A decomposing body was found in a Brooklyn apartment surrounded by biohazard canisters and diagrams for creating weapons of mass destruction.
The man, identified only as a 75-year-old restaurant worker known as “Chef John,” was apparently dead for at least a week before he was found, the New York Post reported. His body was found during a welfare check this week.
FBI agents and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force entered the apartment on Thursday, collecting bags of hazardous material from inside the apartment. A biohazard test of the air inside the apartment came back negative, but the lethal toxin ricin was found in the apartment, police sources told the Post.
Police are still investigating suspicious materials found in the home, including the canisters with biohazard labels and what the Post described as “weapons of mass destruction diagrams.”
Several people who knew John told the Post that he openly discussed using poison to keep intruders away, and regularly claimed the CIA was out to get him.
Delia, who works at Lotto Luncheonette, told the outlet that John lived alone and “he did make poisons” for anyone who dared break into his home.
“It would perhaps stop them from going any further. I thought it was pretty silly,” Delia told the outlet, referring to the poisons.
“He said it was simple stuff, stuff you could find at gardening places,” Delia added. “He said he liked talking about it because it let everyone around him [know], who might be trying to follow him home because he’s old and he likes giving out money sometimes, so they would know, it would deter them from going to his house.”
A neighbor who identified himself as Dave told the Post that John was a Korean War veteran and that his son had been stabbed in a bar years earlier.
“He always thought the CIA was going to kill him. He says ‘they’re out to kill me,’” Dave told the outlet. “I always thought it was folklore. He was a little mysterious. He said he did covert stuff for the military – he didn’t get into details.”
“Once, he thought I was gonna kill him,” Dave said. “I walked up to him and he got very defensive. I said, ‘Listen, I know you since I’m a kid.’”
Another local, George Carpentier, told the Post that John said he had previously worked for the CIA. “It was so unlikely if you knew him,” Carpentier told the outlet. “I’m surprised to see this. I have no idea what he would be doing with chemicals, but that CIA thing comes to mind. He just said it and he walked away.”