Nanny, boss in stab slays
NJ beau busted after double murder
A brooding man fatally stabbed his au pair girlfriend and her boss — a popular Manhattan comedy-club owner — in a leafy New Jersey town over the weekend, cops said Sunday.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God!’’ a woman was heard screaming from the Maplewood home early Saturday, according to a neighbor.
Killed in the carnage was David Kimowitz, a 40-year-old married dad of two and owner of The Stand in Union Square, and his family’s Colombian live-in nanny, Karen Bermudez-Rodriguez, 26, police said.
The au pair’s beau, 27-year-old Joseph Porter of Elizabeth, NJ, was nabbed in Newark hours later and charged with two counts of murder and weapons possession, authorities said.
Neighbors said they believe Kimowitz’s wife and two preschool-age daughters were spending the weekend at the Jersey Shore at the time of the carnage.
They added that Porter seemed to be stalking Bermudez-Rodriguez in the days leading up to the double homicide — including the day right before.
“The boyfriend was sitting parked here in a dark Toyota Corolla all day Friday,’’ said Kathy Cantwell, 63, who lives next door to the Kimowitzes on Walton Road in the suburban Essex County enclave.
Residents said Porter got out of his car a few times to pace up and down the street. At one point that night — during a party that Bermudez-Rodriguez threw for other nannies at the home — he stood in some nearby woods.
Hours later, all hell broke loose.
“At 6 a.m., I heard it. It was piercing. Blood-curdling screams over and over,’’ Cantwell said.
She described hearing a woman inside screaming, “Oh, my God!” for “several minutes.”
A 20-year-old jogger who happened to be running by the upscale house at the time spotted the bloodied nanny lying on the ground in front of the property and tried to help her, calling police, according to neighbors.
The au pair was pronounced dead within the hour at a local hospital. Kimowitz’s body was found inside the home, cops said.
Bermudez-Rodriguez had been working for the family for about a year, after coming to the States to improve her English, a pal told NJ.com.
A neighbor who lives across the hall from the accused killer told The Post that he lives with his mother and has a serious chip on his shoulder.
“He is not friendly at all,” the resident said of Porter. “Every day, he never says hi. He always looks mad.”
Meanwhile, Kimowitz was well known on the comedy circuit. His club has drawn the likes of Tracy Morgan, Dave Chappelle and Damon Wayans.
Residents said the family had moved to Maplewood fewer than two years ago to escape the grind of the city, spending a year and a half renovating the home.