Murder suspect pleads not guilty
Klein is accused of killing ex-girlfriend’s husband last month
A former Cobleskill man pleaded not guilty Monday to a onecount indictment charging him with the April 13 stabbing death of 35-year-old Philip Rabadi, the man who married the defendant’s former girlfriend last September.
Jacob L. Klein, 40, of Virginia, a former area physician assistant who grew up in Cobleskill, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder, the sole count handed up last week by an Albany County grand jury.
Rabadi, who worked as a surgical physician assistant at St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, was discovered in his New Scotland home by his wife, Elana Radin, father, Shaw Rabadi, and an Albany County sheriff's deputy. They went to the home at 120 Miller Road after Rabadi did not show up for work, leading his wife to call 911. She also works as a physician’s assistant at St. Peter’s.
On Monday, Klein pleaded not guilty before County Judge William Little, who ordered the defendant held in the Albany County jail without bail.
Klein’s Manhattan-based attorney, Mark Bederow, did not oppose his client’s detainment Monday but reserved the right to file a request for his client’s bail.
Bederow, a former prosecutor in Manhattan, stressed that his client maintained a presumption of innocence.
“They’re very serious allegations, but we have to vet the evidence ourselves and make sure it is what it is,” Bederow told the Times Union. “There’s been a lot of information that’s come out by law enforcement sources. … People should take that for what it is.”
Klein, who once attended Albany Academy and Clarkson University in Potdsam, rented a white Dodge pickup truck in Albany two days before the slaying. Law enforcement sources have told the Times Union that Klein rented an Airbnb on a street off New Scotland Avenue, within walking distance of St. Peter's Hospital. They have said they believe Klein visited the hospital while allegedly spying on the couple.
The Times Union previously reported that a truck Klein had rented was photographed by a license-plate reader traveling on Route 85 toward Rabadi’s home on the morning of the homicide. Police suspect Klein entered Rabadi’s home, tied the victim’s hands behind his back, slashed and mutilated him, dragged him into the garage and left.
Klein was arrested on April 15 as he drove across the Virginia border from Tennessee.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Alexander Scher and Michael Wetmore, the latter of whom sought detention for Klein on Monday.
The next court date is set for June 3.