Menachem Stark Suspect Indicted in Murder

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A Brooklyn construction worker was indicted for the kidnapping and murder of Brooklyn real estate developer Menachem Stark.
A grand jury in Brooklyn on Monday indicted construction worker Kendel Felix, who was employed by a contractor who worked for Stark, the New York Post reported. Felix was arrested on April 30 and admitted that he and two accomplices suffocated Stark when he struggled to escape.
New York Police Department detectives are still investigating the alleged accomplices, and hope to make more arrests, law-enforcement sources told the newspaper. One allegedly helped Felix abduct Stark, and the other to set fire to and hide his body.
Felix and the two alleged accomplices reportedly were linked to the crime by evidence discovered in the van used to kidnap Stark, a father of seven. A security camera outside Stark’s office in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn had captured video of the kidnapping.
His body was found the next day, Jan. 3, in a dumpster on suburban Long Island some 16 miles from his office. Police said he was suffocated and his body burned.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
