Forgotten Reports about Long Island Human Remains Found

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Foul Odor Leads Police to Body: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Soteropoulos, Jacqueline. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 04 Sep 1993: 69.

Responding to reports of a bad odor coming from the woods at the end of a residential street in North Amityville, Suffolk County police yesterday afternoon found the badly decomposed body of an unidentified man in the undergrowth.

Police said last night that homicide detectives were investigating the case and that the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office would conduct an autopsy to determine a cause of death.

Petro Henry, whose house at the end of Offaly Street borders the woods, said he first smelled something on Wednesday night. He said he called police but that they searched the area with flashlights and found nothing.

When the smell worsened - "It really stank, and came up into my room at night," Henry said - he tried to find the source himself and then again called police after he failed. Police found the body after another search...

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Decomposed Body Found: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Freedman, Mitchell. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 25 Dec 1999: A46.
Turn on hit highlighting for speaking browsers

The decomposed remains of what appeared to be a man were found washed up on an isolated beach about a mile west of Montauk Point on Friday afternoon.

East Hampton town police said yesterday that the remains were sent to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's office for investigation and possible identification.

The beach involved, Cavits Cove, is not normally busy in the winter. Police could not immediately say how long the body had been on shore...

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Body Found Off NSP: [HOME Edition]
Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 10 Mar 2000: A48.

he partially decomposed body of a man was found in the woods along the Northern State Parkway yesterday, and State Police are investigating.

According to troopers, the body was found by highway construction workers about 10 a.m. The as-yet-unidentified remains were on the south side of the highway, about a half mile east of the Wolf Hill Road exit in Dix Hills.

State Police released no other information and said the cause of death would be determined after an autopsy by the Suffolk medical examiner's office..

****UPDATE****

SOURCE: Body of Slain Man Found Along Parkway: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
John Valenti. STAFF WRITER. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 11 Mar 2000: A17.

State Police Friday night were trying to identify a 20- to 30- year-old man whose decomposed body, shot "several times" with a small- caliber pistol and stuffed into a black garbage bag, was found Thursday by workers along the Northern State Parkway near the Wolf Hill Road exit in Dix Hills.

The body was discovered at 10:05 a.m. near a chain-link fence in a wooded area 50 feet off the shoulder of the eastbound lanes by a contracted inspector from the state Department of Transportation who was overseeing a grading operation about a half-mile east of the exit, police said.

"He's got a few gunshots in him, so this is definitely a homicide," Capt. Walter Heesch of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation said, adding that police believe the body was "dumped" at the site.

The man, who was either white or Hispanic, was described as 5 feet 10 inches tall, about 140-150 pounds, with short, dark brown hair, Heesch said. He was wearing a tan or gray short-sleeved, V-neck knit shirt with black trim, a T-shirt with an Atlantic City emblem on it, size 30-32 Levi L2 blue jeans and a blue bathing suit. He was not wearing shoes or socks.

Heesch said police had recovered "more than three" bullet slugs from the body. But, he declined to confirm a caliber-or, in what part of the body the man had been shot.

On Friday night, the Suffolk medical examiner's office was still trying to identify the man through fingerprints, DNA and dental records.

Making identification more difficult was that the body was "very badly decomposed," Heesch said. It also had been attacked by animals.

An autopsy performed Friday could not determine how long the man had been dead. "This is what happens in cases where people are deposited in another area from where they are killed," Heesch said. "It's hard to give an estimate on how long he has been dead, since we've had an inconsistent weather pattern with severely cold weather and warm weather."

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Body Found In Ocean: [QUEENS HOME Edition]
Parascandola, Rocco. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 03 Mar 2001: A14.

Police pulled a badly decomposed body from ocean waters a mile south of Breezy Point on Friday.

Police said the body of the clothed male was seen about 5 p.m. by personnel aboard a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Police recovered the body about 90 minutes later...

 

[Seaslug44]

More and more headless bodies...

SOURCE: BRIEFS: [QUEENS HOME EDITION 1]
Taylor, Curtis L; Friefeld, Karen; Lafkowitz, Melanie. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 21 Feb 2002: A15.

Body Parts Are Found

Detectives found decomposed body parts and a headless body in two East New York crackhouses yesterday in what police say they believe are separate incidents.

Cleaners at an abandoned building at 2743 Fulton St. found a skull and hands in a refrigerator at 11 a.m., police said. More body parts, believed to be about two months old, were found in the basement.

Police said the building is a known drug location.

Forty-five minutes after those body parts were found, a woman at 647 Belmont Ave. found a headless body under a mattress. A machete was nearby, police said. - Melanie Lefkowitz

 

[Seaslug44]

In the vicinity of Ocean Parkway...

SOURCE: Man's Body Found by Boater: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Erik Holm. STAFF WRITER. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 26 Sep 2002: A50.

