The body of a popular DJ missing for nearly three weeks was discovered in a boat docked in the same Queens creek where three men were found dead in the past two years, police said.
A passerby spotted Reda Briki’s decomposed body in his sailboat docked in Newtown Creek near the Pulaski Bridge in Long Island City about noon Sunday, according to cops.
“This news may come as a shock,” friend Tim Fielding wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “We know Reda meant many things to many people — a friend, a brother, a fellow creative spirit. He had a wild and beautiful energy, and he moved through the world in his own unique way. He made a lot of people happy with his music.”
The bodies of three men who had been partying in the area were found in Newtown Creek over the past two years, sparking wild theories and online rumors — and even unfounded fears of a serial killer.
The creek borders part of Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg neighborhood, home to the Brooklyn Mirage club, where two of those prior victims were last seen alive.
The city medical examiner’s initial autopsy on Briki was inconclusive, with more testing needed to determine how he died. His body showed no obvious signs of trauma, police said.
Fielding said Briki died sometime in June before being discovered Sunday.
“On a personal note, it was just 5 weeks ago he was with me, rocking a festival in Devon, taking people on a deep tribal house journey, living his best life,” he added. “Gone too soon. Safe travels back to the music, brother.”
Cops have not identified any connection between Briki’s death and the bodies found in the water. Briki was reported missing to cops on Thursday.
Friends and fans had been searching for Briki for about three weeks, spreading the word about his disappearance with flyers and social media posts.
According to organizers of the search, Briki, 52, was last seen on June 14 leaving Maison Harlem, a French restaurant on St. Nicholas Avenue near W. 127th St., where he was DJing that afternoon.
Briki was considered an innovator in electronic dance music. ”Briki is considered among peers and dance floor addicts as one of the most respected and relentless leaders coming up in the music industry,” according to a bio on his website.
He was originally from the French Algiers and came of age in the Parisian club culture that featured “pumping rhythms, pulsing beats and thumping grooves,” the bio says.
“He knows what’s going on the dance floor because he plays with the crowd,” said a fellow DJ and admirer, Behrouz Nasari. “His energy is flowing, spicing the meal like the greatest chef.”
Last July, Damani Alexander’s body washed up in Newtown Creek after he partied at the nearby Knockdown Center. His cause of death could not be ascertained even after extensive study by the city medical examiner, with the final cause and manner of death listed as undetermined.
Karl Clemente, 27, a case manager at the city’s child welfare agency, accidentally drowned in Newtown Creek in June 2023 after partying at Brooklyn Mirage, authorities said. John Castic, 27, a senior analyst at Goldman Sachs, was found drowned in the creek weeks later after attending a show at Mirage.
With Colin Mixson
Originally Published: July 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM EDT
