The following is a collection from archived Newsday articles. I have included the dates the articles were published as well as the headline for each case (dates do not necessarily correspond to when any victim went missing or was found). Due to the number of articles I have saved/referenced I dont think I'll be able to upload direct sources. If you want to read these articles in depth you will need to subscribe to Newsday to look up their archives.
I did my best to organize these chronologically and provide a rough location where they were found/area of interest. For several cases I wasn't able to find a victim name so those are labled "Unidentified?", however this does not mean they actually havent been identified, I just hit a dead end on my research.
I tried to focus on cases where a body was found between 1980-2000, some names are probably familiar, others were new to me when researching. Disclaimer, I am not necessarily saying any of these are LISK/RH victims and apologize in advance for any harsher language that was common place during this era when I quoted or paraphrased from reporters/police.
Tina Foglia (North Bay Shore of Suffolk County, NY)
- 2/7/82 "Slain Woman’s Route Traced"
- Tina Foglia last seen leaving Hammerheads bar
- Highway workers found her dismembered body in 3 plastic bags along the Sagtikos State Parkway in Brentwood
- Cause of Death was asphyxia by smothering, her nose and mouth were covered or blocked.
- The body was cut up “more precisely” than would be possible with an instrument such as a hatchet or ax (as if with the stroke of a butchers knife)
Unidentified? (Freeport)
- 11/7/82 "Body Identified as Teen"
- Body found thursday in a Freeport dumpster on North Main St. was that of a teenage girl who had been dead between 2-6 months
- She was between 14-18 wearing a bra and a jersey-type sweater with a zippered front. The sweater has pink and blue stripes against a yellow background with a wide blue waistband. Police could not determine her race
- Two gold necklaces were found around the neck. One has a heart pendant with the initial “K” and the other has a blue stone inset.
- Police found no signs of violence on the body, which they said had been put in the dumpster some time between Wednesday or Thursday
Unidentified? (Old Westbury)
- 7/1/82 "Body of Woman Found"
- Partly clad body of a young woman, wearing several pieces of jewelry including four earrings in one ear was discovered yesterday in a wooded area of Old Westbury
- Apparent cause of death was strangulation and the women had been sexually abused. She had bruises and had been struck in the face.
- Victim was in her mid 20s about 5’2” weighing 120lbs, and had been dead since last friday. She had black curly hair and may have been hispanic.
- She was wearing an engagement ring, earrings, and a gold necklace with the name “Patricia”
Unidentified? (Freeport)
- 7/13/83 "Body of Woman Found"
- Body of an unidentified woman was found in an overgrown area near the railroad tracks near the intersection of Rutland Rd and Commercial St.
- Police said no apparent gunshot or knife wounds.
Christine Clarkson (West Hempstead)
- 2/20/84 "Woman Slain on Shortcut Home"
- Christine Clarkson was found murdered on Saturday was on her way home from a local tavern when she was grabbed a few blocks fro her apartment, dragged behind a factory and struck repeatedly over the head with a blunt instrument.
- Body was found atop a pile of wood and cardboard near a rail-road siding between two factories.
- “There was a fierce struggle” pointing to a spot near the tracks where freshly dug shoe marks could be seen, indicating the woman and her attacker shoved one another before she was felled. She was 5’8”, weighed about 140 pounds, and was dragged about 100ft to a spot between two factory buildings
- She was fully clothed when found and it did not appear that she had been sexually assaulted.
- 2/29/84 "Oceanside Meeting in Wake of Murder"
- Christine Clarkson found on Feb 18 near LIRR station in West Hempstead was beaten and strangled
Luanne Finn (Oceanside)
- 2/26/84 "Woman in Car Fire Strangled, Cops Say"
- Luanne Finn left home around 6:30PM to make a deposit at a bank. Her car was found burning at 8:30PM by 4 youths walking through the schoolyard.
- Cause of death was strangulation, no violence to the body except for the neck was found, and further investigation needed to determine if she was sexually assaulted
- Body was naked except for a string tie around the neck
- Arson investigators said combustible materials in the car had been set afire but found no traces of an accelerant
- 2/28/84 "Call for Mother Led Boy to Her Body"
- Article is mostly about an unrelated case
- Luanne Finn was reportedly accosted by someone at the bank parking lot, forced her to drive to the Florence Smith School, then sexually attacked and strangled her. Her nude body was still inside when the car was set on fire
Deborah Lee Smith (Valley Stream)
- 8/31/84 "Nassau Cops Identify Two Slain Women"
- Deborah Lee Smith, 20, who had been living in the NYC area was found fatally shot. Smith was described as a prostitute with numerous arrests for loitering for the purpose of prostitution, mostly in the Manhattan area. She also worked in out-of-town locations ranging from Atlantic City to New Orleans.
