By Ted Sherman and James Queally/The Star-Ledger

The big break in the case came Wednesday.

That’s when a green Chevrolet Suburban, caught on surveillance video menacingly circling the parking areas of the Mall at Short Hills, was discovered abandoned in South Orange, according to two law enforcement sources.

The large sports utility vehicle, they would later find out, belonged to the mother of one of the suspects in the fatal carjacking last Sunday of 30-year-old Dustin Friedland, who was shot and left for dead on the concrete floor of a mall parking deck as the Hoboken lawyer and his wife were returning to their car after an evening of shopping.

It quickly became a case that set the region on edge because it had all the tragic elements: young couple, two years married, out shopping together days before Christmas, in one of those places people never think could be dangerous.

But after days of dead-end leads and questionable tips, the recovery of the Suburban became the first clue that would lead investigators to identifying who might have been responsible, said the sources who asked not to be identified because the case remains under active investigation.

Yesterday, nearly a week after Friedland was gunned down, police announced the arrests of four men charged with his murder.

The four were identified as Karif Ford, 31; Basim Henry, 32; Kevin Roberts, 35; all of Newark; and Hanif Thompson, 29, of Irvington. All were being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility on $2 million bail each.

One of them, Henry, was only recently released from prison on bank robbery charges in April, after a federal judge in Newark reduced his sentence, court records show.

All four now face life in prison.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray, surrounded by representatives of the state, county and federal law enforcement agencies that participated in the intensive investigation, said in a news conference that the arrests came after "good old-fashioned police work" and leads from the public.

"The sheer senselessness of this case outraged people," Murray said.

No weapon has been recovered, nor would the prosecutor say which of the men allegedly pulled the trigger. But the sources involved in the investigation said several began turning on one another within hours of their arrests.

While rewards in excess of $40,000 were offered for information, investigators at first had little to go on. They had no good description of the suspects, and there apparently was no direct video surveillance inside the garage where the shooting took place.

Tragic trip to the mall

According to authorities, Friedland and his wife, Jamie, had been out Sunday for an evening of shopping at the Short Hills mall — an upscale shopping mecca located about 13 miles west of Newark Liberty International Airport, whose tenants include Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Hermès and Cartier — and were returning to their parked 2012 silver Range Rover then they were attacked.

After Friedland opened the door for his wife and walked around to the other side, he was confronted by at least two assailants in the parking deck, officials said. Shot once in the head at close range, he was taken to Morristown Medical Center where he later died.

His wife, who sources say was forced out of the Range Rover at gunpoint, was not injured.

After the shooting, witnesses reported seeing a green SUV racing away from the scene, along with the stolen Range Rover, sources have said. They believe the green vehicle was the Suburban dumped in South Orange — not far from the mall in the Short Hills section of Millburn Township.

Friedland’s car, with a shot-out rear window, was found Monday morning in Newark behind a vacant, boarded-up home on Renner Avenue in the South Ward.

The arrests

Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said the arrests began at about 9 p.m. Friday and concluded at about 3 a.m. yesterday.

Law enforcement sources said Thompson was arrested by members of the Newark Police Department SWAT team at a residence on Myrtle Avenue in Irvington around 2 a.m., just two miles from where Friedman’s Range Rover was recovered.

Ford, who was arrested in Newark, lived on Osborne Terrace near Clinton Avenue in Newark, less than a mile from the block where the stolen car was found. Roberts was also arrested in Newark.

Henry was arrested by an FBI task force, at a hotel near Easton, Pa. The manager of the Comfort Inn on 25th Street in Palmer Township said the FBI showed up at about 1:15 a.m. They already knew where they were going and did not ask the clerk for a room number, she said.

All four men have been charged with murder, felony murder carjacking conspiracy and weapons possession, Murray said.

Murray would not describe the relationships among the four and said the weapon involved has not been recovered. But she said the target of the crime was the Range Rover.

She said investigators believe all four arrived in the Chevy Suburban.

"Two left in the Suburban and two left in the Range Rover," she said.

Task force at work

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman called the arrests a result of "extraordinary, extraordinary police work" that came in the wake of a state-federal task force to battle carjackings in Essex County, which has the highest number of such crimes in New Jersey.

"Whether you live in Essex County — or anywhere in New Jersey — work here, go to school here, or are just passing through, you deserve safety," said Fishman. "You shouldn’t have to worry when you get in your car that someone is going to put a gun to your head and take your car."

Carjackings remain a persistent crime in northern New Jersey, according to a 2011 report created by the State Police, which showed more than 80 percent of the 379 carjackings that occurred in the state took place in Essex, Hudson and Union Counties. Only 2 percent of those crimes, or nine carjackings, were solved that year, according to the report.

Criminal records

The four suspects charged yesterday had criminal records — one of whom was just released from federal prison in April on a bank robbery conviction after a judge reduced his sentence, according to court records.

Henry had robbed a Union Township bank in November 2003, and was caught after leaving his white Pontiac parked illegally on a side street with the keys still in the ignition.

He pleaded guilty in 2006 to robbing two bank employees as they loaded money into a drive-up ATM. Federal agents said he had stuck a gun to the head of one of the employees, while a cohort sprayed Mace in the face of the other. His abandoned car was traced back to him by the FBI and found to be the subject of outstanding warrants.

Henry’s 96-month sentence was reduced on appeal earlier this year and he was released in April, according to federal court filings.

Ford was arrested last year after leading police on a three-mile chase through Woodbridge in a car stolen from a supermarket parking lot. He was also charged with burglary in 2003 and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Thompson, who moved with his family from Newark to Pennsylvania several years ago, had been convicted of narcotics and theft charges. Tiwana Myers, a former neighbor on Hobson Street in Newark, said she was convinced he was caught up in the crime by accident. He was never violent, she said.

"He was a hustler — but I can’t believe he was a carjacker," Myers said. "He wasn’t a bad guy. He sold drugs to support himself."

Thompson had one love that she recalled. "He loved driving," she said.

Sources say Roberts, the fourth man charged, also had a criminal record.

The family of Friedland, who was buried Wednesday, was notified early in the day about the arrests.

A Toms River police officer was stationed across the street from his parents’ home, a two-story home sits in a quiet residential neighborhood in the township.

In a statement, Friedland’s wife expressed thanks to investigators.

"We are very grateful to the Essex County Police and all of the local authorities for pursuing this so vigorously," said Jamie Schare Friedland.

Star-Ledger staff writers Eunice Lee, Seth Augenstein, Naomi Nix, Erin O'Neill and the Express-Times contributed to this report.

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