Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Husband fights demand for DNA in April Kauffman murder probe

Episode Date: May 17, 2017

April Kauffman’s husband has never been named a suspect in the New Jersey talk show host’s 2012 murder, but a prosecutor is now asking a judge to order Dr. James Kauffman to give a DNA sample. The husband’s lawyer is fighting the demand, but a judge will soon decide if he’ll have to give DNA. In this episode, Nancy Grace and Alan Duke discuss why this 5-year-old cold case is now heating up. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. that would want to do harm to April because all she ever did was help people. April Kaufman was not only a beloved radio host, she was also beloved for being an advocate for veterans. The worker who came to the home on Woodstock Drive to feed Kaufman's pet parrots discovered her body in her bedroom and called 911. Police say her husband told them April was alive when he left that morning. Authorities say she had been shot multiple times. This is Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. There's a newly appointed prosecutor who says he is focusing on unresolved homicides. We are asking for a sample of his DNA.

The prosecutor's office says Jim Kaufman's attorney is opposing it. I miss my mom a lot. Even though I walk around with a smile on my face, there's a big, big hole in my heart. A highly popular radio dj dead right now the cold case murder of a new jersey radio dj has been revived by prosecutors who are demanding dna from her widower i'm n Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. This woman was absolutely phenomenal on the radio, April Kaufman.

She was murdered in her bedroom in her luxury home, May 2012. Now, she was shot multiple times, and she had a cut on her arm. Her daughter, Kim, has long believed it was April's husband who murdered her in her luxury home. She, the daughter, Kim, is suing the husband for wrongful death and is trying to stop him from getting his mitts on $600,000. Oh, $600,000 from April's life insurance policies. Now, he, the husband, Dr. James Kaufman, denies murdering her or having anything to do with her death. But now, prosecutors ask him to voluntarily submit to a DNA sample. Er, er, is the gig up? Again, I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories, and I want to thank you for being with us.

Alan, the Duke, joining me from his enclave in Hollywood, Allen. Nobody has ever been arrested for the murder of the popular, highly popular DJ, April Kaufman. And she's not only beautiful on the radio, on the inside, she's beautiful on the outside. She's a stunner. Now, her adult daughter, Kim, insists that the endocrinologist husband, James Kaufman, shot her, and she, the daughter, is fighting to have him prosecuted. She was murdered in her Linwood home, Upscale Linwood, 2012. The daughter's gone so far as to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Now, that's not a criminal case. It's civil. Like OJ Simpson was prosecuted criminally and was acquitted. Then the victim, Ron Goldman family, sued him civilly and he was held responsible civilly. That's what this is. Okay, Alan, weigh in.

The doctor's lawyer says this is all about money, and he was never accused by his stepdaughter of killing his wife until they started arguing in court over the insurance money. There's two life insurance policies, $100,000. Why does he need money? He's a doctor. Well, doctors love money, I guess. And who doesn't? And well, it's out there. Why not go get it? But think about this. Alan, the love of money. Oh, whoa, whoa.

Go ahead. The love of money. Preach, sister, preach. Is the root of evil. I will. Have you seen my car? What is it? It's like a soccer mom van from 2002.

It is a beat up minivan covered in stickers, and I'm proud of it. Okay? All right? You see what I wear every day when I'm not on the air or in court? You see what I wear? It doubles as a podcasting studio sometimes, too. It doubles as a podcast studio. My black tights and my cowboy boots and my t-shirt

okay so you would love to have so don't preach to me about people loving money money will be the death of you i'm just telling you you love money you're in trouble that's what i'm saying it's a fight over money is what the lawyer for the husband says there's a hundred thousand dollar and a five hundred thousand insurance policy on the dead woman, April. And the insurance companies are refusing to pay out, saying no, because the doctor is a suspect. And unless you can get cleared by the DA, we're not going to pay off. And the DA, up to this point, have refused to give a letter to him saying you're not a suspect. And so he went to court.

