Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Hollywood star Jim Carrey suicide-lover forged STD claims! Bombshell in murder of gorgeous DJ!

Episode Date: February 2, 2018

A wrongful death lawsuit against Jim Carrey is dismissed after the revelation that his former girlfriend faked a herpes test report to falsely claim the actor gave her the STD. Cathriona White's husband and mother sued Carrey after the ex-girlfriend took her own life in 2015. Nancy Grace updates the case with prosecutor Wendy Patrick, lawyer & child advocate Ashley Willcott, psychologist Caryn Stark, and RadarOnline.com reporter Alexis Tereszcuk. Reporter Mary Hopkins joins Nancy to discuss a dramatic development in the story of April Kauffman, a radio host who investigators said was killed in a plot by her husband. Dr. James Kauffman, who was recently charged in his wife's murder, was found dead in his jail cell. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. I'm not alone. I feel like home. I'm in the dark. That was the sound of a funeral. You know, there are photos of them grinning on Valentine's Day, their arms wrapped around each other. A Hollywood superstar, Jim Carrey, and his petite, tiny little girlfriend, the Irish makeup artist. The photos of them on Valentine's looked like it was an ad for a romantic comedy. But just one year later, that girlfriend, his lover, Katharina White, dead, found dead, surrounded by prescription pills.

And she leaves behind a suicide note and a devastated funny man, Jim Carrey. The world watched as Jim Carrey, who had actually broken up with Katharina months before, looked devastated as he told the world how he would always love her, and he then jetted off to Ireland for a private funeral in her hometown with her family. Then everything went sideways. Joining me right now Alexis Tereszczuk investigative reporter from RadarOnline.com. Jim Carrey who we all grew up loving i mean that's one of the a movie that i can show my children and we've watched it over and over and over uh ace ventura pet detective which spawned ace ventura pet detective 2 this is a guy that can be funny without being, you know, using bad words that kids can't hear. He never fails.

You know, and we think we know him because we've watched him so much. But then suddenly, he was leveled with horrible claims by the family of his dead girlfriend. Katharina's mother says that she discovered after her daughter committed suicide that the reason that she did so was because she was so upset after the breakup, but because she claimed that Jim Carrey had given her an STD. She claimed that he gave her herpes and that she'd been suffering with this for years and years and years and that she was so depressed after their breakup and her sexually transmitted disease diagnosis that she just couldn't handle living anymore. So I guess she's claiming that she claimed that dating Jim Carrey, they had unprotected sex and he her herpes, and it affected her greatly. Then she claims, against her desires, he breaks up with her, and she's devastated and feels like not only has she been discarded, but she's got to live the rest of her life without finding love because she's going to have to tell her next

boyfriend oh yeah i have herpes you know i can understand being devastated and upset but to commit suicide to karen stark that is what her family claimed, that she committed suicide because of having herpes. But committing suicide, Karen Stark? Well, that's not because it doesn't make any sense that it would be because of that. So many people wind up having herpes without understanding that they've contacted it or how they got it. It doesn't mean anything, Nancy. What we're looking at is somebody who is a very troubled person. It's alleged that before she committed suicide,

she received a cruel message from her mother. So something was going on in the relationship between her and her mother. I don't think that she was able to handle the breakup with Carrie. And there was a lot more that was going on with her than the fact that she had an STD. Right. It was actually three STDs that she claimed he gave her, and then she never sued, but her family from Ireland sued post-mortem. But right now, we are learning Jim Carrey has been cleared in this wrongful death lawsuit launched by her Irish family,

the family of his ex-girlfriend, after Jim Carrey's lawyer proves she was trying to blackmail him with forged STD test results. Now, the family sued Carrey, claiming he was responsible for Katharina's death. That's been thrown out. She claimed he gave her three STDs, but Jim Carrey's lawyer finds these medical records were actually used to blackmail Jim Carrey. Whoa. White's family also Jim Carrey. He's been dragged through the mud that he would mistreat his girlfriend this way, give her three STDs and then dump her. It's been going on forever. It's really given him a black eye.

