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.
In 2004, Joel Steinberg was released from prison after serving two-thirds of his 25-year sentence. Remarkably, he showed little remorse.
Travis Christian Smigiel, the 17-month-old boy formerly known as Mitchell Steinberg, was placed in the permanent custody of his mother yesterday by a judge in Manhattan. ''Travis, we can only wish you a good life,'' Judge Jeffry H.
Steinberg had reportedly been hired by a single mother named Michele Launders to locate a suitable adoptive family for Lisa, but he instead took the child home and raised her with Nussbaum. He never filed formal adoption papers and the child was not legally adopted.
Sells was apprehended after being identified from a sketch made from the victim's description. Police over time came to suspect him of "working the system" by confessing to murders he had not committed.
Travis was found roped to a chair, drinking spoiled milk and covered in filth. Miraculously, he was spared Lisa's cruel fate. Three weeks later, he was taken from Steinberg and Nussbaum and reunited with his mom. A family court judge awarded her custody.