Aliza Sherman
Aliza's parents, Doris and Albert Czinn, were survivors of the Holocaust. They met and fell in love in a displaced persons camp. They came to Cleveland in the early 1950's. They were committed to giving their children a better life.
Aliza was always one of the prettiest girls in the neighborhood. She was accepted into CWRU’s nursing program but couldn’t afford it. So she attended Huron Road Nursing School’s program instead. Despite this, she attended Hillel events with other Jewish students on the CWRU campus. That’s where she met a medical student named Sanford. They fell in love and were married about two years later on Sunday, November 28th, 1982.
By the early 1990's, Aliza and Sanford were living in a four-bedroom house on Penshurst Drive. Sanford was running a successful ophthalmologist practice. Aliza left nursing behind to raise Josh, Jason and Jennifer.
One minute, Sanford would be Dr. Jekyll and the next minute he would be Mr. Hyde. He was incredibly generous, gifting money to friends and family members. Then he could be tough and mean, even with his own family, and sometimes in public. Police were called to their house numerous times.
In 1995, Aliza gave birth to Jeremy. Four years later, they moved into a 4,883-square-foot, five-bedroom home at the other end of the same street.
In 2004, Sanford unexpectedly retired after his office assistant quit and moved to Nevada after 18 years on the job. Rather than train a replacement, he decided to close his practice. During this time, he spend a lot of time at the family's summer home in Florida.
Aliza went back to work as an invitro fertilization nurse at the Cleveland Clinic, helping women building families of their own.
The fights began escalating with Aliza's oldest son, Josh, joining in. By 2011, Aliza's two oldest kids chose sides. Josh distanced himself from Aliza, while Jennifer pulled away from Sanford. Her youngest child, 17- year-old Jeremy, was having trouble in school due to the turbulent home life.
Aliza filed for divorce on June 20th. She hired Joe Stafford of Stafford & Stafford. She also moved into a bedroom downstairs. Despite the fighting that continued, neither Aliza nor Sanford wanted to leave the home out of fear the courts would see it as vacating the property.
By the end of 2011, Sanford requested the court to put a restraining order on all joint bank accounts attached to Aliza’s name, including those she held with her mother, Doris, and with Jason and Jennifer.
Aliza began to fear for her life. She sent an email to herself at 2:10 a.m. in January 2012. “I am really afraid he is going to have me killed.”
Aliza wrote Sanford, “I need to teach my sons that it is not okay to threaten and terrorize women. Even if I come out broke, it will be worth it, to give them this life lesson.”
Aliza’s case was given over to Stafford’s senior associate, Gregory Moore, of Sagamore Hills. Moore was late for meetings and unresponsive to text messages and emails. Within the first six months, Moore filed several continuances on Aliza’s case, pushing back the divorce proceedings, because he was allegedly unprepared. Aliza wanted a new lawyer, but she was short on funds and no one would take her case.
Between January and July 2012, Moore called in bomb threats to the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas, Lake County Courthouse and Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court on days he was scheduled to appear in court for cases he wasn’t prepared for.
By March 2013, Judge Rosemary Gold ordered no more continuances would be granted in Aliza’s case and the trial would begin March 26.
Two days before their day in court, Moore sent Aliza a text message requesting she meet him at his office downtown to discuss final preparations for the case.
At 6:14 p.m. on March 24, 2013, Aliza Sherman was pronounced dead in the emergency room of MetroHealth Medical Center.
As she drove north from her home in Solon, Jennifer tried to deduced were her mom would be. She also kept trying her mom's cellphone. Aliza's brother, as well as her mother, called Jennifer to say that they had been trying to get a hold of Aliza for hours and they couldn't get in contact with her either. This fueled the terror filling up inside Jennifer.
As Jennifer approached Warrensville Center and Cedar roads, Jeremy called saying that Cleveland police officers were on their way to the house, where Jeremy lived with Aliza and Sanford, to talk with the family. Jennifer made a U-turn and frantically called her then-boyfriend, Kevin Rivchun, to tell him the news. Less than 10 minutes later, Jennifer and Kevin arrived at the house. Jennifer ran inside, grabbed Jeremy and pulled him out of the house, leaving Sanford alone inside. For 45 minutes, they sat in her car at the end of the driveway.
On March 24th, and before she left Aliza had told Jeremy she was headed to their grandmother’s house in Cleveland Heights to get some medicine and run errands. She told him that she'd bring back pizza for dinner.
It was about 5:30 p.m. and Aliza walked west toward Moore’s Stafford & Stafford office on the fifth floor of 55 Erieview Plaza. Aliza tried to get into the building but couldn't. She kept texting Moore asking where he was. Moore text her back and told her to come on up. Aliza text him back and told him the doors were locked. Moore told Aliza to wait a little longer, but it was cold outside and she told Moore she was going to wait in her car. Aliza turned around. She was about 30 feet from the entryway when she was stabbed, once in her right arm, twice in the right side of her neck and eight times in the back. Kenny Shepard, an employee on the fourth floor of 75 Erieview Plaza, heard her screams and rushed downstairs. By the time he arrived, there was blood everywhere and Aliza was trying to stay standing. Kenny immediately called 911. He pleaded with Aliza not to die. Aliza tried to to talk, but coughed up blood instead. He rolled her onto her stomach. A couple minutes later the ambulances arrived and rushed her off to the hospital.
Why would the Moore have Aliza come to his office on a Sunday?
