New York City Cold Cases

Margaret Mary Warburton, 20
1969 September 18 Missing from 63-09 71st Street, Middle Village, Queens, New York, NY

Torso parts found September 23 scattered at Penn Station, Stamford, Connecticut.

Cause of death: strangulation.

Forensic characteristics: Canadian female visiting from Pierrefonds, (Montreal) Quebec with relatives in 63-09 71st Street, Middle Village, Queens (Uncle John Flynn). Last seen leaving house to go shopping in Manhattan September 18. Torso found in Stamford, Connecticut Penn Station train station locker in a suitcase wrapped in plastic, September 23 and arms and legs in trash wrapped in plastic in men's washroom the next day. Victim's head never recovered but bruising on throat indicated death by strangulation. ME concluded that the victim was strangled from what remained of the neck area and was murdered within 24-hours of September 18.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD RELATED SUBJECT IN OTHER JURISDICTION

[SEE: GAYLOR ALEXANDER TORSO NY/NJ 1978]
Head never recovered.
Body parts taken across state line and left in train station locker.
Victim was staying with relatives in the north-east far perimeter of the Springfield-Jamaica Ave axis.

Cheryl McCarthy, 18,
1969 Dec 23 BMT El-train subway station 132nd Street and Jamaica Avenue, Queens, NY

[CASE CLIPPING]

Cause of death: ligature strangulation

Coming from 131-11 Kew Gardens Road, Queens. Found in closed part of BMT El-train subway station at 132nd Street and Jamaica Avenue, closed after 7:30 PM, face down dressed in a green coat, plaid beige-brown pants partly pulled down and wearing one brown shoe, the other nearby. She was wearing a wide-brimmed hat. Beaten on the face, attempted rape, ligature strangulation. Victim had red hair. Victim was to meet a female friend at the station at 8:00 PM.

NYPD SUBJECT *MARGINAL*
Victim resided and murdered in Springfield-Jamaica axis corridor.
SUBJECT has a history of ambush attacks on teenage school girls.

Denise Sheehy, 16 [ MISSING ]
1970 July 7 48-15 46th St, Woodside, Queens, New York, NY 11377

Mother smelt what she believed to be alcohol on Denise’s breath and the pair got into an argument, with a threat being made that their father would be informed. The result of this was Denise storming out of the apartment at around 5:00pm, without any of her personal belongings. The last reported sighting of her came from a neighbour coming into the building, who saw her climb over a fence behind the apartment and leave the complex via a nearby Mets building.

Mother smelt what she believed to be alcohol on Denise’s breath and the pair got into an argument, with a threat being made that their father would be informed. The result of this was Denise storming out of the apartment at around 5:00 pm, without any of her personal belongings. The last reported sighting of her came from a neighbour coming into the building, who saw her climb over a fence behind the apartment and leave the complex via a nearby Mets building.

Denise Sheehy went missing from the 4800 block of 46th Street in the Woodside neighbourhood of Queens, New York on July 7, 1970. She was sixteen years old and was last seen wearing size XS blue shorts; a red and white top; size 5 1/2 white clog sandals; a gold boys’ school ring; and a gold ring with her initials “DS” on it. At the time of her disappearance, she was 5’3″ and weighed approximately 103 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes, and her ears are pierced. She had received dental care throughout her life and her teeth show signs of restoration.

NYPD SUBJECT *possible*
SUBJECT's father listed in Met Life corporate property management for apartment complex ("Mets") where Sheehy was last seen. Theoretically on a deliberate "chosen" opposite pole from the Springfield Blvd-Jamaica Avenue Axis Corridor cluster of homicides and abduction.

Laverne Moye, 23
1972 July 20 Rockville Centre. Nassau County, New York
Victim resided at 112-37 Francis Lewis Blvd., St. Albans, Queens, NY.

SEE: LishK: Long Island Sunrise Highway Killer Cases

Found in stream between Peninsula Blvd and Maine Avenue in Rockville Center, Nassau County

ligature or manual strangulation - bruises on face and neck - wearing black blouse and high black leather boots nude from waist down - eight pieces of costume jewellery including three silver wire bracelets, a silver watch, a yellow metal ring, a gold ring with a lavender stone, a silver wire-type expansion ring and silver identification-type bracelet - Victim resided at 112-37 Francis Lewis Blvd., St. Albans, Queens, NY.

