Queens, NY – Hoping for a break in the murder of a Queens man, the NYPD has released surveillance footage of the vehicle that ran the victim down just yards from his own house and is asking the public for assistance in identifying the dark colored Dodge Magnum that can be seen in the video.
40 year old Aron Aranbayev of Forest Hills was run down late Sunday night by an unknown man he had argued with just moments earlier.
Aranbayev, the father of four, sustained severe head injuries and died one day later in Jamaica Hospital.
Police, who said that Aranbayev was deliberately run down, reclassified the investigation as a homicide on Monday night.
Aranbayev’s funeral was held on Tuesday afternoon at the Bukharian Jewish Center in Forest Hills and many found themselves speechless by the shocking murder.
“I have no words,” Rabbi Mark Landsman, principal of Yeshiva of Central Queens, told TOT. “Only smachot.”
Three of the four Aranbayev children have attended the Kew Gardens Hills day school. The Aranbayev’s youngest daughter, Isabel Sara, is less than one year old.
Rabbi Mordechai Hecht of Anshe Shlom Chabad Jewish Community Center in Kew Gardens had warm words to describe Aranbayev.
“He was a very sweet and soft spoken individual,” said Rabbi Hecht.
Aranbayev, a third generation jeweler, was one of the founders of Rafaello and Co, a 47th Street jewelry business known for its extravagant designs.
Aranbayev, who was known as Eric at work, came with his extended family from Uzbekistan in 1985, looking for a better life, building their business through blood, sweat and tears.
“Five families came out here,” Aranbayev’s cousin and Rafaello co-owner Gabriel Boxer said in a Lifestyles.com interview. “We slept on the street, on the floor, no mattresses.
East New York, Brooklyn, that’s we grew up, all of us.
We still love where we came from, never forgot where we came from and we never will forget where we came from.”
According to the company’s site their client list includes Saudi royalty and elite members of the music business and among their custom made pieces is a five kilo chain for rapper and record producer Jay Z.
In a message posted on Instagram after the funeral Jacobs wrote, “Eric, my brother, my heart, you will never be forgotten I swear to you. I will make sure your legacy lives on.”
Police are asking anyone with any information to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS, or to submit tips at www.nypdcrimestoppers.com.
