A Florida airplane mechanic who vanished after leaving work was kidnapped and killed by three men — one of whom owed him hundreds of thousands of dollars, authorities allege.
On Dec. 18, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida announced a federal grand jury had charged the three Broward County men — 24-year-old Avin “Smalls” Seetaram, 29-year-old Somjeet “Lil Chris” Singh and 18-year-old Gavin Hunter — for their involvement in the “violent” kidnapping and murder of Suren Seetal.
In the criminal complaint, authorities allege Singh owed Seetal approximately $315,000, and Seetal’s girlfriend told law enforcement her 36-year-old partner was “trying to collect his debts.”
Seetal was last seen alive the evening of Nov. 2 leaving an airplane hanger at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport where he worked, his family said on a GoFundMe page. The Miami-Dade resident was supposed to be running errands before heading out on a trip to Trinidad two days later, but when he never returned home that night or showed up for work the next day, his family reported him missing.
Seetal’s body was recovered at Big Cypress Reservation on Nov. 21.
Brothers face federal charges in wild Florida kidnapping
Federal authorities in Florida say the brothers were involved in a plot that led them to mistakenly kidnap and waterboard the wrong person.
Federal authorities say Seetal’s phone pinged in the vicinity of Singh’s air conditioning business after he was reported to have left work. Then the device went off-network shortly after.
Court documents say Seetal and Singh knew each other from working in the fireworks business, and they also allege the three suspects had been communicating until Seetal’s phone lost signal that Thursday night.
The indictment alleges Seetaram lured Seetal to Singh’s business, where Hunter was waiting with a firearm and shot Seetal.
Each of the three men were charged with murder for hire conspiracy, murder for hire, kidnapping conspiracy, kidnapping and obstruction of justice in the case of the deceased Miami-Dade resident.
Their arraignments are up next, and if convicted, they each face a mandatory sentence of life in prison or the death penalty, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
