Montgomery County police charged a missing high school student yesterday with the slaying of an unidentified man whose burned body was found in the garage of a vacant house in Aspen Hill -- with its arms and legs cut off.
County police obtained a warrant on a charge of first-degree murder for the arrest of Samuel Sheinbein, 17, of the 2900 block of Birch Tree Lane, around the corner from the house where the body was found Friday.
Police said Sheinbein, a senior at Kennedy High School in Wheaton, told his family Friday that he was going to Ocean City, Md., for the weekend. By last night, he had not returned. Sources close to the investigation said police also are searching for a second young man, whom they have not identified, who was seen at the house with Sheinbein.
The identity of the victim remains unknown. Police said the dead man was 17 to 25 years old and had slightly curled, short, black hair. Police initially described the victim as black, but said yesterday that his race remained “undetermined” because the body was burned so badly.
The victim was found wearing size 36 Guess jeans over gray Nike gym shorts, with a white tank top and a blue three-button shirt with a collar. He wore a diamond stud earring in each ear.
“We’re hoping someone recognizes that description and can tell us who this is,” said Montgomery police spokeswoman Ann Evans. Even though the body was burned and fingerprints cannot be obtained, investigators hope to make a positive identification with dental records.
Police sources said Sheinbein and the unidentified companion were seen by residents last week pulling a wheeled cart on a path near the vacant home.
The partially dismembered body had been placed in a black plastic bag. The discovery was made by a real estate agent who was showing the house to a customer Friday morning. The agent and the customer smelled a foul odor when they entered the house on Breeze Hill Lane. They saw what appeared to be a human body and called police.
The dismembered limbs have not been found.
A police spokeswoman said investigators were led to Sheinbein after canvassing the suburban neighborhood and getting a description of a teenager seen at the house with his car, a green 1997 Pontiac Firebird. The description matched Sheinbein. Yesterday, police said they had recovered his car, which sources said was found at a nearby shopping center.
A Makita power saw had been left in the garage of the vacant house. Evans said an empty box for that model of saw was found in Sheinbein’s home after a search warrant was executed over the weekend. In addition, sources said, a shallow hole had been dug in the back yard of the vacant home, but nothing was found in it.
Calls to Sheinbein’s family were not returned yesterday evening.
A neighbor described the missing youth as a shy and conscientious teenager, the youngest of three children, who was “extremely handy with tools.” He lived with his parents, and neighbors said his father is a lawyer.
“I can’t believe this. I know of nothing untoward about this boy,” said one neighbor who asked to remain anonymous, as did others interviewed in the community.
Others had varying opinions of Samuel Sheinbein, describing him as a “smart aleck” or a loner.
Police described Sheinbein as dark-haired and white, standing 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds.
Anyone with information on the victim or suspect is asked to call Montgomery County police at 301-217-4160.
Staff writer Fern Shen and special correspondent Lisa Carly Fine contributed to this report.
Interjecting himself further into the Democratic mayoral runoff yesterday, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said the Rev. Al Sharpton was unqualified to be mayor, challenged the Manhattan Borough President, Ruth W. Messinger, to do the same and prepared to release another television advertisement trumpeting his support among Democrats.
While trying to drive a wedge between the two remaining Democratic contenders and pin Ms. Messinger in a position of upsetting one Democratic constituency or another, the Mayor highlighted the discomfort some Democratic Party leaders have expressed toward Mr. Sharpton.
Speaking of Mr. Sharpton after an appearance at a Sunset Park, Brooklyn, firehouse, Mayor Giuliani said: ''I think he's unqualified to be mayor. I'm not afraid to say that. I think Ruth Messinger is afraid to say that.''
The Mayor said Mr. Sharpton lacked the experience needed for the job. ''There has to be a background of having worked,'' he said, ''having had a job, having distinguished yourself at things before you come to the position of being mayor.'' Otherwise, Mr. Giuliani added, ''Politics becomes a joke rather than a reality.''
Word of the Mayor's attack sent ripples throughout a campaign day otherwise filled with routine politicking by the two Democrats.
Ms. Messinger spent much of the day in Queens, attending a Democratic club breakfast at the Oakland Jewish Center and greeting voters at a Hispanic cultural parade in Jackson Heights. After receiving a rousing reception from more than 800 worshipers at a church in East New York, Brooklyn, Mr. Sharpton visited a social service center in the Bronx.
Ms. Messinger, who is generally considered the favorite in the Sept. 23 runoff after gaining a plurality in the first round of primary voting, said Mayor Giuliani's accusations were simply an attempt to divert attention from accusations that his aides had accepted more than $300,000 in illegal donations.
She refused to agree that Mr. Sharpton was unqualified to be mayor, and reiterated her position that she would support the winner of the Democratic primary.
But choosing her words carefully, she said, ''I have publicly disagreed with Al Sharpton in the debates on issues of policy.'' She added, ''I have never been afraid to say what it is I think, and I believe Rudy Giuliani knows that.''
Democratic campaign aides have said Ms. Messinger faces a challenge in distinguishing herself from Mr. Sharpton without alienating his base among black voters, a vital Democratic constituency that could prove important in the general election.
Hearing of Mayor Giuliani's attack while leaving St. Paul Community Baptist Church in East New York, Mr. Sharpton unleashed his own barrage against the Republican incumbent. ''Clearly the Mayor is trying to use code words, hoping to get a white backlash vote to stop me in the runoff,'' he said. ''The code word was qualifications. Everybody darker than Liz Taylor knows what that code word means.''
Mr. Sharpton also faulted the Mayor on the campaign finance issue and for soliciting support from departing Representative Floyd H. Flake, a Queens Democrat and black minister who Mr. Sharpton noted had been investigated but cleared several years ago by Federal investigators following reports suggesting he had embezzled money from a church-sponsored housing project. Mr. Flake is leaving Congress in October.
A second senior Queens Democrat, Alan G. Hevesi, the City Comptroller, was also drawn into the parrying between Mayor Giuliani and the two Democratic contenders yesterday.
Mayor Giuliani compared Mr. Hevesi's declaration that he could not support Mr. Sharpton in the general election with Ms. Messinger's pledge to support him if she loses the Sept. 23 vote.
''I respect what the Comptroller did yesterday because he's talking like a real person, not like a politician,'' the Mayor said. ''Ruth Messinger doesn't have the independence, I imagine, to say what she really thinks.''
The Giuliani campaign also prepared to release an advertisement today showing about 100 Democratic officials, lobbyists and employees under a huge sign that said ''Democrats for Giuliani,'' another indication of the Mayor's determination to snare the votes of Democrats unhappy with their own party's choices.
Photos: Campaigning for the Democratic mayoral nomination, the Rev. Al Sharpton, left (Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times), was endorsed by the entertainers James Brown, center, and Isaac Hayes in Central Park yesterday. Ruth W. Messinger, in photo at right (Steve Berman for The New York Times), met dancers from a Hispanic cultural parade in Jackson Heights, Queens.
"And what is it that makes one man an exceptional leader? We see here indications that it's his negative side which makes him strong, that his evil side, if you will, properly controlled and disciplined, is vital to his strength."
