Google turns up a few Earle Obermeyers so it might not be possible to positively identify which one. I’d too want to know why was he chosen for the torture and murder. Some vendetta, or he just happened to be there when they were in the mood for random violence? Maybe Holder thinks this is just gangsters punishing other gangsters so no big deal?
Brooklyn: Man Killed in Fire Is Identified
By EMILY VASQUEZ (NYT)
Published: November 30, 2006
A man who was set on fire in an abandoned apartment in Bedford-Stuyvesant was identified yesterday as Earle Obermuller, 21, the police said. Mr. Obermuller’s hands had been bound with duct tape, the police said. Mr. Obermuller, a construction worker, immigrated about three years ago from Guyana and lived with his parents on East 96th Street near Linden Boulevard, said his mother, Shelly Walters. The medical examiner has concluded that Mr. Obermuller’s death was a homicide, and a spokeswoman said he died of asphyxiation before he was set on fire.