SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Shaniesha Forbes. (Source: Facebook)

An arrest was made regarding the murder of Shaniesha Forbes, the teenager found naked and burned on the shores of Gerritsen Beach. The New York Daily News is reporting that the suspect in question had thought Forbes was pregnant with his child.

The 14-year-old Forbes had disappeared from her Flatlands home last January after saying she was going to school. Her body was found a few days later, badly burned, on Gerritsen Beach.

City medical examiners found that Forbes had been asphyxiated before being burned on her arms, hands and legs in an apparent attempt to disappear her body.

The man arrested, identified as 20-year-old Christian Ferdinand, is said to be from Maine. Police sources told the Daily News that he killed Forbes after fearing she had become pregnant with his child. Medical reports later indicated that Forbes was not pregnant.

The arrest is the first step in the long road to justice being sought by Forbes’ devastated family. Forbes’ mother, Sandra Price, had spoken at a January press conference and expressed frustration at the NYPD’s failure to make headway in the case.

Ferdinand was charged with second-degree murder.

Maksim Gelman

The NYPD released the above photo of Maksim Gelman, the 23-year-old suspected of stabbing his 54-year-old stepfather, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, earlier this morning.

Police have also confirmed that Maksim Gelman made his getaway in a gray 2004 Lexus ES330 with the New York license plate DHE8322.

It is believed to have been a domestic dispute, and Aleksandr Kuznetsov was pronounced dead at the scene.

“I guess he had to be a little bonkers at the time. He must’ve just caught him by surprise,” Anthony Riggio, a super at the Waterview Village condos on East 27th Street and Emmons Avenue, where Kuznetsov, Gelman and his mother had been living for 9 years, told the New York Post. “It’s a sad thing. Never in a million years,” Riggio said.

The New York Post is also reporting that Gelman has a police record – and since the above photo looks like a mugshot, it sounds about right.

If you have any information, you can call (800) 577-TIPS (8477), text “TIP577″ (plus your message) to “CRIMES” (274637), or submit tips online.

Photo by Mike N.

A 54-year-old man is dead after being stabbed several times this morning in a condo on East 27th Street off Emmons Avenue.

(UPDATE: Photo: Maksim Gelman, Suspect In Stabbing Aleksandr Kuznetsov)

The incident appears to be the result of an early morning family dispute at around 5:00 a.m. The victim was dead when police arrived, and witnesses told police they saw a younger man flee the apartment in his car.

Police are looking for the suspect, described as a 20-year-old, six-foot-tall white male. He was seen driving a grey Lexus, license plate number DHE8322. If you have any information, you can call (800) 577-TIPS (8477), text “TIP577″ (plus your message) to “CRIMES” (274637), or submit tips online.

We’ll provide more information as it becomes available.

This is a breaking news story and may have inaccuracies. It is subject to change. If you have information, photos or video, please e-mail us at nberke [at] sheepsheadbites [dot] com.

Thanks to Mike N. and Nicole G. for the tip.

Victor Koltun (Source: NYPost.com)

New York Post reports:

A Brooklyn rabbi was charged yesterday in the contract killing of a former suburban police officer and his nephew, authorities said.

Victor Koltun, 41 — whose rap sheet includes mortgage-fraud allegations — is accused of hiring two ex-cons to kill Frank Piscopo, 49, and Gerald Piscopo, 28, in Newburgh, Orange County.

Both Piscopos were found dead Nov. 4.

Frank had been a police sergeant in the Ulster County town of Lloyd before he quit in 1990 amid allegations he stole items from the department.

He had a criminal record that included arrests for theft and drug selling, the Times Herald-Record of Middletown reported.

Gerald had been deep in credit-card debt and emerged from personal bankruptcy in March. He had spent 2½ years in state prison from 2003 to 2005 on burglary charges.

Koltun, of Sheepshead Bay, already faces a possible 15-year prison term on separate charges that he pocketed proceeds of a $225,000 mortgage on several Brooklyn houses he did not own.

