The Widow and the Nurse

If Bridget Garcia was offered a payoff, she never took it. Even today, while Regina openly refers to her former nurse as a liar, Bridget remains unwavering in her claim: She was raped. And Daniel Greenhill was the one who raped her.The Aventura city seal is remarkably true to life. It features a sailboat gliding past one of the dozens of bland concrete condominium high-rises that crowd the skyline. Regina Greenhill lives on the tenth floor of one of these condos, the Bonavida. It is a secure and well-maintained building located on a street where elderly men take afternoon strolls wearing white pants and floppy terry-cloth hats. The Bonavida's lobby is all marble and mirrors. A shuffleboard court waits alongside the outdoor pool. The elevators glide smoothly to the tenth floor.

Regina's current nurse answers the door, revealing a living room carpeted in bright pastel shag. A white leather sofa faces the television. In the distance a balcony overlooks the green fairways of the Turnberry Isle golf course. Just off the living room is a small kitchen decorated with fading, garish wallpaper. A tiny woman in a blue nightgown sits at a small table, eating a lunch of fruit-flavored yogurt. A shock of gray hair rises above her head, revealing eyes that are bright and focused. She offers a greeting in a strong voice sweetened by a mild Southern accent. "You'll have to speak up," she says with a broad smile. "I'm hard of hearing."

Regina's smile vanishes, however, at the mention of her relationship with Bridget Garcia. "We're through with all that," she snips. "The case, everything, it's all closed." She refers all questions to her lawyer, Michael Snyder, adding one caveat: "Don't believe anything Bridget says. She is an accomplished liar. She is a very accomplished liar."

Regina was born 87 years ago in Washington, D.C., into a prominent family. Her father helped found the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Her sister, Miriam Ottenberg, won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting at the now defunct Washington Star. Her mother, Russian immigrant Nettie Ottenberg, helped write the District of Columbia's juvenile-court law. At age 75, after she won funding from the U.S. Senate for one of her pet causes, Nettie became known as the Mother of Day Care. The Ottenberg Bakery, founded by Regina's grandfather Isaac, remains a family-owned Washington institution.

Regina relocated to Florida with her husband, Jerry, an engineer. She raised their two boys and worked as a psychiatric social worker. Even after she retired, Regina remained active. She devoted herself to the National Council of Jewish Women, where she served as vice president of community service. She supported the Democratic Party. After son Daniel chose to settle in the Middle East, she joined the Association of Parents of American Israelis, serving as secretary. Her activities continued even after Jerry died in 1984.

But about five years ago, she suffered a mild stroke. Ever since then she has been in the care of a private nurse, though friends stress that she retains her keen intellect and drive. "Regina is a lovely, refined lady, a tremendous lady," offers Wilma Morrison Friedman, a Bonavida neighbor. "I'm much younger than Regina, yet even into her eighties, she was driving me to Bible-study classes at Beth Torah. She's amazing."

There were problems with the nurse who preceded Bridget. "This woman was very crass and insensitive to Mom," reports Daniel Greenhill during a telephone interview from Israel. "She acted in a dictatorial fashion, arguing, for instance, if you asked her to turn down the kitchen radio instead of keeping it blaring all day long." Neighbors gently complained that Regina sometimes smelled of urine.

In June 1998 the family replaced that nurse with Bridget Garcia. Bridget was 48 years old at the time. Although she was born and reared in St. Croix, she moved to Florida more than 25 years ago at the urging of a sister who had already relocated. In time she married a Honduran man, gave birth to two daughters, and eventually divorced, claiming her husband was too jealous.

While in St. Croix, Bridget typed memos and legal briefs in a lawyer's office. After moving to Florida, she found work folding towels at a Miami Beach hotel. To escape this low-paying drudgery, she attended a vocational school to earn certification as a nursing assistant. Although her occupational choice provided a step up from folding towels, CNAs toil in a low echelon of the medical field, well below registered nurses in both pay and prestige.