tyner says dr.t the shooter that he paid one of those pagans roughly $20,000 to do his dirty work and kill his wife. >> he went inside, and he shot april kauffman twice. >> reporter: and ironically -- that alleged hit man died a year and a half after april's murder of an opiate overdose. his pills? prescribed by, you guessed it, dr. jim kauffman. >> when i heard the details of everything, it really, really was unbelievable. i feel like this is the worst made for tv movie on the planet. >> reporter: the prosecutor worries kauffman could be targeted by pagan members in jail. so they move him upstate to the hudson county correctional facility as they begin gearing up for their first major trial. finally a chance to close one of those atlantic county cold cases. and then another shocking turn. >> reporter: dr. james kauffman dead. officials confirm he died at 9:20 this morning. >> reporter: what was your reaction when you heard this? >> i was stunned. >> the story started off terrible and is ending terr