Former Suffolk judge Georgia Tschiember, lead prosecutor for serial killer Robert Shulman, dies

Georgia Tschiember, a former Suffolk County judge who as a prosecutor led the Robert Shulman serial murder case, died Friday at her home in Fort Salonga after a short illness, her family said. She was 85.

One of Tschiember’s most memorable cases as a Suffolk County prosecutor was that of Shulman of Hicksville, who was convicted in 1999 of the 1990s serial killings of five women and was sentenced to death.

Shulman’s sentence was later changed to life in prison after New York State's death penalty statute was struck down as unconstitutional. He died in state prison in 2006 at age 52.

The horror of the murders deeply affected Tschiember and would haunt her for the rest of her life.

"It was shocking to me to see those bodies," Tschiember told Newsday outside a Suffolk courtroom after Shulman was sentenced in 1999. She said the brutality of the murders shook her to the core.

In retirement, Tschiember sometimes gave talks — complete with graphic images of the crime scene — about the Shulman case to others in the Florida community where she and her husband had a winter home, said her husband of 47 years, John Tschiember.

After leaving her job as prosecutor, Georgia Tschiember filled a vacancy in 2002 as a Suffolk County District Court judge, winning election in her own right later that year.

Paul Gianelli, an attorney for Shulman, recently praised Tschiember.

"The criminal bar lost one of its finest advocates," Gianelli said. "Georgia was prepared, unflappable and always courteous."

From her 2006 retirement from the bench to early this year, Tschiember worked as a judicial hearing officer, adjudicating auto seizures related to DWI matters, said her husband, a retired detective on the Suffolk police robbery squad.

John Tschiember recalled a day in the early 1970s when he and his partner entered a bar on Veterans Memorial Highway to meet with an informant.

As John Tschiember glanced around the room, he recalled, a pretty, well-dressed, dark-haired woman captivated his attention. He said he told his partner: " ‘That is the girl I am going to marry’ … She was the classiest woman I had ever seen."

John Tschiember said he went up to the former Georgia Yovanovich and struck up a conversation. Both were previously married; they wed three years after their initial encounter, her husband said.

The former detective said he encouraged his wife, who earlier worked as a bus driver, to pursue higher education. Georgia Tschiember earned her college degree from the former C.W. Post and a law degree from Hofstra University. In 1980, she joined the staff of then-Suffolk County District Attorney Patrick Henry, where for over two decades she carved out a career as a top homicide prosecutor, her husband said.

Georgia Tschiember was a past president of the Suffolk County Women’s Bar Association and a member of the Suffolk County Bar Association. Of Serbian and Russian lineage, she traveled with her husband to Europe often, including visits to England, Russia, Spain, France and Germany.

After Tschiember became ill earlier this year, she spent her time at home, seated in a wheelchair, on a deck at her home and peacefully looking out over nearby marshland, John Tschiember said.

In addition to her husband, Tschiember is survived by three daughters, Dawn Antonucci of Oyster Bay and Shelly Tschiember and Darlene Tschiember, both of Florida.

A wake was held earlier this week at Clayton Funeral Home in Kings Park. Funeral plans are private.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.com

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.