A man who was old friends with Michael “Mikey’’ Stewart — the Staten Island dad who went missing last month after texting him mom, “Please help me’’ — was charged Monday with his murder.
The victim and his accused killer, Angelo Nesimi, 33, ran into each other at a local barbershop Dec. 20 and were seen on surveillance footage high-fiving and catching up before Stewart went back to Nesimi’s apartment, prosecutors said.
That’s where Nesimi “used a dangerous knife to stab the victim in his residence. He did not call 911 or the police and disposed of the body,” Assistant District Attorney Andrew Botelho said in Richmond County Supreme Court.
Nesimi hauled the body away in a car and cleaned up his apartment, removing the fridge, carpet, mirrors, towels, linens and garbage, Botelho said.
Officials said they have evidence, including lab tests and video, that places Stewart’s DNA and clothing at the scene.
Sometime between when he left the barbershop and his death, Stewart sent his mother the ominous text — “Please help me, Mom.”
A break in the case came Dec. 31, when Nesimi was arrested for allegedly attacking his then-girlfriend, Zammara Sanchez, and she told detectives her boyfriend “killed somebody, and he made me go with him to get rid of the body in New Jersey.”
But Nesimi’s lawyer dismissed the gal pal’s statements as the rantings of a “jilted lover.”
“They’re basing their whole case on statements of a girlfriend he broken up with. So at this point, we have no evidence that Mr. Nasimi did anything,” Mario Gallucci said. “I saw no video, I’ve seen no DNA reports, no property that was recovered, not a thing.”
Nesimi and Stewart had been “hanging out at a barbershop talking to each other very friendly,” Gallucci said.
“They had a very friendly relationship years ago,” he added. “They had only just re-met that day in the barbershop.”
Nesimi was charged with murder in the second degree, manslaughter in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse. He was remanded on bail and will be back in court Feb. 28.
The co-owner of Nesimi’s building, William Formica, allegedly helped cover up the gruesome crime and was also charged Monday. He was held on $75,000 bond.