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Borough police responding to a 911 call from her husband found the body of Irma Daniels in the family's Stonegate Trail townhouse shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said.
She'd been struck in the head with a baseball bat by John A. Daniels Jr., 30, the prosecutor said.
Daniels fled but was later taken into custody, the prosecutor said.
His father, attorney John A. Daniels Sr., identified him as the killer.
The junior Daniels was charged with murder, hindering apprehension and unlawful weapons possession.
He remained in custody at Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus.
Daniels had been unemployed for some time. His last known job was at the family law firm in Guttenberg, where he'd worked from 2018 to 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The profile says 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.
Daniels graduated from Bergen Catholic High School in 2011 -- the same year that Irma Daniels emigrated to the United States and married his father.
Originally from Southern Russia, she'd recently visited her homeland and was looking forward to returning soon, a family friend told Daily Voice.
It was shortly before noon Tuesday, a little more than 30 hours before the fateful 911 call to Cresskill police, that Daniels posted a photo with the comment:
"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."
"The Caucasian mountains are so magnificent and eternal," she added.
Daniels received a doctorate from the prestigious Finance Academy in Moscow and had an MBA degree in marketing. Before launching her real estate career in Bergen County, she worked as a marketing director for a leading premium wine-importing company in Moscow.
Her husband, John A. Daniels Sr., 63, is a managing partner with Daniels & Daniels, a nearly century-old family law firm at 68th Street and Park Avenue in Guttenberg.
Daniels was at a point in her life where her star was rising.
She recently became a realtor associate with Prominent Properties of Sotheby's International Realty in Englewood Cliffs and was featured in the May issue of "The Neighbors of Closter, Demarest & Haworth" magazine.
"Our homes so frequently evoke personal memories of cherished family experiences that the impending purchase or sale of a home becomes an especially strenuous endeavor," Daniels told an interviewer. "It causes me to approach my task with special sensitivity, concern and professional competence."
Daniels previously worked as a real estate agent/salesperson for Keller Williams Town Life in Tenafly, where colleague Eileen Meehan called her "super smart, hard working and a fantastic agent."
This year, she received an NJ Realtors Silver Circle of Excellence Sales Award.
"I finally did it," Daniels wrote this past March. "After 7 years in the real estate industry I finally received this distinguished award."
"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," she noted. "I was ready to give up.
"It was a long way to get where I am now," Daniels added. "Everything came to me through perseverance, work ethic, failures, creative mind and most importantly my mindset that I am not a quitter.
"I am very happy to share my success with my clients, friends and family," wrote Daniels, who was also known for enjoying a good cigar. "Thank you for your trust. It means everything to me."
Musella said detectives from his Major Crimes Unit and Cresskill police are handling the investigation. They're being assisted by the Bergen County Sheriff's Bureau of Criminal Identification -- which collected evidence -- and the Bergen County Medical Examiner's Office.
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