20/20 - True Crime Vault: Family Secrets

Episode Date: February 19, 2025

A New Jersey radio host's murder is the focus. Included: her daughter's five-year fight for justice; and the victim's husband's alleged involvement in her murder, with links to his ties to an illegal drug-distribution ring. Originally aired: 06/22/18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

TD Direct Investing offers live support. So whether you're a newbie or a seasoned pro, you can make your investing steps count. And if you're like me and think a TFSA stands for Total Fund Savings Adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where heart-stopping headlines come to life.

I begged her for an ounce of her strength, so that I could put one foot in front of the other. Tonight on an all-new 2020, an unbreakable bond between mother and daughter, but someone came between them. He's like, Mom's dead, and he just kept repeating kept repeating mom's dead mom's dead. I ran downstairs and was a star. I almost thought of Albany. She was found laying right here and I said well you can go right over there because that's the person that killed my mom. But just who was she

pointing at? This is a delicate question whether somebody that she was having an affair with could have killed her. Sure. He started thinking about ways to engage his exit strategy. To get rid of her. To get rid of her. Hold on, he's coming out. Tonight, a daughter's discovery of family secrets and scandals leading to a dramatic showdown.

Drop the gun! Drop the gun! Behind the scenes, Kim was nonstop digging, digging for answers, getting proof. Now we're taking you inside her obsessed six-year crusade to catch the killer. What kind of crime? We're talking murder. 2020 tonight going into a dangerous underworld no one could have imagined. Drugs and a lot of money, inevitably a murder of April Gawson. Before this hour is over, there will be another shocking death. But is that the end of the story? This is my life and I feel like this is the worst made-for-TV movie on the planet.

Good evening. I'm Amy Robach and I'm David Mueller and this is 2020 and here tonight, Debra Wabblins. W-I-B-G, it's the talk of South Jersey. Driving the corridor between Atlantic City and Philadelphia weekdays between the hours of 2 and 4, you may have heard this voice on W-I-B-G FM. If you don't vote, I will find out I'm going to your house. I'm dragging you outside. That's the no nonsense April Kaufman, a peppery provocative radio host.

I love being here to bring you the truth. Is unvarnished is on pretty unbuttered on the biscuit. It is tackling topics from politics, caring for US vets. Homelessness is a big a big issue in our country right now for our veterans listeners couldn't get

enough of the Jersey girl with the platinum hair, big smile and high wattage personality. She was like a whirlwind. She would come in and she would make a lasting impression on everyone. In her upscale town of Linwood, New Jersey, not far from the boardwalk, April and husband Dr. Jim Kaufman, a prominent endocrinologist, are the community's consummate power couple. The two of them were well known individually as well as together. They really wanted to be involved in the community, but they also like to have some fun.

Every day the doctor and Mrs. Kaufman had a familiar routine. Jim heading to his medical practice before sunrise and then a standing phone call with April at 8.30 a.m. But on Thursday, May 10, 2012, that call to April goes unanswered. And after several failed attempts, Dr. Kaufman sends over his handyman to their home on Woodstock Drive, where he discovers a horror. 911, where's your emergency? Yes, I have my boss is down. She's lying on the floor in her bedroom and not answering.

Okay, where are you, sir? Okay, hold on, I'm transferring you. 47-year-old April Kaufman found dead on the floor of her bedroom. With the family handyman on with 911, Jim calls Linwood Police. Detective James Scopa took me inside the home where the wealthy socialite who once lived larger than life was discovered dead, shot multiple times. She was found laying right here. Face down.

Face down. As the media got there and they started to realize who it was, that's when they knew okay this is really a story. It was chaos. As the steady were of helicopter blades begin swarming the sky. Jim Kaufman makes another phone call this one to stepdaughter Kim pack. I answer the phone and I say hello and he's like Kimberly and I said yes he's like mom's dead and he just kept repeating mom's dead mom mom's dead, over and over. As I got to the front door, there was a police officer that put his hands out, and I pushed his hands away. And I go, where's my mom? Where's my mom?