- Smith used nicknames of “snow” and “sparkle” and was last seen alive by another prostitute about 11pm on August 20 at 11th Ave and 34th St. in Manhattan.
- Her body was discovered Aug 21 wrapped in a blanket near the curb of Hunters Ave in Valley Stream. She had been shot twice at close range, once in the chest and the other in the head, with a large-caliber weapon. Police believe the shooting took place at another location.
Theresa Fusco (Lynbrook)
- 12/6/84 "Teenage Girls Body Found"
- Theresa Fuscos body was found half buried beneath leaves and a wooden pallet.
- Police said there were bruises on the torso
- 12/7/84 "Slain Teen was Classed As Runaway"
- Theresa Fuscos body was found beneath a pile of leaves. Nude body with strangulation marks around the neck were inflicted by some sort of rope or cord.
- Body was found half buried beneath leaves and a wooden pallet in an area north of the railroad tracks between Rocklyn Ave and Park Place, 5 blocks from her home and 1 block from the Hot Skates Roller Rink. Theresa worked at the rink one night per week before being fired November 10 over an argument with her boss about cleaning tables. Theresa left after being fired and planned to walk to her best friend's house to spend the night, but never made it there.
- 8/12/85 "Strange Shadows of Crossed Paths"
- Before Theresa was found people would call from all over to say they had seen her. “Someone called and spoke into the phone which Teresa's mother clutched to her ear and heart: “Hello Mommy, this is Theresa. Come and get me. I'm suffocating”.
Jacqueline Martarella (Woodsburgh/Woodmere Country Club Golf Course)
- 4/23/85 "Body of Woman, 19, Found on Golf Course"
- The nude body of Jacqueline Martarella who disappeared nearly a month ago was discovered yesterday in a thick stand of marsh grass in a secluded area of the Woodmere Country Club Golf Course
- Marks on her neck indicate she had been strangled and believed to have been killed about the time she was reported missing March 26
- “The body may have been dumped in the 7ft tall grass near the 17th hole of the golf course about 20-30 ft from the green”
- No clothes, jewelry, or tire tracks were found in the area, which is far from either commercial traffic or any neighborhood.
- Medical examiner said marks on her neck indicate the cause of death was ligature strangulation and time of death is consistent with the time she was reported missing.
- Reportedly 4’11” with light brown hair and eyes, was on her way home from a friend’s house to her job at Burger King when someone picked her up.
Patricia Costello (Heckscher State Park/East Islip)
- 6/3/86 "Body Found in Park ID’s"
- Patricia Costello was apparently strangled
- Worked as a topless dancer
- 6/11/86 "Cops: Dancer’s Body Was Dumped in Park"
- Police believe Patricia Costello was strangled elsewhere and the dumped nude
- One article of clothing was looped around her throat and draped over a low tree limb in what they called an effort to make the killing look like suicide
- “The indications now are that she was murdered elsewhere and her body disposed of in the park
Unidentified? (North Lawrence)
- 3/2/89 "Parts of Man’s Body Found in Dumpster"
- Male head and limbs found in a North Lawrence dumpster on 3/1/89
- The Victim's legs, arms and head were found wrapped in 5 plastic bags. The torso was not found, nor was there any clothing or any type of identification
Christina Warner AKA Tina Clark (Old Westbury/Meadowbrook Polo Club)
- 12/14/89 "Body of Unidentified Female Is Found in Old Westbury"
- Nude body of a young woman wrapped in two large green plastic bags was found yesterday
- Body appeared to have suffered a beating to the face and head. Body was frozen solid and appeared to have been at the site for at least several days.
- The beating appeared to have been inflicted someplace else and the body was dumped there
- 12/17/89 "ID Made on Body in Old Westbury"
- Tina Clark identified through fingerprints on her arrest record. Extensive record for prostitution arrests reported
- 12/20/89 "Body Found in Field is that of RI Teen"
- Christina Warner/Tina Clark
- The young woman whose frozen body was found a week ago in a field in Old Westbury was a RI teenager, strangled to death about two years after leaving home to live in Manhattan. Had a police record for prostitution
- Used professional name of Tina Clark
- Nude body, wrapped in plastic bags, was found a week ago just inside the Meadowbrook Polo Club grounds
- Medical examiner said she had been beaten on the face and head but cause of death was strangulation
- “We have no leads on how she wound up in Old Westbury… she had been a known prostitute in midtown NY. She has no connection to Long Island. She may have been picked up by a john who murdered her and brought her out here and dumped her where she was found
Possibly Carmen Vargas? (Meadowbrook Parkway/Freeport)
- 5/14/90 "Portrait by Computer"
- Motorist discovered a bound and decomposing woman's body (Carmen Vargas potentially?) in the woods near the Meadowbrook Parkway in Freeport last September (1989). The corpse was left outdoors for 2-4 weeks and not much more than an unrecognizable skeleton.