But now it turns out none of it's true, Alexis. And everybody really was on her side. Everybody thought that Jim, this really tarnished his reputation. People thought that he would be so cruel to this young girlfriend that he would give her this STD and then dump her and then never, never speak to her again. And and then things were so bad that she committed suicide. So it has been something that he hasn't really had a career. He's done a few movies here and there, but nobody has done anything except focus on this girl's death. You know, the actor's lawyer apparently has now proven

that Katharina White, the former girlfriend, forged medical records to make it look like she had no STDs before meeting Jim Carrey. As you know, he is now claiming the Irish makeup artist blackmailed him over claims he gave her herpes. He says he paid her an undisclosed sum in 2013 just to make it go away. You know, Ashley Wilcott, your very first question was, well, if all of this is not true, why did he pay her off in 2013, right? Sure, but I think it's a risk-benefit analysis because let's assume there's anything that he doesn't want the public to know about his private

life, right? Like any famous person, she knows everything about him. So while he may know it's not true, he may say to himself, it's easier for me to pay her off and give her some money than risk her being a vindictive girlfriend or ex-girlfriend and sharing things with the public that I don't want the public to know. Not that he'd given her a disease, that's not true, but anything else that might be true that he wanted to keep private. Now, as it turns out, Jim Carrey's lawyer, Raymond Boucher, B-O-U-C-H-E-R, discovers that Katharine White, the makeup artist edited patient information i.e forged it on a friend's 2011 sexually transmitted disease test to make it look like the medical records were her own

i mean who would think to question a medical record? But this lawyer, you know, having nowhere else to go, decided to investigate. This makeup artist had been dating Carrie for about three years. Used the friend's medical records, changing the name and date on them. And then, then when he was on the trail, apparently to Wendy Patrick, Southern California prosecutor joining us, you know how to prove a case. He then was like a dog after a bone. He started searching texts from the dead girlfriend to this unnamed friend to show she asked the friend to get her medical records from Planned Parenthood. One of those texts, Wendy Patrick actually says, I need to see the layout. I will need to work on it before I give it to him.

Whoa, that torpedoes the case. Yeah, you know, Nancy, one of the things that distinguishes this story from so many others that we hear is that you're right in that many people took the victim's side at first because they saw it from the perspective of a young makeup artist dating a wealthy, well-known funny man that was beloved in the industry at the time. And we naturally took her side. So when we're looking at this paper trail of text messages where she's talking to her friend about forging records to blackmail Carrie, the whole case turns on its head, and all of a sudden,

there are kudos for this lawyer for, like you say, being relentless and following this trail, doing everything he can to clear his client. He certainly earned his money on this case and did, in fact, prove that those were forged records for blackmail purposes. Well, we all recall that last year, Jim Kerry, you know, Hollywood icon, claims that Katharina had threatened to go to the press with false claims he gave her STDs unless he paid her, quote, millions of dollars. You know, Karen Stark, New York psychologist, I guess when you're at the level of Jim Carrey, I mean, who can you date that's not going to try to use you? And she was, I guess,

scorned. He broke up with her and she was angry. And this was her get back. Well, and he's he really has to be very careful because take a look at what everyone is saying, Nancy. Everyone is saying that they were they really felt sympathy for her. They They saw her as a victim because he was this powerful person. And yet he was ripe to be preyed upon because you have to be very careful who you date, understanding whether they are after you because you're a celebrity or because they want to know you as a person. Do they have a troubled past? It's very difficult to be in the public eye and to know who to trust. You know, Ashley Wolcott, I'm just looking at some of the texts.

She apparently didn't just forge medical records to blackmail jim carrey and really drag him through the mud ruin his good name out his sex life but she texted all these texts ashy i'm looking at them right now she's saying i'm still kind of sick but i'm fine i got a couple of bumps down there again i felt them this morning so i want to get it checked uh and jim carrey's like i hope you're okay then she writes again uh she says i understand you're worried imagine how i'm feeling right now i'm the one that should be three freaking out if anything i'm sure uh it's just the abrasion thing you were talking about i hope you're hon. It could be from someone before me. It doesn't show up until you're really stressed. Most likely something else. Feel better.

