The death of the man who shot April Kauffman is now being investigated as a possible crime, the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office has confirmed.
That a review was sparked by the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office about two weeks ago was first reported by
journalist Kevin Shelly, who has been delving into the case as part of his research for a book.
Francis Mulholland was found dead inside his Villas home in October 2013 in what was then deemed an overdose, about 17 months after he is said to have fatally shot veterans advocate Kauffman inside her Linwood home.
But questions have been raised about how Mulholland may have really died, with sources claiming it was actually a “hotshot,” a lethal shot of heroin given to intentionally kill someone.
The case seemed closed when it was discussed several times during the trial of Ferdinand Augello, the only person convicted in the killing.
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Dr. James Kauffman killed himself inside his Hudson County jail cell earlier this year, just weeks after he was charged with paying for the hit.
Joseph Mulholland testified at that trial that he drove “Frank” to the path near the Kauffmans’ Linwood home the morning of the killing, and then waited for word that the woman was dead.
He was also there the day the other Mulholland was found dead.
Joseph Mulholland said there was loud music but no answer when he went to the home to pick up his friend.
The two men were not related, although they often referred to one another as cousin.
Later that day, he returned with another friend after Frank’s girlfriend couldn’t reach him. The other man went into the home through a window and found Frank Mulholland “cold and blue,” according to the report.
Dr. James Kauffman’s nurse practitioner, Barbara Greenling, was the one called to pronounce Mulholland dead, records show.
Greenling testified at the trial of Ferdinand Augello that she did not recognize the man, and that he was not the Mulholland who had been a patient.
Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey Sutherland told BreakingAC that he would be giving no further comment on the case.
But he did tell Shelly that he “presumes” the investigation was sparked by information developed during the April Kauffman murder investigation and trial.
The investigation is “in its infancy,” and the office is waiting on files from Atlantic County, Shelly was told.
Shelly said he learned through a records request that the detective investigating Frank Mulholland's death didn't interview the last person known to have seen the victim alive until April 2014, "and then the investigator immediately closed the case with no apparent consideration of the possibilities of either murder or suicide," Shelly wrote on his page "#KauffmanCase: Murder, Oxy, Greed, and More."
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“Taken together, the public is left only with unanswered questions and the very real prospect that investigative laziness — ho-hum, yet another OD — may very well underlay the accidental death findings of both agencies,” he wrote in one records request to the Medical Examiner's Office
Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon Tyner said Monday that he had no comment and “that’s Cape May County’s case.”
Augello has insisted that it was the Mulhollands who killed April Kauffman. He also claims Joseph Mulholland told him that he killed Frank.
Joseph Mulholland was never charged in the killing. He did plead guilty to second-degree racketeering in the drug ring allegedly led by Dr. Kauffman and Augello.
Augello “was the boss,” Mulholland said at his plea in June. He testified to the same at Augello’s trial.
He is scheduled to be sentenced in that case Feb. 7.
No requests to interview Joe Mulholland in the reopened investigation into Frank Mulholland’s death, attorney Ed Weinstock told BreakingAC.
