[Emily Dean] They watched these two men force Mr Stark into the Dodge Caravan
and drive off with him into the night.
He was a successful real estate businessman
and respected member of the Hasidic community.
Mr Stark owed 40 million dollars to his business dealings.
He roped up the rest of his family members in and it went horribly wrong.
[Michael Arntfield] If you can't get approved for a conventional bank loan
your next best choice probably shouldn't be the mob.
They'll send a couple of goons to your house and make you pay.
This guy's very nervous, you know, he knows something.
[narrator] Every day in North America dozens of people are murdered.
The key to solving the toughest of these homicides
lies in the final 24 hours of the victim's life.
To crack the case, detectives must reconstruct that critical timeline.
The minutes and hours containing evidence that can help unlock the mystery
and catch the killer.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn. A vibrant neighborhood in New York City
where modern style blends with old world charm.
[It. John Tennant] Williamsburg in the last 15-20 years
is become very gentrified.
It's a melting pot of all different types of communities.
[Det. Chris Scarry] The community of Williamsburg is also heavily Hasidic.
They are very traditional, very tight-knit community.
[It. John Tennant] People that work in the stores are Hasidic.
Your bus drivers, the mechanics, it's sort of a all-inclusive neighborhood.
[Det. Chris] The area of Williamsburg itself is a pretty safe area.
You have the occasional robberies, burglaries like murders, very rarely.
It's not the worst area in Brooklyn.
[narrator] On a cold winter's night,
the 90th precinct gets an alarming call about a member of the Hasidic community.
[Det. Matt Collins] The 911 call was made by a Hasidic woman,
she had called in concern that her husband, uh, did not arrive home,
which is unlike him, he always came home, uh, the time that he said.
[Emily Dean] The night of January 2nd into the early morning hours of January 3rd,
snow was coming down, it was a blizzard.
So when he didn't come home at the time she expected him,
you know, she was very afraid for her husband's safety.
[narrator] The missing man is 39-year-old Menachem Stark.
A prominent member of Williamsburg's Hasidic community.
Mr Stark was a married father of seven children.
He was a very successful realtor in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.
He was the owner of many buildings, he had many tenants.
He was very beloved by his family and friends.
And his life was really about his community and his family.
[narrator] Police are dispatched to Menachem Stark's last known whereabouts.
His office on Rutledge street.
[Det. Matt] His brother Al was at the office where Menachem was supposed to be
and, uh, explained to us that Menachem was not there.
But Menachem's car was still at the location.
And nothing there seemed to be out of place.
When detectives watch video surveillance from the cameras in his office building,
they were able to see that something was wrong.
[narrator] Shortly after 11:40pm,
Menachem can be seen exiting his office
and being jumped by two large men.
[Det. Chris] The video was grainy, it's dark.
So it's tough to make out faces, we can't see faces on there at all.
[Emily Dean] Detectives still see Menachem Stark leaving his office
and a figure gets out of the Dodge Caravan that's sitting parked outside.
That person approaches him, seems to engage Mr Stark in some kind of a conversation
and immediately you see that figure start wrestling Mr Stark to the ground.
And then a second figure comes out of the Dodge Caravan,
runs over to Mr Stark and starts helping
the first figure get control of Mr Stark.
And Mr Stark was fighting for his life in that moment.
[Det. Chris] So after about four minutes the two individuals
are successful in getting Mr Stark into their vehicle.
And then the van drives off.
[Emily Dean] For investigators seeing this video, right away they know
that Mr Stark has been kidnapped.
I mean, there's no mistaking in that.
Tasked with investigating the kidnapping of Menachem Stark are detectives Matt Collins
and Chris Scarry of Brooklyn's 90th precinct.
[Keira Stockdale] Even if the kidnapper's intention
is to hold this person and get payment in some way
kidnapping is by definition violent and so...
Additional violence could be perpetrated in order to control your victim
and obtain what you want plus if it doesn't go according to plan now you have a witness
who may be able to identify yourself and your accomplices as the kidnappers.
[Det. Matt] This incident now ramps up our efforts.
We must find Mr Stark in a timely manner.
[narrator] To find Menachem Stark,
investigators will need to reconstruct the 24 hours
leading up to the businessman's kidnapping.
[Det. Matt] Because the video was very grainy we were unable
to see any type of license plate from the vehicle that Mr Stark was put in.
The area is an industrial zone.
