(JTA) — A Jewish comedy club owner and the family’s nanny were stabbed to death in a suburban New Jersey neighborhood.
David Kimowitz, 40, owner of The Stand comedy club in New York City, was found dead on Saturday morning in his suburban Maplewood home. The au pair, Karen Bermudez-Rodriguez, 26, was found dead on the street outside the home, the New York Times reported.
The woman’s boyfriend, Joseph D. Porter, 27, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was arrested in connection with the deaths and later charged with two counts of murder. He reportedly was upset because Bermudez-Rodriguez wanted to break up with him and used the key she had given him to enter the home where he allegedly killed Kimowitz.
He was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport before he could board a flight to Cancun, Mexico, according to court documents.
Kimowitz’s wife, Laura, and two pre-school age daughters were not at home at the time of the Saturday morning murders.
Bermudez-Rodriguez was a student from Colombia who started babysitting for the Kimowitz family more than a year ago, a family friend told NJ Advance Media. She was in the U.S. to learn English.
The family reportedly moved in to the home 18 months ago, after renovating it.
There had been only 15 homicides in Maplewood, a town of about 25,000 people, over the past three decades, the New York Times reported, citing state and federal authorities.
Several comedians took to social media to mourn Kimowitz’s death, whose funeral was scheduled for Thursday at Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel in Livingston, New Jersey. Rachel Feinstein remembered him as “such a kind and spirited person. He was always so joyous and silly and warm. Such a gift to our community.”
