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U.S. NEWS Saturday 19 May 2018
Former Playboy centerfold apparently jumps to death with son

By COLLEEN LONG
JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A for-
mer Playboy centerfold in-
volved in a custody battle
apparently jumped with
her 7-year-old son to their
deaths from the 25th floor
of a Manhattan hotel, law
enforcement officials said
Friday.
Stephanie Adams and her
son Vincent fell 23 floors
and were found on a sec-
ond-floor balcony at about
8:15 a.m. Friday in the rear
courtyard of the Gotham
Hotel.
They had checked into the
hotel's penthouse suite at
about 6 p.m. Thursday, of-
ficials said, just hours after
she told the New York Post
that her husband and his
lawyer were blocking her
from taking her son away
on vacation.
"All I want to do is take my
son and get away from this
nightmare for a few days,"
the Post quoted Adams as
saying. "But they won't let
me."
The law enforcement of-
ficials said the 46-year-old
Adams, who first posed
for Playboy in 1992, was In this Sept. 22, 2006, file photo, former Playboy playmate Stephanie Adams speaks at an interview in New York about her lawsuit
involved in a custody dis- against the New York City Police Department.
pute over Vincent with Associated Press
her estranged husband,
a Manhattan chiroprac- Felder said he had been with Sanford Rubenstein, Adams was Playboy's "Miss claims. Court papers filed
tor named Charles Nicolai. friends with Adams for 20 an attorney who repre- November" centerfold in Friday show the massage
They said police had been years but stopped repre- sented her in a 2006 lawsuit 1992. She appeared again therapist agreed this week
called to their home sev- senting her in the divorce against the police depart- in Playboy in 2003, and she to end the claims against
eral times in the past few case a couple of months ment, a taxi company and had also worked with Elite Nicolai. Lawyers for Adams
months. The officials were ago. Recently, she had a cab driver. Model Management. The and Nicolai in that case
not authorized to speak been hoping to go to Eu- Her suit said that the driver New York Post profiled Ad- declined to comment. The
publicly and spoke to The rope to be with a boyfriend falsely told police she had ams in 2013, saying that she massage therapist's lawyer
Associated Press on condi- there, and that had be- a gun and that police then had by then written more didn't immediately return a
tion of anonymity. come an issue in the case, assaulted her. Officers than 25 self-help books, ran call.
Nicolai's lawyer did not im- he said. forced her to the ground, an online beauty products The Gotham Hotel is on
mediately respond to an Still, "she was never de- although they could see company called Goddessy 46th street, about four
inquiry about the case. A pressed while I knew her. she didn't have a gun in her Organics, and managed blocks from Grand Central
receptionist who answered She had certain problems, hand and there was no- the finances in her hus- Terminal.q
the phone at Nicolai's of- but depression wasn't one where she could have con- band's office.
fice said he would not of them," Felder said. cealed one in her clothes, "The stereotypes are sex-
comment and was un- Felder recalled her as according to a judge's de- ist and unfair," Adams told
reachable. "sweet and ultra-polite" cision. A jury awarded her the Post in the 2013 profile.
Adams and Nicolai had — she always called him $1.2 million in city money, "Just because I look a cer-
been in "a very tough cus- "Mr. Felder" despite their but the judge later re- tain way and have expen-
tody case," said Raoul long friendship. She would duced it to $373,000. sive tastes, it doesn't mean
Felder, a divorce lawyer sometimes stop by his of- Rubenstein said he knew I'm shallow. Style and looks
who represented her for fice to say hello, bringing she'd been dealing lately don't mean lack of brains,
a time. The standoff was her son, who loved to play with a custody clash but sweetheart!"
contentious enough that with a Superman statue in would never have foreseen Adams was also facing a
the former couple handed the office, Felder recalled. a suicide. lawsuit brought by a mas-
off their son to each other And she routinely sent him "She was a vibrant woman, sage therapist who said
at a police precinct, an ar- birthday cards, until his she had strong opinions, she'd been fired from
rangement that's unusual birthday passed this month and she loved her kid," he Nicolai's chiropractic of-
but not unheard of, Felder without one. said. "She loved that child. fice because Adams was
said. She also stayed in touch It's unexplainable." jealous. Adams denied the