NY NY - Leslie Zaret, 17, Bayside, Queens, 17 Aug 1974

[Periwinkl3]

Was DNA ever collected from that hairbrush?

 

[Betty P]

Trans men are more apt to be murdered themselves than to murder women, I'd say.
But this caught my eye from the 2014 Newsday article NYPD chief: 1974 killing can still be solved:
"NYPD Det. Jim Osorio of Ronkonkoma said John Bowne High alumni who attended the school from 1970 to 1975 are of particular interest to police because Zaret's murder was a topic of discussion at a 2000 reunion. Some former classmates even pointed fingers at a possible suspect, police said."

Someone at that 2000 reunion must have related that very interesting chatter re a possible suspect to NYPD. Maybe I'm wrong, but a 2000 reunion would not have been LZ's, since she graduated in 1974. The large-scale versions of these events tend to be held at five-year intervals. unless John Bowne HS has yearly reunions--some schools do have yearly informal get-togethers. So I wonder what year's graduates were holding that get-together. Were they finger-pointing about someone from their year? Twenty years later the killer could still be alive. A class that had a 2000 reunion would have one this year, too, barring COVID-19 complications.

If the reunions are held by each graduating class, it would be 1970 (a guy 4 yrs older).

I'm also considering the killer to be a male, based on the info from the article linked above, where the victim was also anally penetrated with a comb, by a male rapist. My first thought was someone who had been sexually abused when younger or who had already spent time in jail or prison. A trans person is more likely to be a victim of crime instead of an attacker, but its always possible. Seems very unusual, though for a trans male to attack and rape a hetero female. Only time I've seen that is in fiction, right?

The crime scenes for the attacks on both women are very close together

Google Maps

Reports say Leslie was attacked after stopping by the local bar to see if her boyfriend was there. Wonder if he was also at the bar and saw her outside.

 

[Periwinkl3]

Was DNA ever collected from that hairbrush?

If the reunions are held by each graduating class, it would be 1970 (a guy 4 yrs older).

I'm also considering the killer to be a male, based on the info from the article linked above, where the victim was also anally penetrated with a comb, by a male rapist. My first thought was someone who had been sexually abused when younger or who had already spent time in jail or prison. A trans person is more likely to be a victim of crime instead of an attacker, but its always possible. Seems very unusual, though for a trans male to attack and rape a hetero female. Only time I've seen that is in fiction, right?

The crime scenes for the attacks on both women are very close together

Google Maps

Reports say Leslie was attacked after stopping by the local bar to see if her boyfriend was there. Wonder if he was also at the bar and saw her outside.

Older teens or young people in their twenties are car-happy. Driving is a marker of adulthood and independence. I think, given that distance between the two attacks is over 2.5 miles, that he followed LZ in a car until he saw a spot where he could have overtaken her, pulled over, and either lured or dragged her into his vehicle.

The bar she stopped at is/was at 59-20 Main St. If he saw LZ there when she stopped in to see if her boyfriend was there, he had to have been quick on his feet to get out to a car and follow her. I hope LE questioned bartenders, who are usually pretty good at noticing guys who appear to hit on girls.

The hairbrush thing is a gesture of such contempt and rage. I'm sure the Bowne alums have reasons for thinking it's possibly someone in particular.

And I think you're likely right: the comb attack is related.

 

[Betty P]

In the rape attack, he was a stranger to the victim, and they were driving around. He had the victim walk into a park with him under the guise of smoking pot. It's graphic, but important to understanding him. He seems to have abnormal sexual desires. From the article on the previous page.

She agreed and he directed her to Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows. She was beginning to realize that the pot was just a ruse to get her to a dark and secluded spot when he knocked her down and pounced. He tore off her clothes and attempted to rape her, but was unable to achieve an erection.

At that moment, he suddenly turned her over face down. He grabbed her comb and inserted it into her rectum.

The suspect was fully aroused when he then rolled her over again. He proceeded to rape her while throttling her with both hands. She almost certainly would have been murdered, Valencia figures, had she not managed to knee him and break free. She escaped and reported the attack and went to a hospital, which confirmed there had been a rape.

I have a feeling this guy did this again. They tested her for rape evidence and probably did the same for Leslie Zaret, but probably didn't find anything on either woman. The evidence of semen would probably have been found nearby, on other clothing, etc.

 

[Sweetluv]

Checking in...

 

[Sweetluv]

Bumping

 

[Sweetluv]

August 17, 1974...what happened to Leslie?

 

[Sweetluv]

If the items at the scene were not destroyed or lost, they might be able to DNA test...Great case for othram.

 

[dotr]

Daily News from New York, New York - Newspapers.com

Get this Daily News page for free from Sunday, August 18, 1974 NEWS, AUGUST 18, 1S74 THE FORD FAMILY They'll Make the White House a Home tw- Fr'raf of a geriet) By.... Edition of Daily News

www.newspapers.com

POLICE SPECULATE ON GIRL'S SLUM (Published 1974)

police probe continues on Aug 18 in murder and sexual molestation of 17-yr-old Leslie Zaret in Queens schoolyard; believe killer knew his way around area; autopsy establishes strangulation as cause of death; father David Zaret int (M)

www.nytimes.com

By Wolfgang Saxon

• Aug. 19, 1974 rbbm

''Queens detectives and resi dents agreed yesterday that whoever sexually molested and killed 17‐year‐old Leslie Zaret in a lonely, darkened Bayside schoolyard was likely to have known his way around there, miles from where she was last seen late Friday night.
The police said the victim left a girl friend's home on 58th Avenue in Flushing about 11:40 P. M., walked south on Main Street and crossed over the Long Island Expressway toward her home on 68th Drive in Kew Garden's Hills — a distance of about a mile and a half.
Miss Zaret's body was found next morning tour miles away, next to a playground off Springfield Boulevard. Residents of the well‐to‐do neighborhood said the playground had been used in the past after dark for noisy drinking parties by teen‐aged roughnecks, both from the neighborhood and from outside.
Girl Was Strangled''

''To get to the playground after Oakland Gardens Elementary School, at 53‐11 Springfield Boulevard, closes for the day, an intruder must know of a hole in a fence on the 54th Avenue side of the school. He must also know a footpath along a wooded ravine in adjoining Alley Pond Park and know of other holes cut into the fence by vandals.''

 

[Sweetluv]

Bumping!