Today, Steinberg is living the quiet life of an aging loner in Harlem, hitting up strangers for cigarettes and Wi-Fi connections as he ekes out a living as a disbarred lawyer.
Joel Steinberg (born May 25, 1941) is a disbarred New York City criminal defense attorney who attracted international media attention when he was accused of rape and murder and was convicted of manslaughter, in the November 1, 1987, beating and subsequent death of a six-year-old girl, Elizabeth ("Lisa"), whom he and ...
In 2004, Joel Steinberg was released from prison after serving two-thirds of his 25-year sentence. Remarkably, he showed little remorse.
The woman once accused of helping Joel Steinberg kill his adopted daughter has pulled off the ultimate disappearing act. Hedda Nussbaum, now 75, changed her name and moved out of New York around the time Steinberg was released from prison; someone else now lives at her last known address in Hackensack, NJ.
In November 1987, Lisa Steinberg, a first-grader, was beaten and left to die in her home in New York City. A baby boy was found tethered to a urine-soaked playpen in the next room. Joel Steinberg and Hedda Nussbaum, who falsely claimed to have adopted both children, were charged with murder.
Her adopted 17-month-old brother was tethered to a nearby playpen, surrounded by his own excrement and drinking spoiled milk. Nussbaum had a split lip, broken ribs, a broken nose and a fractured jaw, all inflicted by Steinberg. Lisa died three days later. The city was stunned.