Um, you know, then she keeps writing and in the midst of writing about her STD pain, she says, I wake up and go to sleep hoping you are doing good i don't even think your attention was on it in the slightest i'm out of sight i'm staying quiet i'm invisible i no longer matter i get it but it doesn't mean i'm not going through it and i still exist listen you know she's clearly mixing it all up with her pain from being scorned. Exactly. Right. Right. And you don't, you know, I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but honestly, when you read those texts, it makes so abundantly clear that she is a manipulative and doing everything she can to extort whatever she can from this man you know

she looks so sweet and innocent the bombshell right now jim carrey movie hollywood tv icon i mean i remember this guy all the way back to in living color and i loved him loved him then that's when i first found out about Jim Carrey. And the reason I love him today is because I can play some of his movies for the children and I don't have to send him out of the room like everything else on TV. So I got to tell you,

I don't know what this means, Karen Stark, but when this all first came out that he had allegedly given her an STD and dumped her and she committed suicide, I felt so bad for her. But I felt I couldn't believe it because you know how we feel like we know people we watch on TV all the time. I thought I knew Jim Carrey. Nothing could be further from the truth. Well, of course. I mean, we identify with our celebrities and we follow

their lives. Look at the Kardashians. But the truth is, in this case, this very beautiful, innocent looking girl could not deal with the fact that he was going to take her out of his life, that she was heartbroken. And that whole thing that she keeps saying about being invisible, without him in her life, she was feeling like she didn't matter anymore, that she wasn't a person. She kept needing to find a way to get his attention. Unfortunately, somebody gave him very bad advice and told him to pay her off. Wendy Patrick, you've got to hear this letter. Alexis Tereszczak joining me this morning from RadarOnline.com. Alexis, listen to this.

This is a letter written by Catriona White found after her suicide. It was on her iPad. She writes, you have not thought about the stigma I have to live with the rest of my life. You have not apologized or once asked, is there something you can do to make it better or even felt bad about it? Or ask me how I'm feeling. Instead, you did a whole lot of screaming and turn it around on me. Have you even once sat down and thought how this really affects me? I still love you. I believe you sent me that text because you cared about me. I was going to tell my lawyer I didn't want to go any further with it when I realized

you changed lawyers and were advised to text me. It probably wasn't coming from you at all. The decent thing to do, what is that? I think about keeping quiet and private about it when I want to scream from the rooftops. You know what I want, and it's nothing to do with money. It goes on and on and on about making him feel bad, making him feel awful, Alexis Tereszczuk. And now it turns out the whole thing is a lie. She completely went to the most extreme after they, he broke up with her. They, they had a very, you know, a few year relationship.

Honestly, they were very under the radar. The two of them, they weren't walking red carpets together doing a lot of things in public. So when he broke up with her, it was her ticket to Hollywood. It was everything, the biggest star in Hollywood that you're dating. And he cut her off completely from that life that she still wanted. She didn't want to let him go. And that's what she writes. It's not even the money she wants. She wanted him still.

But you can't make somebody love you. So she got a lawyer involved. And then she admits in that letter that you just read that she was manipulated she felt she was manipulated by him except she was the one doing the manipulation she's the one that forged the document listen to what jim carrey says listen to this i will not give in a second time to these same fraudulent charges initiated by cat's husband in name, but not substance, Mark Burton, and her estranged mother. Nor am I responsible for what these desperate characters have inadvertently unearthed about the woman I adored. I was clearly blinded by my affection. Regardless, I will hold

a place of empathy and forgiveness for Cat and continue to focus on the many blessings in this life. You know what? He couldn't have been more of a gentleman and he couldn't have given a better or sweeter statement. I wish the very, very best to Jim Carrey because he has really been through hell and back with this lawsuit. Before we leave Hollywood and head to New Jersey on our next case, I want to pause. I'm having a sip right now of my favorite drink, Super Beats. Why Super Beats? A, it Beats. Why Super Beats? A, it's delicious, but B, I have learned it helps me

maintain energy and stamina. You know, if you give your body what it needs right now, it promotes natural, healthy circulation. It keeps you feeling great all day. And that's why i drink super beats your body needs oxygen flowing to every part of your system your organs your legs your arms that flow of oxygen keeps you healthy energetic and full of energy and stamina super beats promotes your body's own ability to produce that healthy circulation and give you energy and stamina. Only Super Beets made from beets grown to exacting standards. Then they're concentrated down into superfood crystals. I mix it with water and ice and sip on it throughout the day. If you want to give your body what it needs, call 800-516-0683 or go to nancy'sbeats.com n-a-n-c-y-s-b-e-e-t-s.com

with the first order get another 30-day supply of super beats free plus indicator strips to see how super beats working for you plus free shipping you're not getting that at the vitamin store call 800-516-0683 800-516-0683 or go to nancy'sbeats.com today she's beautiful she's popular a local dj who has her own hair salon and boutique. She's a mom to a successful young girl. What could go wrong? Beautiful home, beautiful family, even working as a charity fundraiser for military veterans beloved in her community. She's dead. I'm talking about April Kaufman found dead in the master suite of her family home. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Stunning developments. Thank you for being with us.

