New Jersey
NJ realtor beaten to death with baseball bat in brutal murder, stepson charged: cops
A Sotheby’s realtor was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat and her stepson is now charged with the brutal murder at their gated community home in NJ, authorities said.
Irma Daniels, 48, was found dead inside her $864,000 three-bedroom Cresskill residence. Investigators said she died from blunt force trauma.
Police allege her husband’s son, John Daniels Jr, 30, committed the slaying.
Cops found Daniels’ battered body after responding to a 911 call on Stonegate Trail in Cresskill on Wednesday at 6:46 p.m., the Bergen County Prosecutor’s office said.
Daniels, who allegedly went on the lam, was collared Thursday, a day after the disturbing discovery, prosecutors said.
His father, attorney John A. Daniels Sr., 63, identified him as the killer, the Daily Voice reported.
The younger Daniels was charged with murder, hindering apprehension and unlawful weapons possession and booked into the Bergen County Jail on Thursday, the media outlet said.
A neighbor said the suspect had been acting strangely.
“He was doing odd sprinting, from one driveway to the next driveway. Not sprinting for exercise. He wouldn’t make eye contact,” said the resident, who did not want to be identified.
“One day I saw him wandering around in front of someone else’s house, pacing. It was like circling with an angry and upset look on his face. He looked deranged. And I thought, ‘Somebody is gonna call the police on this guy.’”
The victim, who hailed from Moscow, Russia, shared a now gut-wrenching post Aug. 15 on her Facebook page, spotlighting scenic footage of her homeland.
“Going back to my roots. My beautiful motherland with breathtaking Caucasian Mountains, ancient culture, heartbreaking history, and graceful and noble people. Proud of being Circassian,” she wrote.
The Facebook page also said Daniels had been married since 2011 and that she was a Realtor sales associate at Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty.
In March, she trumpeted that after seven years in the real estate industry, she’d received a Circle of Excellence award from the company.
“I did it…Looking back to the beginning of this new journey for me I will never forget how hard it was the first two years with no deals, no clients, no guidance or support from the company where I started. I was ready to give up. It was a long way to get where I am now. Everything came to me through perseverance, work ethic, failures, creative mind and most importantly my mindset that I am not a quitter.”
Eerily, Irma Daniels died in a tony townhome similar to those in which she made her living.
The accused killer appears to have been out of work.
Daniels received an MBA from the Boston College Carroll School of Management in May 2022 and had previously worked for a year as a marketing manager for Benzel-Busch Motor Car, according to his LinkedIn and Facebook page.
Cresskill has a population of 9,000 people and is located 16 miles from Manhattan.
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This story is part of the WHYY News Climate Desk, bringing you news and solutions for our changing region.
From the Poconos to the Jersey Shore to the mouth of the Delaware Bay, what do you want to know about climate change? What would you like us to cover? Get in touch.
In the early 1980s, New Jersey was on the brink of losing its last remaining bald eagles. Only one nesting pair existed in the state, and their eggs weren’t hatching because of the lingering effects of the insecticide DDT, which was banned in 1972.
Following decades of restoration work, bald eagles now nest in every New Jersey county. This week, the state removed the bald eagle off its endangered species list — more than 17 years after the majestic bird was federally delisted.
“I’ve been around a long time and have not seen very many species delisted. So, it really is a very special thing,” said Kathy Clark, chief of the endangered and nongame species program at New Jersey Fish and Wildlife.
In 2024, New Jersey surveyed a record 293 nesting pairs of bald eagles, of which 264 laid eggs. Their highest numbers are found along the Delaware Bay, where protected marshlands and coastal creeks provide ideal habitats. The state was able to delist the species because their reproductive rate over multiple years reached sustainable levels.
The success story follows years of artificially incubating eggs, introducing eagle chicks from Canada, monitoring nests and educating the public.
“What this really shows is that big picture conservation is possible. It starts with an inspirational spark that causes a wide swath of people to care deeply, and then the work requires learning, effort and perseverance over the long term,” said Alex Ireland, president and CEO of the environmental group New Jersey Audubon. “It’s very important that we think about this proactively as we go forward. It is much better to conserve species before listing is ever required.”
Following the nationwide recovery of the bald eagle, starting in the Chesapeake Bay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service delisted the predatory bird in 2007.
The national ban on DDT, as well as policies aiming to protect birds of prey, played a role in the eagles’ recovery, said Jason Weckstein, an ornithologist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
“Eagles are an amazing success story. They went from being pretty rare — it was not something that you saw in the suburbs — and now, here in my neighborhood in Wynnewood, I see bald eagles all the time,” he said. “Look up, because there’s a good chance you’ll be able to see an eagle.”
However, several states did not immediately remove bald eagles from their own endangered species lists. For example, Pennsylvania made the move in 2014.
Doris Priest, a lifelong Burlington County resident, has watched countless landmarks in her community fade into the past.
But there’s one place she prays will endure: her beloved church.
“It’s a small church. It’s just quaint,” said Priest, who is the vice president of the Lumberton Historical Society.
That quaint church is Trinity Episcopal in Vincentown, New Jersey.
It was built in 1871 near the banks of the Rancocas Creek, where it’s stood firm ever since.
However, the growing threats of climate change could soon uproot it.
Priest said each year brings stronger storms and worsening flooding.
“I think it was 2003 we had 5 feet of water in the church,” Priest said. “We get very scared. It was devastating to walk in and everything was gone.”
According to climate risk data from Firststreet.org, more than 37,000 properties in Burlington County are at risk of major flooding over the next 30 years.
That’s why Trinity Episcopal Church is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace and raise the 154-year-old foundation. The plan is to elevate it 4 feet in hopes of preventing future damage.
“In this country, we lose a lot of our history and that upsets me,” Priest said. “We’re trying to save history.”
The church will remain closed during construction, which is expected to be completed by Easter Sunday.
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