James Kauffman, the Jersey Shore doctor awaiting trial in the contract murder of his radio host wife, was found dead Friday morning in his jail cell, officials said.
File photo
A spokesman for Hudson County, where Kauffman was being held for his protection, said staff making their rounds at the county jail found the doctor dead about 9:20 a.m. in what appeared to be a suicide.
Kauffman was awating trial in Atlantic County on charges of arranging the 2012 murder of his wife, April, to prevent her from exposing an illegal drug distribution ring he allegedly ran with the Pagans Outlaw Motorcyle Gang.
Ed Jacobs, Kauffman’s attorney, said by telephone he had spoken to the warden at the Hudson County jail mid-morning and that he had confirmed Kauffman’s death.
“The warden tells me there is an investigation and he can’t make further comment,” Jacobs said.
“It’s a sad end to a very unhappy story,” Jacobs said. “I’m sure the events of the last five and a half years have taken their toll on Jim. He’s been under enormous stress, the focus of the investigation one way or another. And all the searches and pre-trial detention. I think it all added up.”
Kaufmann had been moved to Hudson County for his protection after death threats from his co-defendant, a member of the Pagans.
Kauffman apparently committed suicide by a method that would be familiar to a medical professional, sources said. Kauffman also left a six-page suicide note.
According to sources, the suicide involved tearing a strip from a bed sheet and twisting it into a very tight garrote that went around his neck.
When his cellmate was out at a court appearance, Kauffman apparently looped the sheet onto the slats of the upper bunk, lay face down on the lower bunk and created “just enough pressure to suffocate him, but it looks like he’s sleeping,” one source said.
“This was very thought out,” the source said.
Earlier this week, the prosecutor’s office released the full video of Kauffman’s June arrest, taken with an officer’s body camera, in which he is seen brandishing a gun and threatening suicide. “I’m not going to jail for this,” he vowed before surrendering.
At a detention hearing in Atlantic County Superior court last week, Kauffman’s appearance was in marked contrast to how he looked prior to arrest, his hair now white, his beard scruffy and his body hunched over.
Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner dismissed questions about Kauffman’s mental state after the hearing, but did note that the jail must be a hard place for the onetime popular endocrinologist, who owned homes in Linwood, N.J., and Arizona.
Officials said Kauffman next of kin had been notified. Kauffman was married to Carole Weintraub of Philadelphia and has children from previous marriages.