The badly decomposed body of a man with his arms and legs bound was found floating in the Bellmore Channel yesterday, Nassau police said.

Initial autopsy results will be available today from the county Medical Examiner's office and will likely identify the man's ethnicity, approximate age and a possible cause and date of death, said Nassau Homicide Det. Sgt. Herb Daub.

Daub said police have begun examining missing persons records for people reported missing under suspicious circumstances, and the results from the autopsy will help narrow the search. "At this point in time, we have no idea who this person is," Daub said.

The body was found by a boater shortly before noon west of the Goose Neck Bridge, which connects Wantagh Parkway to Jones Beach.

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Body Found Washed Up On Beach / Southold police seek ID: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Erin Texeira and Sam Bruchey. STAFF WRITERS. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 22 Mar 2003: A15.

The badly decomposed body of an unidentified man washed up on a North Fork beach yesterday afternoon, Southold police said.

The body was discovered shortly after 4 p.m. by a man walking along Long Beach, in the southern portion of Orient Beach State Park, Sgt. Kevin Lynch said.

"The body appears to have been in the water for a period of time and as of this time we're unable to identify the person," Major Richard O'Donnell of the New York State park police said late yesterday.

"There was no indication of foul play or violence," he said.

Little descriptive information was available because "the body was in poor condition," O'Donnell said. But the man was wearing blue trousers and one black shoe, he said....

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: Body of child found: [CITY Edition]
Cruz, Wil. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 06 Feb 2005: A15.

A woman walking on the beach found the body, which was wrapped in a towel, at Beach 109th Street at about 4:45 p.m., police said.

Police could not determine the child's gender, age or race. The medical examiner's office was to examine the body...

***UPDATE***

SOURCE: Dead boy's identity remains a mystery: [CITY Edition]
LINDSAY FABER. STAFF WRITER. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 10 Feb 2005: A02.

On Rockaway Beach, he is known as John Valentine, a child who washed ashore last weekend, just days from Valentine's Day.

To the cadre of police, medical examiners and anthropologists examining his badly decomposed body, the boy's identity remains a mystery shrouded in a Mickey Mouse blanket.

All that's known about the youngster is that he likely washed ashore Friday and was discovered on a section of Rockaway Beach near Beach 112th Street, tangled in seaweed, debris and horseshoe crabs, said Sgt. Branko Yurisak, the commanding officer of the 100th Precinct.

He was wrapped in a Dundee-brand blanket decorated with Disney cartoon characters and letters of the alphabet. His body had been placed in a nautical-style canvas duffel bag, which at some point may have had a drawstring on top.

Due to the decomposition, all the investigators can tell is that he was about 3 or 4 years old, 36 inches tall and 28 pounds with a children's size 5 foot.

Police have put up about 20,000 fliers in Rockaway Beach looking for help. They badly want to identify the boy, to cobble together a proper funeral.

Over the last few days, police, anthropologists, medical examiners, members of the Coast Guard and Department of Environmental Protection have combed the shoreline and the waters looking for more evidence. Each day, the missing-persons squad has combed reports, trying to find a match.

 

[Seaslug44]

SOURCE: LONG ISLAND BRIEFS LANDSCAPER FINDS DECOMPOSING BODY IN BAY SHORE
Chang, Sophia. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 15 Sep 2007: A.20.

LANDSCAPER FINDS DECOMPOSING BODY IN BAY SHORE. The decomposed body of a man was discovered by a landscaper in a wooded area of Bay Shore Friday morning, Suffolk County police said. The unidentified body was found near a Smith Street address, hidden among trees at the end of the street's cul-de-sac, said Det. Sgt. Edward Fandrey of the Homicide Squad. Fandrey said it was unknown if foul play was involved, and how long the body had been there.

 

[Seaslug44]

VERY SUSPICIOUS...

SOURCE: BODY FOUND OFF SOUTHERN PARKWAY
Mason, Bill. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 12 July 2008.

For the second time in two weeks, a body was found dumped on the side of the Southern State Parkway in the North Merrick area, police said. A "laundry-type bag" containing a badly decomposed body was found Wednesday night on the shoulder of the parkway west of Merrick Avenue, State Police said. That was about a mile from a parkway ramp in Bellmore where a suitcase was found June 27 that contained the dismembered body of a Brooklyn woman. Investigators have not identified the latest victim, but suspect it is a woman who may have been dead for more than three weeks. The two homicides do not appear to be related, police said. The dismembered body found two weeks ago was identified as Tanya Rush, 39, of East New York. There have been no arrests in that case. Anyone with information concerning either case is asked to call 631-756-3390.

 

[nicola0001]

Thank you very much Seaslug

 

[Redbird]

How did you manaage to find all these reports and how long have you known about them?

 

[Seaslug44]

How did you manaage to find all these reports and how long have you known about them?

