Nachum Israel Eber, a 51-year-old rabbi from Brooklyn's Boro Park neighborhood, was found dead and dismembered inside a blood-soaked wardrobe dumped on a Bogota street, days after his family reported him missing during a trip to Colombia, where he had traveled to advise a congregation of Catholic converts to Judaism.
Colombian authorities confirmed the remains belonged to Eber after locals discovered the blue wardrobe with bloodstains around it on a street on the opposite side of the city from where he had been staying. Investigators now believe the father of at least one child may have been targeted by a gang that preys on tourists, likely during the theft of his belongings and identification documents, the New York Post reported.
No arrests have been announced. The motive remains under investigation. And Eber's family is now locked in a painful struggle with Colombian authorities, trying to prevent an autopsy and transport his remains to Israel for burial in accordance with Jewish law.
Eber, a member of the Belz Hasidic community in Boro Park, traveled to Colombia earlier this month. His purpose was religious: he went to help advise a congregation of Catholics who had converted to Judaism. The trip was not a vacation. It was a mission of faith.
Surveillance video captured Eber leaving his Airbnb just after 9 p.m. on April 21. That was the last confirmed sighting. What happened between that moment and the discovery of his remains days later remains largely unknown.
Relatives in New York grew alarmed when Eber went silent and stopped answering calls. They reported him missing, and Colombian authorities launched a search. That search ended on a Bogota street, on the far side of the city from his lodging, when locals flagged the wardrobe.
The scene was grim. The wardrobe was abandoned in the open, bloodstains visible around it. Inside were Eber's remains. Authorities have since confirmed the identification.
Colombian investigators have stated they believe Eber may have been targeted by a gang that zeroes in on tourists. The working theory, as reported, centers on a robbery, the theft of his belongings and identification documents, that escalated into murder. But investigators have not publicly named suspects or described the gang in detail.
Several questions remain unanswered. What evidence led investigators to the gang theory? Was Eber lured from his Airbnb, or did he encounter his attackers by chance? What congregation was he advising, and did anyone connected to his work in Colombia have information about his movements that night? None of these questions have been publicly addressed.
The case carries echoes of other violent crimes in which victims were allegedly lured or targeted by criminal actors operating with impunity. In Eber's case, the brutality of the killing, dismemberment, concealment in furniture, disposal on a public street, suggests perpetrators who acted with confidence that they would not be caught.
For Eber's family, the horror did not end with the discovery. Jewish law requires prompt burial and prohibits desecration of the body, including autopsy. Eber's relatives are now liaising with Colombian authorities in an effort to prevent an investigative autopsy and to have his remains transported to Israel for burial.
That creates a direct tension. Colombian investigators presumably need forensic evidence to build a case. The family's religious obligations demand the opposite. No resolution has been reported.
The situation places a grieving Hasidic family thousands of miles from home at the mercy of a foreign government's investigative timeline, a government that has not yet produced suspects, let alone charges.
The case is riddled with gaps. The exact date of the Sunday discovery has not been specified. The precise location in Bogota where the wardrobe was found has not been publicly disclosed. No authority has been named as the entity that confirmed the identification. No suspects have been identified. No arrests have been made.
Investigators say they are still trying to determine a motive. The gang theory is just that, a theory, attributed to investigators but not yet supported by publicly disclosed evidence. Whether this was a crime of opportunity or something more targeted remains an open question.
Violent crimes against Americans abroad raise hard questions about the safety of U.S. citizens traveling in countries where criminal gangs operate freely. Eber was not a careless tourist. He was a religious leader on a spiritual mission, staying in an Airbnb, leaving at night in a major city. The fact that this was enough to get him killed, allegedly by a gang that "zeroes in on tourists", speaks to the operating environment in parts of Bogota.
Americans have watched similar patterns play out domestically, where violent criminals target vulnerable people and face inadequate consequences. The dynamic is no less disturbing when it happens to a U.S. citizen abroad.
Boro Park's Belz Hasidic community is tight-knit. Eber was known there as a father and a rabbi, someone who traveled to South America not for leisure but to strengthen a fledgling Jewish congregation. His death leaves a void in that community and raises the question of what protections, if any, exist for American religious workers operating in high-risk environments overseas.
The U.S. government's response, if any, has not been detailed in available reporting. Whether the State Department has engaged with Colombian authorities on the case, or whether any American law enforcement agency is involved, remains unclear.
Cases like this tend to fade from public attention once the initial shock passes. But the unresolved nature of Eber's killing, no suspects, no arrests, no clear motive, no timeline for justice, means his family and community may wait a long time for answers. The broader pattern of violent crimes that go unpunished or under-investigated is one that conservative Americans have long identified as a failure of institutional will.
Meanwhile, Eber's family continues to press Colombian authorities on two fronts: preventing an autopsy and bringing their father, husband, and rabbi home to be buried according to the faith he devoted his life to serving.
The debate over how governments handle violent crime, whether at home or abroad, often comes down to whether leaders prioritize the safety of law-abiding people or the comfort of political narratives. In Bogota, a rabbi who went to help others paid the ultimate price. The least his family deserves is accountability. So far, they have none.
A man left his Airbnb to do God's work. He came home in a wardrobe. If that doesn't demand answers, nothing does.
