A Hasidic dad from Brooklyn who mysteriously disappeared in Colombia was found dismembered inside a bloodstained wardrobe — after traveling to the South American nation to meet a potential wife, his friends say.
Nachum Israel Eber’s mutilated remains were discovered inside the abandoned closet after it was dumped on a street in Bogota on Sunday — just days after his family reported him missing, local media reported.
The 51-year-old divorced father, a member of the Belz Hasidic community in Borough Park, was looking for a love connection, a pal told The Post.
Nachum Israel Eber, a 51-year-old rabbi from Brooklyn, was found dead in Bogota, Colombia, on Sunday. JamPress“It’s a terrible tragedy,” friend Motti Dresdner said. “A person, a gentleman in his prime. He was always talking about his future, how he was going to get remarried and find a perfect bride and have a beautiful life. And to be cut off like this is very sad,” he said.
He was originally mistaken for a rabbi by Colombian police and media, but his pal said he’s a property developer and plumber.
Authorities started searching for Eber after relatives in the Big Apple reported he had suddenly gone silent and stopped answering their calls.
Surveillance video captured Eber for the last time as he left his Airbnb in Bogota shortly after 9 p.m. on April 21 before he vanished without a trace.
The 51-year-old divorced father’s mutilated remains were discovered inside an abandoned blue closet that was dumped on a street in Bogota on Sunday. JamPressDays later, locals reported finding the blue wardrobe with bloodstains around it dumped on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the city.
Authorities later confirmed that the remains were Eber’s.
Police in Bogota have not determined a motive for the grisly murder, but believe he may have fallen victim to violent gangs that target tourists — and could have been robbed for his valuables and his identity, according to local outlets.
Surveillance video captured Nuchem leaving his Airbnb just after 9 p.m. April 21 before he vanished without a trace. JamPressEber’s family is now in the process of arranging for his remains to be transported to Israel, where he is expected to be buried.
They are pressuring Colombian authorities to avoid performing an autopsy on his body in keeping with their faith.
The US Embassy in Bogota did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The community is devastated, the community is in shock, how a person goes there just to take care of personal business and ends up like this,” Dresdner said. “It just makes everything feel unstable.
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly,” he added. “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.”
