BENSALEM, Pennsylvania -- Edward Goldman and Inessa Lemashova -- Soviet Jews who came to America with hopes for a better life -- devoted themselves to their only child, going so far as to help him flee the country with a bag of cash after he allegedly killed his mistress.
Then the couple returned to their apartment and slit their wrists, Lemashova dying in the bathtub, her husband on the floor beside her.
In their suicide note -- translated from Russian into English with help from their daughter-in-law before they took their lives -- they said they could not live with the shame of their son's act.
The almost Dostoevskian tale of murder, guilt and suicide unfolded earlier this month in suburban Philadelphia.
Lemashova, 63, "was a sick person, close to death, and she escaped that. She survived. But she couldn't survive emotionally what happened with their son," said Cantor Elena Zarkh, who led a funeral for the couple Jan. 16 as authorities chased leads in France and Germany for their son.
A postcard found at the son's Mount Laurel, New Jersey, town house ultimately led investigators to a home in Grenoble, France, where Paul Goldman, 39, was captured Jan. 20.
He is expected to be extradited to the United States within 60 days to face charges in the slaying of Fania Zonis, a 42-year-old mortgage broker found dead in her office Dec. 29.
Goldman's parents came to the United States from Uzbekistan, joining the exodus of Jews from the former Soviet Union who fled discrimination in the early 1990s. The elder Goldman, a vocational teacher in his homeland, found work as a machinist in Philadelphia, and also cared for his wife, who suffered an undisclosed illness. A relative said father and son were like best friends.
The younger Goldman married an immigrant from the Ukraine, Irina Sapiro, now 42. He most recently worked as a handyman at a computer company.
Friends say he met Zonis, another married immigrant from the former Soviet Union, when she taught a computer class he took about 10 years ago. At some point they started an affair that culminated in the 15 cellphone calls they exchanged in the hours before Zonis' slaying, authorities said.
While the motive remains unclear, the killer was clearly angry with her, stabbing her seven times and smashing her face, authorities said.
While Paul Goldman was on the lam, prosecutors arrested his wife for allegedly covering for him by telling police he was shopping with her the night of the crime and away on business when he had fled the country. Sapiro was charged with hindering prosecution and jailed on $1 million bail.
Goldman's parents also helped him, accompanying him to New York, where Goldman and his father boarded a plane to Germany on Jan. 7, authorities said. The elder Goldman gave his son a bagful of cash and a relative's address, then flew home, authorities said.
Three days after the younger Goldman fled, he was charged with murder.
The next day, on Jan. 11, the elder Goldman, 66, and his wife visited their 22-month-old grandson, who has been hospitalized since his premature birth with severe breathing problems and other ills.
Then they gave their daughter-in-law their wedding rings and $20,000 in cash, and asked her to translate their suicide note from Russian to English, authorities said. The note said they could not live with the disgrace of their son's conduct, authorities said.
Two days later, police found them dead in their Bensalem apartment.
Prosecutor Diane Gibbons called the daughter-in-law's silence about the planned suicides unconscionable. "This to me shows just a complete disregard for life," she said.
Sapiro's lawyer, Andrew Baratta, said the woman did not think her in-laws would go through with it.
Kevin Platt, chairman of the Slavic languages and literatures department at the University of Pennsylvania, said the suicides may reflect immigrant expectations and pressures. Immigrants leave careers and friends behind to improve their children's future, he said.
"So when their son manages to destroy that future for them, it would seem perfectly natural to me that they felt their futures were over, too," Platt said.
Then the couple returned to their apartment and slit their wrists, Lemashova dying in the bathtub, her husband on the floor beside her.
In their suicide note -- translated from Russian into English with help from their daughter-in-law before they took their lives -- they said they could not live with the shame of their son's act.
The almost Dostoevskian tale of murder, guilt and suicide unfolded earlier this month in suburban Philadelphia.
Lemashova, 63, "was a sick person, close to death, and she escaped that. She survived. But she couldn't survive emotionally what happened with their son," said Cantor Elena Zarkh, who led a funeral for the couple Jan. 16 as authorities chased leads in France and Germany for their son.
A postcard found at the son's Mount Laurel, New Jersey, town house ultimately led investigators to a home in Grenoble, France, where Paul Goldman, 39, was captured Jan. 20.
He is expected to be extradited to the United States within 60 days to face charges in the slaying of Fania Zonis, a 42-year-old mortgage broker found dead in her office Dec. 29.
Goldman's parents came to the United States from Uzbekistan, joining the exodus of Jews from the former Soviet Union who fled discrimination in the early 1990s. The elder Goldman, a vocational teacher in his homeland, found work as a machinist in Philadelphia, and also cared for his wife, who suffered an undisclosed illness. A relative said father and son were like best friends.
The younger Goldman married an immigrant from the Ukraine, Irina Sapiro, now 42. He most recently worked as a handyman at a computer company.
Friends say he met Zonis, another married immigrant from the former Soviet Union, when she taught a computer class he took about 10 years ago. At some point they started an affair that culminated in the 15 cellphone calls they exchanged in the hours before Zonis' slaying, authorities said.
While the motive remains unclear, the killer was clearly angry with her, stabbing her seven times and smashing her face, authorities said.
While Paul Goldman was on the lam, prosecutors arrested his wife for allegedly covering for him by telling police he was shopping with her the night of the crime and away on business when he had fled the country. Sapiro was charged with hindering prosecution and jailed on $1 million bail.
Goldman's parents also helped him, accompanying him to New York, where Goldman and his father boarded a plane to Germany on Jan. 7, authorities said. The elder Goldman gave his son a bagful of cash and a relative's address, then flew home, authorities said.
Three days after the younger Goldman fled, he was charged with murder.
The next day, on Jan. 11, the elder Goldman, 66, and his wife visited their 22-month-old grandson, who has been hospitalized since his premature birth with severe breathing problems and other ills.
Then they gave their daughter-in-law their wedding rings and $20,000 in cash, and asked her to translate their suicide note from Russian to English, authorities said. The note said they could not live with the disgrace of their son's conduct, authorities said.
Two days later, police found them dead in their Bensalem apartment.
Prosecutor Diane Gibbons called the daughter-in-law's silence about the planned suicides unconscionable. "This to me shows just a complete disregard for life," she said.
Sapiro's lawyer, Andrew Baratta, said the woman did not think her in-laws would go through with it.
Kevin Platt, chairman of the Slavic languages and literatures department at the University of Pennsylvania, said the suicides may reflect immigrant expectations and pressures. Immigrants leave careers and friends behind to improve their children's future, he said.
"So when their son manages to destroy that future for them, it would seem perfectly natural to me that they felt their futures were over, too," Platt said.
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