Let's kick it off right now when the handyman calls 911. Listen. 911, where's your emergency? Yes, I have. My boss is down. He's got a cut on her arm. Okay, where are you, sir? 2 Woodstock Drive, Linwood. 2 Woodstock Drive? Yes, ma'am. Okay, hold on. I'm transferring you to the rescue operator. You stay on the line one minute. Okay. Okay, is that 2 Woodstock? In Linwood? Yes. Okay. Okay. In Linwood?

Yeah. Okay, actually, he's actually calling me to be not 911 right now, and my partner's been My boss, she's lying on the floor in her bedroom, and she's got a cut on her arm, and she's not answering me. Who would not drive? Who would stop driving? I'm just letting you know that they've already called and I'm online. Who would have ever imagined it would unfold the way it did? We know this. We know that she was shot multiple times.

Joining me right now, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, Ashley Wilcott, lawyer and advocate, Karen Stark, renowned New York psychologist, and Mary Hopkins, crime stories investigative reporter. When the handyman who worked for the Kaufman family first came in, he didn't know what had happened. We can tell from the 911 call. The husband has an airtight alibi. Husband is a very well-respected endocrinologist there in the area, Linden, New Jersey. And you've got nurses, patients, secretaries, the works that place him at work.

You know, we always look at the husband first. Airtight alibi. He says she was asleep with a pillow over her head when he left early that morning. To Karen Stark, why is the husband or the partner always the first suspect? Well, he's closest to the woman that's killed, to his wife, and there's usually a motive. Well, the reality is that statistically, Karen Stark, Karen joining me from New York today, statistically, it normally is the partner, the husband, the wife, the girlfriend, the boyfriend, the ex. Statistically, that's normally who commits the murder.

That's why police look at him first. But again, he had an airtight alibi. Correct. Let's move forward with what we know. We know he has this alibi. She's dead. The daughter, Kim Pack, always suspected her stepfather, Dr. Kaufman. No matter the alibi, no matter the secretaries and the customers and the patients and this and that saying he was here, she always suspected her stepfather. Take a listen to this. My mom, April Kaufman, was murdered in her home May 10, 2012.

Not a day goes by where I do not think about her, miss her terribly, and wish that charges were filed against the individual responsible for her murder. Recently, I was brought into a federal lawsuit that is based upon my stepfather, Dr. James Kaufman, seeking life insurance money from policies insuring my mother's life. This is a very serious matter, and I, along with my attorneys at Darcy Johnson Day, have given careful consideration to what is at stake. This morning, through my attorneys, I have filed paperwork in federal court to stop Dr. Kaufman from obtaining the money.

I have purposely tried to avoid directly talking about what happened, but now, after being brought into this lawsuit, I have no choice to respond and to begin to fight for what I know is right. I can no longer sit back and allow what I perceive as an injustice to occur. I know that my mom would not want me to sit back any longer. You know, Ashley Wilcott, lawyer and child advocate, is there just an inherent distrust of any step parent? Well, I don't, maybe, to be honest, maybe, because you don't have the same trust and bond that you might with your own biological parent that you've been raised with or know at the difference, right? And so I do think there may be, and statistically, unfortunately, there are a

number of crimes when they're committed that are done by step-parents, boyfriends, girlfriends. Well, as I said, stunning developments right now. Police then began to focus not on Kaufman's alibi, but on his financial doings. Wendy Patrick, Southern California prosecutor with incredible track record. They couldn't come up with an answer. They couldn't find out who was the trigger person. Southern California prosecutor with incredible track record. They couldn't come up with an answer. They couldn't find out who was the trigger person.

Of course, they first looked at the handyman. He's there on the scene with a dead body. He calls 911. Then they look at the husband. No good. No forced entry. Nobody could figure out what was happening. And in this ritzy neighborhood, of course, nobody saw a thing.