What is happening here? I need to see my mother. He said, we think this is a potential homicide. No one could imagine who would have shot April Kaufman. Beautiful, blonde, glamorous, and she was fun. No one had any idea what was going on behind those closed doors. She made everybody feel like they were her best friend.

Didn't matter who they were, the checkout, the parking lot, cart guy, you know, hey beautiful, hey handsome, how you doing today. Friends Peggle Boyle and Lee Darby knew April since she was a teenager and knew her well enough to know that her outward glow masked an inner pain. She had a really rough childhood. When April was 11 her mother gave her brothers and sister up for adoption and April

was raised by her grandmother and her brothers and sister were put into foster care. You know I think she had her thirst for being you know feeling love you just wanted to be loved. She would discover unconditional love at 17 when she gave birth to Kim with her first husband. She was an incredible mom. She seemed to just instinctively know what to do. She always spoke to Kimberly like a little adult. And we used to call her Agnes. Agnes Beeswax. Because she was this little old soul. April just wanted the best for her

and gave her the best that she possibly could. You know she worked hard. April dropped out of school when she became pregnant but she got her GED. She clawed her way back. She opened a salon, a catering business, a cafe, a charity worker. But while April worked hard, she played hard too. She liked motorcycles and fast cars? She did. When she got her first motorcycle, she said, I'll give you $300 to get on the back of my motorcycle. And I was like, no way. My feet are on the ground and she would be like, all right, $500. And I'm like'm like no I'm not getting on the back of your motorcycle.

Just the need for speed and wasn't afraid. After two failed marriages she meets Dr. Jim Kaufman. Friends and family say the wild child finally had found her match. He drives a Harley, he's smoking cigars, he's a green beret in the military, a doctor. In fact, this caricature sketched for Jim's 60th birthday seems to sum up the couple's life. There's April, the buxom Jersey girl, overshadowed by her larger than life new husband, who's prominently depicted with a gun,

big cigar, and something else, military tattoos. He had purple hearts. He had medals, sharpshooter medals, that he had gotten from being in the war. Why? Who? Yeah. What is this good for?

Absolutely nothing. The Vietnam War, back when protest songs permeated the radio airwaves in the U.S. Jim Kaufman makes clear he distinguished himself on the battlefield. Kim was so impressed she asked her stepdad to be the subject of a college project. He agreed to be interviewed with some conditions. There were two rules to this interview. One, you can never ask my mother about this, anything pertaining to this interview. And two, you have to destroy the tape when you're finished.

That's a little mysterious. Yeah, but you know, I just thought out of respect, this is what he's asking. He talks about how the Viet Cong had ambushed his camp, stabbed him, but also stabbed and left all of his comrades and left them for dead. And his sole mission, he had said, was to grab these dog tags and bring these dog tags to these people's families so that they know what happened to their boys.

That's an amazing story. Yes. It's no wonder April was motivated to mount a campaign using her radio voice to demand quality health care for veterans. This was such a big issue that affected our veterans and our state, our country. So I will thank my husband for a lot of the things that I've learned over the years. April felt that veterans should be treated like rock stars. So how did this fierce and loved advocate for casualties of war become a casualty herself?

Kim has an idea and approaches investigators with a shocking declaration. As I made my way out into the cul-de-sac, I look up in the air and there's all these news choppers flying up above. And I said, well, you can go right over there because that's the person that killed my mom. Stay with us. With the FIZ loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan.

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Get yours, Questrade. Many attended today's funeral services at Beth-El Synagogue in Margate for 47-year-old April Kaufman. Mother's Day 2012, the town of Linwood, New Jersey turns out for one of its own, complete with a cortege of veterans leading their champion, April Kaufman, to her final resting place. The well-known local radio host, who was shot multiple times and discovered dead in her Linwood home last Thursday. It was like a state procession for April Kaufman. No one could believe what had happened. She just was so caring, so compassionate. She just was an inspiration to everybody.

