Sotheby's realtor Irma Daniels is beaten to death in luxury NJ home

Sotheby’s realtor Irma Daniels is beaten to death ‘by stepson John Daniels Jr’ at luxury New Jersey home

• Sotheby’s realtor Irma Daniels, 48, was found beaten to death on Wednesday
• After a day-long manhunt, police arrested her stepson John Daniels Jr, 30
• He broke down and stuttered in court Friday as he was held without bail 

A Sotheby’s realtor was beaten to death by her 30 year-old stepson with a baseball bat at her home in a luxury gated community, police say.  

Irma Daniels, 48, was bludgeoned to death at her $864,000 home in Cresskill, New Jersey on Wednesday – with cops claiming her husband’s son John Daniels Jr, 30, was behind the attack. 

Investigators found she died from blunt force trauma, and launched an urgent search for her stepson who officials say fled the scene after the vicious attack. 

After he was snared Thursday, Daniels’ initial court appearance Friday saw him reportedly break down and stutter as spoke before a judge, who ordered him to be 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, a realtor with luxury auction house Sotheby’s, died from blunt force trauma

John Daniels Jr, 30, allegedly fled the scene after beating his stepmother to death with a baseball bat in their upscale New Jersey home on Wednesday. He is pictured with his father, John Daniels Sr, an esteemed attorney with law firm Daniels & Daniels

The Sotheby’s realtor was found dead on Wednesday evening at around 6:45pm in her gated-community home in Cresskill, New Jersey

Investigators pictured at the scene after Irma Daniels’ body was discovered on the evening of August 16, 2023

Daniels’ LinkedIn profile has him listed as an investment banker, and his social media is littered with shirtless selfies and lavish holidays. According to police, he was unemployed and single at the time of his stepmother’s slaying, and he appears to have not held a job for over three years since leaving his father’s law firm. 

Bergen County prosecutor Mark Musella said police were called to the scene in the gated Stonegate Trail community in Cresskill on Wednesday evening.

After arriving at their home, they discovered Daniels’ body, where it was determined she died ‘of apparent blunt force trauma.’ 

Police later revealed that she had been beaten to death with a bat, as they said the suspect’s own father John Daniels Sr, a lawyer, identified his son as the alleged killer. 

Daniels Sr is a managing partner with esteemed law firm Daniels & Daniels, a near-century old practice 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 been on a trip back to her home country, and just hours before her death shared a poignant Facebook post about how important the visit had been for her. 

‘Going back to my roots,’ she said, coupled with footage of her scenic homeland.

‘My beautiful motherland with breathtaking Caucasian Mountains, ancient culture, heartbreaking history, and graceful and noble people. Proud of being Circassian.’

Just hours before she died, 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 is an investment banker, but police say he was single and unemployed at the time of his stepmother’s slaying

While his stepmother built a career as a successful realtor with Sotheby’s, Daniels Jr has seemingly been unemployed 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 before, he had been a marketing manager with Benzel-Busch Motor Car. 

Daniels also received 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 his father.

She had recently been celebrating a series of recent successes in her career, including being named a realtor associate with 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 been working towards 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 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 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 pictures from lavish holidays despite his unemployment

Irma had also featured in the May issue of property magazine ‘The Neighbors of Closter, Demarest & Haworth’, where she touted her real estate skills. 

‘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 said, reports DailyVoice. 

‘It causes me to approach my task with special sensitivity, concern and professional competence.’ 

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