I subscribed to a service yesterday that includes the Newsday archives back to the 1980's. Just learned about each of them last night.

I did not post any articles about anyone over the age of 50 (there were dozens of remains in that age bracket found too).

Having this data base is like trying to find a needle in a haystack!

 

[Seaslug44]

I also must add that I listed the articles about remains found in Manorville over in the the Manorvlle thread (instead of here). So please read over there for many more finds!

 

[Aleph]

I'm glad I don't live down there. Reading all of these articles at once would make me reluctant to leave my house!

Thanks for posting them, Seaslug. These are a treasure trove and I wouldn't be surprised if there's vital information about the case buried in here.

 

[Seaslug44]

You are all very welcome.

Doing some more research today. Found this article while researching the severed head that was found around the same time as JT's remains were found (see Manorville Butcher discussion).

SOURCE: Unsolved LI Homicides of 2003: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Samuel Bruchey and Zachary R. Dowdy. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 28 Jan 2004: A04.

SEE MAIN STORY: New Clue in Old Case / Police release photo of suspected killer

December 31: Antoine Richardson, 24, of Copiague, was found shot in the stomach outside a neighbor's house on Bedford Avenue.

December 12: Edna Schubert, 88, of Bay Shore, was beaten to death inside her home. The assault was so severe it was difficult for investigators to determine what kind of weapon had been used.

November 24: The body of Quilvio Cruceta, 32, of Brentwood, was discovered in a walkway in Timberline Park in Brentwood. Cruceta had been shot in the torso.

September 25: Peter Ghattas, 35, a tow truck driver from Ronkonkoma, was found seated in his parked SUV, shot once in the temple.

September 18: Anthony Battaglia, 37, of Lynbrook, was beaten, stabbed and shot near his doorstep as he walked home from the LIRR station.

September 12: Everett Edwards, 28, a Valley Stream resident who was found lying on the curb near his home with a gunshot wound to the head.

August 7: Estanislao Ramirez, a dish washer at a Massapequa diner, was stabbed to death outside the Dolphin Fitness Club on Merrick Road in Amityville.

August 3: Robert Love, 25, of Mastic, became embroiled in a brawl outside the Bar-Kar bar in Medford and was shot once in the side.

July 26: Skaters find a headless, handless woman's body on a blanket off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville.

July 13: The body of Osmar Hernandez, 20, is recovered by a wooded path near Carleton Avenue in Central Islip. He had been stabbed multiple times in the torso and neck.

July 1: Stanley Czaplinski, 96, of Riverhead, who was terminally ill, died after ammonia was poured down his throat as he lay in his bed.

April 11: Dov Feit, 76, a Lawrence man who was killed during a robbery outside of his paper goods-supply store in Hempstead.

January 25: A severed head of a man was found in a frozen pond in Moriches

 

[Seaslug44]

My head is spinning.

I just learned that there are over FOUR HUNDRED unsolved homicide cases on Long Island!!!!

SOURCE: NEW TECHNOLOGY UNSOLVED MURDERS, Holding hope by a strand, Families with loved ones slain years - in some cases decades - ago hope that DNA analysis can help bring closure to cold cases: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
CHRISTINE ARMARIO. STAFF WRITER. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 24 Sep 2006: A04.

Marilyn, Simons' death is one of at least 400 unsolved homicides on Long Island. ..

Generations of detectives have worked on both cases, among at least 400 unsolved homicides in Nassau and Suffolk over the last five decades. But recently, buoyed by the vast advances in evidence collection and DNA testing, both daughters asked investigators to renew their probes. What the daughters found has given them hope, but still no answers. For even DNA analysis, despite the quick solutions portrayed on TV shows, cannot always provide them...

 

[Seaslug44]

Another torso missing body parts!

SOURCE: Torso of Woman Is Found in River: [CITY Edition]
Carper, Alison. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 19 Oct 1987: 40.

The torso of a woman, missing the head and both legs, was found floating in the East River off Pier 11 late Saturday night, police said yesterday.

The unidentified body, in a bra and blue sweater, was recovered from the water near the Fulton Fish Market at 11:55 p.m., said Sgt. Maurice Howard, a Police Department spokesman...

 

[Seaslug44]

Missed this one from 1991;

SOURCE: Unidentified Body Is Found Near the Nissequogue River: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Salcedo, Michele. Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 02 Dec 1991: 23.

A family looking for turtles in a marshy area at Smithtown's Landing Park on Friday found a body near the Nissequogue River, Suffolk police said.

Homicide Det. Sgt. Kevin Cronin said the body is believed to be that of a woman. An autopsy will be performed to determine the identity and the cause of death, but results from toxicology tests will not be available for several weeks.

"With the state of decomposition, the autopsy is going to be difficult," Cronin said. "We can't rule out any possibility. We're awaiting the results from the medical examiner, and it may take some time." He said police didn't know how long the body had been dead. An investigation continues...