At 7:45 p.m., Jennifer received a text message from Jeremy. “Are you with Mom or do you know where she is?”
Jennifer had been studying most of the day and had her phone on silent. After she checked her phone and saw the message from Jeremy, she noticed that she had received a text from her mom around 2:30 p.m. The text from Aliza told Jennifer that she was going to meet with the divorce attorney. That was the last message Jennifer would get from her mother.
Jennifer and Aliza were very close and they were in constant contact with each other every day. When she called her mother and got no answer, she became worried. Jennifer tried a second time and with no answer again, she called and talked to a very worried Jeremy. Jennifer then called her mother one more time, before trying Moore’s office. Neither of them answered. So Jennifer put on a pair of slippers and ran to her car in her pajamas.
When the police arrived, two detectives stepped out of the car. Jennifer rushed out to meet them. Tears streaming down her face she asked, “What happened to my mother?”
Investigators knew this wasn't a mugging. Nothing was taken from Aliza. She was still wearing her Jewelry, and her money appeared to be all there. They didn't think that this was a random act of violence either.
A grainy surveillance video, from a camera mounted outside a nearby parking garage, revealed a hooded figure, possibly in jeans and perhaps a green jacket, running away from the scene moments after the attack. Some people say that the person had a limp. Investigators were unable to discern from the video if the suspect was male or female but it looks like a male to me.
Police searched for the murder weapon everywhere, even on tops of roofs and at Aliza's home. To this day the murder weapon hasn't been located.
On October 20th, Jennifer and Keven were married. With neither parent present, as she walked down the isle with Jason on one side and Jeremy on the other. She carried a bouquet clasped with an open locket that held a portrait of Aliza from her wedding day.
Two months before her death, Aliza had became aware of the money that was stolen from her. She had hired forensic accountant Jeffrey Firestone. Aliza claimed she was not aware of the account when it was opened in her name in 2000. According to emails sent to Moore, Aliza was also unaware of ever signing power of attorney giving Sanford control over the funds in the account. By the time Aliza discovered the account with Firestone’s help, the account had been closed and the money withdrawn, including transfers into an account in Sanford’s name.
A forensic account that Jennifer hired went over the documents for the account and came to the conclusion that it wasn't Aliza's signature.
Sanford claimed that that was his money and on the advice of his lawyer, had put it in account under his wife's name.
Jennifer argued those funds belonged to Aliza’s estate since she was the sole proprietor of the account and had this issue been resolved in court, it may have belonged to Aliza upon the divorce. Sanford contended that the funds were considered marital assets used for supporting the family and didn't just belong to Aliza.
Four months after Jennifer filed the suit against Sanford, her older brother Josh filed a motion to remove her as co-executor of Aliza’s estate. He stated that she was bias against their father. Josh eventually dropped his claim in 2015.
In the civil case, Sanford testified that from roughly 2006 to 2010 he had been having an affair with a woman who lived in New York and Florida and that he made several trips to visit her. Testimony by some of Sanford’s closest friends, revealed that Sanford had been at the end of his rope and was emotionally distressed in the time leading up to Aliza filing for divorce.
One of Sanford’s closest friends, Larry Shanker, stated that in a conversation between him and Sanford, Sanford asked him how someone could get away with committing “a perfect murder.”
Larry said he replied, “Don’t use your car or don’t let your car be seen,” he testified. “Don’t use a gun because it could be heard. Don’t use your street clothes. Use something that would cover up your entire body, your face, your hands.”
Larry also alleged that Sanford had called him on the day that he was served the divorce papers. Sanford had asked Larry to come over because he was afraid of what he might do. When Larry arrived, Sanford was irate and not making much sense. He was also yelling that Aliza would never see a penny from the divorce. Larry was so disturbed by Sandord's behavior, that after 22 years of friendship, Larry never talked to or saw Sanford again.
Also in 2015, Cleveland police turned over the investigation to Cuyahoga County prosecutors to re-examine the evidence.
Also in 2015, Cleveland police turned over the investigation to Cuyahoga County prosecutors to re-examine the evidence.
In January 2016, Aliza’s attorney, Gregory Moore, was indicted on one count of tampering with evidence, one count of obstructing official business, one count of falsification, one count of telecommunications fraud and two counts of forgery. Prosecutors allege Moore sent Aliza text messages stating he was in his office at the time she was attacked, but phone records, electronic keycard data and witness statements allegedly show Moore left his office one hour before Aliza was murdered and didn’t return until one hour after police found her bleeding outside.
Moore denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty, but then eventually changed his plea to guilty. Moore was sentenced to 180 days in jail. Detectives do not have the evidence that would lead them to identify him as a suspect in her killing.
In December of 2017, all sides agreed to settle the civil suit. Sanford agreed to pay $110,000 to Aliza’s estate with the stipulation that Jennifer would forever release and discharge him from any claims they might make in the future. Jennifer agreed to Sanford’s stipulation with one addendum: If in the future he is convicted of any criminal offense related to her mother’s death, she reserves the right to renew her fight and make further claims against him.
Since day one, Jennifer has been fighting for her mother. Please help her in the Fight For Aliza. If you have seen anything or know anything that can help, no matter how small, please contact law enforcement.
Since day one, Jennifer has been fighting for her mother. Please help her in the Fight For Aliza. If you have seen anything or know anything that can help, no matter how small, please contact law enforcement.
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