Police: Bodies recently discovered in Manorville likely not connected to Gilgo
The recent discoveries of human remains in remote wooded areas of Manorville are likely not connected to bodies found at Gilgo Beach or other bodies found in Manorville over the years, Suffolk County police said at a press conference Thursday afternoon.
Detective Lieutenant Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad, said he didn’t think the discovery of a woman’s body Wednesday afternoon near the Long Island State Pine Barrens Preserve was related to any other cases.
“I think if anyone was to go down that road, with the nature of the scene there and the other scenes, [they] would be making an error,” Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said. “There’s nothing at all that would link those scenes.”
The body, of a woman of an undetermined age, was discovered by a jogger at 4:30 p.m. off a trail in the Manorville Hills County Park, police said. Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said the body was “relatively recent,” at least one week old. Police said they have not yet identified the woman.
Detectives from the Suffolk County Homicide Squad, the Suffolk County Crime Lab and the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner processed the scene in the park Wednesday night and will perform an autopsy on the body Thursday. The cause of death has yet to be determined.
Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said police are still investigating the incident and could not determine whether the case was criminal in nature.
The woman’s body is the second set of human remains found in the Manorville area in just over a month. On Feb 17, a local man walking his dog discovered a full skeleton in the woods north of North Road in Manorville, about four miles away from Wednesday’s discovery.
Police said those remains were of a man, and were at least 5 years old. The cause of death in that case is also undetermined, though Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said he suspects the incident will investigated as a criminal case. He said he could not say why, nor could he confirm whether the body was clothed or wrapped, because the investigation is ongoing.
Manorville has been the site of numerous discovered bodies in the last decade, including a torso discovered in Manorville in 2003 belonging to Jessica Taylor, whose head, hands and feet were discovered last March near Gilgo Beach. Body parts found in 2000, belonging to an unidentified victim, also connect with remains found near Gilgo Beach
Two other male bodies have been found in Manorville in the past dozen years, but they have not been connected to the Gilgo cases.
Det. Lt. Fitzpatrick said he believes the site’s rural surroundings make them appealing dumping grounds for bodies.
“The one common denominator there is that [the two sites] are both remote,” he said. “If you were looking to dump a body, obviously you’re going to go to a remote area … that’s certainly is a draw of those two areas.”
