Private Investigation Firm Hired to Dig Into Shady Business Man Solomon Obstfeld's 'Suicide'

A private investigation firm has been hired to review the death of a wealthy Brooklyn investor who plunged from the terrace of his posh Essex House condo.

The medical examiner has ruled the June 9 death of Solomon Obstfeld a suicide.

NYPD detectives have yet to close the case, although they have not found anything that contradicts that conclusion.

But some of Obstfeld's friends are not convinced.

They say the father of five was involved with a host of shady business partners - including one caught in a bribery scandal involving former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"The people who hired us do not believe it was a suicide, but what they really want are answers to why this happened," said Tom Ruskin of CMP Protective and Investigative Group.

Ruskin declined to comment on whether he was hired by Obstfeld's family or by one of the businessman's close friends.

"People who commit suicide, even those really depressed, leave a note, make a will, think of the family they leave behind and take care of them," Ruskin said.

Obstfeld was entangled in a series of murky business deals, including ties with billionaire Martin Schlaff. Israeli police recommended this week that Schlaff be indicted for bribing Sharon.

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Colonie Soldier's Mom Pledges to Investiate Death

The mother of a local soldier who died in Iraq maintains that her daughter did not commit suicide despite an Army pathologist’s findings, and she said she will now launch a private investigation.

Sgt. Amy Seyboth Tirador, 29, of Colonie died Nov. 4 at a military base in Kirkush, Iraq. Her family said the Department of Defense told them Tirador died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Her body was found in the base’s generator room.

Tirador’s mother, Colleen Murphy, said Amy’s father received the results of a military investigation into the death, including Amy’s death certificate, which states the cause of death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. She said they were led to believe the investigation had been completed.

Murphy has openly refuted the possibility that Amy killed herself on numerous occasions. At a press conference last month, Murphy said she felt the Army was trying to build up potential domestic problems and work issues in Amy’s life to make a suicide ruling seem more plausible. Amy’s husband, Michael Tirador, was living at the Caldwell Forward Operating Base where Amy was stationed at the time of her death.

Murphy has also denied any history of depression or substance abuse in her daughter’s past.

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PI Works to Get A Decades Old Death Ruled Homicide

All these years have gone by, and Barb Thompson still clenches with teary-eyed anger when she lingers outside this little house at 114 Twin Peaks Drive.

She stood here 10 years ago, too. In December 1998. The day after her daughter, Ronda Reynolds, a 33-year-old former state trooper, was found dead inside. Curled up in the bedroom closet with a bullet in her brain.

Reynolds' husband said she had killed herself. So did the sheriff's department and the county coroner.

Thompson didn't buy it. Not then. Not now.

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