Slain radio host's husband retains attorney

The husband of April Kauffman, a South Jersey radio personality and advocate for veterans' causes who was found fatally shot in her master bedroom last week in Atlantic County, has hired a well-known defense attorney, who said his client had "cooperated fully" with authorities.

James Kauffman, an endocrinologist, has retained Edwin Jacobs, the Atlantic City lawyer said in an interview Tuesday.

"He met the county prosecutor's investigators and answered all their questions," Jacobs said.

County Prosecutor Ted Housel, through a spokeswoman, said the investigation was ongoing and declined to say whether authorities had a person of interest or a suspect.

Jacobs, whose clients have included organized-crime kingpin Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, said he assured investigators of his client's continued cooperation.

April Kauffman, 47, was a grandmother and an entrepreneur known affectionately by friends as "Air Strike April" for her support of veterans.

She was memorialized Monday by about 500 people at a Margate synagogue. "I was always Mr. April. I was so proud of her accomplishments," her husband eulogized her, according to a report in the Atlantic City Press.

"Any good prosecutor will first direct an investigation toward eliminating spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends," Jacobs told the paper. "That's an obvious first step."

Jacobs added, "Once Dr. Kauffman is no longer speaking with the Prosecutor's Office, they will, I'm sure, move on to other phases of the investigation," the Press reported.

On Friday, Housel told reporters that a "handy person" who worked for the couple found her body when he arrived at their home on Woodstock Drive in Linwood between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Thursday to take care of the couple's pet parrots. She had been shot multiple times.

The victim owned a hair salon and catering business in Northfield. Until three months ago, she hosted a weekly talk show on WOND-AM 1400 focusing on veterans 'issues. She most recently cohosted another radio talk show, the King Arthur Show, once a week on WIBG.

Her husband was a medic in the Vietnam War, possibly in the Army, said Dan Danchak, a Navy veteran of the war. Danchak said he had worked recently with April Kauffman to organize a successful petition drive to allow some regional veterans to use the facilities at Shore Medical Center in Somers Point instead of having to trek to the nearest VA hospital, in Wilmington.

James Kauffman would talk to his patients about the petition drive, Danchak recalled, and once visited a local supermarket as volunteers were collecting signatures.

He shook their hands and told them to "keep up the good work," Danchak said.

Contact Darran Simon at 856-779-3829 or dsimon@phillynews.com, or follow on Twitter @darransimon.

Inquirer staff writer Jacqueline L. Urgo contributed to this article.