Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with IHeartRadio.

If there had been true crime podcasts in the year 1800, this sensational murder trial would have been a hot topic under discussion.

A young woman was killed just before Christmas in New York City on the night she was to elope with her lover.

The prime suspect was Levi Weeks, her presumptive fiancé, but he denied to authorities they had any

relationship, and he denied any involvement in her death. His defense team was the hottest trio of lawyers in town.

We're here to tell the story of Elma Sands and how the criminal justice system never established what

really happened to her or who was to blame. Welcome to criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky. And I'm Holly Fry.

Levi Weeks was a 23-year-old carpenter living in New York City in the 1790s.

He dreamed of becoming an architect and builder like his powerful brother, Ezra, and he was working with him to develop his skills and contacts.

Ezra Weeks was well-known, well-liked, and very well-connected. He socialized in the most elite of elite circles. He was one of the city's

most successful builders involved in and responsible for the construction of much of the

growing city's infrastructure.

Plus, notably, the Hamilton Grange, a country estate built for Alexander Hamilton in uptown Manhattan,

and Gracie Mansion, the official residence of the mayor of New York City.

In the summer of 1799, Levi fell in love with a woman named Elma Sands.

Born Guleleelma Elmore Sands, Elma, as she was known, moved to New York City from the

Connecticut Valley at age 22 to work at a millinery shop owned and operated by her cousin,

Catherine Ring, and Catherine's husband, Elias. Elma lived in the Ring's boarding house at 208

Greenwich Street, above their commercial space. Elma and Levi met coincidentally. They were living

under the same roof. At first, they tried to keep their love affair hidden, but the relationship

intensified quickly. Other tenants soon found them out.

On a few occasions, the pair were caught scantily clad, caught having sex, or sometimes were

...