The law's heaviest for April's daughter, Kim. I miss her calling me nonstop all the time. I miss her laugh. I miss her smile. I miss her infinite wisdom, because she really was my rock. After the morning came the murmuring. Sometimes talk is cheap, even in wealthy towns. This is a delicate question,

but there were questions about whether your mom was having affairs. You know they had a very unhealthy relationship the both of them and I will just say that there were indiscretions on both sides of the fence and I'll leave it at that. Did it concern you that maybe somebody that she had been involved with could have killed her. No, but I certainly provided those people's names

to the police and I allowed them to do their due diligence. While the community is in shock and a Washington rumor and innuendo, listen to this, April's final radio broadcast where she sounds like a woman who thinks her days are numbered. And my bottom line is if nothing else of my legacy of leaving a really beautiful daughter

and two grandchildren on this planet, I really hope to God that people, you know, hey, I could get a flyover at my funeral now. You listen back to that and you think, does she have a premonition? It's kind of like she was trying to tell us something, I believe. In those early days after her mom's death, there's one thing gnawing at Kim. One person she's curiously not getting consolation from? Her stepdad, Dr. Jim Kaufman. Dr. James Kaufman was a very well-respected

and well-regarded member of this community. But to Kim, stepfather Jim was a very different person. He was very cold to me, always kept me at an arm's length. Literally, just look at the pained body language in this video taken on Kim's wedding day. One, two, and three. Here we go.

Take a close look. He steps into the scene. He smiles one time for the camera to flash. Then he goes back to a very taciturn demeanor and steps out. No hugging, no kissing, no warmth, nothing. You would be in the dining room. I would be talking to my mom, and he would come

and turn the lights off and just walk out of the room. He controlled her cash flow. Oh, yes, how much money she could spend. Oh, yes And sometimes even calling her who are you with? Where are you? and Just two months before April's murder It seems the bloom was officially off the rows of her nearly 10 year marriage Kim recalling a lunch where her mother confides She's had enough. She talked about that she really needed to start aligning herself and getting herself in a good spot to be able to leave.

I think that he had made it clear to her that she wasn't going to divorce him and take half of his empire. That was his famous words. Did you get any feeling that your mom might have been in any kind of danger? She had made it clear over the years that he had threatened to kill her several times. But would always follow up with, he doesn't have the guts to do it. Though Jim is not named a suspect, some might say he begins acting like one. Within days of April's body being found. Jim hires a lawyer. Not only a lawyer, but the lawyer, a mob lawyer.

Ed Jacobs, one of the biggest legal names in Atlantic County. He's even defended Bill Cosby in one of his sex assault accusations. He loves defending high profile criminal cases. His walls in his office are covered with news clips of himself. One possible reason he's not named a suspect, he's got an airtight alibi. That's him entering a local convenience store around the same time his wife is being gunned down.

Authorities are not releasing details, but it appears that Kaufman's shooting death was not random. I meet him in a restaurant and he says to me, let me tell you something. I have a very good attorney and I had been advised to not speak to anybody about this. He's like, you might need to really start to realize that this is never going to be solved. And I said, well, I'm not going to realize that, I said, because I will never stop finding out. And I walked away and I never spoke to him ever again. As the months drag on, Kim says the only cold shoulder icier than Jim's is the

one she's getting from then Atlantic County prosecutor Jim McClain. I had several meetings with him and he would just say it was active and open and not really say much more. Did you get the impression that he was determined to get to the bottom of this? No. Did you get the impression that he was determined to get to the bottom of this? No. No. Then, on the one-year anniversary of April's murder, Minnie turned out for a candlelight vigil, including so many events she'd made her cause.

Noticeably absent, Dr. Jim Kaufman. He marks the milestone another way. We discovered that he was getting ready to auction off all of April's belongings and hadn't given anything to Kim. How crushing was that for you? Beyond because the things that I asked for that belonged to my mother were family heirlooms or possibly Disney coffee mugs. With her mother and all those mementos lost, Kim tries to adjust to a new normal while raising her two young sons and holding down her job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. Marching through every single day waking up with another day of hopelessness

while trying to keep that glimmer of hope alive is a very tricky thing to do. Yet while life for Kim seems hopelessly on pause, for Jim Kaufman, it's full speed ahead. Just 15 months after his wife's murder, he ties the knot again. He remarries Carol Weintraub. When did that start? Now, the version we've gotten is that they started dating after April was found murdered.

