Linda Stein and her alleged killer, Natavia Lowery

The two daughters of murdered Prudential Douglas Elliman broker Linda Stein claim the brokerage was negligent in hiring the woman who was charged with Stein’s 2007 death.

Daughters Samantha Wells and Mandy Stein allege in a new wrongful death lawsuit, which does not specify the amount of money they are seeking, that the city’s largest residential brokerage hired Natavia Lowery, their mother’s personal and work assistant, despite several arrest warrants having been filed against her and should have hired someone from within the company, rather than through a job placement agency.

The brokerage “failed to perform their own background check on Natavia S. Lowery or use better judgment when hiring someone such as this for a professional such as Linda Stein who dealt with celebrity clients and multi-million dollar properties,” the suit says. [more]