Einhorn had a five-year relationship with Holly Maddux, a graduate of
Bryn Mawr College who was from
Tyler, Texas. In 1977, Maddux broke up with Einhorn and went to
New York City, where she became involved with Saul Lapidus. On September 9, 1977, Maddux returned to the
Powelton Village apartment she had previously shared with Einhorn to collect her belongings (which Einhorn had reportedly threatened to throw out into the street as trash) and was never seen again. Several weeks later, the
Philadelphia police questioned Einhorn about her disappearance. He claimed that Maddux had gone out to the
neighborhood co-op to buy some
tofu and
sprouts, and never returned. Einhorn's initial
alibi came into question when his neighbors began complaining about a foul smell coming from his apartment, which in turn aroused the suspicion of authorities. During this time, Einhorn was dating filmmaker
Cecelia Condit, who could not smell the body due to medication she was on affecting her sense of smell. Condit would later go on to make the short film
Beneath the Skin about this experience. Eighteen months later, on March 28, 1979, Maddux's
decomposing corpse was found by police in a trunk stored in Einhorn's closet. After finding the body, a police officer reportedly said to Einhorn, "It looks like we found Holly," to which he reportedly replied, "You found what you found." Einhorn's lawyer,
Arlen Specter, negotiated
bail of $40,000; he was released from custody after posting a bond of $4,000, or 10% of the $40,000. This was paid by Barbara Bronfman (née Baerwald), a
Montreal socialite who married into the wealthy
Bronfman family and met Einhorn through a shared interest in the
paranormal. In 1981, just days before his murder trial was to begin, Einhorn skipped bail and fled to
Europe. He lived there for the next seventeen years and married a
Swedish woman named Annika Flodin. In
Pennsylvania, as Einhorn had already been
arraigned, the state convicted him
in absentia of Maddux's murder in 1996. Einhorn was sentenced to
life in prison without the possibility of
parole.
Extradition In 1997, Einhorn was arrested in
Champagne-Mouton, France, where he had been living under the name "Eugène Mallon" and incarcerated for about six months at the local Gradignan jail before he was placed under a loose form of house arrest. The
extradition process proved more complex than initially envisioned. Under the extradition treaty between France and the United States, either country may refuse extradition under certain circumstances, and Einhorn used multiple avenues to avoid extradition. Although Einhorn was not
sentenced to death, his defense attorneys argued that he would face the death penalty if he were returned to the United States. France, like many countries that have abolished the death penalty, does not extradite defendants to jurisdictions that retain the death penalty without assurance that it will be neither sought nor applied. Pennsylvania authorities pointed out that when the murder occurred, the state did not practice the death penalty and so Einhorn could not be executed because the state and federal constitutions forbid
ex post facto law. Einhorn's next strategy involved French law and the
European Court of Human Rights, which require a new trial when the defendant was tried
in absentia and unable to present his
defense. On this basis, the court of appeals of
Bordeaux rejected the extradition request. Following the court's decision, thirty-five members of
Congress sent a letter to
French President Jacques Chirac to ask for Einhorn's extradition. However, under France's doctrine of the
separation of powers, which was invoked in this case, the President cannot give orders to courts and does not intervene in extradition affairs. Therefore, in 1998, to secure Einhorn's extradition, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a bill, nicknamed the "Einhorn Law", allowing defendants convicted
in absentia to request another trial. In another delay tactic, Einhorn's attorneys criticized the bill as unconstitutional and tried to get the French courts to once again deny the extradition on the grounds that the law would be inapplicable. However, the French court ruled itself unable to evaluate the constitutionality of foreign laws. Another point of friction with the United States was that the court freed Einhorn under police supervision, as French laws put restrictions on
remand, the imprisonment of suspects awaiting trial. Einhorn then became the focus of intense surveillance by French police. The matter went before
Prime Minister Lionel Jospin; extraditions, after having been approved by courts, must be ordered by the executive. The
French Green Party stated that Einhorn should not be extradited until it was certain that the "Einhorn Law" could not be reversed. Jospin rejected the claims and issued an extradition
decree. Einhorn then litigated against the decree before the ''
Conseil d'État'', which ruled against him; again, the Council declined to review the constitutionality of foreign law. He then attempted to slit his own throat to avoid imprisonment and eventually litigated his case before the European Court of Human Rights, which also ruled against him. On July 20, 2001, Einhorn was extradited to the United States.
Trial and sentencing Taking the stand in his own defense, Einhorn claimed that Maddux was murdered by
CIA agents, who attempted to frame him due to his investigations into the
Cold War and
psychotronics. After two hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Einhorn on October 17, 2002, concluding the month-long trial. Einhorn began serving his sentence at
Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution (SCI) Houtzdale. In November 2006, Einhorn's sentence was unanimously affirmed by the
Superior Court of Pennsylvania. ==Death==