Well, I guess not. They've demanded him to give a not a suspect and so he went to court i guess not they've demanded him to give a dna sample and he refused but this is a new development and this is why the love of money can get you in big trouble to make your point is he has been fighting he filed a lawsuit in federal court to try to force that money so he could get it and then uh the daughter kim pack who is the second beneficiary if if the widower doesn't get it then she would get it. And then the daughter, Kim Pack, who is the second beneficiary, if the widower doesn't get it, then she would get it.

So she joined the battle and filed and accused her stepdad of killing her mother. Well, you know what makes me angrier is that people always, they jump up and say, oh, you're only doing, you're only suing because of money. Why shouldn't she sue?

How wrong is it for an accused killer, You're only suing because of money. Why shouldn't she sue? How wrong is it for an accused killer? She's accusing him of murder. Why should he get $600,000 in her mind? I'm going to pause and thank our awesome sponsor, our partner in today's podcast. And I'll start with a story out of Racine, Wisconsin. A house catches on fire at nobody's home. It took a while for neighbors to even notice the problem, but at the end of the day, there were $40,000 damages.

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SimpliSafe Home Security. Order today and you get a special 10% discount. SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy, SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy for the 10% off your home security system. SimpliSafe.com slash Nancy. SimpliSafe. Thank you for what you are doing for Americans that believe home security is unaffordable. It's not thanks to you. Now let's get back to our podcast. Now what about this Alan Duke? What about the DA asking him, the doctor, the endocrinologist, who's probably rolling in a bed of money right now, they ask him to submit his DNA. He refused. And what about this? Hold on.

There's a hearing. She's found. Her body was found by a handyman who the husband sent to the house after the husband says she would not answer the phone. That's quite the coinkydink. Does it murder make? No. But her body is found by someone he sends to go find her body. I mean, excuse me, someone he sends to go to the house to check on her. She was lying on the floor with multiple gunshot wounds. She appeared to have a

cut on her arm. Now listen, if this is a burglary gone wrong, why shoot the person multiple times? Why not just run out the door? She was not raped. There's no sex assault. So what's the motive? Nothing stolen. Interesting. She was still alive when police arrived, but then died of her injuries. So isn't that a coincidence? She was just shot. She doesn't answer the phone. Now, if I don't answer my phone, Alan, do you send somebody to come look and check on me? No. So why did he do that? Yeah, you take more than just one or two times of not answering your phone. That is a good point.

The point about the DA. That's nothing else for you, young man. Since she died, Mr. Thing, the husband, he's already sold her estate and remarried. That was hasty. Huh? The sheets on the bed didn't even get cold. Yeah. Uh-uh.

I wonder if he even changed the sheets. Okay, go ahead. Okay, so if they get the DNA. But he is not a suspect. he has not been formally accused the only one pointing the finger at him it's not me and it's not alan is the daughter well okay not the only one really yet because of the da hearing that is this week there is a new prosecutor in this county and as a result this prosecutor was sworn in on march the 15th and the first thing he said was bring me all the cold cases all of the cases since 1970 that haven't

been solved and they started he started having the staff look through them and he said good for me what about this lady april kaufman that was a pretty big deal five years ago so they started looking at it and they said wait we've got some dna evidence if we could only match them up and that's when they started the effort they've been sitting on the dna evidence all this time yeah uh something i have another little fact for you reportedly the indocrinologist husband who has already sold her estate and remarried has also tried to cash in on two life insurance policies where he was named as the beneficiary. And as you accurately pointed out, yet again, I caught you being right again, the insurance provider has refused on the basis that

he has not been ruled out as a suspect. And cops refused to provide the insurance with a report stating as much that he has been cleared what do you call that the slayer statute that would bar anybody who was involved in the killing from getting a benefit yeah it goes by different names in different jurisdictions but yes so he the husband has sued the insurance company claiming he's entitled to the money. It then, the company listed Kim Pack, the daughter, as a third party who might contest the request. And that, and only then, then and only then, did the daughter file the wrongful death claim. All right?

