James Edward Daniels

James Edward Daniels (1940 – May 7, 1984) was an American serial killer. Originally sentenced to 50-years-to-life for a 1963 murder in New York, he was later paroled before committing a double homicide and the murder of a New Jersey state trooper from March to May 1984. While fleeing the scene of his final crime, he and a friend were killed in a car crash on Route 33.

Early crimes and first murder Little is known of Daniels's early life. A native of Brooklyn born in 1940, he was first arrested in early 1960 for assaulting a man in Queens with a zip gun, for which he served two years in prison. Less than a year after his release, he and five other men were charged with the second-degree murder in relation to the March 1963 death of Calvin Dean, who was running a craps game in Ozone Park. Daniels was convicted for his role in the crime and was given a 50-year-to-life term, which he served at the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Beekman.

While incarcerated there, Daniels undertook vocational training to become a barber, played on the prison's football team and enrolled in black studies and political science courses. He befriended students from the nearby SUNY New Paltz who had come to work as prison volunteers, including some who were originally from Oregon. A quick check determined that the truck had been stolen, and that the deceased man was 29-year-old Ira Adams, a local criminal who had repeatedly been arrested for burglary and grand larceny. After finding a note with an address written down on it, the officers determined that it was only six blocks away, so they decided to check it. Once they entered, they found the body of 21-year-old Karen Jefferson, Adams's live-in girlfriend, who had been shot in the head and chest. After reporting his location to colleagues in East Brunswick, he got out of his car and walked towards the van, whereupon Daniels opened fire on him. A short gunfight erupted, but Negron was fatally wounded, having been shot thrice in the chest and once in the ribs, causing him to fall halfway on the way back to his vehicle. As the letter supposedly included the sentence "Assata is fine and sends her regards", some assumed this might be a reference to Assata Shakur, a member of the Black Liberation Army and wanted fugitive who had escaped prison in New Jersey, where she was serving a prison sentence for killing a state trooper during a shootout. His death caused some legislators to consider drafting a bill to increase patrol sizes to prevent further incidents like this.