Infamous ‘Preppy Killer’ Robert Chambers, convicted in 1986 Central Park strangling, is paroled in separate drug case after 15 years
NEW YORK — Notorious “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers, convicted for the brutal 1986 Central Park strangling of a teenage girl in a blockbuster Manhattan case, was paroled from prison after serving 15 years on a separate drug rap.
The now 56-year-old Chambers was released Tuesday from the Shawangunk Correctional Facility, according to state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision records. It was his second stint behind bars following his earlier incarceration on a manslaughter plea for the headline-making “rough sex” killing of victim Jennifer Levin.
Chambers was freed on Valentine’s Day 2003 after serving 15 years in her death before his arrest four years later for operating a cocaine and heroin operation out of his Manhattan apartment — which led to his 2008 conviction and imprisonment.
Chambers will remain on parole on the drug rap through 2028, according to correction documents.
Authorities said Chambers had repeatedly sold drugs to undercover agents, and he also pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer during his arrest.
The 18-year-old Levin, an Upper East Side resident like her killer, was found dead in Central Park after she and Chambers met inside Dorrian’s Red Hand Bar on East 84th Street and headed to the park around 4 a.m.
Her strangled, battered and nearly-naked body was found by a bicyclist two hours later beneath a tree behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the 6-foot-4 Chambers making headlines as the “Preppy Killer” following his arrest for murder.
The accused killer claimed the death was an accident — Chambers said he yanked Levin from behind after she injured him during their sexual encounter. But prosecutors brought murder charges after finding scratches on Chambers’ neck and face matched up with bruises found on Levin’s hands that were consistent with a struggle.
The killing set off a media frenzy, with the Hollywood-handsome murder suspect and his victim splashed across newspapers and television with a focus on the high-flying lifestyle led by teens on the Upper East Side.
The murder suspect was soon dubbed the “Preppy Killer,” though Chambers was actually a college dropout with a cocaine problem. The killing was eventually revisited in a five-part documentary airing in in 2019.
Chambers, charged with murder, took a plea to first-degree manslaughter in the ninth day of jury deliberations at his trial in 1988. Despite his claims Levin’s death was an accident, prosecutors suggested Chambers flew into a lethal rage set off by his impotence.
After he was imprisoned for the killing, Chambers’ parole applications were rejected five times as the inmate racked up violations for heroin possession, assaulting a guard and weapon possession.
Shortly after his sentencing in the death, he was caught on a video snapping the head off a small doll.
“Oops, I think I killed it,” he cracked, holding the head in his hand.