 

[Seaslug44]

Realizing that some of these victims might belong to Joel Rifkin, I dug up this list of victims that police believe were his work. However, after reading the list, I am starting to wonder if Joel took the blame for some murders that were not his work!

What do you think?

SOURCE: The List of Victims Grows: [NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition]
Newsday [Long Island, N.Y] 02 July 1993: 111.

The Rifkin cases, as identified by State Police:

The five cases added yesterday: 1. A white female discovered in July, 1992, in the 60th Precinct, Brooklyn.

2. A white female discovered May, 1992, in the 94th Precinct, Brooklyn.

3. A Hispanic female discovered July, 1991, in the 6th Precinct, Manhattan. Believed to be Barbara Jacobs, whose 5-foot, 3-inch body washed up off West 10th Street and the Hudson River on July 14, 1991, 11 days before her 32nd birthday. When Jacobs' decomposed body was found, the city medical examiner ruled the cause of death as acute cocaine intoxication. Jacobs had been arrested for prostitution six times and was convicted once.

4. An Asian female discovered September, 1991, in the 25th Precinct in Manhattan. City police have said Yun Lee, 31, was found in a steamer trunk off Randalls Island at the mouth of the Harlem River on Sept. 23, 1991. Lee, whose cause of death remains undetermined, lived on Pearl Street, about a mile from where Rifkin has said he picked up many of his victims.

5. An unidentified white woman whose torso was found July 22, 1992, in the East River at 125th Street and whose leg and arms were found wrapped in blue plastic inside a suitcase floating in the river near lower Manhattan. The woman is believed to be a Long Island resident.

The eight cases previously linked to Rifkin:

6. The unidentified, decomposing body found in his pickup truck when he was stopped by troopers early Monday in Mineola on a traffic violation. Rifkin told police that he strangled the woman during sex in his mother's car near the Manhattan Bridge last Thursday before wrapping the body in a tarpaulin and placing it in a wheelbarrow in his garage. Rifkin is charged with second-degree murder in this case.

7. The skeletal remains of a body discovered by police Tuesday in a shallow grave in dense pine barrens off Route 31 in Westhampton. Police used information provided by Rifkin to find the remains beneath heavy underbrush in the woods.

8. Anna Lopez, a 33-year-old Brooklyn woman whose partially nude body was found May 25, 1992, by a motorist near the Paterson-Kent border of Putnam County. Lopez, described by her mother as a drug addict and prostitute, was clad only in a T-shirt and sweater when she was found and had been dead no more than two days.

9. The decomposed body of a woman, believed to be from Valley Stream, found in Cornwall, an Orange County community not far from West Point, about 60 miles north of New York City. The decomposed body, wearing only a bra, was found Oct. 1, 1991, off Route 32, dumped on grass clippings and other debris in a field used as an illegal dump. Police haven't identified the woman, but said she was about 5-feet tall and was in her late teens to 20s. Decomposition made it impossible to tell if the woman had been strangled, but police found no knife or bullet wounds.

10. Leah Evens, a 28-year-old mother of two from Brooklyn, whose body was found May 9, 1992, by a group hunting for edible ferns in Southampton Town woods southwest of the southern intersection of County Road 51 and Old Moriches-Riverhead Road in the hamlet of Northampton.

11. An unidentified body found May 13, 1992, by a city sanitation worker in a 55-gallon drum floating in Newtown Creek behind North Henry Street and Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn. The sanitation worker saw a leg sticking out of a drum floating in the creek. Police said the woman, who appeared to be in her teens or early 20s, was partially decomposed, and tests showed traces of cocaine in her system.

12. The skeletal remains police found Tuesday under a mattress in a deserted field near Kennedy Airport. The body - still with some hair on the head and wearing a dark dress with large white polka dots - was found near Thurston Basin, about 200 feet off Rockaway Boulevard.

Sources said Rifkin claimed it was the body of a Hispanic prostitute he'd killed in April, 1992, and hidden near the water.

13. Jenny Soto, 23, of Brooklyn, whose partially clad body was found in the Bronx last Nov. 17, 1992, washed up on some rocks at the foot of Lincoln Avenue and the Harlem River. Her death was ruled a homicide; she had been strangled with a ligature. Police identified Soto through fingerprints. She had been arrested several times, including once for prostitution, but had never been convicted of a crime.

Police sources say they expect to link Rifkin to the following cases:

14. Rifkin told police that he dumped a body in New Jersey, but police don't believe it is the body found Oct. 26, 1991 near the Delaware Water Gap - a partially decomposed body dubbed the "tiger lady" because of a large tattoo of a prowling tiger on her left calf. Investigators are searching for the body Rifkin talked about, but won't say where.

15, 16, and 17: Sources say Rifkin told police he dumped three other bodies in New York City...