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Burning Corpse Found in Synagogue Parking Lot

Corpse, unrelated to Long Island shul, discovered Friday night

by
Marc Tracy
December 14, 2009

At 7 P.M. Friday night—one hour before the beginning of Shabbat services—an abandoned car with a still-burning male corpse was found in the parking lot of Long Island’s B’nai Israel Temple by a synagogue caretaker. However, yesterday police identified the body and all but concluded that its location had nothing to do with the congregation. “Whoever dropped him there took a very big chance, because it was right before services,” Marilyn Gales, B’nai Israel’s president, told Tablet Magazine today. “I would’ve been there in ten minutes.”

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.