Former DAs Son Sentenced for Murder

ALBANY―A former Columbia Memorial Hospital physician assistant was sentenced Friday to 25 years to life in prison for the sadistic killing of his ex-girlfriend’s husband.

Jacob Klein, 42, was found guilty of second-degree murder on October 4 following a three-week trial in Albany County Court where he represented himself. A Cobleskill native, he is the son of the late Schoharie County District Attorney Frank Klein.

Klein was first licensed as a physician assistant in New York State in 2015 and worked for a time at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson. He was living in Virginia when in April of 2022 he traveled back to the Capital Region and killed Philip Rabadi, the 35-year-old husband of his ex-girlfriend, Elana Radin.

Prosecutors said Klein and Radin dated from around 2014 to 2017 and the relationship ended due to Klein’s alleged emotional abuse, but he never got over the breakup. Radin moved on and married Rabadi in September of 2021. Both were also physician assistants and worked at St. Peter’s Hospital.

Klein, after what prosecutors said was extensive stalking and planning, arrived at Rabadi and Radin’s home on Miller Road in New Scotland on the morning of April 13, 2022. Radin had already left for work and when Rabadi went to the front door, Klein forced him inside.

Several hours later, after Rabadi did not show up for his scheduled shift, his wife and father went to the house with an Albany County Sheriff’s deputy to check his welfare. Rabadi’s father discovered his body on the garage floor, bound and mutilated with stab wounds. Autopsy results showed Rabadi suffered a shock force injury to the neck and several deep cuts around the major blood vessels of the neck.

Klein was quickly identified as a suspect and apprehended two days later in Virginia and extradited back to Albany County. At trial, the jury deliberated for just three hours before coming back with a guilty verdict.

“This individual took an oath to heal and nurture. Instead, transformed into a cold-blooded killer, motivated by envy, jealousy and rejection,” Shaw Rabadi said of his son’s killer during sentencing.

“We struggle to find solace, to make sense of the world that allowed such an evil murderer to exist and rob us of the one we love,” he said.

Prosecutors said Klein wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain possible on his ex-girlfriend. Radin, according to testimony during trial, did not know Klein was stalking her and had blocked him from contacting her.

Albany County Judge William T. Little, who handed down Klein’s sentence, also issued orders of protection against Klein that prohibit him from having any contact with Radin or the Rabadi family.

“I was once told that people are generally better than their worst acts… I’ve almost had to question my own humanity over the last few days because I struggle to find any humanity in Mr. Klein,” Little said.