NYPD RELATED SUBJECT IN OTHER JURISDICTION

Victim resided in Queen's New York in the Springfield-Jamaica axis corridor.
SUBJECT claims to be interracial in choice of victims but predominately prefers Mediterranean complexion and dark hair.
Victims: Laverne Moye 1972 July 20 and Dorothy Anderson 1973 April 6 resided in proximity of each other in the Springfield-Jamaica axis corridor in Queens, New York, were both African American, and were both found in Nassau County at the near same proximity.

Jean Clark, 27
1972 September 2 Bayside, Queens County, NY.

[CASE CLIPPING]

Cause of death: strangulation.

Found 3:00 pm on Sept 3. In bushes off southbound lane of Cross Island Parkway in Bayside Queens near Long Island Expy. Slain 12 hours earlier - id from fingerprints - prostitution arrest. Lived at Paramount Hotel, 235 W. 46th Street - tie wrapped around throat - stab wound in neck and strangled

NYPD 16th Division Homicide

Possibly abducted from Lexington Avenue and E. 25th Street, New York, NY.

Victim allegedly solicited on a "track" around the block from SUBJECT's place of work in Manhattan.
Victim found at the far north end of the Springfield Blvd corridor.
Case identified in December 2021.

Dorothy Anderson, 24
1973 April 6, Found in creek Nassau County, New York
Victim resided at 100-49 196th Street, Hollis, Queens, NY.

NYPD RELATED SUBJECT IN OTHER JURISDICTION

SEE: LishK: Long Island Sunrise Highway Killer Cases

Victim found lying on the bank of a stream with her legs in the water, east of South Park Avenue - African American woman - wearing a heavy tan suede coat with a light fur collar and cuff fringes and purple sweat shirt with "BMCC"

Found a half mile south of the stream between Peninsula Blvd and Maine Avenue in Rockville Center where Mary Beth Heinz, 21 was found on 1972-05-10 and Queen's resident Laverne Moye 1972 July 20.

SUBJECT claims to be interracial in choice of victims but predominately prefers Mediterranean complexion and dark hair.

Victims: Dorothy Anderson (1973 April 6) and Laverne Moye (1972 July 20) resided in proximity of each other in the Springfield-Jamaica axis corridor in Queens, New York, were both African American, and were both found in Nassau County at the near same proximity.

Christine Angell 36
1973 July 18 350 E. 134th Street, Bronx, New York, NY

Victim found in her apartment on bed; strangled with two dress belts.

New York Times (July 19, 1973):
A stray cat led to the discovery yesterday of a woman apparently strangled to death in her second-floor apartment at. 350 East 134th Street in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx.

AA neighbor followed the cat through an open door into the one-room apartment, where the woman, identified as Christine Angell, 36 years old, was found lying face up in bed, with two belts around her throat, her left hand on a bedside phone and her right hand on her neck, the police said.

A search was made of the apartment for possible clues to the slaying. The police said that an autopsy would he performed to determine whether the woman had been sexually assaulted, since robbery was apparently not the motive." No further news coverage.

NYPD SUBJECT *POSSIBLE*
SUBJECT's family historically resided 100 yards from victim crime scene during SUBJECT's infancy.

April Fells, 19
1973 November 8, 178-27 146th Drive, Springfield Gardens, Queens, NY.

[CASE CLIPPING]

Found in empty lot behind 178-27 146th Drive, Springfield Gardens, Queens.

Face down, wearing a red blouse, nude from the waist down, and a pair of blue jeans and flowered underwear nearby. [SHOES?]

Three stab wounds through the back. Scratches on body. Raped.

Resided at 179-17 146th Drive. Was returning home on Tuesday, November 6 from Manhattan by subway after visiting boyfriend. Bus driver recalled dropping her off at the intersection of 146th Drive and New York Blvd (Guy R Brewer Blvd) at 10:50 P.M Tuesday night. ME estimate 48 hours dead prior to being found.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Victim resided in, murdered and found at the bottom end of the Springfield-Jamaica-axis corridor in Queens near the Queens-Nassau County border and L.I. Sunrise Highway

Dorothy Alicia Rodriguez Nieves CASE CLOSED
1973 Dec 27, Zack's Bay, Jones Beach, Nassau County, NY
Victim resided in an SRO in Mahattan, NY. Manhattan, NY

Found bound, strangled and stuffed into a plastic bag at Jones Beach in a heavily weeded area near the Zack's Bay bus stop on Ocean Boulevard north of the East Bathhouse. Plastic bag bundled into a blanket with its ends tied together. Victim's wrists bound together with a "light cord" (electric? or thin cord?) behind her knees. Victim strangled. 5 foot 2 inches, dark brown hair, hazel eyes. Wearing a white bra and light blue denim jeans, but no blouse, shoes or stockings. Defensive knife wounds on hands.