Now that's so romance. April's friends and family were devastated. And they felt like it was a slap in the face. But the people who support Jim Kaufman say, you know, he's a widow. And he's moving on with his life. But Dr. Kaufman's next move sets off a chain of events that pushes Kim out of limbo.

He went after my mom's life insurance policy. And your reaction? No way. Because you know what, this is my only attempt to maybe be able to get some answers, and the truth maybe would start to come out. Now it's Kim's turn to lawyer up. Believing Jim is the killer,

she files a wrongful death suit against her stepdad to keep him from getting her mom's $600,000 life insurance policy. I have no choice to respond and to begin to fight for what I know is right. The most significant kind of civil lawsuit you can have is a wrongful death case. Coming up, a daughter undaunted and the dynamic duo attorneys she hires begin digging into the case and what they say they uncover is shocking. We were talking to people that were critical witnesses to us that had not spoken to the prosecutor's office.

And their chance to grill the grieving good doctor. He was under oath in a civil deposition they can ask him anything. Next. Atlantic City, legendary for its slots, signature shows, and of course this moment. But the boom and the bust of the casino industry has made America's favorite playground a hotbed for crime, corruption and a startling number of unsolved cases. Cases like April Kaufman's.

But Kim Pack and her dogged attorneys Patrick and Andrew Darcy drill down, determined to get answers. Behind the scenes, Kim with us was non-stop digging, digging for answers, getting proof. We were on an island all on our own. But the tide may be turning. I grew up on the beaches and the boardwalk of Atlantic City and I always say I have sand in my shoes. Meet Damon Tyner, son of one of Atlantic City's fabled firefighters and a longtime cop. Your dad was a bit of a legend.

Yeah, he was very well known throughout the community. But the younger Tyner made a name for himself as a Superior Court Judge. Good to see you. So you make it out. Name the pizza for me. I think right here? Yep, that would be me. And then last year... My Damon G. Turner. ...became the first black prosecutor

in the county's history. So help me God. Many seeing him as the city's much needed savior. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. Great job, thank you. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

You all right? I know, I'm not a judge anymore. Good to see you. That man's cleaning up A&C. There you go. You took a pledge when you took the office. Tell me about the pledge. Dating back to 1970, there were about 140 unsolved homicides. I urged my executive staff to tell me which cases were most solvable. Unanimously, they all came back to me and said the murder of April

Kaufman. But Tyner is sworn in almost five years after April Kaufman's murder. Five long years. A lot of people wondered why five years passed and no recognizable work had been done. It wasn't that there were glaring mistakes. It was just an omission of effort, you might say. We wondered about that and tried asking former prosecutor Jim McClain about the investigation. His spokesperson tells 20-20, McClain has no comment. Fortunately, Damon Tyner became prosecutor and his team came to the conclusion that this case should be prosecuted.

For the first time, someone's listening here. Tyner agreed to meet Kim Pack and her lawyers within that first month. What did that mean to you? The fact that I was lucky enough for him to say I'm gonna take a second look at this. Me, my keys. Thank you. Like this is all I've been asking for this entire time is for someone to care. It took three hours for Kim's lawyers to unpack all they had uncovered. You should take a look at these records. But no evidence as compelling or illuminating as this. Today's July the 11th, 2014.

A four and a half hour long video deposition of Dr. Jim Kaufman himself, finally talking for that wrongful death lawsuit Kim has filed. Basically I ask the questions, you give the answers. Understood? Yes. Four and a half hours on the road is a lot of time. It's a lot of questions. We may proceed.

