The woman once accused of helping Joel Steinberg kill his adopted daughter has pulled off the ultimate disappearing act. Hedda Nussbaum, now 75, changed her name and moved out of New York around the time Steinberg was released from prison; someone else now lives at her last known address in Hackensack, NJ.
Nussbaum spent a year at the Four Winds psychiatric hospital in Westchester and is sentenced to be Hedda Nussbaum for the rest of her life.
Hedda Nussbaum (born August 8, 1942) is an American woman who was a caregiver of a six-year-old girl who died of physical abuse in 1987.
In 2004, Joel Steinberg was released from prison after serving two-thirds of his 25-year sentence. Remarkably, he showed little remorse.
Her adopted 17-month-old brother was tethered to a nearby playpen, surrounded by his own excrement and drinking spoiled milk. Nussbaum had a split lip, broken ribs, a broken nose and a fractured jaw, all inflicted by Steinberg. Lisa died three days later. The city was stunned.