Ramones curse murder: A tale of two daughters

Linda Stein, who went from co-manager of the Ramones to realtor-to-the-rock stars to tragic victim of the Ramones curse, is being turned in death into “New York’s tough, gutsy, brilliant, funky & spunky poster child.” At her funeral services at the Riverside Memorial Chapel, mourners eyed each other suspiciously, and New York City’s ’s tabloid reporters looked for clues (but which one used a tape recorder to get the quote right?):

The New York Times:

Mara Hennessey, who met Ms. Stein while working on a book about the Ramones, said that investigators should have attended the service and done “a Miss Marple.”

“It was probably someone who knew her, so this is where they should start,” she said, eyeing the parade of mourners.

“We have not identified a suspect,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

The law enforcement official said that investigators had spoken briefly to an associate of Ms. Stein’s, Raul Bernal.

The police corrected one detail of their initial account of the killing, saying that Mandy Stein (right, with mother) was alone, not with a friend, when she discovered her mother’s body at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday. It is thought that Ms. Stein was killed sometime in the afternoon.

Ms. Stein’s other daughter, Samantha Stein-Wells (top, with husband)… described how she and her sister had gone to see their mother’s body yesterday morning and had vowed that the killer would be found.

“We had to see her one last time,” she said, to see what the killer “had done to her.”

NY Daily News:

"I had to see her one last time," said a choked-up Stein-Wells, who, with her younger sister, Mandy, viewed their mom's body Thursday night. "One last time to see what this bastard had done to her.

"And we stood there and we promised that justice will be served. We won't stop until justice is served."

The Fifth Ave. murder remains a mystery.

The NY Post:

Stein-Wells said she and her sister Mandy had viewed their mother's remains for the final time Thursday night as morticians struggled to cover up the damage the killer had wrought.

"It took them three hours to prepare her body. Usually it takes one hour," she said. "I had to see one last time what this bastard had done."

Investigators have been slowly interviewing everyone close to Stein - including a disgruntled ex-employee, Raul Bernal, 49, who was fired after he fought with her over a commission on a high-priced real-estate deal. They also collected DNA samples and fingerprints from nine members of a construction crew that had been working on the roof at the time and took some hand tools in for analysis.

Detectives have been stumped because no one remembers anyone going to Stein's apartment that day and no one suspicious appears on the surveillance tapes.

(NOTE: Mandy directed the recent Johnny Ramone documentary, "Too Tough To Die.")