That was the first time he could be compelled to talk. There he is in the hot seat for the very first time, getting grilled on everything from his love of guns. How many guns do you own? Approximately 18. To the moment he first saw his wife lying lifeless on the floor. I ran upstairs, I looked inside and unfortunately saw April lying there. And she wasn't moving and she had a pallor, which I've known after 30 years is obviously someone has passed away. And I ran downstairs and went out on the lawn

and was hysterical and started vomiting. Do you have tissues by the way? I got them. Do you need to break? When I look at a deposition, I sometimes turn the sound down. I don't want to hear what they're saying, I want to see what they look like and what their facial expressions are. He struck me as a manipulative guy. But there's a barrel-sized bombshell about to drop.

The doctor's casual and stunning admission about a secret he's been keeping for years seems that time he spent in the Special Forces wasn't so special. Had you ever served in any branch of the military? No. That's right, Dr. Kaufman forced to come clean about his so-called stellar military record. Those Purple Hearts, those sharpshooter medals, all lies.

Did you ever tell Kim Pack you were in the military? Yes. Did you ever do a project for college and part of the project was you being in the military? Yes. And what you went through? Yes. And what you went through? Yes. And that you carried bodies? Yes.

And the torture that you had gone through? Yes. Did you ever tell anyone that you were a Green Beret? Yes. Who'd you tell? I don't recall how many people I told. So you created this background that didn't even really exist? That is correct.

Once you start examining someone who is bold enough to engage in stolen valor, you start realizing that there are other aspects to this man's life that would require us to investigate. But in that deposition, Dr. Kaufman posits his own theories about who may have killed his wife. Who do you think did it? I thought it could be someone who was one of the veterans. The last choice was someone in a motorcycle gang. What motorcycle gang? The Pagans. The Pagan motorcycle gang?

Remember, April had a penchant for motorcycles. Could that mean she was in deep with the kind of people known for violent behavior? The pagan outlaws are the equivalent of the hell's angels. They are felons of the most dangerous sort. Coming up, a stunning turn in the Kaufman case. Leading to a standoff in the Garden State. Drop the gun! No, I'm not going to jail for this.

Put the weapon down. No! Stay with us. Now, finally... Not many people live to tell about their involvement with a serial killer. The one man who helped break the case... Never before a face-to-face interview with the camera. Why now? Let me ask you. What do you think? Am I the evil culprit?

The accomplice? I'd like to know how the audience views me. No! The Fox Hollow Murders. Playground of a serial killer. Now streaming on Hulu. Now streaming on Hulu. MUSIC We're on the beat with James Scopa, lead detective determined to crack a big case for Atlantic City's new prosecutor.

I was happy when prosecutor Tonner came in and he allowed us to work on a case and investigate it like we believe it should be. Meanwhile, Kim and her lawyers keep their eye on what they believe is the prize, Jim Kaufman using his pictures on social media as incentive. I would get a picture of Jim Kaufman and Carol at the final four and smiling and I'd put it on my brother's screen so that when he came in in the morning, that would be the first thing he'd see is a picture of Jim Kaufman saying,

yeah, so what? I killed him. What are you going to do about it? But there's an unexpected canary in Kaufman's coal mine. It's coming in the form of a tip from the FBI. The feds believe Kaufman may be involved in another unrelated crime. Lo and behold, another investigation related to insurance fraud, his role as a doctor, comes up. Investigators get a warrant to search his office. So they show up at Kaufman's clinic just to look at his records. On June 13th, 2017, we attempted to serve a search warrant

at Dr. Kaufman's office here. Within minutes, it's clear this will not be a routine visit. What does he do instead of ushering them in as most of us would with the feds? No, he grabs a 9mm Ruger. A police body cam captures it all. You can see and hear him refusing to let authorities inside. I've won a gunpoint, Dr. James Kaufman.

He has a weapon. Drop the gun! Drop the gun! For 45 minutes, there's a heart-pounding standoff. Drop the gun! At one point Dr. Kaufman threatening to take his life. It sure seems like Jim thinks they're there in connection with April's murder. Listen let's talk! Finally a hostage negotiator gets the disgraced doctor to surrender.