There's no witnesses in the area at that time.
We found some duct tape out in front of the location.
Mr Stark's vehicle was also left at the scene...
so those two item we were able to take possession of and go further from there.
[siren wailing]
[narrator] Racing against the clock to find Menachem Stark alive
detectives move quickly to interview his wife, Bashie
to learn more about Menachem's activities before his kidnapping.
When we went to go speak with Mr Stark's wife
she had seven children in the apartment with her.
She was extremely concerned...
[Emily Dean] Bashie Stark knew when to expect her husband home,
Mr Stark was a family man.
He had a lot of responsibilities
but she always knew where he was going to be.
Bashie had spoken to Menachem at about 8:42 that evening
and asked him what time he might be home.
He had told her he has some business to tend to
and he was thinking somewhere about 11:30.
We asked "Is this normal for him to go to office at 11:30 at night on a Thursday?"
And she's like "No, it was normal, he'll go there
for a half hour and he'll return home."
But that evening after 11:30 had passed Bashie became concerned
- and called Menachem's phone at about 11:40... - [phone rings]
and Menachem did not pick up his phone which was unusual for him.
She waited a short time longer and she called
Menachem's number again at 12 o'clock.
The phone was picked up but there was no answer...
and then hung up, which was highly unusual.
This is what Bashie became very, very concerned about.
[narrator] Investigators turn to Menachem Stark's cell phone records.
Hoping they'll be able to pinpoint his location.
They're able to get location information for Mr Stark at certain times
throughout the night that he was using his cellphone.
And so they were able to actually see throughout the night when Mr Stark was
exactly where his wife thought he was and that was at his office.
Mr Stark's, uh, phone records reveal that after Bashie
had made that phone call to Menachem's phone,
about midnight, his phone was moving...
and it moved from his office, headed Southbound, leaving Brooklyn
and after about 12:00, the phone had been disabled at that time.
[narrator] With Menachem's trail going cold shortly after midnight
detectives re-double their efforts to track him down.
Then they receive an unexpected lead from another New York Police Department.
[Emily Dean] On January 3rd out in Great Neck, Long Island,
a gas station attendant comes into work and sees
that there is smoke coming out of a dumpster.
He gets closer to the dumpster and he smells something very, very bad.
And he immediately calls 911.
- [sirens wail] - The Fire Department arrives, the police arrive.
And they open up the dumpster and they see the badly burned body of a man
who's dressed in traditional Hasidic garb.
He's also bound, his hands are tied, there's duct tape wrapped around him.
The body is found still burning and smoldering.
Was more burning from the mid part of the body down.
But you could still notice a face.
The man who is found in the dumpster at that gas station
is identified as being Menachem Stark.
[man 1] This is the worst case scenario in kidnapping cases
where the person kidnapped is killed.
[narrator] With the body identified as Menachem Stark.
Investigators from the 90th precinct are now dealing with a homicide.
In this case, the body is dumped and set on fire
so it's very shocking and jarring.
I think it speaks for a callus disregard for life.
Most kidnappings are committed by acquaintances.
So these killers likely don't have a strong personal connection with the victim.
[narrator] Investigators work to establish a time frame for Menachem Stark's murder.
[Emily Dean] Mr Stark had been kidnapped around 11:40pm from Williamsburg.
And from the gas station attendant out in Great Neck, Long Island,
they knew that that dumpster was full of smoke early in the morning,
probably sometime just after 7am.
[man 2] So now we have a window of about 11:40 at night
when Mr Stark was taken in a van
and then the next morning from January 3rd when they saw
that there was smoke coming out of the dumpster.
[Emily Dean] So for investigators, it's now their job to figure out
who was driving the van that night and who did this to Mr Stark?
[narrator] Looking for answers, investigators turn to the autopsy results.
[Emily Dean] When the medical examiner examines Mr Stark's body,
he determines that the cause of death was compression, asphyxiation.
Or in laypeople's terms, someone put so much pressure on Mr Stark's chest
that he couldn't breathe and he suffocated.
[Det. Chris] What we had at that point was
there were at least two people involved with this kidnapping / homicide case
but we still were not aware of the motivation behind why Menachem was killed.
[narrator] In the abduction and murder of Hasidic businessman Menachem Stark...
detectives from the 90th precinct are searching for two suspects
seen on video surveillance pulling him into a van the night he disappeared.
We have to find out the motivation behind what was happening here.
