By Howard Koplowitz
A man who worked at a Manhattan nightclub where a Woodhaven woman was last seen Aug. 4 confessed to killing her with a metal pipe, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last Thursday.
Syed Rahman, 24, admitted to the murder after 24-year-old Ingrid Rivera's body was discovered around 5 p.m. Aug. 6 in an electrical closet on the fifth floor of the Spotlight Live club in Times Square, Kelly said.
Rivera, of 74-32 90th Ave. in Woodhaven, was at the club Aug. 4 during a birthday party for the rapper Lil' Kim that drew more than 500 patrons, Kelly said.
He said bouncers ejected Rivera from the club after she “inadvertently went into the men's room.” She was drunk, according to Kelly.
Rahman, who works as a bartender's assistant at the club, saw Rivera getting ejected and said he could get her back into the club.
He then got Rivera back in through an employee entrance and admitted to striking her in the back of the head with a 2-1/2-foot metal pipe, killing her, Kelly said, citing statements Rahman made to police.
Police found a pipe at the scene, he said.
The commissioner said 20 minutes before Rivera was murdered, Rivera's friend was looking for her and was told by Rahman that she could be found in the penthouse. But instead of taking Rivera's friend there, Kelly said, Rahman allegedly took her to the fifth floor rooftop, where he made sexual advances toward her.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
