Going back to the discussion of McNamee's body, here is a description of the scene (located at Expressway Drive South, east of William Floyd Parkway) as it was presented at trial by the forensic examiner who was called to the scene: [
Forensic scientist recalls murder scene]
"The first thing a forensic scientist noticed 23 years ago in some brush just south of the Long Island Expressway in Shirley was a woman’s blue winter jacket.
Next, on the evening of Jan. 30, 1994, came a sock, Philip Antoci testified Tuesday in Riverhead at the trial of John Bittrolff, 50, a Manorville carpenter. Then another sock and a sneaker. Then one pair of blue pants hanging in a bush and another pair nearby. And then, finally, Antoci — formerly of the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory — saw the naked body of Colleen McNamee, 20, the Holbrook woman whose killing had brought him there.
Red marks covered one of her legs and extraordinary violence had been done to her head. Her body was posed, legs apart and her right arm above her head. Clutched in her left hand, near her face, was her sweatshirt. During questioning by Assistant District Attorney Jen Milito, Antoci said McNamee’s body went to the medical examiner’s office with the shirt still in her hand."
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Now, before you read any further try to imagine the scene: it's late January, its cold, there is snow on the ground, and no leaves on the trees. The thin row of trees around the service road offers little protection from view in the summer, and in the winter you can typically peer into the residential and commercial areas that hide behind them. Similarly, it is just as easy to see the service road and the Long Island Expressway while standing inside of the wooded areas.
It's late January, and you are in a section of the island only accessible by a car, and that is a one way road leading to the eastbound section of the LIE (if all the reports of where the body was found are correct) You had to leave your car parked on the shoulder of Expressway Drive S yourself to approach the body, and you know the killer would have most likely had to do the same.
As you are approaching the body you begin to spot one piece of clothing after another....until eventually coming upon the victim's naked body showing massive damage done to her face, as well as other signs of abuse like cigarette burns.
Now how do you imagine the events preceding McNamee's death to have actually occurred from the moment the killer parked his car on Expressway Drive South, to the moment he eventually returned and drove away?
Imagine the killer and McNamee having decided to stop right then and there on the service road for some unknown reason, after the sex had already occurred. It could have been related to an already ongoing argument in the vehicle that had escalated past a certain point. For example, McNamee refusing to go any further east and asking to be driven back to where she was picked up, not wanting to get stranded in Mannorville in the middle of the night, and then having to walk to God knows where to the nearest payphone. (If you believe the prosecution's case has merit, then these two people would have been in their early 20s at the time). There is yelling, namecalling, etc. until she eventually gets out herself or gets pulled out of the car. The argument escalates further, something eventually triggers his rage and he snaps. He attacks her, she realizes the seriousness of the danger, starts running away and somehow, somewhere along the way he starts ripping off her clothing , then pulls her down to the ground, grabs a nearby rock and begins striking her in the head with it until her skull is so fractured that it resembles a cracked egg, and there are fragments of it embedded in her brain.
Even though it is the middle of the night, when he stands up he realizes he is covered in McNamee's blood. He runs back to his car and speeds away, leaving McNamee's body exposed along with her clothing at the scene of his crime. He doesn't kill again and he doesn't get discovered for almost 20 years.
It sounds almost plausible, doesn't it? After all how else could such a heinous crime result in the victim's body being discovered at this particular location that experiences both a high volume of traffic and offers little protection from being seen by numerous cars driving by, especially in the middle of winter, with snow on the ground and no leaves on the trees. .
However, regardless of how plausible my hypothetical scenario may seem, not a shred of it could have actually occurred.....because at the moment the killer had actually parked his car on Expressway Drive South, east of William Floyd Parkway, McNamee was apparently already dead.
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"Tangredi’s body was covered with leaves and vegetation, while McNamee’s was not. The Tangredi crime scene was marked by blood on leaves and trees, but no blood stains were visible on the snow near and beneath McNameee’s body."
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Now, imagine another scenario, a killer driving with a body - either in his trunk, or the bed of his truck - naked, and after having experienced so much trauma to her head that her face is literally no longer there. This does not seem to bother you at all, neither does the fact that you are likely still covered in her blood. You may have been already driving east on the LIE, or may have entered the service road from the northbound lane of William Floyd, in any case it doesn't really matter once you get onto that section of the service. Once you get back onto the LIE, the chances of this body ever getting discovered drop with every extra mile you cover going east, as you approach the no man's land area of the pine barrens.
Instead, the killer decides to stop right then and there, on that little stretch of the service road. He meticulously removes McNamee's body, carries it to the spot where it is ultimately found, positions it in a certain way, and then calmly walks back to his parked vehicle, retrieves her clothing , which he proceeds to place around the area in a certain pattern. One of McNamee's shoes is not recovered at the scene. This killer also does not get discovered at the scene....
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Here is an illustration of 3 possible directions from which one might enter the Expressway Drive South, in order to place McNamee's body on this particular service road at a spot east of William Floyd. The The Green line near the 7th precinct corresponds to an intersection that allows entering and exiting the police parking lot from both northbound and southbound directions.
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