And at that very moment we didn't know what that was.
And who might have done this to Mr Stark.
[narrator] For the traditional tight knit community,
Menachem Stark's brutal death is a devastating loss.
[Det. Chris] The funeral possession of Menachem Stark
was very touching and impressive.
Mr Stark was a very generous man in the community,
he was very well known and well respected.
So when he passed he had a lot of not just family,
lot of friends who were devastated by the news also.
[It. John Tennant] The family obviously was very shooken to the core
that somebody would do this to one of their family members.
They were scared and they certainly wanted us to do
everything we could to get the people responsible for that.
[narrator] Having determined that Menachem was likely killed
by the two men seen on video grabbing him off the street
investigators dig into his real estate business,
looking for potential suspects.
[Det. Chris] We had discovered a check that Menachem had made out to a construction company
owned by Thomas Falcone for approximately $20,000
that had bounced.
Thomas Falcone is a contractor.
He's the head contractor that Mr Stark does business with.
Mr Stark would buy a building that needed work to be done.
So he'd bring a contractor in to fix up the building.
This was Mr Falcone.
[narrator] Detectives track down Thomas Falcone
and bring him in for an interview.
[man 3] Mr Falcone had been doing many projects for Mr Stark
and had a fairly good business relationship until recently.
There was times where Mr Stark did not pay Mr Falcone, the money that was needed
to pay for Mr Falcone to pay his employees.
So that became heated, uh, to the point where Mr Falcone had to go to Mr Stark's office
and demand to be paid.
[narrator] Detectives continue to question Mr Falcone
about the tensions in the relationship.
But he's not forthcoming.
I'd say he was a little bit arrogant, um...
He hid a lot of information from us during the investigation.
So we were kinda getting more and more suspicious about what was going on with Mr Falcone.
[Det. Matt] I asked him about his whereabouts when this incident took place.
And Mr Falcone indicated to me that he had been
at a construction site on Long Island all day
and then about 6 o'clock he rode back to his residence
which was in Queens and was home with his family
at his house, uh, for the rest of the night.
We were able to confirm that in fact that's what happened
as far as his whereabouts at the time of the crime.
[narrator] With no solid suspects emerging detectives,
do a deep dive into Menachem Stark's business
looking for new leads.
[It. John] Menachem was a real estate person in Brooklyn.
We know that that's a very competitive, cut-throat type business.
But as we got more into his financial background we realized that
he and his company were facing a shortage of cash
and some bankruptcies.
[Det. Matt] He owes a substantial amount of money to many people.
We find in the course of this investigation that Mr Stark
owed nearly 40 million dollars in totality to, um... his business dealings.
He had to borrow a lot of money from banks and from other people to cover debts.
One of the motivations of homicide is in fact
financial motivations behind the killing.
So finding out that Mr Stark wasn't as financially sound as maybe people thought he was
was definitely a path to look down involving his death.
[narrator] Investigators then learn that Menachem Stark
has a business partner named Israel Pearlmutter.
They speak with him down at the station hoping he'll provide
more information about their financial dealings.
[Det. Chris] Mr Pearlmutter is a big shot of the community
He's a person that Mr Stark would go to, uh, regarding financial, uh, situations.
Mr Stark needed certain amount of money in a bank account at a certain time
for a check to clear, he would ask Mr Pearlmutter who'd put money into the bank account.
Mr Pearlmutter told us that he had some type of dispute with Mr Stark about money.
Some of the money might have been missing along the way and that Menachem
didn't give him a good enough answer to why this happened.
He's like, "Listen, if somebody took $300,000
out of your account, wouldn't you be upset?"
But he also tells us that they've both taken money out of the bank account to
pay for, you know, family things or to pay off certain debts.
[narrator] As investigators continue questioning Mr Pearlmutter,
his behavior begins to raise suspicion.
[Det. Matt] One of the things in my mind when I was speaking to him
was that he was a bit elusive with me and a bit, um...
Standoff-ish which as an investigator start to ring some bells in your head.
We weren't sure if this is somebody that we should be interested in
or is this somebody that is just nervous with the police...
But during the course of the interview we were able to verify his whereabouts
at the time of the crime.
[narrator] Mr Pearlmutter was home with his family on the night
of Menachem's abduction and murder.
With his alibi confirmed,
detectives ask him about a key detail they've uncovered.
