A Brooklyn man accused of abducting and killing a landlord during a botched robbery confessed to police — because his father, a pastor, told him not to lie, authorities said.
Kendel Felix initially refused to talk to police and then presented an alibi: that he couldn’t have committed the crime because he was with his girlfriend at the time. But he changed his story when asked whether his father would want him to tell the truth, according to court documents.
“Detective, you are right about that and I want to speak truthful about what happened,” Felix said in the documents, according to news reports Saturday.
Felix, 26, was arrested in April and pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and kidnapping in the death of Menachem “Max” Stark.
Stark was abducted while leaving his office during a snowstorm Jan. 2. His charred body was later found in a trash bin.
According to the court documents, Felix told police the killing happened during a botched robbery. He said three other men were involved in the kidnapping, including one he called “Erskine.”
“Erskine came out from the other side of the van and rushed up to Max,” a detective wrote. “Kendel claimed to be a weakling so he didn’t really get involved with scuffling with Max as Erskine was.”
The men then drove over to the home of another man, identified in the documents as “Irvine,” who asked if Stark was dead, Felix told the detective.
“I said, ‘He’s breathing,’ but when Irvine checked he said, ‘The dude is dead!’” Felix said, according to the court papers.
Irvine then got out of the van, and Erskine went back to check whether anything was happening near Stark’s office.
“He then called Kendall and told him to, ‘Get the (expletive remove) out of here cause the police be all over Max’s block,’ ” the court papers said.
Felix and Kendall then drove to Long Island.
“Kendall saw a Dumpster and said we’ll put him in there, so I pull up and Kendall had to put him in the Dumpster, as I’m not strong to do it,” Felix told the detectives, according to the court papers.
The duo drove to a gas station to fill soda bottles with gasoline and buy a lighter, then drove back to set the body on fire, the papers said.
No one else has been arrested because prosecutors said they don’t have enough evidence.
(AP)
2 Responses
So the cover up continues.
They didn’t leave fingerprints or dna on the body so why burn it?
By putting in a dumpster there was a chance that it won’t be noticed but fire, especially close to a gas station, gave it away right away.
Also, why did they drive so far in that crazy snow? And why to another Jewish neighborhood?