NYPD RELATED SUBJECT *CONFESSED - CASE CLOSED DEC 5 2022 IN NASSAU COUNTY

(Body discovered the Unidentified Burned Torso (see below) White Female, 20-25 1973 Dec 28 Springfield Lane, Queens, NY);
Victim resided at an SRO - Manhattan Tower Hotel on Broadway and 76th Street in Manhattan, NY in area known to be frequented by NYPD RELATED SUBJECT;
NYPD SUBJECT CONFESSED IN 2022.

Unidentified Torso White Female, 20-25
1973 Dec 28 Springfield Lane, Queens, NY

White female head and upper torso 20 to 25 years of age, torso partially burned, light brown hair in an upsweep tied with a piece of green wool. Wearing green nail polish.

Body discovered a day after Dorothy Alicia Rodriguez Nieves 1973 Dec 27 was found in Nassau County (see above)

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Victim found in the lower Springfield-Jamaica-axis corridor in Queens in Springfield Park, near the Queens-Nassau County border and L.I. Sunrise Highway
SUBJECT has history of setting torsos and bodies afire.

Anne Berolzheimer, 23
1974 May 28 488 E. 74th Street, Manhattan, New York, NY.

[CASE CLIPPING]

Believed to have arrived in New York at Penn Station at 9:00 pm after visiting parents at 83 Harbor Lane, Massapequa, New York. Found strangled with an electric cord and maybe panty hose, face up on the floor beside her bed, nude from the waist down. News media reports her hands were tied behind her back. Her blouse and part of her pantyhose found partly wrapped around her neck with pantyhose stuffed in her mouth as well. No sign of forced entry but apartment found in state of disarray. Lived in an apartment vacated six months earlier by a woman who is reported to have had "frequent male visitors."

NYPD SUBJECT *POSSIBLE*
Victim travelling into Penn Station NY on LIRR from Massapequa, Nassau County on night of her murder. SUBJECT'S uncle resided in Massapequa.

Leslie Zaret, 17
1974 August 14 PS 203 playground on Springfield Boulevard in Bayside, Queens NY

[CASE CLIPPING]

Cause of death: strangulation.

Victim's body stripped. Leslie’s clothing, a blue blouse with a flower print, jeans and beige platform shoes, were in a pile nearby.

Last seen the evening before, visiting a friend at 148-18 58 Ave. in Flushing. She left around midnight and was walking to her home at 138-54 68 St.
Police say she stopped off briefly at a bar at 59-20 Main St. to find her boyfriend. He was not considered a suspect in the case.

From there it is believed the victim walked south, passing her high school, John Bowne, and met her attacker a few blocks from her home.
Police speculate she entered a car knowing the driver. The murder scene was four miles away.

Evidence showed that Zaret was not raped or had sex, but that she had been penetrated with a hairbrush. Police have partial DNA from the brush.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Victim found at the north end of the Springfield Blvd corridor.
SUBJECT has a history of random teenage school girl ambush murders.

Janette Archie, 18
1975 February 9, Springfield Lane, Queens, NY

[CASE CLIPPING]

African American high school girl. Found in frozen ditch water off Springfield Lane near JFK. Wearing canary yellow slacks, a red flowered blouse, a red coat and blue high-platform wedge shoes. Several rings and a necklace. Stabbed once in the chest. Believed to be abducted from near her home in Queens Village 102-38 183d Place from bus-stop at 183rd Street and Jamaica Avenue.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Victim resided in near west quadrant of Springfield-Jamaica-axis corridor in Queens AND found in Springfield Park area near the Queens-Nassau County border and L.I. Sunrise Highway.
SUBJECT claims to be interracial in choice of victims but predominately prefers Mediterranean complexion and dark hair.

Karen Baxter, 15
1975 February 22& Hotel Belmore, Room 202, 61 Lexington Avenue (& E 25th Street), New York, NY.