In addition to Koltun, police also arrested Frank Lewis, of Manhattan, and Craig Fennell, of Brooklyn, for allegedly murdering the Piscopos. They are both parolees with a history of violent crime.

Source: NYDailyNews.com

Ciera Glenn, 25, mother of a little boy, upcoming graduate of Medgar Evers College, and full-time employee, was enjoying a night out with her boyfriend, Tyree Shelton, 27, at a Halloween party at a Prospect Heights bar. As they left the celebration in the early hours of Saturday, October 30, they couldn’t know that their paths would cross with those of a killer.

As the early morning sun rose over the waking city, a dark scene unfolded in the lobby of 2336 Batchelder Street in the Sheepshead / Nostrand Houses, where Shelton lives. Alone, on the floor and still in costume, Glenn lay dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the mailboxes. The grisly scene was first discovered by a neighbor.

“I opened the lobby door and I saw the young girl dead,” neighbor Luke Kopelakis, 71, told the Daily News. “There was blood in the elevator, blood on the walls.”

Her boyfriend, shot once in the face, was able to drive himself to Coney Island Hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Motives, like suspects, are scarce as police examined the scene. Spooky and smiling Halloween decorations hung nearby as local children geared up for their turn to celebrate a day usually reserved for fun and candy. That is, all except for one little boy.

Han Min Pan - screenshot from NY1 video

The man responsible for killing his ex-wife’s sister and slashing or stabbing others former in-laws has been charged with second-degree murder, attempted murder, burglary and criminal possession of a weapon over the weekend.

Han Min Pan allegedly broke into his in-laws home at 2260 East 18th Street on Friday evening and demanded money. He then grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed his sister-in-law Jie Mei, 29, several times in the face and torso, before turning the bloody blade to her mother, 62, sister, 38, and the sister’s 4-year-old son, police said on Saturday.

Due to a language barrier, police and media reports first stated that the deceased woman was his ex-wife, who was not home at the time of the attack.

The three survivors remain at Lutheran Medical Center and are expected to recover.

The quiet corner of Gravesend Neck Road and East 18th Street became a grisly crime scene with victims spanning three generations of a family, after a domestic dispute elevated to a homicide.

A 29-year-old motherwoman was declared dead at 6:35 p.m., after allegedly being stabbed by a man presumed to be her ex-husband her former brother in-law, police told Sheepshead Bites. Her 4-year-old son and two women believed to be her sister and mother, were also hospitalized for stab wounds The man also stabbed or slashed the deceased’s mother, sister and sister’s 4-year-old son.

[Because of the nature of breaking news, the initial version of this report contains some inaccuracies. This update on the Gravesend Neck Road slashing has corrections.]

“She’s a young girl. She was sweet. Very nice,” Elaine Friedman recalled of the deceased victim. Friedman, a next-door neighbor who has lived on the block for 40 years, added, “It’s a quiet block. This is unheard of.”

Following the attack on his ex-wife’s family, which took place in the basement of 2260 East 18th Street, the suspect fled the scene. A patrol car found him 15 blocks away, on Avenue Z and East 7th Street, just minutes after police arrived at the home. His name has not yet been released. [Update: His name is Han Min Pan.]

Neighbors are shocked by such an attack on a quiet street.

“Nothing like this has ever happened here. I lived on this block for 45 years,” said neighbor Jim Pozzuoli. “I’ve never been afraid around here.”

The area is full of “very nice neighbors here,” said Michelle Serbest, a 12-year resident. “Very quiet. Very nice people.”

Many onlookers said their first reaction to the attack was concern that it was a home invasion that had turned violent. Many residents expressed some relief to hear that it was not so random.

“I was afraid it was a stranger, a stranger, a stranger,” said one neighbor who lived down Gravesend Neck Road, echoing the sentiments of many onlookers. “It’s terrible, but I think it’s more of a concern than an unfortunate domestic dispute.”

The three surviving victims of the attack have been taken to Coney Island Hospital (other sources are saying Lutheran Medical Center) Lutheran Medical Center and are being treated for non-life-threatening wounds.