Sotheby’s Agent in New Jersey Beaten to Death

A New Jersey real estate agent was beaten to death in her home last week and her stepson has been charged with the crime.

Irma Daniels, 48, was beaten in the head with a baseball bat on the evening of Aug. 16 at her family’s Cresskill townhouse, the Daily Voice reported. Bergen County prosecutor Mark Musella said John Daniels Jr., 30, was identified by his father as his stepmother’s killer.

Daniels fled the scene, but was later taken into custody, according to the prosecutor. He was charged with murder, hindering apprehension and unlawful weapons position.

Irma Daniels immigrated to the country from southern Russia, where she earned a doctorate from Moscow’s Finance Academy, and held an MBA in marketing.

The real estate agent had worked in the industry for more than seven years. Before recently joining Englewood Cliffs-based Prominent Properties of Sotheby’s International Realty as a realtor associate, she was an agent and salesperson with Keller Williams Town Life in Tenafly.

Daniels received a NJ Realtors Silver Circle of Excellence Sales Award earlier this year.

She is survived by John Daniels, her husband of 12 years who works as a managing partner at the century-old Daniels & Daniels family law firm.

A motive behind the slaying has not been publicly established. Bergen County’s Major Crimes Unit and the local police are leading the investigation, assisted by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Bureau of Criminal Identification and the county’s medical examiner’s office.

— Holden Walter-Warner