Neighbors of Philip Rabadi, cameras help police find suspected killer

NOVA SCOTIA – A Virginia medical assistant has been charged with the murder of a 35-year-old Nova Scotia man who was found dead in the garage of his Miller Road residence on April 13 after being tied up and stabbed to death. repeatedly, according to court records.

The suspect, Jacob R. Klein, 40, grew up in Cobleskill and attended Albany Academy and Clarkson Univesity. Police amassed a trail of circumstantial evidence against Klein, who rented a white Dodge pickup truck in Albany two days before the homicide.

Klein is accused of entering the residence of Philip L. Rabadi, 35, who had married Klein’s ex-girlfriend in September, and tying Rabadi’s hands behind his back. The victim died of massive bleeding.

Rabadi’s body was discovered early that afternoon by his wife, Elana Z. Radin, his father, Shaw Rabadi, and an Albany County Sheriff’s Deputy who had responded to the residence when Radin called 911 after her husband failed to show up for work. at Saint Peter’s Hospital.

The assistant discovered that the sinks in a bathroom in the hallway and the main bathroom both had running faucets; the water spilled onto the floors of the residence.

The truck Klein had rented from an Enterprise branch on Central Avenue, according to court records, was photographed by a license plate reader as it traveled down Route 85 in the general direction of Rabadi’s residence at 7 a.m. 31 on the day of the accident. homicide. There is a short drive from this license plate reader to Rabadi’s residence.

Another reader reportedly captured an image of the rental truck’s license plate as it returned to Albany via a different route – less than 30 minutes after the truck was pictured heading towards Rabadi’s residence. Police say their theory is that after Klein entered Rabadi’s residence, he tied the victim’s hands behind his back, slashed and mutilated him, then dragged him into the garage and drove off. .

A neighbor of Rabadi told police in a written statement that she was walking her dog in their cul-de-sac near New Scotland Road after 7am that morning when she saw a man wearing a mask surgical mask and a hat that held folded papers in his hands as he walked to Rabadi’s front door. She said the man, who was driving a white van, was about 5ft 8in – Klein’s height.

“I thought he was a little weird because he was there early but wasn’t dressed like a contractor and was wearing sort of casual clothes,” she told police in the statement.

Another neighbor told police he heard screaming inside Rabadi’s residence that morning, but did not think it warranted calling the police.

On Monday, investigators were visiting businesses along New Scotland Avenue, not far from St. Peter’s Hospital, looking for any security video camera footage that could be used as evidence in the case.

Klein, according to law enforcement sources, had rented an Airbnb on a street off New Scotland Avenue, within walking distance of St. Peter’s Hospital, where Rabadi and Radin worked as medical assistants. Police have previously said they believe Klein went to the hospital when he allegedly spied on the couple for about two days before the homicide.

Klein was arrested by police on the night of April 15 as he crossed the Virginia border from Tennessee. Police initially suspected that when he left his residence in the middle of the night on April 14 and traveled to Tennessee, he may have been fleeing the country. But they later learned that he had driven to Memphis and given his dog to an acquaintance from Texas who traveled part of the way to meet Klein and take the animal.

Klein then returned to Virginia and was arrested at the border.

Police have not determined a motive, but they believe Klein may have targeted Rabadi, who was a medical assistant at St. Pierre, after Rabadi and Radin got married late last summer. In September – just before their wedding – Radin had received an email from Klein informing him that the police had worried her.

In the email, according to a law enforcement source, Klein told her he had returned from California on the East Coast, had made a lot of money – he also worked as a day trader on the stock exchange – and was interested. to rekindle their romantic relationship.

After arriving in the Albany area on April 11, Klein rented the van and reportedly spied on the couple for two days, including visiting St. Pierre, where Radin also works as a medical assistant, and their residence.


Klein spent much of her childhood in Cobleskill. A former classmate of Klein’s at Albany Academy, who asked not to be identified, said that growing up Klein was known as “Larry” or “Lawrence,” which is his middle name. The former classmate said Klein shuttled between Schoharie County and private school in Albany for several years and graduated in 1999.

Rabadi is from Albany and attended Guilderland High School, where he was a member of the tennis and football teams and also a National Honor Society student. He continued his education at Albany State University and Albany Medical College, where he graduated with honors.

Using data and video from plate readers as well as doorbell video cameras and other electronic devices, investigators were able to establish a timeline of Klein’s activity before and after the murder.

Law enforcement sources said cellphone data was also key to tracking Klein’s movements over a three-day period before his arrest. Additionally, Klein at one point took an Uber to Albany and video of that ride was seized by police.

The electronic data also indicated that Klein would have visited the couple’s residence before the homicide.

Ring and Nest cameras at neighbors’ residences captured footage of part of the confrontation when Rabadi opened the front door after Klein reportedly knocked on the door for several minutes. Rabadi’s wife had left for work about 45 minutes earlier and her husband, who was asleep when she left, was not supposed to start his inpatient duty until noon that day.

A source briefed on the investigation said that when Klein confronted Rabadi, the resident appeared to react as if a gun had been brandished before retreating into the house with Klein behind him. Police recovered a loaded handgun from the console of Klein’s vehicle during his arrest in Virginia.

Investigators said they have no record that Klein is currently working at medical facilities in Virginia.

Radin has ties to the Syracuse area and she attended SUNY College of Medicine in Brooklyn, graduating in 2016 — a year after Klein graduated from the same school. They had a personal relationship for several years.

Klein is a US Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and had no criminal record before being charged with murder. He previously worked as a medical assistant in California and upstate New York, including at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson.

Comments are closed.