So Wendy Patrick, the prosecutor starts, you know, time is passing. The body has been buried. The funeral has been had. The daughter is grieving and seeking vengeance as she should. They start digging into Dr. Kaufman's finances. You know, as they always say, follow the money. Wendy Patrick, what happened? I love it, Nancy. And you stole my line, but you probably said it better. Absolutely right. Follow the money. You know, you talk about why you might look at a spouse, emotion and access. And those two things necessarily sometimes include the money, whether it's a divorce settlement, whether it is a threat to expose something that's bigger that the spouse knows about. But it's one of those things where you don't have to be personally present at a crime scene to be the suspect or to actually be the one that did it, as in this case. So the prosecutors,

they just were tenacious and following that money trail. And as they did so, more and more clues came to light. It was a great investigation. And I know it's frustrating, but justice delayed does not have to be justice denied because eventually they found their man, much to the delight of the daughter who finally is going to find a measure of justice here. And what's so incredible in this case, Ashley Wolcott, lawyer and advocate, you know, when I think of my doctors, they're always so formal and proper and buttoned up. Nothing could be further from the truth in this case. As it turns out, this very proper, buttoned up, successful endocrinologist is actually running an illegal drug ring with who else the motorcycle gang the pagan outlaws what now ashley you're not only an advocate but a lawyer you've

picked through plenty of money trails as have i oh. Oh, when I was a Fed, unlike when I was a local prosecutor, a violent crime prosecutor, when I was a Fed, they lived from money trails. Me investigating for the Feds was me alone in a room full of boxes of paper. Okay, yes, that's right. That's how they make their cases. Not so with a state prosecutor where you're out on the street with the dope dealers and the prostitutes and the armed robbers finding witnesses. No, you follow the paper trail.

Ashley Wilcott, how does a lawyer, how would they find the paper trail that Wendy Patrick was talking about? I mean, how do you get in there and find out a motive for murder amongst boxes of paper? You look for the bank accounts, for deposits, for receipts of money. You look at the business transactions because that money is necessarily coming in and going out of some accounts. You get a subpoena, you get to those records, and you go through them. And like you said, it's tedious. It's a lot of work. They've done a bang up job. Well, I tell you what, Ashley, the whole time after April Kaufman was found gunned down in her room, you know, in my head, I'm like, the husband did it. Of course he did it. But as it turned out with that airtight

alibi, I was flummoxed. Of course, I kept screaming, where's the arrest? It took a long time. But when they started digging through what they believed to be a paper trail, they came upon no other than the head of the Pagan Outlaws motorcycle gang. So they go to Dr. Kaufman's very pristine, very popular, very posh, upscale medical clinic. And what happens to Mary Hopkins, crime stories, investigative reporter, when they get there, just for a search warrant, nobody's going to get arrested. They just want to go through his financial records. What goes down, Mary Hopkins? Well, James Kaufman met them at the door and said he had a gun in his hand. He said, I'm not going to jail for this.

And he had a nine millimeter handgun. He never pointed it at police, but he threatened to kill himself. So police, there was a standoff. As a matter of fact, take a listen to this sound of the standoff. Now, remember, police get there just to execute a search warrant, to go through his medical financial records. He begins wildly brandishing a gun, threatening to kill himself once again, holding himself hostage. Karen Stark, I'll get with you on that in a moment. But listen to the standoff as it goes down.

I'm Scott Harry, the detective of the standoff as it goes down. Doll! Coming back, coming back, coming back. Doll! Hold on, he's coming out. He's coming out. District 5, District 5, we got one at gunpoint. We have one at gunpoint, Dr. James Kaufman. 5-11, I have one at gunpoint, Dr. James Kaufman.

He has a weapon. Drop the gun! Drop the he has a weapon drop the gun drop the gun hey drop the gun drop the gun sir drop the gun just drop drop the gun let's talk sir just drop the gun. We only have a search warrant. We have a search warrant. You're not under arrest. Listen. You are not under arrest. Your office and your house, your car and your purse. I don't believe it.

Yes, we do. I'm not going to jail for this. Sir, we just have a search warrant. That's it. Put the weapon down. Drop the weapon. Listen, let's talk. I'm going to kill myself.

