Husband of slain radio host taken into custody after brandishing 9mm as FBI converged on office, home

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. — In a dramatic development in a long-unsolved case, the endocrinologist husband of slain radio host April Kauffman was taken into custody Tuesday morning after he brandished a weapon as FBI and local law enforcement converged on his home and offices, authorities said.

James Kauffman surrendered to authorities after a standoff and with the participation of a hostage negotiator, said Donna Weaver, a spokeswoman for newly appointed Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner, who has revived the investigation of what seemed like a killing that might go unsolved.

Tyner went to court last month seeking permission to obtain a DNA sample from James Kauffman, 68, who has remarried since the May 2012 slaying inside the home that he shared with April Kauffmann in affluent Linwood, a suburb of Atlantic City.

April Kauffman, known for her advocacy of veterans causes, was found shot to death inside her bedroom. Her husband has maintained that she was alive when he left for work and that he had nothing to do with her death. A household worker who stopped by to feed the couple's pet birds found her body.

Early Tuesday morning, Tyner told reporters that the raids were not connected to the killing, but that the investigation into it was continuing. He said James Kauffman was taken to a Psychiatric Intervention Program for monitoring after the 45-minute standoff.

Kauffman was later processed at the nearby Egg Harbor Township Police Department on gun and obstruction-of-justice charges and taken to the Atlantic County Justice Facility, where he will be held pending a 2 p.m. Wednesday hearing in Atlantic County Superior Court. Tyner said Tuesday afternoon that Kauffman pointed the gun at police and threatened to kill himself as law enforcement sought to execute search warrants at his office.

Tyner told reporters Kauffman owns about 100 guns.

NBC10 shot video of Kauffman, dressed in tan medical scrubs, being taken into custody outside his office.

"We were able to talk him off the ledge," Tyner, wearing a law enforcement badge, said to reporters in a Facebook live video posted by the news service BreakingAC. "He was taken to a psychiatric program. He is under arrest as we continue to investigate the charges that were filed against him in connection with possession of a weapon."

Tyner said Kauffman displayed a Ruger 9mm handgun and that hollow-point bullets were also found. Kauffman was later charged with unlawful possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, possession of hollow-point bullets, and obstruction of the administration of law.

"We look to get a lot of answers that we currently don't have now," Tyner said.

He said he would seek to have Kauffman detained as a danger to himself and others. There is virtually no monetary bail in New Jersey.

Tyner would not say what investigation led to the raid, just calling it "so wide-ranging we used a multi-jurisdictional model."

He said investigators also executed a search warrant at Kauffman's Linwood home on Woodstock Drive, where the killing took place five years ago, but that was also based on "matters unrelated to the death of April Kauffman."

The decision of Judge Bernard DeLury on the request to get a DNA sample from Kauffman was under seal. Tyner had no comment on that, but said he would respect the decision. He would not say if Kauffman was a suspect in her slaying. "We're not naming him as a suspect in anything right now," he said, except the gun charges.

"Every day that goes on, we are getting closer to solving the homicide of April Kauffman," Tyner said. "It has become a very long-winded, you might say, investigation, a very thorough investigation. We're hoping one day we'll be able to give her family the closure they deserve."

The death of April Kauffman, 47, elicited sympathy from veterans, politicians, radio hosts, and friends. The killing shocked the Linwood neighborhood, but while police told the community they did not have to fear for their safety, no arrest was ever made.

Her daughter, Kimberly Pack, has sued her stepfather in civil court, alleging that he was responsible for her mother's slaying. Pack did not respond to a message sent to her, but a family friend, Lee Darby, described her as "nervous."

"She's sad, she's heartbroken," Darby said, standing near the Woodstock Drive home as school let out at Mainland Regional High School. A stream of teenagers gawked at the police activity, evoking the morning of the killing, when parents feared for their children's safety and were reassured by authorities.

"This is every day, all day," she said. "People don't realize the intensity of this."

Tuesday morning, the county prosecutor's office, with assistance from the FBI and local police, executed a search warrant on both the business and home addresses of James Kauffman, the prosecutor said.

"It is my understanding that Dr. Kauffman comes into his office routinely at 6 a.m. or before," Tyner told reporters Tuesday afternoon, "and there were no other staff or patients at the scene."

April Kauffman's friend Lee Darby said the sudden spike in activity in the case gave her some hope of a resolution in the case.

"What would possess somebody to pull a gun? That's totally crazy," Darby added. "I'm hoping the result is either the FBI gets what they need, or that they find the evidence that they've been looking for."

Even as news broke that Kauffman had been taken into custody, patients continued to arrive for appointments for the well-regarded endocrinologist, whose practice has continued without disruption in the years after April Kauffman's killing.

"He was awesome," said one patient, who gave only his first name, Ed, and said Kauffman had been treating him for blood-sugar and blood-pressure disorders in the Ocean Heights Avenue office, just down the road from a bridge over the Patcong Creek, about 3 miles from the couple's home. "He seemed like such a nice guy.

"Things have changed in the last couple years," he added. "It seems like he was distracted."

Tyner told reporters he anticipated that the doctor's busy practice would be closed "for the foreseeable future."