A Connecticut doctor was kidnapped leaving the same Brooklyn (NYC) concert hall linked to two young people who disappeared and were later found dead recently after attending other events there.
Both bodies were found floating in the waters near The Brooklyn Mirage, East Williamsburg, days after her disappearance in June and July. The city’s medical examiner has yet to announce an official cause of death. for neither and the NYPD has not established any connection between the three cases.
He ophthalmologist Michael Bautista The 32-year-old was kidnapped in a confused spree early on July 22 at “The Brooklyn Mirage” and forced to take his captor on a long-hours binge spending $6,000 across town at the bronxreported this week New York Post.
He alleged kidnapper, Anthony Benjamin, 42, He was arrested and later released without bail on a “promise to appear” in court, but the address and phone number he left on record appear to have been false.
According to a police report obtained last week by The Hour, when at the end of the event Bautista wanted to take a taxi to go look for his car parked a few blocks away and Benjamin was on board. The suspect identified himself as “Tony G’s” and he told the doctor that he was the promoter of the party while pointing to a gun on his waistaccording to the New York police.
When at some point they arrived at Bautista’s car, Benjamin allegedly ordered him to take him to the Bronx while in a threatening tone. he bragged about putting “people in body bags” and letting “bullets fly.”
The doctor was taken to an ATM and was told to withdraw $20,000 in cash, but was only able to withdraw $1,000. Then Bautista saw himself forced to take his kidnapper shopping at a “Foot Locker” shoe store and even visit a barber shop and a strip club, said NYPD.
The doctor, who was on call that weekend, kept trying to leave, but Benjamin wouldn’t let him. The next day a call from Norwalk Hospital paved the way for the Baptist’s escapewho told Benjamin that a patient had an emergency and needed return immediately to Connecticut.
According to police, Benjamin was unable to operate the car’s gear stick, so he called a friend, Steve Daley, 50 years oldto take them to the emergency room, which is located about 35 miles northeast of the Bronx.
At the time the doctor entered the hospital, he reported the alleged kidnapping to security. Benjamin and Daley were arrested in the parking lot. and charged with kidnapping with a firearm and other charges. Both They were released without bail court records show.
A week after Bautista’s kidnapping, also at the end of July, John Castic, a 27-year-old financial analyst, was found dead after disappearing after attending a concert in the same room.
Was the second body found in that area after Karl Clemente, another 27-year-old who had been expelled from that event room on June 11. He was found dead in Newtown Creek, behind a warehouse, a few days later, he remembered Daily Mail.
After the deaths of Castic and Clemente, local residents and members of the live music scene urged local politicians to take crack down on illegal taxis and improve neighborhood security.
