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Joyce Cohen

24-year-old Joyce Cohen went from rags to riches when she met and married Miami construction millionaire Stan Cohen in 1981. Together, the couple lived lavishly in an exclusive Coconut Grove mansion, went skiing at their Steamboat Springs ranch, and partied all night long at Stan’s Miami nightclub. But Joyce’s party came to an abrupt end on March 7, 1986, when she frantically called 911 claiming that Stan had been murdered by three intruders that had broken into their mansion. To cops, the story seemed plausible. At the time, Miami was plagued with home invasion robberies and, like many Miami real estate developers in the 1980s, there were rumors that Stan was involved with some shady characters. But when a convicted felon already serving jail time came forward with information that Joyce had hired him and his friends to do Stan in, cops swept in and arrested her. At trial, prosecutors painted Joyce as a gold-digging murderess who killed Stan after he had threatened divorce. Faced with losing the luxurious life-style she had grown accustomed to, Joyce had plotted her husband’s murder with three men she had met on the Miami club scene. The jury found her guilty of murder but was unable to reach a unanimous decision at her sentencing. With the jury deadlocked, the judge sentenced her to 25 years to life. Joyce will be eligible for parole in 2014.