Peretz Sontag, Missing New York Father of 7, Found Dead in Car
The body of a missing father of seven was found inside his car in a ravine in an upstate New York park.
Peretz Sontag, 50, of Pomona in suburban Rockland County, was found dead Sunday by a hiker in Harriman State Park. The cause of death is not known.
A funeral was planned for Monday afternoon.
Sontag had been missing since March 14 after making references to harming himself before he left home that day, according to reports. Hundreds of volunteers had searched the area, including the park, during the 10 days that he was missing.
“What can I tell you? It’s just a tragedy,” Sontag’s uncle, Shimon, told the Journal News after receiving the news. “They’re all distraught. It’s a mess. You’ve got seven children. The whole family is heartbroken.”
Police believe Sontag was driving his Kia Optima off the side of a remote road and into the deep ravine.
Intense search for Peretz Sontag—NY father missing since Friday—family offers $30K reward. http://t.co/ccWEfOVEeu pic.twitter.com/e9A2jweE8G
— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) March 19, 2014
Sontag’s last-known location, when his cellphone was pinged by police, was the park, which like his home is slightly more than an hour from New York City. The car was difficult to locate because it was deep in the ravine, according to News 12 Westchester.
A friend of Sontag’s told the Journal News that Sontag was upset about a failing business, and that he and his family had returned to the United States from Israel due to financial difficulties.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30