Dateline: Who is Paul Novak and what do we know about his crimes? Disturbing details of the 2008 homicide, revealed

Dateline NBC highlights an important and chilling 2008 case when a mysterious fire in the house kills Catherine Novak. Neighbors woke up seeing the glow at a distance and thought it was a sunrise, only to later realize it was a blazing house with a woman dead inside. Catherine's husband, Paul Novak, became the prime suspect in the case and was later convicted of murder.

Novak, who was a New York City paramedic and had a history of saving lives, took the life of his own wife. He lived in Sullivan County, New York, with his wife, Catherine, and had two children. However, by the year of the murder, the couple were going through a divorce with disputes over custody and finances. Read on to know more about Paul Novak and the disturbing crime details, as shown in Dateline.

Dateline: Who is Paul Novak, and what do we know about his crimes?

Paul Novak was born and raised in New York State. He trained as a paramedic and worked for the New York City Fire Department. His colleagues described him as competent but sometimes arrogant and authoritative. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, he moved with his wife, Catherine, also known as Cathy, to Sullivan County, New York, a rural area. They bought a house there in a hamlet outside Narrowsburg.

Paul and Catherine had two children together. Gradually, by 2008, their marriage started to fall apart. Friends and family testified how controlling, domineering, and cold Paul had become to Catherine by then. They decided to separate, with Catherine living in the Sullivan home while Paul shifted to Long Island with his new girlfriend, Michelle LaFrance.

On the morning of December 13, 2008, when neighbors confirmed the huge fire blazing in a house, firefighters responded to Catherine Novak’s home. Inside the charred remains of the house, they discovered her body. Initially, it appeared to be the result of an accident, but later investigations determined that Catherine had been drugged, and strangled before being set on fire.

Disturbing details of the 2008 homicide, as per Dateline

In the early morning hours, Novak and an accomplice friend, Scott Sherwood, drove to Catherine’s home. They got into the house and drugged and suffocated Catherine. They set the house on fire to destroy the evidence.

The firefighters, when they reached the house, found the woman's burned remains inside. Novak also established an alibi, which stated that he was in New York when the fire occurred. Moreover, he straightaway denied involvement, which led to the case going cold for years until the forensic evidence emerged.

Years later, his girlfriend, LaFrance, turned on him and testified to Novak's confession about killing his former wife. Scott Sherwood also confirmed his involvement. This reopened the case and gave enough evidence against Paul.

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The trial happened in 2013 when the case also attracted media attention and later a feature on Dateline. Novak even gave an on-camera jailhouse interview to a reporter before trial, insisting he was innocent.

Novak was convicted of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder, arson, and burglary, among other charges. He got a life sentence without parole.

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