[CASE CLIPPING]

Street sex worker strangled with her own necklace chain. Found nude face down on bed clad in one stocking. Partly covered by bed sheet.
Hotel desk clerk checked-in for a short 4-hour rental Baxter and a dark-skinned male client at 10:00 pm. At 10:10 pm the male came down and dropped key off at desk. When Baxter failed to come down clerk checked room at 10:20 and found Baxter murdered.

Reynold Stoddard, 30 - no previous criminal record - arrested and charged in March. Charges dropped May 2, 1975.

Mr. Stoddard, of 210 West 230th Street, the Bronx, remained free on $1,500 bail in another attempted murder case. He had not been indicted for Miss Baxter's murder.

Mr. Stoddard, who is employed at a bakery in Maspeth, Queens, was first arrested on March 3 when a prostitute, whose identity has not been disclosed, charged that he had attempted to kill her in a car near the Belmore Hotel, which, detectives have called the: haunt of streetwalkers.

The prostitute told detectives that she had been attacked by a man in his car and that the man had brandished a knife and a pistol/span> and had threatened to kill her. She jumped from the car and noted his license plate. Detectives traced the license plate to Mr. Stoddard's home, where he lives with his wife and two children, and a subsequent search of his car turned up an imitation gun, Mr. Sears said. The following day he was charged with strangling the teenager. Mr. Stoddard's wife provided an alibi for her husband but that was not the “prime factor” in dropping the murder charges, Mr. Sears said.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Killed on same Lexington Ave & E 25th Street "stroll" from which Jean Clark 1972 September 2 was taken by NYPD PRIORITY SUBJECT (see above)
Valerie Ann Street 1980 May 4 CASE CLOSED abducted from same location
VICTIM frequented SUBJECT's former work location and fits SUBJECT's victim preference.

Ellen Wapnowitz, 20
1975 Sept 27 3536 Hull Avenue, Bronx, NY

[CASE CLIPPING]

Found on rooftop of 3536 Hull Avenue,
Resided at 3505 Decatur Avenue - a block away

ligature strangulation - possibly a strap or rope - shoes missing - no indication of rape or struggle
found fully clothed in blue jeans, a blue-gray knit cardigan sweater and a print shirt with a pictorial scene, a gold loop earring on her right ear and gold ring on her right hand.

Friday-Saturday murder

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

shoes missing - no indication of rape or struggle

Rosalie Reisberg, 26
1975 October 21 327 W. 87th Street, New York, NY
[CASE CLIPPING]

Strangled and throat cut.
No evidence of penetrative rape.
Nurse

Found at home in apartment on bed.
Nude from waist down.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT
SUBJECT has has history of dating nurses in 1970s.
Subject cut throat and strangled victim Jean Reyner 1980 May 15.

Gaylor Alexander, 17
1977 December - 1978 January Dumont, Bergen County, NJ and New York, NY

[CASE CLIPPING]

NY Cause of death: undetermined due to dismemberment.

Forensic characteristics: Torso and hand left in Dumont, NJ - head and other hand in New York, NY.
Neck "neatly" cut or sawed. Torso and other body parts first found in Memorial Field Park at Charles and Hamilton Streets, Dumont, N.J. on December 29, 1977, packed into children's toy boxes wrapped in Christmas paper and inserted into a plastic garbage bag. One small body part was found on Hamilton Avenue several hundred feet from the boxes. Genitals were excised and never found.
Bergen County identified the victim from her hand as Gaylor Alexander, 17, from Staten Island who had a history of prostitution arrests. January 16, 1978 her severed head and a hand were found in two subway lockers at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue in New York during a routine locker inspection. Police believe the parts were placed there after January 9, the last inspection.
*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Helen Sikes, 19
1979 January 14, found at 89th Street and 23rd Avenue in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY.

Stabbed in the throat, stomach and buttocks and her legs severed.

Sikes was a runaway from California with a record of sex-worker arrests. aka, Bouncy, Hollywood and Sherri. Taxi driver Barry Weisberg, 43 of Jersey City, NJ, who was acquainted with Sikes, was charged in January 1980 with murdering her in a Woodside Queens motel but acquitted by jury trial in June 1, 1981.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, 25-35
1979 September 22 Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ.

Cause of death: undetermined. Forensic characteristics: decapitated severed female head found floating in water off 1 Street Pier approximately 25-35 years of age. 1.2 miles diagonally from Christopher Street Pier in NYC on opposite river bank. Not reported in the press until January 1980 following the Times Square Torso Murders. severed head found floating, river current believed to have carried it across river.

