Teen Murdered In His School’s Dormitory

Chaim Weiss was a 15-year-old teenager from Staten Island, New York City. His grandparents were European refugees from Nazi Germany and his father, Anton Weiss, was born in a displaced persons camp after the liberation of concentration camps at the end of WWII. Anton and his wife Pessy had two other children, 11-year-old Menachem and 7-year-old Rachel.

The Weiss family was Orthodox Jewish. Traced back to the time of Moses, adherents live according to strict codes of moral and social conduct that have been left unchanged for centuries. To keep these traditions alive, many communities have established yeshivas — schools that focus on teaching the ethical and religious principles of Orthodox Judaism.

Chaim had been attending a yeshiva for over two years, the Torah High School in Long Beach, New York. He lived with 40 other students on the third floor of a dormitory three blocks away from the school.

Chaim was a good student and was well-liked by his peers. He enjoyed playing basketball and was known as a kind and joyous teenager.

On Friday, October 31, 1986, Chaim spent the day in classes. In the late afternoon, he attended services and then returned to his dormitory. He was seen reading in the hallway by a couple of his classmates around 1 AM. Because it was Sabbath, lights were not to be on in their rooms. The only lights left on were in the main hallway so it was not unusual for students to read there at night.

The next morning, around 7 AM on November 1, a dorm counselor went to Chaim’s room as he hadn’t shown up for Sabbath services. Sadly, Chaim had not simply overslept. He had been murdered.

Chaim’s body was found half out of his bed. He had been brutally struck in the back of his head with a sharp object while he slept. The hatchet-like weapon, which has never been found, had severed his spinal column.

There were no signs of a struggle or a forced entry. The dormitory’s front door had a coded combination lock but the individual rooms did not have locks. Sexual abuse and robbery were ruled out as motives.

Interestingly, the way the crime scene was left suggests that the killer was familiar with Orthodox Jewish traditions:

• Chaim’s body had been moved twice. Once from the bed to the floor and then again to a spot two feet away. According to Orthodox Jewish customs, the deceased person’s body is placed at its lowest and coolest point, in this case, the floor.

• The window had been left open despite it being a chilly night. It’s tradition to leave a window or door open in a deceased person’s room so that their spirit can be let out.

Not only do authorities believe the killer knew the layout of the dormitory, but that they also knew Chaim was one of only two students to not have a roommate.

Nassau County police detective Don Daly arrived at the scene at 8 AM. Due to being Sabbath, school officials and students did not discuss the murder until sundown. But even after Sabbath ended, Daly faced another issue.

The students, complying with their religion, were reluctant to discuss any information they may have had as they weren’t allowed to say something without having evidence or another witness. All the students and several teachers and rabbis were polygraphed but no useful information was obtained.

Most students claimed to not have heard anything during the night of the murder. One student, however, remembers hearing his door open and close at some point. He wasn’t alarmed as he assumed it had been his roommate.

On the morning of the murder, a jogger spotted a young man on the boardwalk a few blocks away from the yeshiva. The boy may have been a student but he has not come forward and authorities have not been able to identify him.

After being granted permission, a rabbi placed a memorial candle at the crime scene to burn for seven days. Chaim’s room was then sealed. Two days later, another memorial candle appeared in the room. No one has admitted to placing it there.

In 2013, Chaim’s murder case was re-opened. Authorities interviewed 100 former students but made little progress. A couple of years later police revealed that they believe the killer was either a student or faculty member of the yeshiva. Nonetheless, they do not have any suspects.

A strand of hair, not belonging to Chaim, was found on a bedsheet. Authorities are reluctant to test it as it could destroy the sample. They are waiting until they have a suspect to compare it to.

In 2017, in an interview with PIX11, Anton recalled a couple of incidents that had occurred in the months leading up to his son’s murder.

Chaim had been attending a summer camp in July of 1986 when he called his father. He was crying and wanted to go home. Although this was unusual behavior for Chaim, his father claimed that he seemed fine when he met with him shortly after.

A month later in August, Chaim traveled to Europe to visit his grandparents. Rabbi Avrom Cooper, the yeshiva’s principal and one of Chaim’s teachers, called Anton’s home several times. He wanted to know when the teenager would be back in New York. When Chaim returned, his parents took him to Rabbi Cooper’s home as he had been so eager to speak to him.

According to Anton, “He told us to send Chaim in, to wait outside”. After a quick conversation alone, Anton asked his son what Rabbi Cooper wanted to speak about. Chaim was reluctant to talk about it and Anton has since expressed his regret in not pressing him more. He believes the rabbi has information about his son’s murder.

The Weiss family sued the yeshiva for failing to safeguard Chaim. While in court, Rabbi Cooper said something that still haunts Anton.

Rabbi Cooper suggested that Anton reflect on any bad deeds he may have committed as a way of considering why such a tragic event had struck his family.

“It shocks me to today. What do you think? I stole something, I did something, I killed something?!”

PIX11 also spoke to Simmy Weber, a former yeshiva student who revealed they had been physically abused by a rabbi from 1976 to 1977. They blamed Rabbi Cooper for allowing the abuse to continue. Furthermore, the news station reported that a student had died by suicide after they hung themselves in the yeshiva’s dormitory several years before Chaim’s murder.

The Weiss family is still seeking justice. Chaim’s murder has been unsolved for 35 years.

During an Unsolved Mysteries segment, Anton reflected on his son’s open murder case,

“The not knowing makes it much more difficult for me to cope. Certain things I accept. My son’s dead. But the murderer is still loose. All these unanswered questions make me feel very, very uneasy.”