[Det. Matt] During the course of our investigation we find
that Mr Stark had deposited $200,000 into a business account
just days before his kidnapping and murder.
When I spoke to Mr Pearlmutter about it, again he became elusive with me
as to where this money actually came from.
We were hearing the nexus of this money potentially was the alleged Russian mob.
It becomes concerning was this something that
organized crime may have been involved with as far as killing Mr Stark?
[It. John] Mr Pearlmutter,
he started to realize that Menachem Stark might have been killed for
the loans that he was defaulting on.
And he was part of those loans and if this had something to do
with why Menachem was killed, then he might be next.
If Menachem Stark wasn't paying the money back in a timely fashion,
this could be a motivating factor of why this happened.
If you go to City Bank and you borrow $100,000 from them and you can't pay
they usually send you a nasty letter.
When you borrow money from the street and you don't pay them back,
they'll send a couple of goons to your house
and break your legs or break your arm and make you pay.
[Det. Chris] The Russian mob has their own set of rules, if they have to get paid back,
they're gonna make sure they get their money back.
This could be what happened to Mr Stark.
[narrator] In the abduction and killing of Menachem Stark,
detectives have learned the loving father and Brooklyn businessman
was over $40 million in debt
and may have owed money to the Russian mob.
As investigators the alarms go off in our heads, especially when you start hearing of
money coming from potentially a Russian mobster.
Mr Stark's business partner Israel Pearlmutter,
I'm sure he was elusive with me because he knew
that borrowing money from people in organized crime
was a very bad business mistake.
[Michael Arntfield] Mr Pearlmutter indicated to me
that he was very frightened at this time and concerned
about his well-being.
I think it goes without saying that if you can't
get approved for a conventional bank loan
uh, your next best choice probably shouldn't be the mob.
Borrowing a couple hundred thousand dollars
from the Russian mafia in New York City
in terms of repayment plans, there's obviously significant
personal risk attached to defaulting on that loan.
[narrator] To pay back their debt to the Russian mob,
Mr Pearlmutter reveals he and Menachem turned to a loan shark named Abe Hoffman.
[Det. Matt] Mr Hoffman is somebody that people turn to
to get out of some type of trouble.
Hence, the term loan shark.
Menachem had gone to Mr Hoffman and borrowed, uh, $500,000
to cover the money that was allegedly borrowed
from a Russian mob figure from Brooklyn.
We spoke with Mr Hoffman and he had told us that he had known, uh, Menachem
uh, for many, many years, had done business with Menachem many times
and had no issues dealing with him.
[Det. Chris] So Mr Hoffman deposited $500,000
into Mr Stark's account the day before Mr Stark's death.
So once we've learned that,
Mr Hoffman was a person of interest but not a suspect.
Because doesn't make sense to kill somebody who's gonna owe you $500,000.
We also ruled the Russian mobster out as a person responsible
for killing Menachem Stark because we confirmed
that he was out of the country at the time of the murder.
[narrator] With another suspect eliminated,
detectives find themselves back at square one.
It was connections to loan sharks, there were connections to the Russian mob.
You're dealing with a lot of shady individuals.
It can be difficult to determine who did what.
[Det. Chris] There was a lot of pressure to solve this case.
The family was very involved and the press was all over the story.
We're following up on everything we could,
we have no specific leads that are leading anywhere right now.
So it was getting a little discouraging at this time.
[It. John] But it's one of those things where you don't go home
until you solve the case.
If you didn't like the pressure you wouldn't be in the Brooklyn squad.
Detectives re-focus on the time Menachem Stark was last seen alive.
[Emily Dean] One of the angles investigators were looking into
was that this was premeditated.
The people that kidnapped Mr Stark, how could they know
that he was at his office at a specific time?
It wasn't just luck that they went out in a blizzard,
hung out outside his office at 11:30 at night and Mr Stark walked out.
So the theory was... they had to have had a way to know where Mr Stark was.
[It. John] We started to put together
that maybe there was somebody who was giving information to the killers
or there was some tracking device on Menachem' car.
It was a trend that we saw in certain crimes, uh, through Brooklyn
cause detectives talk to each other.
It was sort of, tsk, a cheap GPS device where people would
take cell phones with location trackers on it
and sticking them in people's cars
or underneath people's cars
and they were able to follow victims or know where they are
and be able to abduct them or shoot them.
[narrator] Armed with this new information investigators work the theory
that Menachem Stark's SUV was being tracked by his killers.
