years after he was captured, Einhorn was extradited to the United States and re-tried for the murder of Holly Maddux. He was found guilty and is currently serving a life term without the possibility of parole.

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