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1988 BELLE TERRE MURDERS
Son: Killer boasted
Convicted of slaying his parents, Martin Tankleff says he has evidence implicating father's former partner
BY ANDREW SMITH
STAFF WRITER

April 16, 2004

Jerry Steuerman, the former business partner of Seymour Tankleff, has admitted in recent months his role in killing Tankleff and his wife in 1988, according to legal papers that are to be filed today by Martin Tankleff, the son who was convicted of killing his parents.

Now, Tankleff's team has found two people who say Steuerman has admitted his involvement, according to legal papers to be filed in Suffolk County County in Riverhead by defense attorney Bruce Barket of Garden City.

"After the media reported [in October] that Mr. Tankleff had filed for a new trial, Mr. Steuerman told two [people] that he 'cut their throats,' but at this point, given his age, he will be dead long before he has to serve any sentence," the papers say.

But Barket's papers argue that Spota's office ignored the fact that Creedon had boasted about the crime to others. Indeed, the district attorney's office found new people to whom Creedon had allegedly confessed, but concluded that Creedon had been taking credit for a crime he didn't commit.

"This conclusion is not only unsupported, it is truly extraordinary," Barket's papers say.

The district attorney argued that Creedon didn't commit the murder because his record of violent crime had no history of using knives. Barket argued that Tankleff had no history of using knives, either - or of any kind of violence, unlike Creedon.