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Abusive Ivy-League Lawyer Boyfriend Sought In Astoria Woman's Murder
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 28, 2012
Modified Jun 28, 2012
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via DCPI
By
Jen Chung
Published Jun 28, 2012
Modified Jun 28, 2012
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Police are looking for the lawyer boyfriend of the 27-year-old Danielle Thomas who was found killed in her Astoria apartment. Jason Bohn, 33, had apparently beaten Thomas so badly in face and body that on June 7, she went to the 114th Precinct for a restraining order. According to the Post, Bohn called her while she was the police station, allegedly yelling, "It’s war! I’ll dedicate my life to hunting you down like a dog in the streets. I am going to make your life impossible."
Bohn, a contract attorney (according to his LinkedIn), and Thomas, a financial analyst at Weight Watchers, had lived in an apartment on 33rd Street, where neighbors said he beat her, "He used to beat her all the time—I've heard her screaming and crying, and so have many of the other neighbors."
Thomas did manage to get the restraining order and Bohn, who had also sent threatening emails to her, was charged with misdemeanor assault and aggravated harassment. The Daily News reports, "The Queens district attorney’s office asked for $1,000 bail, but Bohn was released without bail and an order of protection was issued against him." On Tuesday night, Thomas's body was found beaten and strangled; the building super said tenants heard her screams, "He's kill[ing] me. Somebody help me."
The News adds, "He lived for years in Florida, sources said, and detectives believe he has left New York and shut off his cell phone, making tracking him difficult." Bohn graduated from Columbia University as an undergraduate and from University of Florida's law school—Thomas's family said that she met him at a football game in Florida. Thomas's mother told the Post, "She was my only child and my mother’s only grandchild. She was really enjoying New York. She loved her job and they loved her." WCBS 2 says that Thomas had recently sought shelter at a battered women's home: "No one knows why she came back to the apartment Tuesday night, the spot where Bohn allegedly took her life."
On the Jewish Child Care Association's website touting its scholarship success stories, there's an entry by Jason Bohn, a contract attorney who graduated from Columbia and University of Florida's law school:
While I am originally from “Da Bronx”, I now live in Riverdale. My father was addicted to drugs and physically abusive. My mother was addicted to success and eventually abandoned me for a new life and family. I was thirteen years of age, depressed and extremely angry when I went to live at the Pleasantville Cottage School in Westchester County. Upon my arrival to Cottage 8, I was sincerely determined to do whatever it took to get kicked out. I was physically violent against fellow cottage members and disobedient to concerned staff members such as Andre and Clarence. I also went AWOL every other week to escape to the city. Retrospectively I can honestly say that I didn’t give a &%#@ about much. In reality, I was suicidal.
Bohn attended one of JCCA's treatment centers as a youth and writes that he managed to put his life back together, thanking the JCCA for helping him with partly funding his studies at Columbia.
Tagged
astoria
crime
danielle thomas
jason bohn
murder
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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