[man 4] Crime scene detectives are brought in to again
forensically go over Mr Stark's car.
The only way to find out if there was a tracking device under the car was to look.
So we examine the car and there you go,
there was a cell phone attached to the gas tank of Menachem Stark's car.
It was general consensus that whoever put the phone under Menachem Stark's car
is gonna be the guy or the guy that could lead us to who killed him.
Now we have the phone and it blew the whole case wide open.
[narrator] In the homicide of real estate developer Menachem Stark,
detectives have finally caught a break in the case.
They've discovered a cell phone underneath his vehicle
that they believe the killer used to track his movements.
[Emily Dean] The discovery of this phone was important because law enforcement now
can do what's called a forensic extraction
and they can get the data that's in the cell phone.
[Michael] Finding the cell phone beneath Menachem Stark's car
was a huge break for investigators.
Devices like cell phones can be treasure troves of evidentiary information.
Names, numbers, other data that can help lead investigators to his killer.
[narrator] As detectives await the analysis on the cell phone,
they turn their attention to the van used to kidnap
Menachem the night of his murder.
[Emily Dean] The auto crimes expert had narrowed down the make and model of this van,
he had told the detectives, "You're looking for a Dodge Caravan".
They gave then a year.
[man 5] We're able to look at this video
which was not very good but you were able to make out the type of license plate.
[Det. Chris] We're able to establish
that there was Pennsylvania plates on the van.
It's tough to make out numbers
but with that we were able to find
that a silver minivan was owned by Philip Felix.
[Emily Dean] So the investigators,
they drive out to the address for Philip Felix
and they see the Dodge Caravan parked right outside of the address.
They notice the unique things about the Dodge Caravan
and they think right away, "This is the car that was used to kidnap Mr Stark".
[man 6] The good news was it had outstanding parking tickets on it
so we brought it back to the 90 precinct and impounded it for the tickets.
[narrator] With the Dodge Caravan now in police custody.
The crime scene unit processes the vehicle, searching for evidence
of Mr Stark's kidnapping and murder.
There was a check that was made out to Mr Stark from a tenant.
Uh, that was found inside the van.
[Emily Dean] There are marks on the tilings and on the carpet
that could be potential blood stains.
DNA testing and analysis was done
and what they find out is that Menachem Stark's blood
was in Philip Felix's van.
So they know beyond a shadow of a doubt now
that Menachem Stark was kidnapped in this van.
Investigators now have to figure out who was driving the van
that night and who'd kidnapped and killed Mr Stark?
[narrator] Detectives bring Philip Felix, the van's owner
down to the station for an interview.
[Det. Matt] When I spoke to Felix in regards to if he knew who Menachem Stark was
he indicated to me that he did business with Mr Stark
in the past, uh, with some type of construction project.
We'd asked Mr Felix about the van, about who uses the van,
he told us that the van was used by his son Erskine,
it was used by his nephew, they use it for work.
They worked as contractors in areas of Brooklyn.
[It. John] Philip Felix, he was pretty forthcoming with us.
Whether he was a very good poker player or he had no idea what happened that night.
He gave us all the information that we need, we had no reason to hold him
so he was released.
So now we got direction in which way we're going.
We have the players involved now, the vehicle that was used.
But we still don't know exactly why this occurred.
[narrator] The case gets another boost when the phone records
come back on the cell phone used to track Menachem's vehicle.
[It. John] The subscriber info on this phone belonged to a Jeff Sealy.
[Emily Dean] Jeff Sealy is the owner of a construction company in Brooklyn.
When investigators dig into the phone records what they also learn
is that Jeff Sealy registered this phone on the Sprint family locator plan
so that he could track it on his own account and then Jeff Sealy or someone
strapped this phone to the bottom of Menachem Stark's vehicle
enabling them to track anyone who's driving Mr Stark's car.
There was phone numbers inside the phone also.
And those phone numbers connected to four individuals, Irvine Henry,
Kendal Felix, Kendall Felix and Erskine Felix.
[narrator] Detectives first turn their attention
to the registered owner of the cell phone.
Jeff Sealy, they bring him in to the station for questioning.
[It. John] We asked Jeff Sealy if he knew Menachem Stark
and he says that Menachem Stark was, uh, a gentleman
who they would do, uh, construction work for.
