Apartment 515

by Jeff Pearlman

Jeff Pearlman is a critically-acclaimed sportswriter, with bestselling books about the Mets and the Lakers to his credit, but some ten years ago he found himself out of his element when he came face to face with a murderer. That’s where this insane true crime story begins.

Apartment 515 is a podcast exploring how Pearlman first encountered a part-time professional backgammon player named Rod Covlin while both men were waiting to pick up their young children from preschool inside a Jewish Community Center in the upscale suburb of Scarsdale, New York. Pearlman thought of Covlin as "Mr. Balloon Animals" - the single dad whose special talent was tying balloons into funny shapes for the kids. It was then that Pearlman heard a story - one that was just rumor at the time - about Covlin allegedly committing a shocking crime.

Pearlman would spend the next decade, off and on, investigating the case, tracking down witnesses, running down leads, and ultimately confronting a murderer in prison about his victim. By turns surprising, emotional, and thrilling, Apartment 515 takes twists and turns listeners won’t see coming. It’s the kind of tale that makes you wonder: how many of your friends, family members and neighbors are wearing a disguise? How far will they go to hide their true face? And what lengths are you prepared to go to uncover who they really are?

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction

Audible Audio

Published September 16, 2021

About the author

Jeff Pearlman is an American sportswriter. He has written nine books that have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list: four about football, three on baseball and two about basketball. He authored the 1999 John Rocker interview in Sports Illustrated.

Reviews

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story & audio 4 stars**
Narrator Jeff Pearlman

[Tracy Fenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a newly converted fan of True Crime Podcasts, I listened to Apartment 515 narrated by Jeff Pearlman who over 7 episodes tells us about a fellow father at his son’s preschool, Rod Covlin, a single dad rumoured to have killed his wife.

Jeff begins to look closer into Rod’s background and investigates the rumours in more detail uncovering some shocking revelations about the Covlin family and the tragedy that befell Shelley Covlin, leaving her young children motherless.

I really enjoyed this podcast and found it both fascinating and truly awful, especially listening to some of Rod’s psychopathic outbursts, his heinous ideas of destroying his parents using his children as bait in order to take control of his wife’s money.

Jeff Pearlman narrates the story with compassion and retells this tragic story with both emotion and fact, highlighting the terror that Shelley went through living with a violent, abusive psychopath.

[Jay Ward A.K.A. Chris Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spent my day with this story and glad I did. Very interesting case. Pearlman did a great job being down to earth, relatable, and keeping you feeling a part of the story as more facts came out. Overall of course a sad story, especially for those kids growing up and having to realize things the way we all do as we grow. Memories in one sense become cloudy but there’s also a major aspect of memories that become much clearer thru the lens on an adult. Funny the way that works. It’s just too bad. But great pod. I recommend it for sure. Quick listen.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting true crime story about a woman who was killed by her husband and it was staged to look like a household accident. This is was in a podcast format with some sections of audio taken from the actual people involved.

[sneha · Rating 3 out of 5]

A man with no job, gambling habit, brusied ego and violent tendancies kills his wife. Genuinely upset for the wife who had to live with this shitty dude for so many years and never really got the peace she deserved. Glad he rots in jail.

[Aravind Sankaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's nothing so great about the plot. It was ok.. Not great. An ordinary story well narrated and well dramatized by Audible.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough listen. Some poor quality audio though,.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love stuff like this