Listen, let's talk. Sir! Jim! Watch this window. Watch this Jim! Watch this window. Watch this window. Watch this window. District 5, we have a barricaded subject inside. He's got a handgun.

Get down. Get in the corner. He's going to the back room. We're at Dr. James Kaufman's office. Nancy, the standoff with police lasted just over six minutes and included repeated exchanges like this with the authorities. Just drop the weapon.

Listen, let's talk. All it is is a search warrant. It's a search warrant. It's a search warrant. Drop the gun. Sir, right there in the bush. Just an FY. There's a search warrant right here, right by the bush.

Right here. Right by the bush. It's a search warrant. It's a search warrant. Jim, Jim, I'm with the FBI. bush it's a search warrant it's a search warrant the standoff ended as Dr. Kaufman exited his practice with police shouting instructions to him during his arrest.

Dr. Kaufman, please step out to the curb. Step to the curb. Put your hands as high as you can. All right, now slowly reach down and put your shirt up. Spin around, please. All right. Face your door.

Face your door. Hands up as high as you can. The only way we can guarantee your safety is to keep cooperating. Ellen Duke, how in the hay did we manage to get our mitts on the sound of the standoff as it went down in Coffman's Medical Clinic? It's our good old friend, the body cam. There were plenty of cops around. They had them.

And so we've got this incredible video. So they go in to execute the search warrant. And you know what? As Shakespeare said, me thinks thou doth protest too much. You know, if the cops show up at my door and say, I want to see your financial records for last year, I would say, you know what? Have at it if you can find them.

This guy begins brandishing a weapon, waving a weapon wildly, a 9mm. His office full of patients, nurses, clerical, threatening to kill himself. Karen Stark, you're going to kill yourself or shoot a cop because they want to look in a box of financial records? Well, right there that shows that he's trying to hide something, Nancy. And what is he doing with that gun to begin with? And you think about this upstanding,

supposedly doctor, and he had this whole dark side to him where he needed more money, this connection with a gang. And it doesn't surprise me that they come up to arrest him and he reveals who he really is. To Wendy Patrick, a California prosecutor with an incredible record. Wendy, this is not what you expect when you just execute a search warrant. I mean, have you ever seen the show Cops? When I was at Court TV, they started showing it some at night. That's the first time I was ever exposed to it.

You know, they played the bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do, that whole thing. And the cops, it would show a guy sitting in his easy chair watching TV and the cops would just start running through the house and he would just sit there and keep watching TV. He'd never get out of his easy chair, okay? And I love that scene. That's a search warrant being executed.

The cops are just running past and behind him. He's like, hey, hey, dude. Here, Kaufman grabs a gun and threatens to kill himself. Wendy Patrick, that raid of financial records led to the most stunning twist in the murder of April Kaufman. I never expected it. What did they find, Wendy? Right. Well, they found a lot of the information they were seeking. And part of the problem for this doctor was the way he responded when they served the warrant. And you're so right on the money when it comes to how would you respond if you either didn't realize why the cops were there or didn't have anything to hide. You would probably think that you'd have a much

more measured response, particularly because this was during the day when the clinic was open. This wasn't a middle of the night raid or a pre-dawn raid, as you sometimes see, especially, Nancy, as you know, on the federal side. So they took all that into consideration in deciding whether or not they were going to move forward on the case, because as we know, reaction is huge. It's one of the reasons we have to interview people in person rather than send them in a set of interrogatories to answer is you want to see that real life response, because it really is telling as to whether or not somebody has in fact nothing to hide or here is going to lead you to some of the information you're seeking.

And this is where it landed. This upstanding and very well respected New Jersey doctor had been running an illegal prescription opioid drug ring. I'm talking about Oxycontin, Oxycodone, all the street names for that, with a motorcycle gang. Now, obviously, at some point, he had come into contact with one of the gang members, and that started the whole thing. This is how it went down. The gang would send him, actually the head of the Pagan Outlaws, allegedly would send Dr. Kaufman a, quote, patient. The patient would get a free prescription. He'd just write him a script for opioids, say Oxycontin, that outlaw would then go, pagan outlaw motorcycle gang would then go and say he'd have 100 Oxycontin pills, 200 maybe, a six-month supply, and he'd go