[Emily Dean] Sometimes Jeff Sealy worked for Mr Stark with Erskine Felix
and with Erskine's cousin Kendall Felix.
Jeff Sealy tells law enforcement that he set up
this phone for his friend Erskine Felix
in order to track a girl because Erskine Felix
had told him, "Listen, I'm dating a woman that I don't trust,
I need you to help me out, you have Sprint.
And Sprint has that Sprint family locator program.
So can you set this phone up and I'm gonna use it to track this girl".
So Jeff Sealy told investigators, "I set this up for him,
I gave him the phone and that's all I know about it."
[narrator] When investigators look into Jeff Sealy's alibi,
they learn he was at home during the window of time Menachem was killed.
Detectives then ask Jeff if he or anyone he knows
has any problems with Menachem Stark.
[It. John] Then Jeff Sealy tells us that Erskine Felix did work for Menachem Stark
and that Menachem Stark owes him about $20,000.
We're thinking, here we go, we have motive.
[Emily Dean] And not only did Erskine Felix work on his job sites,
he actually did work in Mr Stark's home.
He was someone who was in Mr Stark's life and had access to him.
[It. John] We all believed that the person
that put the phone under Menachem Stark's car
would be responsible for the murder
and we know that the van used to abduct Menachem Stark
was related to Erskine Felix.
And now we had this little bit of information
that Menachem Stark owed him $20,000.
That's a very good, uh, motive to kill somebody.
[narrator] In the abduction homicide of New York
real estate developer Menachem Stark...
Detectives are closing in on construction contractor Erskine Felix
after discovering Menachem owed him $20,000 for a past job.
[Emily Dean] Erskine Felix is one of the workers
on Menachem Stark's job sites, his various properties.
Erskine Felix had the ability to get that tracking device on his car.
[narrator] Detectives haul Erskine Felix down to the station for questioning.
[Det. Chris] Erskine is a very large man, very buff, about 6' 4.
Looks like somebody in the video we saw involved in the kidnapping of Mr Stark.
[Det. Matt] Erskine Felix, he came across as a very confident, alpha type,
he basically said that he loved Menachem Stark and portrayed his relationship
with Menachem Stark sort of as like a family member.
[narrator] When detectives ask Erskine Felix
about his financial dealings with Mr Stark,
they get a surprising response.
[Emily Dean] Erskine Felix said, "Oh, you know, yeah, he sometimes owes me money
but he always pay me" and kind of brushed it off.
[narrator] Then detectives confront Erskine about his phone number
being in the cell phone found strapped to the bottom of Mr Stark's car.
[Emily Dean] He tells investigators that Mr Stark was scared of somebody,
and he actually asked Erskine if Erskine could keep an eye on him.
So he says, "I came up with this idea
where I was going to track him using this tracking device".
And then Erskine tells investigators
that he didn't even tell Mr Stark that he was doing this.
[narrator] Police aren't buying Erskine Felix's story.
We think that he was, uh, full of shinizzle.
If he would have stuck with the story that he asked Jeff Sealy for a phone
to track his girlfriend, it would be a little bit more credible.
[Det. Matt] We asked him his whereabouts on the night of January 2nd
and he was steadfast saying that he had been with his girlfriend the whole night.
He was very elusive and seemed to be uninterested with this investigation.
Our opinion was that Erskine was not being truthful with anything regarding this case.
[narrator] But without physical evidence or a witness tying Erskine to the crime,
detectives are forced to let him go.
At this point, we were all zeroed in to Erskine Felix
as being the main, uh, character
uh, and we also were looking at his other family members.
[Emily Dean] Form the phone that was strapped to Mr Stark's car,
there's definitely a picture being painted that Erskine Felix, Kendal Felix,
Kendall Felix and Irvine Henry are involved.
They're all talking at the night of the kidnapping
into the early morning hours when the body is dumped.
[narrator] Hoping for a confession,
detectives bring the three other men down to the station for separate interviews.
[Emily Dean] Investigators interview Kendall Felix, Kendal Felix and Irvine Henry,
as close in time as could be possible.
This is a very tight-knit group of family members.
So the last thing that investigators want is to interview one person,
have him go home and tell everybody else, "This is what I said, say the same thing."
[narrator] The behavior of Kendal Felix, Erskine Felix's younger cousin
catches the investigator's attention.
[Emily Dean] Like everybody in the Felix family Kendal really looked up to Erskine Felix.
