Menachem Stark's brothers speak: Members of the Stark family expressed relief today (Thursday) after the indictment was filed in court against their brother's murderer.
The deceased's brothers said that if they had known from the start that it was a simple robbery, the fight would have been much easier.
""For many months they tried to defame my brother, supposedly he was involved in dubious businesses belonging to the underworld, but now it turns out that this was all just a robbery," said Itzi, the brother of the late Menachem.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Another brother of Stark, who asked not to be identified by name, said that his brother's attackers knew that he came to the construction site every day, and for a period of time they followed him, until they decided to carry out their plot there. According to him, "The New York Police Department suspected the contractor who sent the assassins after the murder, but wanted to wait until the case was complete.".
The suspect confesses
Kendall Felix, 26, who worked as a construction worker - through a contractor - for the late Haredi businessman Menachem Stark, was brought before a judge who read to him the offense he is accused of - second-degree murder.
Felix, whose detention was extended by 4 days, arrived at the courthouse wearing a black coat. He did not utter a word during the hearing.
During his police interrogation, Kendall, a Caribbean citizen and resident of the Crown Heights neighborhood, admitted that the plan was to commit a robbery, but that he did not intend to kill Stark. He said that he and his two accomplices accidentally choked him to death during the robbery, after "things got complicated." He said that Stark kicked and screamed, and when the kidnappers tried to take control of him, he sat on top of him, resulting in Stark choking to death.
He also said that he and his friends had planned to dump Stark's body off Long Island, but the heavy snow that fell that evening prevented them from carrying out their plan, and they decided to burn his body and throw it in a trash can. Kendall and another friend drove to a gas station, purchased a can of gasoline, and poured the substance over Stark's body, set it on fire, and threw it in a nearby trash can.
Abduction from the office
As you may recall, on Thursday, January 1st, the late Menachem Stark was kidnapped by unknown assailants as he left his office in the Williamsburg neighborhood.
His wife, seeing that he was hesitant to return home, called the volunteer guards and the police, who launched an extensive search for him. After a week, the police found his body, burned and bruised, in a garbage can on Long Island.
Last night it was learned that the police arrested seven people on suspicion of involvement in the murder and are searching for one more person - the contractor who worked for Stark and conspired with his workers, with the intention of robbing him.
