Crown Heights Man Given 24 Years to Life For Kidnapping and Murder

CROWN HEIGHTS – A Crown Heights man has been sentenced to 24 years to life in prison for a 2014 kidnapping and murder, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced Thursday.

The victim, Menachem Stark of Williamsburg, was killed on January 2, 2014, during a botched abduction, according to the DA. For the crime, 40-year-old Erskin Felix was sentenced by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun, following a Spring 2019 trial that resulted in a jury finding Felix guilty in April of first-degree kidnapping, second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

“This defendant orchestrated the callous kidnapping that led to the murder of Menachem Stark, a husband, father and beloved member of the Williamsburg community,” said the Brooklyn District Attorney in a statement. “With today’s substantial prison sentence this defendant has now been brought to justice and held accountable for his role in this senseless loss of life.”

In 2014, Stark, 39, was outside his office, where Felix and his cousin, Kendall Felix—who was given a sentence of 15 years to life— attempted to abduct Stark and hold him for ransom. The defendants put Stark in a minivan, the Gonzalez says, where his arms and legs were held together with duct tape, after he tried unsuccessfully to escape.

Kendall Felix then drove the van while Erskin Felix sat on Stark’s chest, according to testimony. After they arrived at their destination, a different cousin’s home, the defendants discovered that Stark was dead “due to Erskin’s actions in trying to subdue” the victim. The cause of death was asphyxia by compression of the neck and chest, an autopsy found.

Two of the defendants subsequently drove with the deceased Stark to Great Neck, Long Island, where they set the body on fire in a dumpster. The body was found the following day, and the defendants were arrested in October 2016.