This video changes everything. The husband of a murdered South Jersey radio host and advocate is behind bars following an early morning standoff. Investigators say that same day they seized more weapons from Kaufman and at least $100,000 in cash. That was a game changer. After the standoff with Jim Kaufman, he goes to jail, not for murder, but for weapons charges. He fights to try to get out. The judge would not let him out based on his conduct. And that gives the new prosecutor, Tyner, a chance to really dig into the murder case. Starting with the crime scene.

So this is the house here. The bedroom that April was found was upstairs. But the biggest break in the case doesn't come from inside this house at all. We knew dr Kaufman that there was a point in time that he was inquiring about having her killed and how'd you find that out? We were able to get a witness to cooperate with us this past November. That broke the case. And who was that witness? A former member of the Pagans Motorcycle Club. Remember them? They're the ones Doctor Kaufman had

pointed the finger at in his deposition. The last choice was there was someone in a motorcycle gang. What motorcycle game? The Pagans. But now the tables have turned one of those Pagans ratting out Kaufman, and not just for murder.

Prosecutor Tyner on January 9th, 2018. Hey Sergeant, is there any sir? Good afternoon everyone. My name is Damon G. Tyner. At a press conference, Tyner lays out the case of an elaborate and secret double life that Dr. Jim Kaufman was leading. Treating patients by day, writing fraudulent opioid prescriptions for those pagans by night.

They would come in and be patients and all of a sudden you had a prominent endocrinologist that was prescribing opioids and all kinds of other painkillers when that wasn't quite his practice. So he's got the power of the prescription and then they've got the gang activity. Essentially they were flooding the market with with opioids and selling them at a marked-up price. What a bombshell. This straight-laced doctor that everyone had respected was part of a pill mill, a drug ring, and not only that, with the pagan outlaw motorcycle gang.

And April Kaufman found out. Found out and according to Tyner threatened to expose his secret seedy double life. He started thinking about ways to engage his exit strategy. To get rid of her. To get rid of her.

For the past five and a half years since April Kaufman was found shot to death, there's been little movement on this case and no arrests have been made in connection with the murder. That is until today. An explosive breakthrough in the murder of radio host, April Kaufman.

Murder charges just filed against Dr. James Kaufman in a plot that police say involved members of a motorcycle gang. But wait a minute, didn't the doctor have an airtight alibi? Remember that early morning stop at a convenience store? Tyner says Kaufman wasn't the shooter. That he paid one of those pagans roughly $20,000 to do his dirty work and kill his wife.

He went inside and he shot April Kaufman twice. And ironically, that alleged hitman died a year and a half after April's murder of an opiate overdose, his pills prescribed by, you guessed it, Dr. Jim Kaufman. When I heard the details of everything, It really, really was unbelievable. I feel like this is the worst made for TV movie on the planet. The prosecutor worries Dr. Kaufman could be targeted by pagan members in jail. So they move him upstate to the Hudson

County Correctional Facility as they began gearing up for their first major trial. Finally a chance to close one of those Atlantic County cold cases. But then another shocking turn. Dr. James Kaufman dead. Officials with the Hudson County Correctional Facility confirmed that he died at 920 this morning. What was your reaction when you heard this? I was stunned. The story started off terrible and is ending terrible.

Dr Jim Kaufman dead. But how? Were you worried that he could be hurt in prison? That's always a concern. Will justice ever be served? Stay with us. It's been a long, strange trip for Dr. Jim Kaufman, from a plush suburban cul-de-sac to the Hudson County Jail, his new home, a six by nine foot cell like this. This is Charlie 500 East.

Maximum security. The inmates, many considered violent and dangerous, were Dr. Kaufman's new neighbors as he awaited his trial in a facility just across the river from New York City. What kind of crime? A talking murder. It's rare to get a look inside these tight quarters

unless you're an inmate. But corrections officers agreed to take us in, recalling that fateful morning. Just after serving Dr. Kaufman breakfast, they made a grim discovery. The doctor was dead, hanging himself with a laundry cord. I was stunned. But that's, in retrospect, that's what convinces me now more than ever that he understood that the end was near. He realized it all caught up with him. Yes, I think so. Bottom line, he had his wife murdered and the only way out for him was suicide.