Blaming her mother's death on the stepfather, Dr. Kaufman. So it's not as if the daughter, Kim, raced out and sued over money. There was a long sequence of events started really by the doctor himself. He's the one that tried to cash into insurance policies. He's the one that sold the estate. He's the one that remarried. He's the one refusing to give DNA. He's the one that remarried. He's the one refusing to give DNA. He did this, and then she responded with her own lawsuit. So I don't like the daughter

being portrayed as some money grabber. She did not jump into the debate over this killing until she says, in fact, this is what she said two years ago when she filed the suit against him. She says, i purposely tried to avoid directly talking about what happened but after being brought into this lawsuit meaning the over the insurance thing i have no choice but to respond 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 you're going too fast whoa wait wait wait wait what are you writing this down? No, but I need to process it. Okay. You sound like one of those disclaimers at the end of commercials and car advertisements.

Now, hold on. You're talking about a statement from April. I mean, excuse me, from Kim, the daughter. Yes. Okay. Can you just slow down a minute? Now, what did she say? She said that she hadn't been really speaking out about this case,

but after being brought into this lawsuit, I have no choice but 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 mother would not want me to sit silently any longer. That's what she said at the news conference where they announced this in 2014, three years ago. You know, it's bad enough to lose a parent. I mean, I know, Alan, you've lived through me losing my dad two years ago, and I'm still, I mean, I've got his handkerchief in my hand right now that I carry with me all the time. And I just, it's bad enough to lose your parent, but then to think they were murdered,

for them to be lost to violence. It's a whole different can of worms when your loved one is murdered. You know, my fiance's murder, it made me realize that because it's not you're not just dealing with a death or a loss you're dealing with an intentional infliction of pain and death which is a whole nother trauma to those left behind and this girl loses a parent to violence that's that's a lot to process. Now, this husband, Dr. Kaufman, lived in the home where April was found murdered. Now, the neighbors say the pair had recently bought another home in Arizona, and the doctor was planning to retire. Well, if he gets all this insurance money, he will certainly be able to retire with his new bride. He was 68 at the time, I believe. That's not old enough to retire.

He's got plenty of years left to work. That's true. But doctors sometimes do that because they can. Wouldn't you move to Arizona from Linwood, New Jersey? This is just outside of Atlantic City. Don't knock Jersey. Don't knock Jersey. One of my very best friends lives there

in Jersey and I've been to his home with his wife and his boys. It's beautiful. And they don't call it the Garden State for nothing. There's a lot of beautiful areas and countryside and wooded areas in Jersey. Okay? I guess my opinion

of New Jersey has been tainted by the fact that that's where I went to boot camp when I went into the Army at fort dix it's hard to imagine you and your ponytail in boot camp they made me cut it off then they shaved it off and go ahead everybody go ahead write in how mean i am to alan do go ahead oh i want to talk about, this says police, another account, and it's an old account. I read a 2012 account that said police are close to making an arrest after she was found shot dead. That was in 2012. Now, we learned that Kaufman, the husband, Dr. James Kaufman, says his wife was asleep when he left for work Thursday morning. So he sees her that morning, the beloved local radio talk show host, very active on Veterans

Affairs. She was a big supporter of our veterans. Her body, bullet riddled, was found at her home 1130 a.m. by the handyman, the husband calls in, who calls 911. Now, this is according to the then prosecutor. So, the husband is with her, by his own admission, the morning of her murder. Then, in a very short time span, she's found dead. Shot numerous times in the bedroom of their home. You're right, Alan, it's 12 miles from Atlantic City. Now, she co-hosted the King Arthur Show on WIBG. The prosecutor let it slip that the killing, her murder, had nothing to do with her radio job

what do you make of that alan it was very non-controversial it wasn't like the podcast we do here where somebody just might be looking at me when i walk out the door here in in los angeles for what i said about them but in fact just before her death she was given the governor's award for community service for what she was doing with veterans, mostly focusing on leading a petition drive for veterans' health care and pushing for local health programs for them. So she was a saint in the community. Now, Alan, I know why she always looks so good in every picture. She also owned a hair salon and a catering service.

