Ira Einhorn - Murder of Holly Maddux

Murder of Holly Maddux

Einhorn had a five-year relationship with Holly Maddux, a graduate of Bryn Mawr College who was originally from Tyler, Texas. In 1977, Maddux broke up with Einhorn, which infuriated him. She went to New York City and became involved with Saul Lapidus, a rejection that Einhorn would not accept. After learning about this turn of events, Einhorn called Maddux and lured her back to Philadelphia under the guise of retrieving her belongings, although his intention was to murder her for breaking off their relationship. She was never seen alive again.

When questioned, Einhorn told police that Maddux had left to go to the store but never came back. Eighteen months later on March 28, 1979, Maddux's decomposing corpse was found by police in a trunk stored in a closet in Einhorn's apartment. After finding Maddux the police reportedly said to Einhorn "It looks like we found Holly" to which Einhorn reportedly replied "you found what you found". Einhorn's bail was reduced to $40,000 at the request of his attorney Arlen Specter; Einhorn was released from custody in advance of his trial by paying 10% of the bond's value, or $4,000. This bail was paid, not by Einhorn, but by Barbara Bronfman, a Montreal socialite and one of the many people Einhorn had convinced into supporting him financially.

In 1981, just days before his murder trial was to begin, Einhorn skipped bail and fled to Europe. Einhorn traveled in Europe for the next 17 years, along the way marrying a Swedish woman named Annika Flodin. Back in Pennsylvania, as Einhorn had already been arraigned, the state convicted him in absentia in 1993 for the murder of Maddux. Einhorn was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.