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Who is Shawn Kovell? ‘Central Park strangler’ Robert Chambers may be back with longtime girlfriend after release from NY prison

Robert Chambers was freed from prison this week after serving 15 years for a different drug and assault charge

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers, who strangled teenager Jennifer Levin in Central Park nearly three decades ago, was freed from prison this week after serving 15 years for a different drug and assault charge. The notorious killer, 56, will reportedly remain under state parole supervision in Rockland County, New York.

After his release, it's probable that Chambers is reunited with Shawn Kovell, his 54-year-old girlfriend who apparently stood by him during his most recent prison sentence. The New York Post reported that over the weekend, a woman answered Kovell's phone and said she and Chambers "still talk." However, the woman denied being Kovell, who still resides in Manhattan, according to official records. Franklin Rothman, Kovell's defense lawyer, told the Post that it has been difficult for him to forget either Chambers or Kovell. "I don’t know if it’s loyalty or love," said Rothman regarding the couple's long-term romance. "She really had significant feelings for him. She genuinely seemed to care for him. Maybe they were a good fit or maybe it was the drugs but it seemed to go pretty deep," he continued.

Who is Shawn Kovell?

Kovell was raised on the outskirts of the Upper East Side by her single mother, Karline, who worked as a hat check lady at New York City restaurants along the city's former "steak row,” according to The New York Times. Shawn’s friend David Cohen told the news outlet that as a teen, “she was very much an alcoholic” as she didn’t always have a lot of supervision. She met Chambers before his trial began when a mutual friend took her to a gathering at his apartment.

Chambers and Levin, at ages 19 and 18, respectively, had run around in the same upper-crust social circle that partied at hotspots like Studio 54 and the fateful Dorrian’s Red Hand Bar on East 84th Street. After he was sentenced in Levin’s murder in the 1980s, Kovell allegedly rode the bus upstate for years to visit him in jail. Chambers served a 15-year sentence for first-degree manslaughter and second-degree burglary beginning in 1988 and was released in 2003. Following his release, he and Kovell lived together in a Manhattan apartment until 2007 when they were busted as drug dealers. Kovell served no jail time after the drug bust, but Chambers received an unusually harsh 19-year sentence. Little is known about where Kovell is now.

Robert Chambers confessed to strangling Jennifer Levin

Chambers gained monikers like ‘Preppy Killer’ and ‘Central Park Strangler’ after the August 26, 1986 strangulation death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. Her remains were found by a bicyclist in Central Park near Fifth Avenue and 83rd Street behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her body was lying twisted by a tree and her face was covered in scratches and bite marks. Chambers came under police radar after Levin’s friends told them that they remembered the young woman had been speaking to Robert outside the bar, with a few recalling that the pair were seen walking off together at the end of the night.

When police arrived at Chambers' residence the next day, they found his face covered in grazes similar to the ones found on Levin's neck. The scratch marks were a result of Levin desperately trying to pry off her killer's hands. At first, Chambers claimed that he had seen Jennifer at the end of the night outside the bar, but that the two parted ways shortly after saying their goodbyes. However, his story soon unraveled when police presented him with eyewitnesses who had seen the two walking off together. Chambers eventually confessed to the murder of Levin but claimed that it was an accident that was brought about when she demanded rough sex.