sell them on the street. If he got the prescription, he would get a kickback of $1,000. $1,000, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, that's a drop in the bucket of what you could sell 200 OxyContin for on the street. Yeah. Now, one of the things about drug sales is you've got to know your customer. You've got to know the market price, the going rate. But yeah, when it comes to drug sales, especially as you know, on the federal side, the penalties can be sky high. And one of the things you look at is what kind of a profit were you making? We live in a day and age in an opioid epidemic, and we have in the last five or six years. But, you know, back in the day, sometimes

we're surprised at what pills sold for on the street. Nonetheless, this is a very lucrative enterprise. And following the money trail in this case is what led to some of the financial exploitation that made this good doctor look very, very guilty. And especially in combination with everything else they were learning about. So here's Dr. James Kaufman with a mansion, a gorgeous wife,

local, popular DJ, beautiful woman the stepdaughter the gorgeous home the everything his own private practice a medical clinic

but he wanted more money Karen Stark you know the love not money but the love of money said to be the root of all evil he just couldn't get enough money Karen and that's following the money again, Nancy. He really was a greedy man. Something was empty inside of him. You would think with his

practice and his popularity, there would be no need for him to be involved in anything that was illegal. And yet he needed to have more and more and more. And the reality is, Ashley Wilcott, the wife had found out about April Kaufman and said, either you divorce me and I take half our money or I'm exposing your drug ring. And that is when the murder happened, because it's not just about Kaufman running a prescription opium. That's, you know, that's a derivative of heroin, the poppy opioid drug ring with a motorcycle gang. When she threatened to leave him, he didn't want to part with half of his financial empire. He would rather have her dead. The problem with her divorcing him, she'd either expose the drug ring

or he would be exposed to a financial forensic expert. And they would find all this money. So apparently his only alternative was to have her killed. Now another six people connected to the pagan outlaw motorcycle gang charged with racketeering in the drug ring and connected to the pagan outlaw motorcycle gang charged with racketeering in the drug ring and connected to the killing we believe and in the midst of all this Kaufman ends up dead by suicide as you will cut do you believe that you think he really killed himself I don't know but I have to say it is about the money, but there's more going on. It's

his psyche because not only is it about the money that he got by selling the oxycodone, it is the dark side. It is working with the motorcycle gang and people don't normally resort to murder because someone wants to divorce them and take half of their money. So there's a whole lot more going on with this man up there in his head. Long story short, the raid, the raid on the medical clinic ends in charges, not only for the drug ring this upstanding doctor was connected to, was actually the ring leader of with a motorcycle gang, but to murder. Listen. Today, James Kaufman, age 69, and Ferdinand Augello, age 62, were charged with murder in connection with the death of April Kaufman, in addition to racketeering related to the illegal distribution of narcotics

through Kaufman's former medical practice. Additionally, Augello is charged with conspiracy to commit the murder of James M. Kaufman. Upon information and belief known to my office, an individual named Francis Frank Mulholland was paid a sum of money to kill April Kaufman. Almost 18 months after April Kaufman's murder, Frank Mulholland died in October of 2013 by, at the time, what was determined to be an accidental drug overdose. Through our investigation, we determined that a long-term alliance between members of the Pagan Outlaw Motorcycle Gang and James Kaufman was created for the mutual financial gain through the use of Kaufman's medical practice for illegal drug distribution.

This relationship ultimately culminated on May 10th 2012 with the murder for hire of April Kaufman. Prior to 2011 defendant Kaufman and Ferdinand Angelo had a relationship which centered around the medical practice. And then in the summer of 2011, James Kaufman solicited Augello to murder his wife. Listen to the daughter who never gave up, Kimberly Pack. A lot of mixed emotions. As a victim, you know, May 10th, 2012 forever changed my life. I have been waiting patiently for justice and today I was lucky enough to be granted justice. I do understand that this is going to be a very long process, and this is by no means over.

