A beloved New York City plumber was tragically murdered after traveling to Colombia to meet a potential new wife. Nachum Israel Eber, 51, from the Belz Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was found dismembered inside a bloodstained wardrobe that had been dumped on a street in Bogota on Sunday.
Details of the Incident
Eber, a divorced father, had identified a possible new spouse within the local Hasidic community, according to his close friend Motti Dresdner. He traveled to the Colombian capital to meet her. Surveillance footage captured Eber leaving his Airbnb rental in Bogota shortly after 9 p.m. local time on April 21, before he vanished. Days later, the wardrobe was spotted across the city, and it was later confirmed to contain Eber's dismembered remains.
Friend's Tribute
Dresdner described Eber as a 'gentleman in his prime' who was 'always talking about his future.' He recalled, 'How he was going to get remarried and find a perfect bride, and have a beautiful life. To be cut off like this is very sad.' Eber was clad in all black when he left the Airbnb, as seen in the surveillance video.
Dresdner called Eber's death a 'terrible tragedy' and emphasized that the murdered father 'wouldn't hurt a fly.' He said, 'He was always kind, always with a smile. He always spoke positively. In his hardest times, he would always talk about how things are going to work out for the best.' Eber was remembered as someone who 'always tried to make lemonade out of lemons.'
Community Shock
'The community is devastated, the community is in shock, how a person goes there just to take care of personal business and end up like this,' Dresdner said. Colombian authorities initially mistook Eber for a rabbi, but friends clarified that he was a plumber and building developer. Borough Park is home to about 96,000 Jews, according to the UJA–Federation of New York.
Investigation and Repatriation Efforts
Eber's family contacted the Israeli volunteer search and rescue organization ZAKA for assistance in arranging the release of his body. Yossi Landau, a commander with the South Region in Israel, stated that Eber disappeared on April 21 and was found the following week but not immediately identified because 'he didn't have any passport.' 'They took him to the medical examiner's office, and they did a search and the family got notified that it was him,' Landau said.
The process to release Eber's body was described as 'difficult' by Landau, particularly because 'this is a homicide.' He noted two primary objectives: 'One is to try to avoid autopsy because that's in the Jewish law. We know that autopsy is forbidden.' Landau added that Eber's killing was a 'difficult and painful incident of a Jew murdered far from home,' and thanked the local Jewish community in Colombia and all those working to bring him to a Jewish burial as soon as possible.
Initial Findings
Initial findings from Colombian authorities indicated that Eber had been ambushed by a local criminal gang attempting to rob him. Instead, they killed him before fleeing. Colombian lawmakers have reacted to the alleged killing and dismemberment. Senator Lorena Ríos Cuéllar wrote on X that she was 'demanding justice' and urged authorities to conduct a 'rigorous investigation.' She stated, 'Colombia must be a country where our fundamental rights are fully guaranteed and where we can all live and practice our faith without restrictions and without any fear.'
The US Department of State currently urges Americans to 'reconsider travel' to Colombia due to 'crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping.' The Daily Mail has reached out to the US Embassy in Colombia and ZAKA for comment.