*POSSIBLE* NYPD SUBJECT

Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, & "Jane Doe" est. 17-19 [ DOUBLE HOMICIDE ]
CASE CLOSED 1984
1979 December 2, 515 W 42nd Street, New York, NY

Cause of death: Goodarzi stab wound through the back to lung; "Jane Doe" undetermined.

Forensic characteristics: double murder - Saturday/Sunday - sex workers - found in New York hotel - bodies set on fire on beds - cigarette burns to breast - genitals and anus burned selectively - one victim penetrative vaginal and anal rape - heads and hands severed and removed by the perpetrator from the scene (never found) - one victim stabbed - numerous shallow ante-mortem and post-mortem cuts and scratches from a knife on both victims - bruised and beaten - victims sedated with drug.

Deedeh Goodarzi, 22, a resident of 64 Laurel Place, Trenton, Mercer County, NJ, left for New York City on November 30, 1979 where she worked as an escort, operating from the Tittle Tattle Club near Second Avenue in the E 60s.

She was found 9:15 a.m. Sunday, December 2, in the Travel Inn Motel, Room 417 nude, decapitated and her hands amputated on a bed that had been set on fire. There were numerous shallow cuts or scratches on the torso and legs (antemortem and postmortem) and bruises indicative of a beating. Cause of death could not be determined due to the decapitation. Head and hands were never found. Her jewellery was missing but her clothes were found in the hotel bathtub.

The second victim "Jane Doe" was found on the other bed, likewise decapitated, hands amputated and covered in similar fine shallow cuts or scratches and bruises from a beating on her torso and legs.

Torsos set on fire. Severed heads never recovered.

Serial killer Richard F. Cottingham, a resident of Bergen County, NJ, employed in New York, was convicted in the two murders (plus a third in New York) in 1984.

Unidentified torso, white female
1980 March 20 Hudson View Apartments in Fishkill, Dutchess County, NY
NYPD RELATED SUBJECT IN OTHER JURISDICTION

On 03/20/80 the headless, handless, nude body of a white female was discovered in a travel trunk near a dumpster at the Hudson View Apartments in Fishkill NY. The trunk had been left at that location between 12 noon and 10:00pm on 03/18/80. The female is in her approx. mid twenties, 5'6", weighing approx. 135 lbs., dark brown hair, foot size approx. 41/2 to 5, bra size 34C

Body discovered inside a travel trunk described as follows: Green with black trim and blue lining. 21"wide, 37"long, and 14"deep with brass fittings. various stickers on the outside indicate the trunk travelled from NYC to France in 1958 and returned to NYC in 1960. Original ownership has been verified as June Leaf.

SP Wappinger Case#80-266

CASE EXCEPTIONALLY CLOSED (PERPETRATOR DECEASED) - through FAMILIAL DNA SEPTEMBER 2022

Yvette Valentine, 20
1980 April 5 212-56 Whitehall Terrace, Queens, NY 11427
NYPD File Reference 105-PDU 740-0608

Yvette Valentine, 20 found Saturday April 5, 1980, 5:00 am opposite 212-56 Whitehall Terrace, Queens, NY 11427.
Sex worker from Park Ave, 26th to 28th Street, New York. Sister Medalia Valentine, 22 identified, both resided at 28-53 Barker Street, Bronx

NYPD File Reference 105-PDU 740-0608.

Valerie Ann Street, 19 CASE CLOSED 1981
11980 May 4 Hasbrouck Heights, Bergen County, New Jersey.

Victim ligature strangled.
Traces of adhesive tape around mouth.
Victim found under motel room bed nude and hands handcuffed behind back.
Scratches on breast.

Abducted from E 25th Street Manhattan "track" and murdered in New Jersey.
Abducted from same location as Jean Clark 1972 September 2 & Karen Baxter 1975 February 22 Yvette Valentin, April 1980(See above)

Serial killer Richard F. Cottingham convicted in 1981

Jean Renyer,
CASE CLOSED 1984
1980 May 15 Seville Hotel, Room 1139, E 29th Street & Madison Avenue, New York, NY.

Victim's throat cut and ligature strangulation.
Strangulation cause of death.
Victim's breasts severed post-mortem and posed on bed board.
Torso set on fire

Richard F. Cottingham convicted in 1984.

NYPD OPEN COLD CASES 1960-1980