Colleagues, Listeners Mourn Murder of Radio "News Guy"

Police are continuing their investigation in the murder of former WABC Radio personality and current ABC News Radio anchor George Weber, who was found dead in his Carroll Gardens apartment yesterday morning. The Daily News reports the 47-year-old—who would have celebrated his 48th birthday today—was "found in bed with stab wounds in the neck and chest." The Post adds, "His hands and feet were bound with duct tape."

Police believe he may have been killed on Friday night. There were no signs of forced entry—Weber's Henry Street apartment front door was locked while a back door was unlocked. Apparently Weber's colleagues were worried when he didn't show up to work for consecutive days and called the police. The cops went to his house around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, but only knocked; in the morning, they entered through the unlocked back door and found the bathtub's spigot running and the apartment "ransacked." According to the News, "Police were investigating the possibility he was killed by a male date."

Weber was an on-air reporter for WABC Radio until he was laid off last year. He contributed reporting to Mayor Bloomberg's show with John Gambling; the Mayor said Weber was "an absolutely central part” of the show, adding, “George called news events as he saw them with little regard to party politics or ideology." He also did a show with Curtis Sliwa, who said, "News ran through his veins and arteries 24 hours a day... He wasn't a rip-and-read newsman. He wanted to be there. And you know what his trick was? He'd pack up his dog, Noodles, a dachshund, and walk him there. People would see the dog, they'd pet the dog, they'd get a level of comfort with him. And then he could get them to talk."

ABC News Radio Vice President Steven Jones said Weber "really loved news radio and enjoyed being on the air and enjoyed the connection he had with his listeners... He also loved Brooklyn and his neighborhood." His neighbors were also shocked; one told 1010WINS, "He was a real good guy."

Weber described his love of radio on his website and even detailed his top 10 events as a newscaster—#1 was covering 9/11 ("If the attacks themselves weren't bad enough, the look of panic on everyone's face was enough to make you cry. I did, several times, that day."), #2 was the 2003 blackout ("After a series of live reports that afternoon, I, like plenty of my neighbors proceeded to get drunk."). He also had a blog, George Weber, the News Guy; his most recent post, from Friday, was about a bedbug infestation. The ME's office is conducting an autopsy today.