Police say that, Brooklyn landlord, Menachem Stark, was killed over a single $20,000 debt despite owing tens of millions of dollars to different creditors. Stark was kidnapped on Jan. 2 and his burned body was found in a dumpster the following day on Long Island
“We’re waiting for forensics on the car and tracking his calls. But he owed this money, the guy picked up in the Caravan knows him and the phone under [Stark’s] car has ties to the contractor,” the law-enforcement source said.
He owed creditors tens of millions of dollars - but police believe Brooklyn landlord Menachem Stark might have been killed over a single $20,000 debt.
A contractor Stark owed “about $20,000” to is being eyed as a suspect in his death, sources told the Daily News Thursday.
The contractor has links to both the van that was used in Stark’s Jan. 2nd kidnapping, and to a cell phone that was subsequently found attached to the undercarriage of Stark’s car, the sources said.
Police found the 2002 Dodge Caravan used in the kidnapping in Brownsville on Tuesday. They questioned the driver, who’s the son of the van’s owner.
Sources said the owner is not a suspect, but the driver had ties to the contractor.
One source said an arrest is not yet imminent.
Detectives believe the abduction might have been carried out to scare Stark, 39, into paying the debt, and that his death by suffocation might have been accidental.
A source close to the Stark family said that despite his numerous real estate holdings, the father of seven didn’t leave behind a will.
The source said Stark's longtime business partner Israel Perlmutter will take control of Stark's share of the business, while working with an appointed member of Stark's family.
Among the properties the pair owned was an apartment building called South Side in Brooklyn, which bankruptcy records show they were $40 million in debt.
