A private investigator has been hired by friends and relatives of Teaneck homicide victim Robert Cantor, hoping for justice in a case that remains unsolved six months after he was shot and his house set aflame.
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Several of Cantor’s closest friends said Wednesday that they were frustrated and dissatisfied with the progress and pace of the investigation, especially after Bergen County investigators were told early on that one person in particular had a clear motive to kill Cantor.
“My impression was the investigation was not as thorough and forceful as I would have liked to see,” said Mark Peltzer, a longtime friend of Cantor. “There were just too many things that bothered me about it … which led me to believe they are not pursuing the case as professionally and completely and vigorously as they should be.”
Private investigator Jay Salpeter, a former New York City homicide detective who worked on Arkansas’ infamous West Memphis Three case, this week set up his own confidential tip line to try to bring in information that can help solve the case.
The decorated lawman said Cantor’s killing is “pretty much a cold case now,” and setting up a tip line is a “no-brainer” — something that already should have been done by local authorities.
Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli, whose office is leading the investigation into Cantor’s death, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
A close friend of Cantor said Salpeter was hired about two months after the killing and is being paid by perhaps 20 of Cantor’s friends and family members.
Several friends interviewed Wednesday described Cantor as funny, sweet, smart and non-confrontational — someone who always saw the good in people. Peltzer said his killing was “unbelievably shocking” and “it rocked our world.”
“Rob had a large group of friends — he was a pretty special kind of guy,” said a longtime friend.
Most asked to remain anonymous, saying they were fearful of the man they suspect killed Cantor. They were frustrated by what they view as delays by the prosecutor’s office in following leads, interviewing and gathering information – such as accessing Cantor’s cellphone records and getting his computer from his office.
Cantor’s wife, Susan Kirschenbaum, from whom he was separated, however, said she “did not have any concerns about how the prosecutor’s office was conducting itself. The people that I dealt with were all very professional. … I have no reason to think they’re not doing everything they can do.”
But she said she supports the hiring of Salpeter and believes everyone is working together toward the same goal.
“Nobody knew where to put their anger and their frustration — family members as well — in terms of needing to feel that everything was being done that we can do,” she said.
Salpeter said tip lines helped to uncover new evidence and witnesses in other cases he has worked, including the one in Arkansas where three men were released last month after being held 18 years for the grisly murders of three 8-year-old boys. Information he gleaned through a tip line also helped get the conviction thrown out of a Long Island man — Martin Tankleff — in the murder of his parents.
“It’s not only detective work — detectives can’t do everything,” Salpeter said. “We need help, OK, and you have to have the public have a venue to get in touch with you.”
Salpeter said there are likely people out there who know or overheard something about the killing. Cantor was found in his burning Elm Avenue home – where he lived for more than 20 years – in March.
The number of the tip line is 917-696-2991.
“If I get 10 phone calls and nine of them are idiots and I get one good one, look, what happens,” Salpeter said. “People know — and you know what? They love to give information. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Salpeter said he has identified a “person of interest” in the case, someone who was upset with Cantor and had previously confronted him at his house.
“I think when the person of interest went there that night, he went there to kill [Cantor],” Salpeter said. “I definitely feel there was intent that night.”
He also believes the killer may have had help, such as someone who drove him to Cantor’s home and acted as a lookout.
As for the prosecutor’s office, Salpeter said, “I think they’re having difficulties, I think they’re having difficulties tying him in.
“I think if they would get him into the state of New Jersey, somehow, that night I think he would be under arrest, probably on a circumstantial case,” Salpeter said. “I don’t think there’s much forensic evidence left there with the house being burned down.”
Salpeter said he has spoken to and respects the detective on the case and intends to share information gathered from the tip line with local authorities.
Cantor’s friends, meanwhile, said they are “sad on so many levels” that their best friend is gone and outraged the person they think is a killer is walking free. To sit back and not take action would be like abandoning their friend and his family, Peltzer said.
“It is unreasonable that a person like Rob would be murdered and the guy who basically, almost certainly, has done it just goes every day and gets up in the morning and goes to work as if nothing happened,” said a friend who asked not to be named.
Cantor’s slaying is one of two unsolved homicides in Teaneck in a little over a year in which a fire was apparently set to cover the killing. August marked the one-year anniversary of the slaying of longtime political watchdog Joan Davis, who was found stabbed with hands bound in her burning home.
Molinelli has told town officials he believes the cases are unrelated
