Man, landlord charged in connection to disappearance of Staten Island man
WEST BRIGHTON, Staten Island (WABC) -- A man and his landlord have been charged in connection to a missing Staten Island man who disappeared in December.
Angelo Nesimi, 33, was indicted Monday on charges related to the murder and disappearance of 40-year-old Michael Stewart.
Stewart was last seen on Dec. 20 leaving a bar and then entering a nearby barbershop. His last communication with his family was a text to his mom that simply said "please help me."
Authorities allege that Nesimi fatally stabbed Stewart in his 2nd-floor apartment and then attempted to clean up the scene with the help of landlord and businessman, William Formica.
Officials believe Nesimi and his girlfriend got rid of Stewart's body in a dumpster in New Jersey before the body was taken to a landfill in Pennsylvania.
Police searched multiple landfills until the search become unsafe and it had to be called off. Stewart's body was never found.
Nesimi and Formica are also facing various felony charges of drug possession and allegedly disposing physical evidence to cover up the homicide.
Detectives believe Stewart, Nesimi and the girlfriend knew each other and had an ongoing relationship.
Nesimi's attorney denies his client's involvement in the disappearance
"These are musings of a jilted lover, they are basing their whole case on statements of a girlfriend that he had broken up with," Nesimi's attorney Mario Gallucci said.
The girlfriend is not expected to be charged.
Nesimi has had many other run-ins with the law and had been in jail since Dec. 31 for an unrelated case where he allegedly attacked his then-girlfriend.
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