The man who killed April Kauffman was pronounced dead by her widower's nurse after he was found "cold and blue" inside his Villas home, records show.
Francis Mulholland, known as Frank, had a packet of heroin and a syringe next to him when he was found at about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 8, 2013.
His death was ruled an overdose.
Seventeen months earlier, Mulholland was driven to the Linwood home Dr. James Kauffman and his wife shared, went through the intentionally unlocked door and shot April Kauffman twice inside her bedroom, according to charges in the case.
But Mulholland wouldn't live to see those charges, which came nearly five years after the local radio host and veterans advocate was found dead.
Mulholland had attempted suicide or threatened to hurt himself at least three times before his death, police records show.
Less than an hour after the call to his home was made the night he was found dead, Mulholland's doctor's office was called.
"Spoke with nurse practitioner Barbara Greenling, who will respond to make pronouncement," the officer wrote in his incident report.
A month earlier, police had received a call about drug activity at the residence, A note was made in the incident report that patrol would keep a check in the area.
Whether the overdose was intentional or accidental may never be known.
Seventeen days after James Kauffman was charged with murder this January, he was found unresponsive inside his Hudson County jail cell. He had written a lengthy suicide note to the woman he married after his wife's murder and his attorneys.
Authorities have refused to release its contents citing both marital and attorney-client privilege.
It took more than a year to find someone to kill April Kauffman, according to the charges.
James Kauffman was trying to quiet his wife of a decade from outing a profitable Oxycontin ring he allegedly led with Cape May County Pagans President Ferdinand "Freddy" Augello.
While seven people are charged in the drug ring, Augello is the only surviving member charged with April Kauffman's killing.
Although admitted informant Andrew Glick indicted in an interview with a Canadian reporter that he was involved in the planning.
Kauffman started to lose patience that it was taking so long to get a hitman,
Glick told the Toronto Star.
Glick's arrest last year on meth and weapons charges is what he said caused him to turn against his Pagans Motorcycle Club family. But some close to Glick say he would often quit the club when things weren't going his way.
Meanwhile, Augello awaits his fate inside the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
He has two public defenders assigned to him, but was looking for money to pay for a private attorney.
A GoFundMe page to help fund his legal representation was recently taken down.
In it, he told the story of his arrest Jan. 6, inside the Petersburg home of his elementary schoolteacher girlfriend, where Augello said he lived for three years.
The woman and two college students were handcuffed and there were threats made to shoot the family pet, he alleged.
The link to the page has been shared several times on his mostly public Facebook page, kept active by his daughter, BreakingAC has been told.
She has not responded to requests for comment.
