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A Sotheby’s estate agent was beaten to death by his 30-year-old stepson with a baseball bat at his luxury gated community home, police say.
Irma Daniels, 48, was bludgeoned to death in her $864,000 home in Cresskill, New Jersey on Wednesday – with cops claiming her husband’s son John Daniels Jr, 30, was behind the the attack.
Investigators found she died from blunt trauma and launched an urgent search for her stepson who officials say fled the scene after the vicious attack.
After being ensnared on Thursday, Daniels’ initial court appearance on Friday reportedly saw him collapse and stutter as he spoke before a judge, who ordered him held without bail.
He faces a slew of criminal charges, including first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a weapon and lying to investigators.
Irma Daniels, 48, estate agent for luxury auction house Sotheby’s, died of blunt trauma
John Daniels Jr, 30, reportedly fled the scene after beating his stepmother to death with a baseball bat at their upscale New Jersey home on Wednesday. He is pictured with his father, John Daniels Sr, an esteemed lawyer at the law firm Daniels & Daniels
The Sotheby’s real estate agent was found dead Wednesday evening around 6:45 p.m. at his secure residence in Cresskill, New Jersey.
Investigators pictured at the scene after the body of Irma Daniels was discovered on the evening of August 16, 2023
Daniels’ LinkedIn profile listed him as an investment banker, and his social media is littered with shirtless and lavish vacation selfies. Police say he was unemployed and single at the time of his mother-in-law’s murder, and it appears he hasn’t held a job for more than three years since leaving the law firm. from his father.
Bergen County District Attorney Mark Musella said police were called to the scene at the Stonegate Trail gated community in Cresskill on Wednesday evening.
After arriving at their home, they discovered Daniels’ body, where it was determined that she had died of “apparent blunt force trauma”.
Police later revealed she was beaten to death with a bat, as they said the suspect’s own father, John Daniels Sr, a solicitor, had identified his son as the suspected killer.
Daniels Sr is the managing partner of the well-regarded law firm Daniels & Daniels, a nearly century-old firm based in Guttenberg, New Jersey.
In a separate statement, cops identified the victim as Irma Daniels, a Russian immigrant who moved to the United States and married Daniels Sr in 2011.
She had recently made a trip back to her home country, and just hours before her death, she shared a poignant post on Facebook about how important that visit was to her.
“Going back to my roots,” she said, coupled with images from her picturesque homeland.
“My beautiful homeland with breathtaking Caucasian mountains, ancient culture, heartbreaking history and gracious and noble people. Proud to be Circassian.
Just hours before her death, Irma Daniels shared a poignant Facebook post about her recent trip back to her home country, noting how important the visit had been to her.
John Daniels Jr’s Linkedin profile claims he’s an investment banker, but police say he was single and unemployed at the time of his mother-in-law’s murder
While his mother-in-law built a successful estate agent career at Sotheby’s, Daniels Jr appears to have been out of work for some time.
His last known job was at his father’s law firm, where he worked from 2018 to 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. For a year prior, he had been Marketing Director at Benzel-Busch Motor Car.
Daniels also earned an MBA from Boston College Carroll School of Management in May 2022 and graduated in 2011 from Bergen Catholic High School – the same year Irma Daniels emigrated from Russia and married her father.
She had recently celebrated a series of recent successes in her career, including her appointment as Associate Realtor at Prominent Properties of Sotheby’s International Realty in Eaglewood Cliffs.
This year, she received the prestigious NJ Realtor’s Silver Circle of Excellence Sales Award, which she said was an achievement she had worked for for years.
“I finally did it,” she said online after winning the award in March. “After seven years in the real estate industry, I finally received this distinguished award.”
“Looking back at the beginning of this new journey for me, I will never forget how difficult it was the first two years without contracts, without clients, without advice or support from the company where I started. “, she noted at the time. ‘I was ready to give up.’
Police say Daniels Jr fled the scene and was arrested the day after his stepmother was found beaten to death
John Daniels Jr’s social media is littered with selfies, often shirtless, and lavish vacation photos despite his unemployment
Irma had also been featured in the May issue of the real estate magazine “The Neighbors of Closter, Demarest & Haworth”, where she touted her skills in real estate.
“Our homes so often evoke personal memories of cherished family experiences that the impending purchase or sale of a home becomes a particularly daunting undertaking,” Daniels said, reports DailyVoice.
“This leads me to approach my task with particular sensitivity, concern and professional competence.”