Killer Motive

In Atlantic City,

April Kauffman is as iconic

as the casinos' bright lights.

- I used to love hearing April on the radio.

She was an absolute natural.

She was able to really reach and help a lot of people.

We called her Airstrike April.

There was no topic that was taboo.

A go-getter, living her life to the fullest.

- She lit up a room when she came in

and everybody wanted to be around her.

Gorgeous,

beautiful,

flamboyant.

An outspoken advocate for veterans,

married to a successful doctor and respected war hero.

- Everybody you April and everybody knew Jim.

Big couple, big personalities.

And then

two gunshots later,

it's all over.

- I saw her red nails and I started to cry.

Does she have a stalker?

Was it a home invasion gone bad?

There were a lot of potential suspects.

- April could definitely piss people off.

I'm Troy Roberts,

and I've come to Linwood, New Jersey

to uncover the motive

behind the violent death of a woman

who made it her mission to support America's finest.

The beautiful beaches

hugging the shores of southern New Jersey,

a seemingly perfect backdrop

for April Kauffman's youth.

- I went to grammar school with April,

had a lot of good memories.

She was a very giving person by nature

and just really outgoing.

- But it wasn't entirely carefree, right?

Tell me about April's family situation.

April had a very challenging

and not always happy childhood.

She didn't grow up with a mom and dad at home

like most of us did back in the 70s.

April's parents struggle with drugs and alcohol,

a struggle that has lifelong consequences

for April and her siblings.

- Her brothers and sisters were put up for adoption

and she was kept by my grandmother.

And she grew up never knowing her father.

As a teenager at a strict Catholic high school in 1981,

April's life quickly takes a turn.

When April was 17,

just a junior in high school,

she got pregnant.

How did she deal with that?

- April made the decision very early on

that she was going to keep the baby, have the baby,

and be a good mom, and she did all of them.

- What was it like growing up with a young mom?

- We were more like sisters than like mother and daughter.

- The teenage love between April and Kim's father

is short lived.

Despite getting married, the young couple soon split.

In 1994, April settled down again.

- She married a doctor who she thought was gonna be the one.

But April's second marriage also begins to crumble.

And then she meets the man of her dreams,

Jim Kauffman.

How old were you when she met Jim Kauffman?

I was 16.

You were 16?

Yes.

And Jim Kauffman came in like a knight in shining armor.

- Jim was a well-respected doctor.

He was a very popular and busy

endocrinologist in our area.

And he had a lot of clients.

- April and Jim are married in 2000.

What did your mother see in him?

He was a Vietnam War veteran.

He was exciting.

He rode motorcycles,

and she liked to ride.

Especially out west.

- And that's a past time that she and Jim

enjoyed together.

Would do together, yes.

April is especially impressed

by Jim's military experience,

which makes a big impression on Kim as well.

While you were in college,

he helped you with a paper.

He did.

This class was about a person that had an impact

on American history.

When I interviewed him,

he said he was in Vietnam

when him and his comrades

were shot and left for dead

in the middle of the jungle.

And that everyone had died, except for him.

Even though he was bleeding,

the most important thing to him was to collect the dog tags

of each and every one of his fellow comrades

to bring it back to their families,

to let them know what had happened to their boys,

because he didn't want them to wonder.

Jim's experience as a Green Beret

helps fuel what is becoming a growing interest for April,

volunteering to help veterans.

April and Jim even open their home to military recruits,

hosting an annual Thanksgiving dinner for dozens of cadets

for the nearby Coast Guard training center.

- April and Jim definitely were considered a power couple.

They helped people.

They were volunteers for different organizations.

They did a lot of good and donated a lot of money.

April's commitment to veterans causes

becomes even deeper in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

- 9/11 was definitely her call to action.

She felt that we just needed to stand up,

raise our hand, and do something as civilians.

April's like, we can do so much better.

We need to take care of our veterans.

So that became a crusade.

For April, anyone who stands in the way

of better care for veterans is a target for public scorn.

She gains a reputation for speaking out

against local politicians, governors,

even military leaders.

- April could definitely piss people off,

but April was April and she had a knack for telling you

to go to hell and make you look forward to the trip.

She had to ruffle feathers,

she had to rattle cages.

In 2009, April's passion finds a microphone,

literally,

at an Atlantic City radio station.

She was an absolute natural.

She really did a great job,

and she was able to really reach and help a lot of people.

We called her Airstrike April.

She was fearless even on the radio.

I mean, there was no topic that was taboo.

Politicians were a little bit intimidated by her.

April said to me, "I have finally found my place in life."

She was at the absolute peak.

Billy Gonzalez is April and Jim Kauffman's handyman.

On the morning of May 10th, 2012,

after receiving a call from Jim

saying April isn't answering her phone,

Billy agrees to go to the house and check in on April.

- What did police discover when they entered the home?

- They are greeted by the maintenance guy, Billy,

who is here and says that he finds April Kauffman upstairs

alone in the home, dead on the bedroom floor.

Linwood Law Enforcement finds April

face down with two gunshot wounds.

She's pronounced dead at the scene.

- And then shortly after they arrived,

Mr. Kauffman came home.

He came home after the police had initially arrived.

He was described as pulling into the driveway

and vomiting.

Did investigators recover any forensic evidence,

any physical evidence?

- They didn't recover the firearm.

They did recover a pillow with shots through the pillow

where you can see the distinctive black, sooty,

stippling and the metal from the round going through the pillow.

And the person had used the pillow for one of two reasons.

Either to cover so April couldn't see the gun,

or to muffle the sound.

But there were no shell casings,

there were no fingerprints--

No fingerprints?

- No, we didn't find any fingerprints in the house.

There was cash found in the home,

so the motivation wasn't, you know, a robbery.

There was no indication of ransacking,

no indication of forced entry.

- So investigators weren't able to recover anything

from the crime scene?

No.

The scene was very clean,

which was also an usual.

It made it appear that it was more of a organized job

that someone planned and thought out.

What did your gut tell you?

- It was very clear from the beginning

that April was the target.

This was an execution.

100%.

- Everybody had their conspiracy theories.

- Right from day one, there was an acknowledgement

that this might not be just your average,

run-of-the-mill murder.

- We've been tracing this psychopath for four years...