‘Preppy Killer’ Robert Chambers who was also known as the ‘Central Park Strangler’ is

The man previously known as the Preppy Killer and the Central Park Strangler who was convicted of a murder that gripped New York City in the 1980s was released from prison this week after serving a second sentence for drug and assault charges.

Robert Chambers was just 19 years old when he confessed to the murder of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin, who was found slain and half-clothed in Central Park. He would later claim that it was an accident that happened when she demanded rough sex.

Chambers’ case went to trial but when the jury failed to reached a decision after nine days, he accepted a plea deal of first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a sentence of five to 15 years. He served the full 15 years and was released in 2003.

Chambers found himself in legal trouble again when he was arrested in 2007 on drug and assault charges.

He was sentenced to 19 years but released from Shawangunk Correctional Facility in New York on July 25, 2023, according to the Department of Corrections website. It’s unclear where Chambers, 56, is now.

Robert Chambers, who served 15 years in prison for strangling an 18-year-old woman in Central Park, was arrested in 2007 on drug charges after a violent struggle with police

Chambers had only been out of prison for a few years when he was arrested on drug charges in 2005 and again in 2007 for selling drugs out of his apartment.

He was 41 years old at the time of the second arrest and struggled with police when they tried to handcuff him for the felony charges.

Chambers’ lawyer claimed he had become an addict at the age of 14 and was, by 2007, using 10 to 12 bags of heroin a day. Chambers planned to plead insanity but prosecutors countered that Chambers was a drug dealer. He was sentenced to 19 years on the drug charge and released in 2023.

While he spent much of his life in and out of prison, Levin’s family wonders what life would be like if she were still alive.

‘I think [about] what Jennifer might be doing, what she would look like,’ Ellen Levin told People shortly after Chambers was released for the manslaughter charge. ‘I think about the grandchildren I won’t have. Her dream was to be a designer, but that’s gone now. And all that loss runs deep.’

The 1986 murder of a promising young high school student at the hands of her classmate was revisited in 2019 in a five-part AMC and Sundance TV docuseries The Preppy Killer.

Jennifer Levin, 18, was just a few weeks away from heading off to college when her body was discovered by a cyclist in Central Park on August 26, 1986.

Police soon arrived on the scene and began a citywide manhunt for any suspects in the case, going so far as to shut down all the bridges and tunnels in Manhattan.

Unbeknownst to them at the time, the man responsible was sitting nearby and watching this all unfold.

Chambers would later tell this to police while also confessing to the murder of Jennifer, claiming that it was an accident that was brought about when she demanded rough sex.

The 1986 murder of a promising young high school student at the hands of her classmate Robert Chambers (pictured) was revisited in 2019 in a docuseries called The Preppy Killer

Jennifer Levin, 18, was just a few weeks away from heading off to college when her body was discovered by a cyclist in Central Park on August 26, 1986

Levin was found slain and half-clothed in Central Park. Chambers would later claim that it was an accident that happened when she demanded rough sex

Levin had been out with her friends the previous night at Dorian’s, a popular bar located just a few blocks east of Central Park.

Those friends quickly told police that they remembered the young woman had been speaking to Robert outside the bar, with a few recalling that the pair were seen walking off together at the end of the night.

Police went to Chambers’ house that same day, whose face was covered in scratches similar to the ones found on Levin’s own neck from where she tried to pry off her killer’s hands.

He initially blamed the markings in his cat, but did agree to accompany police to the station for further questioning about Levin’s death.

Chambers initially told police that he had seen Jennifer at the end of the night outside the bar, but that the two parted ways shortly after saying their goodbyes.

It was when police presented him with the fact that eyewitnesses had seen the two walking off together that his story began to change, and he told police that not only did he and Levin go to Central Park that night but it was also him who killed the teenager.

He claimed that Levin had asked him for ‘rough sex,’ and then tied his hands with her underpants when stimulating his genitals.

At one point things got too rough, said Chambers, who was more than a foot taller than his victim.

He claimed that after managing to untie his hands he threw Jennifer off his body, and that she was killed when she struck the ground.

Levin had been out with her friends the previous night at Dorian’s, a popular bar located just a few blocks east of Central Park. Chambers initially told police that he had seen her the bar

Chambers was questioned later that day by police, who noted that his face was covered in scratches similar to the ones of Jennifer’s neck (Jennifer with friend Peter Davis above)

Preppy killer: Police officers were told that Jennifer Levin had last been seen leaving Dorian’s, an NYC bar, with Robert Chambers (above at trial) in the early morning hours of Aug. 26

Police then informed Chambers that he would be booked, but did allow him to see his parents before he was sent off to jail.

When he saw his father, he said: ‘That f***ing b****, why didn’t she leave me alone?’

Chambers faced two second-degree murder charges at trial, during which the prosecutors were not able to present evidence they had uncovered linking Chambers to more than 30 robberies.

It turned out that he had been stealing for some time to fund his cocaine addiction, after being kicked out of Boston University following just one semester at the institution.

The defense meanwhile presented Levin as a promiscuous young women despite no evidence to support this beyond the fact that she was a popular student.

This was enough to deadlock the jury however, and after nine days with no decision, Chambers and his attorneys agreed to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter and burglary.

He was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison, and ultimately ended up serving out the full term and and extra time for his infractions behind bars.

Chambers would maintain even after his release that he strangled Levin to stop her from hurting him during ‘rough sex.’