I think for the first time today I can actually breathe. For the past five and a half years, I have felt like I've been holding my breath on a daily basis. I couldn't even begin to describe to you today the emotions that I feel. I feel like I'm standing before you and I'm shaking. I want to really take time to thank my attorneys here at Darcy Johnson Day and most importantly these two men that stand beside me, they have been like my guardian angels. They stood by me when it wasn't popular and when I didn't really know that I was ever going to obtain justice. They have fought for me since day one, and I am forever grateful for these

two gentlemen. This firm has believed in me and allowed me the platform to speak up and stand up for justice for my mom. I also want to thank you guys in the media for not allowing this story to ever dissipate. When you are a victim of a crime, there's no handbook. You're not really sure which direction to go, how to navigate. Sometimes the legal system can be quite challenging. And each and every one of you that has always reached out to me, tried to keep the story alive, I really, really appreciate it. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I also want to thank everyone that has provided kind words, prayers, books, flowers, you name it. All these gifts that have been bestowed upon me, I'm very lucky. I'm very lucky to have such communal support, and I will cherish that more than any of you realize. Even from a kind word, a gesture, putting your hand on me, telling me that you're with me. It really means a lot to me. I really am at a loss for words probably for once in my life for what else to say. But thank you for taking the time. To Wendy Patrick, you just heard the daughter so happy to seek justice in her mother's murder.

Wendy Patrick, it ain't over yet. After he's charged with murder, the husband. What about the trigger man? The trigger man turns out to be a guy named Joseph Mulholland, also a member of the pagan outlaws. Then amazingly, isn't it true? Joseph Mulholland, the trigger man who says he was Joseph Mulholland, who claims he was given $20,000 a gun and driven to April Kaufman's

mansion that morning. He's dead too of an overdose. What coinkydink the only people tying the motorcycle gang to this murder are dead the trigger man mulholland is dead and now in the last hours we learned dr kaufman's found dead in his jail cell yeah i'll tell you this is so fishy and you know it's one thing to talk about gangs and drugs and money. And when you put everything together, Nancy, you've got a perfect storm, not only for murder of the primary victim, but also sometimes murder of the collateral witnesses. And now when you look at this case in retrospect and people that died along the way, yes, you could argue, well, gosh, when you're involved in the dark side and drugs and money and all that goes along with that lifestyle, you're more likely to have a hit put on you. But on the other hand, when you look at the motive for these people either committing suicide or, as is suspected, being murdered, you can see where there's lots of motivation to actually

believe that's the way it went down. Not that you need to necessarily prove motive to prove murder, but boy, it sure helped. Well, here's the thing. Mulholland dies of a drug overdose pretty quickly after the murder of April Kaufman. Then Kaufman, Dr. Kaufman goes to jail. Now we have learned because the head of the motorcycle gang is a chatty Kathy. He talked to a guy that was wired up. There was already a hit on Dr. Kaufman. He goes to jail. He gets another death threat. They move him to another jail. He gets a death threat and then he's found face down, dead, asphyxiated in his own bed.

The wardens say, oh, we just thought he was asleep. To Wendy Patrick, I mean, you've got all these death threats. You've got a hit out on you. You're the only witness connecting back to a motorcycle gang. You don't think that gang has friends on the inside of that jailhouse? Oh, you bet they do. And that's one thing that we've all got to remember is simply because somebody is in jail doesn't necessarily mean they're

not going to be either a defendant or a victim in this case. You know, that's one of the reasons prisons want to make sure they keep an eye not only on people with gang ties on the outside world, but also on people that they already know might be targeted. And that's one of the tragedies in a story like this, where there is this suspected, at least, motive that you can get this guy regardless if he's in and out of custody and no matter where he is. But wasn't there some help involved? Is it that easy to pick off somebody when they're in custody?

It just makes the case more interesting, but it also makes the case more deadly and more frightening for other people in similar scenarios where they might be the only precipient witness left to a murder like this. radio host wife to stop her from exposing his biker gang drug ring has apparently killed himself. Does that mean all prosecution of the pagan outlaws has gone straight down the tubes? Absolutely not. And, you know, lots of cases involve witnesses becoming unavailable. And all that does evidentiary sometimes, as you know, Nancy, is makes other evidence admissible that wouldn't have been. So there are lots of creative ways that prosecutors can get around witnesses being unavailable. And that'll be what we always, actually, what we always look at when we lose a witness,

even a victim, Nancy. There's lots of times that people think, gosh, well, we'll just do away with this person. Yet we can still bring that testimony to life, either through others or through what the person said before they died. We are on the case and watching as hopefully justice unfolds. Her husband, the good doctor, is not the only one with blood on his hands. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.