Rick Zainer was a registered nurse who orchestrated a plot to murder his wealthy employer at the hands of the latter's son and second wife, which also caused the death of a housemaid.
Background[]
Zainer was hired as a private nurse by wealthy banker Harry Sternman, whose many ailments and medical problems required constant assistance and a daily administration of several drugs. Secretly, Zainer felt humiliated by his job, and his resentment towards Sternman grew even more after the latter ignored his request of a school recommendation for his sons. After he became aware of a prenuptial agreement Sternman had signed with his second wife Kit, Zainer began concocting a scheme to get even with his boss and the entire Sternman family.
First, he increased Sternman's doses of Zoloft and Xanax so that he could become more and more paranoid. Then, he entered into a sexual relationship with Harry's son Edward, obtained a sample of his semen, and placed it on a bedsheet in order to convince Sternman that his son was having an affair with Kit. This amounted to a violation of the prenuptial agreement, meaning Kit would have lost her annuity and benefits. Once he discovered the bedsheet, Sternman decided to cut Edward out of his will. At the same time, Zainer entertained a sexual relationship with Kit, to whom he revealed Sternman had discovered the affair, omitting the fact that her husband thought she and Edward were lovers. Finally, he lied to Edward that his father was going to cut him out of his will to favor a son he was fathering with Kit.
Enemy Within[]
By doing all of this, Zainer hoped that either Kit would kill Sternman to cover up the affair and keep his benefits, or Edward would kill his father to inherit his fortune. Eventually, Edward hired an arsonist named Colin Flynn to set Sternman's penthouse on fire, but his plan was only to have his father to leave the building so that he could sell it and acquire liquidity for the family company. As a precaution, he even warned Zainer that he had to evacuate the building with Sternman through the service elevator if something happened. Upon learning this information from Zainer, Kit used his personal code to block the elevator, trapping her husband inside when the fire broke out. Nonetheless, Sternman preferred to lock himself inside the bathroom, which was also his panic room, and died of smoke inhalation as a result. A housemaid named Aricelli DiMarco also died in the laundry room.
Detectives Goren and Eames investigated both Edward and Kit as possible suspects, but in the end, they concluded that Zainer had triggered the events that culminated in Sternman's death. Goren tricked Zainer into believing he had committed the perfect murder. In response, Zainer confessed to his actions, but he was later told that, since he was a registered nurse and had signed a contract to care for Sternman, he was responsible for his death. Zainer was charged with manslaughter, but his fate remains unknown.