8 years after a burned body was dumped in South Whitehall Township, three men have been charged with murder

Three men were charged Tuesday with shooting a Brooklyn cafe owner and dumping his burned body in South Whitehall Township following a drug deal for a pound of pot, ending an eight-year mystery.

Kevin Taylor, Gary Robles and Michael Mazur are accused of ambushing Joshua Rubin in an apartment on Halloween in 2011, prosecutors said. All three were charged in Manhattan Federal Court with shooting Rubin during the robbery. During a telephonic hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Dominic Gentile identified Robles, 37, as the triggerman.

Taylor, 27, had previously attempted to rob Rubin, and hatched the plan to take the marijuana from the cafe owner, Gentile said. Mazur, 26, acted as a lookout on the street while Taylor and Robles waited in the apartment.

Rubin resisted and Robles shot him once in the chest, Gentile said.

“He didn’t die right away. Mr. Rubin was alive for awhile after that,” Gentile said. “Instead of seeking aid, instead of rendering aid, instead of calling 911, the defendants hatched a plan to dispose of his body.”

The feds said they had surveillance video and cellphone location data showing the three suspects went to a Home Depot and purchased plastic bags, a plastic garbage can and latex gloves. By the time they returned to the apartment, authorities charge, Rubin was dead.

“They wrapped him up, drove him to Pennsylvania,” Gentile said.

“They placed him in a plastic garbage can, poured an accelerant over his body and lit him on fire.”

Rubin’s smoldering body was found in South Whitehall on Nov. 1. But it took more than a month to identify the body, which was burned beyond recognition.

“After years of wondering what led to Mr. Rubin disappearing from his Brooklyn neighborhood, and his body being found in rural Pennsylvania, his family and the community may finally get some answers. The passage of time makes cold cases difficult, but the people who committed the crimes are still out there, and they will be held accountable,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney said.

The feds indicated Mazur and Taylor were major marijuana dealers. Authorities seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana and $200,000 cash on Tuesday morning from a home they share, according to Gentile.

Rubin’s disappearance baffled customers at his popular Whisk Bakery Cafe, a popular hangout for music and art lovers at a time when the neighborhood was beginning to gentrify.

Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said the local homicide task force never stopped investigating the murder, which was complicated by the fact the killing occurred in Brooklyn and the body recovered in South Whitehall.

One detective, Thomas McAndrew, poured his “heart and soul” into the case, Martin said.

The top prosecutor said the suspects burned the body in an attempt to cover their tracks. But that decision yielded a crucial break in the investigation, he said.

“We were able to secure some things that occurred in the transportation of the body from New York to Lehigh County,” Martin said, declining to go into detail. “We were able to uncover some things they did along the way.”

The killing, he said, was “a drug deal gone bad.”

“They thought the victim was dealing drugs and had either drugs and or money in his possession,” Martin said. “A robbery was attempted and unfortunately it ended up in a homicide.”

Taylor, Robles and Mazur are each charged with murder through the use of a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of death or life in prison. They pleaded not guilty and were held without bail.

The Rubin family thanked many law enforcement agencies in a short statement to the Daily News, specifically acknowledging McAndrew.

“There are no words to describe the tremendous loss we have endured. We are pleased to have some closure to this terrible chapter and would appreciate privacy at this time,” the family said.