Nov 3, 2008 11:49 pm US/Eastern
Nussbaum Breaks Silence On Steinberg Killing
Battered Woman Tells CBS 2 HD In Exclusive Interview She Was Mentally And Physically Unable To Help Daughter
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Hedda Nussbaum recently granted CBS 2 HD an exclusive interview. She now lives under an assumed name in another city.
CBS
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Joel Steinberg was released from prison in 2004 after serving 17 years.
AP
It was a case that seemed to tear the heart out of New York City -- the death of 6-year-old Lisa Steinberg.
Twenty-one years ago Hedda Nussbaum, the woman at the center of the infamous case, was thrust into the spotlight and told a tale of sordid abuse and callousness that shocked many.
A few days ago she flew to New York for an exclusive interview. Today she lives under an assumed name in another city and says she still thinks …..
"I know. I have come to accept her death, which took me a long time," Nussbaum said.
More than 20 years after the death of Lisa, Nussbaum says she has had time to heal … to reflect ... to forgive herself for not saving the life of her daughter as she lay dying on the floor.
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"It hurts very much but I really can't let it destroy my life," Nussbaum said.
Lisa, then 6, died at the hands of Nussbaum's abusive live-in partner, lawyer Joel Steinberg. He beat her into unconsciousness in their Greenwich Village brownstone. Nussbaum thought about calling 9-1-1 several times, but did not.
"I kept thinking should I or shouldn't I that night?" Nussbaum said.
"I can only explain it by saying I was brainwashed and was incapable. I was pretty much close to death that night."
Nussbaum, too, was a victim of Steinberg's abuse for more than a dozen years.
She left him five times, but always returned.
"He made me feel like I needed him to survive," Nussbaum said. "Toward the end I thought of him almost as a god."
Even though in the weeks before Lisa's death the beatings were a daily ritual.
"He would count up the offenses over the day and hit me over the head at night for each offense," Nussbaum said. "Sometimes they would add up to quite a few so I had some brain damage from what he did."
Nussbaum and Steinberg with charged with murder, but when prosecutors learned of the extent of her abuse, they dropped the charges against her. Nussbaum testified at Steinberg's trial and told jurors about the torture she and Lisa endured.
"He shook her, threw her down on the floor," Nussbaum said. "When she got up he grabbed her again and threw her."
Not so evident but just as real was the psychological impact of the abuse. It's what she says kept her from saving Lisa. She said she feels only 10 percent responsible for Lisa's death.
Over the past 21 years Nussbaum has tried to make sense of the tragedy by telling her story and helping other abused women and children. It was a promise she made to Lisa after her death.
"I know almost by heart what I said. I said it's too late to see now Lisa, but maybe we can help another child. Maybe we can save another child. Sorry Lisa. Sorry Lisa. I try to do as much as I can do," Nussbaum said.
Joel Steinberg was convicted of manslaughter and was released in 2004 after serving 17 years of a 25-year sentence.
A 15-month-old boy also being raised by Nussbaum and Steinberg was also found in the apartment. He was reunited with his birth mother.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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