Police in Pittsburgh admit there has been no progress in the case of murdered Toronto rabbi Neil Rosenblum. Rosenblum, 24, was gunned down last April on a quiet corner in a Pittsburgh suburb while returning from late synagogue services. He was in Pittsburgh to celebrate Passover with his month old daughter, his wife Manya and his in-laws.
Police say a car pulled up to Rosenblum and one of two men asked him for directions. Before he could reply, the young rabbi was shot six times. He later died of multiple wounds.
But before lapsing into unconsciousness, Rosenblum identified the car his assailants were riding: a dark Corvette. Police scoured the state and turned up thousands of cars of the same description. No arrests were ever made.
Detectives said there was no real motive in the killing. They speculated it was probably done just for a thrill or perhaps for racially motivated reasons, since Rosenblum was dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing.
SPECIAL REWARD FUND ESTABLISHED
Over the summer, a special reward fund was established in Pittsburgh for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.
In May, a caller to a Pittsburgh crime tip telephone hotline said he would divulge information on the killers, provided the reward money was raised from $31,000 to $5,000. Pittsburgh police turned to Toronto and after an intense week-long blitz, the additional money was raised here.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