So that's why her hair is always perfect. She's always perfect. She's really, really pretty. Neighbors claim that they saw her husband arriving at the murder scene, saying his wife was asleep with a pillow over her face when he went to work that morning. Now, why would he share that with the neighbors? But anyway, another neighbor said he spoke briefly to his wife and kept asking, why now? Why now? Now, that's an odd question to ask. That's what the neighbors say, that she had this incredible personality. She could never say no to any charity. She was the kind of person that would give you the shirt off her back. That's according to her co-host.

That she had been in a great mood the day before Wednesday. No indication anything was wrong. They had been celebrating progress on a lot of veterans issues. And she was talking about a new venture working with homeless veterans. Wow. What about that? Yeah. And as I said, she'd just gotten this big award for all of her work. Here's something that's going to really make you mad. And it reminds me of what we discussed in a case recently, the one about the lawyer who is charged with killing his wife in Atlanta. Tex. Yes, exactly, Tex. What did he do after her death? He auctioned off her belongings, including family heirlooms.

In this one? In this one, including family heirlooms. I wonder how the daughter felt about family heirlooms being auctioned off. Well, that's part of her whole problem with it. Oh, my stars. Yeah. Oh, my stars. Yeah. Oh, my stars. That's terrible. That's really bad.

Oh, man, that makes me hurt for the daughter. Yeah. It does. Because, I mean, things don't really matter, like your TV or your DVD player or your sofa. Your VHS player, in your case. Yeah, thank you. But things like, I don't know, my grandmother's engagement ring, the rocking chair that belonged to my granny, my great-grandmother,

those things would matter to me. And all that's gone? Yeah, auctioned it off and remarried. I got a question, an investigation-type question for you. You're really trying to throw gas on the fire here, aren't you? I've got an investigative-type question for you. So this, in the next week, we should know if he's going to, the doctor is going to be forced to give DNA, which he's refused,

because of a hearing. Then the prosecutor is pushing it, Damon Tyner, the new prosecutor there. The judge is going to decide after a hearing if he's going to force it, and my guess is he will. But if they get that DNA, we've not heard what kind of DNA evidence the investigators have. They've held it close to their vest. But if the guy lived there, slept in that bed, dressed in that bedroom, what kind of DNA could there be that he couldn't just argue well of course i've got dna at the death scene i live there well it depends it depends

if she had a cut on her arm what is that from is that from a knife is there the perpetrator's dna anywhere i mean that that's what they're looking at obviously they're not it can't be just Is that from a knife? Is there the perpetrator's DNA anywhere? I mean, that's what they're looking at. Obviously, it can't be just DNA in the bathroom where he may have cut himself shaving. It's got to be in a location or in a condition that raises an evidentiary issue about who committed the crime. And I guess under fingernails, like if she had scratched him and got his skin under her fingernails, something like that. Well, then this raises the other question. If they've got that kind of DNA evidence, why is it five years later that they're finally asking for DNA from him? Now, another thing, the handyman, Will Gonzalez,

called 911 and he said, quote, my boss is flat on the floor in her bedroom. She has a cut on her arm. She's not answering. So what he saw first is the cut. That's interesting, right? Yeah, it makes the cut bigger than otherwise might have been, that it was an obvious. He thought that's what her problem was was he probably didn't see the gunshots and what's so sad about the husband auctioning off his former wife's belongings friends came forward and bought them bought a lot of them in order to give them to the daughter that's just a shame that he would not let her pick what she wanted before he auctioned things off. That's very hurtful. I got to say stupid too, because if you think about it, if he did the killing, which you

probably think he did, he, no, no, I'm not. He has not been named a suspect. He has not maybe between your ears though. Let's just be honest here, Nancy. You've not said it. So there's no libel or slander here. I'm going to let the police do the talking on this one. All right.

Hey, but this is something I do want to say. If you have any information about the murder of this beautiful lady, April Kaufman, please call 609-909-7666, 609-909-7666, or go to crimeonline.com where we have our tip line and an email tip service. And again, if you're not there when a fire starts, who will be there to save your home? With Simply Safe Home Security, your smoke detectors immediately alert emergency services at the first sign of a fire. Get 10% off your system today at simplisafe.com slash nancy. That's simplisafe.com slash nancy. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.