Update: St. James man charged with dumping OD victim’s body in Manorville
A 34-year-old St. James man has been arrested for dumping his girlfriend’s body in a wooded area of Manorville after a fatal drug overdose, Suffolk County police said.
The body was discovered by a jogger Wednesday.
Matthew Kraus told investigators that sometime in the nighttime hours between Feb. 27 and Feb. 28, he and others dumped the body of 45-year-old Pura Simancas of Central Islip under some leaves and brush in Manorville Hills County Park, police said.
The two had been shooting heroin and taking the prescription Xanax with others at a private residence in Cold Spring Harbor when she died, Mr. Kraus allegedly told investigators.
Detectives said “more than three” people were involved in both the drug use and the dumping of the body, and more arrests are expected.
Mr. Kraus was arraigned Friday in Central Islip on a misdemeanor public health law violation related to unlawfully cremating or otherwise disposing of a body. He was being held on $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond, according to a Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman.
Mr. Kraus, who was represented by a legal aid lawyer, pleaded not-guilty to the charges, prosecutors said.
He gave his address as 457 Lake Avenue, St. James, although though detectives described him as a more of a “transient.”
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Police: Bodies not likely connected to Gilgo
Another dead body found in Manorville woods
