Monday, 9 Dec 2024

Woman Found in Staten Island Park Was Likely Killed, Police Say

Two teenagers visiting a Staten Island park on Sunday discovered a woman’s naked body, which had been burned and was partially decomposed, the police said.

The police are investigating her death as a homicide and are working to identify the woman, a spokesman said. Officials are waiting for the city medical examiner to determine how she died.

Investigators have not identified a suspect or possible motive, according to the police.

The teenagers called the police around 1 p.m. after stumbling upon the body in Long Pond Park, a 115-acre preserve that is part of the Atlantic migration route for birds. A Fire Department spokesman said firefighters responded to a report of a burned body in the park at 1:03 p.m.

The firefighters found her in a wooded area near the intersection of Bartow Avenue and Eugene Street, near the southwestern edge of the park and behind P.S. 6 The Corporal Allan F. Kivlehan School, the police said.

The woman had likely been there for at least a few days, according to the police. No personal belongings or possible weapons were found near her, they said.

Outside the park on Sunday night, police cars filled Bartow Avenue, a short residential street of nine two-story homes, many of them glowing with Christmas decorations. Beyond the yellow tape at the end of the street, police officers holding flashlights trickled into and out of the wooded area by a small pond.

Neighbors said Long Pond Park is typically isolated, although it has walking trails. Kids play hockey there when some of the ponds freeze over and teenagers are known to use the woods as a hideout for their dirt bikes, which are illegal.

“This is a quiet block,” said Ron Ribaudl, a 52-year-old man who lives in the area. “This is a dead-end street. We don’t have any problems here at all.”

He added: “The most congestion we have here is when school is out and they park their cars. Otherwise, it’s kind of shocking.”

Ribaudl said a detective told him the body had likely been there for about two weeks. Mr. Ribaudl said he told the detective that he spotted a suspicious old white truck parked in the area two weeks ago as he walked his dogs.

He suspected that the owner of the car had come to illegally dump grass or wood in the preserve, which often happens. He said he did not investigate any further because he had his dogs with him.

“If you’re going to do something illegal, I guess the woods are right here,” Mr. Ribaudl said. “It’s sad. Words can’t justify what you feel, because you live here.”

The discovery recalled the death in August of Lisa Marie Velasquez, a Bronx woman killed after responding to a plea for help from a female friend who was being beaten by her boyfriend. The police said the man bludgeoned Ms. Velasquez to death, and then, with the help of Ms. Velasquez’s friend who had called for help, dismembered her body and disposed of it in trash bags at two Bronx parks.

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