[man 7] He came across as compassionate, he seemed to be a little bit remorseful
of what happened to Menachem Stark...
[Det. Chris] This guy is very nervous, you know, he knows something.
So we start asking him about his background, he said his father's a reverend.
So detective Collins really hit on with,
"Your father's a reverend, you know, it's time to come forward with the truth."
The right thing to do is not lie.
[narrator] When detectives press Kendal Felix
about his whereabouts on the night of the crime,
they get an unexpected break.
[man 8] He confessed to what would have taken place that night with Mr Stark.
He explains this was all Erskine's plan
and then he actually dragged his cousins and brother into it.
[narrator] With Kendal's confession detectives are able
to piece together Menachem Stark's final 24 hours.
[Emily Dean] Kendal Felix tells them that Erskine Felix
had approached him prior to that day
about a way to get money that was owed to him
from Mr Stark and he told Kendal to commit this kidnapping with him.
[It. John] Erskine told Kendal, "We're gonna go grab Menachem Stark,
we're gonna make him write some checks."
And Kendal's like, "This is crazy, I don't wanna do that."
But Erskine said, "No, you're doing it."
Erskine was the one that was calling the shots.
It was more of a robbery extortion plan than it was a murder.
January 2nd, Erskine and Kendal meet up
and Kendal drives the light colored minivan owned by Philip Felix
and they drive over to Menachem Stark's office
and park their vehicle.
About 6pm, Kendal exits the vehicle, cases his location walks up and down the block
and gets back in the van after that.
At 11:40, Menachem Stark's walking out of his office,
and Erskine Felix goes up to Menachem Stark
and he puts him in like a bear hug.
Then Menachem Stark just starts violently fighting...
[man 9] The fight that ensued was nearly five minutes
of Mr Stark just fighting for his life.
[man 10] At 11:46, Kendal Felix came up
and they both get Menachem Stark and throw him in the back of the van.
[Emily] Erskine and Kendal Felix
were trying to subdue Mr Stark, Erskine climbs on him
and puts his full weight on top of Mr Stark and sits on his chest.
They were duct taping and tying up his hands and feet.
[man 11] And after the time of doing that Mr Stark stopped fighting...
No longer making noise and they realized something went terribly wrong.
They killed him.
[narrator] A few minutes later, Erskine Felix texts his cousin Irvine Henry
for added assistance with the crime.
[Det. Matt] I think at that point, they were so panicked,
they didn't know what to do
uh, cause now you essentially have a dead body in your van
and you need to get rid of the body.
So at 12:00 when Bashie, Stark's wife tried to locate him and call him,
it was Erskine who picked up the phone and then turned off the phone.
[narrator] At 12:26, Kendal and Erskine pick up Erskine's brother Kendall
and his cousin Irvine Henry.
[It. John] And Erskine tells Kendal and Kendall to dispose of the body.
They make it out to Great Neck, Long Island at, uh, 3:30 in the morning
and then they throw the body of Menachem Stark into the dumpster fire.
[Emily Dean] The police recover the body on January 3rd.
The plan was to kidnap Mr Stark and hold him for ransom.
And it went horribly wrong.
This was a get rich quick scheme
that Erskine thought up and he roped up the rest of his family members in.
[narrator] Mid-September 2019, Erskine Felix stands trial
for the kidnapping and murder of Menachem Stark.
- [gavel bangs] - A jury finds Erskine guilty
and he's sentenced to 24 years to life in prison.
It was pretty clear that this was planned and premeditated
by Erskine Felix and he really destroyed his own family too.
[narrator] Erskine's accomplice Kendal Felix
who confessed is sentenced to 15 years.
Erskine's brother Kendall Felix and cousin Irvine Henry also plead guilty
and are sentenced to seven years in prison.
[Emily] When you combine the video surveillance with the phone records
and you look at the timeline,
and you look at who is calling who at what different times
you can actually start to paint a picture
of who was together, when they were together
and what different roles they played.
For Menachem Stark's family and community,
his loss continues to be deeply felt.
[Det. Chris] You wanna get some kind of vindication for them
so they have a little bit of a piece of mind that,
"All right, justice was served".
[It. John] They do get closure
but they're still gonna be missing their father, their brother,
their husband and I know in the Hasidic community,
there's a saying that, uh, "The blood won't rest
uh, until the person, uh, that was responsible
for killing the person is prosecuted for his crimes."