Kaufman did leave something behind in that jail cell. This note obtained by 2020. Even in that jail cell, when he killed himself, he had to write this very lengthy suicide note to be in control at the very end to get the last word. Kaufman adamant that he didn't kill April. I cannot live like this. I, no matter what anybody says, did not do anything to my wife. This six page suicide note is bizarre. Throughout the note, he quotes Latin, including phrases that Roman gladiators would say to the emperor

before they fought in the Colosseum. Really? His final words do add a surprisingly new angle to the Sorted Saga. April came to me and said, would I like to go to a motorcycle rally to meet some of her friends? I was slightly shocked to say the least

that they had the colors of pagans. The most important thing that Jim Kaufman wants people to take away from this note is, I didn't kill April, she introduced me to this outlaw gang, I was prescribing pills, they then got aggressive with me, they then started threatening me, and they're the ones who killed April. Were you able to determine whether April had any involvement with either the gang or the pill mill? Our investigation at the time did not lead us

to believe that she had any involvement. I believe that at some point she became aware of it. I think ultimately that's the reason why she was killed. But dead men tell no tales, at least not in court. And with both that alleged hit man and Jim Kaufman deceased, Tyner's last call for justice rests with the case he's building against the accused pagan ringleader, who he believes conspired with Kaufman to kill April. He's pled not guilty. There is

an aspect of the investigation that's continuing with a defendant who is still pending trial. So I won't disclose too much about that part of the investigation, but suffice it to say that we were convinced that Jim Kaufman's involvement in this matter was enough to charge him with conspiracy to commit murder. Is there any doubt in your mind that her husband wanted her dead? There's no doubt in my mind. A painful conclusion for a grieving daughter, yet a measure of solace. Kim Peck may finally find the justice she's been seeking for years.

Why do you think this case wasn't solved six years ago? I don't know, that's the million dollar question, but what I do know is that I was blessed and granted the ability to have peace in my life for the first time in six years by a man with determination and that believed in my story. And that is Damon Tyner and I am forever grateful to that man. Although in a tale as twisted and tragic as this there's hardly any true closure. And that's the saddest part of this entire story, her mom still not come back.

And when when when everything is quiet and it's just Kim and she's alone and she's thinking her best friend's gone we were robbed and for what I still have the answer to that. When we come back one of those precious family heirlooms sold at auction has been recovered. The secret message from beyond the grave found inside, next. Kim Pack doesn't just resemble her mom, she's inherited the same passion that made April Kaufman so beloved. She's like a pit bull. She latches on and

and she's not letting go until she gets what she's looking for. She's the mini April. There's been dark days, very dark days where I just didn't know how I was going to do this. But I knew that I needed to stand up. This story needed to be told. But in that darkness, something special. Remember when Jim sold off all of April's belongings? Turns out Lee Darby and Peggo Boyle, dubbing themselves April's Angels, swooped in.

These women got together and they were on the phone calling people, raising money to be able to buy back things that belonged to my mother. So that's how you got the last remnants of your mom's things. Yes. And my mom collected these little limoge, and this was the first item that I touched from the auction. And inside this note, it says, to Kimberly from mom, whenever you look at this, you know you're always loved.

You're so special. Best wishes for the rest of your life. And you had no idea that note was there? No, and I feel like this was meant to be. I feel like I was meant to have this. I keep this by my bed. It reminds me that my mom is with me all the time. Out in the community, other reminders.

My husband and my voice got this bench dedicated for her. It's special because it's a spot that we stop and my kids will bring up a memory or they will talk about her. And if mom could say just one more thing to her daughter? I think she would say to me now, you can breathe, you can go on and live, you don't have to be sad anymore. Thank you for fighting. A fighter to the finish. Remember, Kim packed civil case to get her mother's life insurance. But we can report tonight that her attorney now says that's been amicably settled with Kaufman's widow.

And that is 20 20 for tonight. I'm David Muir and I'm Amy Robach from all of us here at ABC News in 2020, good night. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Friday nights at 9 on ABC, you can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening.