Add The New York Post on Google The slaying of a Jewish baker who moonlit as a rabbi remains a stone cold whodunit more than month after he was horrifically found shot dead near a lake in a Queens park.
Albert Itzkowitz, 75, was slain in broad daylight – with gunshots in his neck and back – along the shoreline of Kissena Lake on May 18.
His body was found shortly before 5 p.m., sparking a mystery that remains frustratingly unsolved for his loved ones.
“All motives” are being investigated and none are being ruled out, NYPD officials said – including the potential that Itzkowitz was the victim of an antisemitic hate crime.
“He didn’t have any enemies. You can write that down,” his distraught son, Moshe Oelbaum, told The Post a few days after the murder.
The seemingly humdrum last hours of Itzkowitz’s life – except for the fatal confrontation with a still-unknown assailant or assailants – have been reconstructed by NYPD investigators.
Itzkowitz, an observant Jew who served as a rabbi at a nursing home, left his Kew Garden Hills house shortly before 6:15 a.m., police said.
After spending roughly two hours at a synagogue, he went to a Capital One bank, where he made a withdrawal at 9 a.m., according to cops.
Shortly after 10 a.m., Itzkowitz returned home and briefly went outside around 10:55 a.m. for a minute before going back indoors, police said.
He left his home for a final time at 11 a.m. and walked over to a Walgreens, where he made a purchase.
Video footage shows Izkowitz’s car approaching Kissena Park – a forested haven with a picturesque lake – a few minutes before 11:30 a.m., cops said.
His daughter, Leah Livshitz, said during a press conference Thursday that the park was a quiet place her dad “regularly visited during his lunch break.”
Police said Izkowitz was in the park to sunbathe, as he was found with a beach chair, a baseball cap and sunglasses with a crossword puzzle.
Whatever happened between Izkowitz’s arrival and the discovery of his body roughly five hours later remains unknown.
Police seemingly have no motive or suspects — and their queries about whether anyone had personal issues with Itzkowitz have only baffled his family.
“When the police were asking us, ‘Does he have any enemies? Does he have any neighbors who he had troubles with?’ We all were crying,” his son said.
“But at the same time we started laughing out loud and everyone started smiling, ‘Enemies?’ The thought is comical to us. He was the sweetest, kindest man. So nice and lovely to everyone.”
Itzkowitz owned the G&I Kosher Bakery on Main Street, a neighborhood institution for several years before it shut down. He was also a volunteer EMT, according to his daughter.
Outside of work, Itzkowitz was deeply dedicated to his family, including his wife, who passed away April 30, a couple weeks before his murder, Livshitz said.
Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
His family on Thursday gathered at the park with local elected officials to announce a new reward, as they raised the potential that he was the target of antisemitic hate.
“Daddy was visibly Jewish,” an emotional Livshitz said.
But police have noted Itzkowitz was found in attire with “no distinguishing religious factors” that would identify him as Jewish.
The NYPD has not deemed the case a hate crime, but officials said they haven’t ruled it out.
Tzvi Yonie Itzkowitz, 34, the victim’s youngest son, said the family was matching Crime Stoppers’ award of $10,000 for any information leading to an arrest in the case – for a total of $20,000.
“The police estimate there could have been 200, 300 people here. It’s a very large park,” Itzkowitz said. “They’re asking that anyone who saw anything or knows anything to come forward.”
– Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts, Kevin Sheehan and Amanda Woods
