Apr 14, 2008 7:26 pm US/Eastern
Parents Of Stein Murder Suspect Speak Out To CBS 2
Natavia Lowry's Family Believes She Was Set Up
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Linda Stein was found murdered in her Upper East Side apartment. Her assistant, Natavia Lowry, is being held for the murder.
CBS
Held without bail in the murder of prominent Manhattan real estate agent Linda Stein, Natavia Lowry, Stein's former assistant, wants to get out on bail as she awaits trial. On Monday, Lowry's parents spoke out to CBS 2, claiming their daughter has been set up.
"They needed a scapegoat – they needed a little black girl and that's what they went after: the little black girl," said Lottie Lowry, Natavia's mother.
To Natavia's parents, she is a victim, incapable of the murder that the district attorney says she committed: the bludgeoning death of Stein inside her pricey Fifth Avenue apartment. They insist her confession was coerced and that the lack of forensic evidence confirms what they already know.
"I thought everybody had lost their minds. There is no doubt in my mind. This is a girl who can't clean her room no less a crime scene," said Lottie, calling her daughter "a little kitten."
The 26-year-old is their only child. She's a graduate of Hunter College who lived at home, pregnant with her first child. Now she waits for her trial on Riker's Island because she's been denied bail.
"I'm getting the impression very early on that they're giving the appearance of justice, but it isn't a level playing field," said Daniel Walsh, Natavia's father.
The defendant herself is by all accounts in good spirits. Her pastor, Rev. Michael Waldron, played for CBS 2 a voicemail message she left for him Monday that sounds like anything but a prisoner in desperate circumstances:
"Hi Reverend Waldron, this is Natavia. I just wanted to call to say hi and thank you for everything. I'll try to call again tomorrow at 5. Bye-bye!"
Waldron stands behind the Lowry family in their beliefs.
"What you hear is a person of tremendous faith who not only knows that she's innocent and believes she'll be vindicated," said Waldron.
A spokesman for the District Attorney's office told CBS 2 Monday that the judge based Lowry's denial of bail on the seriousness of the crime and the strength of the state's case, which will be back in court for pre-trial later this month.
Experts say the actual murder trial is unlikely to begin before next fall. By then, Natavia will be a mother herself.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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