- Small young woman had brown hair tied in a ponytail with a rubber band, a prominent chin and a protruding nose bridge. Found wearing a turquoise miniskirt, a white tank top and one gold, crescent shaped earring. A towel was draped over her face and tied around her neck. Rope was tied around her neck suggesting she may have been strangled, and also bound her ankles.
- Analysis of lung and muscle tissue suggest the woman ingested large amounts of cocaine and opiates
Sandra Acosta (Brooklyn)
- 10/31/1991 "Grisly Find in B’klyn"
- In a weedy lot in Park Slope, two transit police officers tripped over the dismembered remains of a young woman, two hands, two feet, arms and legs cut in two, and a head all dumped in a heap.
- Photographs of the severed head led to identifying the body as Sandra Acosta, 23, who disappeared on Friday and reported missing by her husband Tuesday. Husband told the police that his wife, who he said was a drug addict, was last seen at 10:35PM in a downtown brooklyn project on Nevins St.
- The body parts had been neatly cut up. The torso was missing. No blood was evident, indicating to police that the killing “couldn’t have occurred here”. The dismemberment was almost surgically tidy. No clothing, identification or weapons were found in the lot. Because the torso is missing, police cannot determine the cause of death. The condition of the body parts indicate she was killed no earlier than two days ago.
- From the moment the grisly find was reported, police worked to match up the remains with one of several missing persons reports they had received in the area - including reports of three girls ranging in age from 13 to 16, who had disappeared during the last 3 weeks, but have found no links.
- Police originally believed Sandras body was that of Tiffany Dixon, 12, who had been reported missing from her home in Carroll Garden on October 10. Other disappearances include Sophier Kauslender, 13 of St. Johns Place who disappeared from in front of her house on October 22 and Latesha Isaac, who was last seen in front of her Willoughby Street home and reported missing Monday
Unidentified? (Sayville)
- 3/9/92 "Body Found in Dumpster"
- Body of naked young woman was discovered in a dumpster next to the Sayville Railroad Station
- Petite, olive skin, weighing no more than 100lbs with long bushy black hair.
- Police would not comment if she had been sexually assaulted
Ivonne Rivera (Babylon)
- 7/19/92 "Body Found in Schoolyard"
- Naked body found by man walking dog the day before in grassy playing field next to Babylon Elementary School
- PD did not indicate if there were any visible injuries that may have contributed to the death.
- Unidentified woman was “probably in her early 20s, had black hair and was lightly tanned.
- PD would not say if the woman had died elsewhere and was then dumped in the field on Ralph Avenue. “Right now were handling this as a murder… the way the body appears in the middle of the schoolyard, totally nude, makes it look like someone was killed”.
- Don Grieco, who made the find around 5:30am, said that at first he didn’t know exactly what he had stumbled upon. ‘I just happened to look over… I kind of thought it was a dog, after I realized it wasn’t a cardboard box”. After he came within 100 ft and saw that it was a body he ran back to the house and called police.
- “That field is often traveled in the early morning by commuters going to the train station” said Grieco
- 8/10/92 "Babylon Slaying Still a Mystery, With No Suspects"
- Ivonne Rivera was a shy college senior that was last seen alive at TJ’s bar
- Friends are certain she left the bar at 2:30 AM planning to walk home. Hours later her body was discovered by a man walking his dog.
- The cause of death is listed as “neck compression” and “blunt force injuries” however police will not say if she was sexually assaulted
- In June 1992 she started a new job as an assistant office manager at Johnson Schwinghammer (Manhattan lighting consulting firm)
- At 2AM Rivera called a friend from a payphone. Nothing discussed alarmed the friend.
- Friends and family consistently said she would never accept a ride from a stranger.
Unidentified? (Garden City)
- 9/2/94 "ID of Main’s Body Eludes Cops"
- The white man whose dismembered and decapitated body was found Wednesday at Garden City Golf Club was between 20 and 30 years old
- Nude body was discovered by a groundskeeper Wednesday around 9:30 AM
- Body was found lying in a woody strip next to the club’s dirt service road and was decomposed. It was dismembered into three sections: torso and arms, and separate from that, each leg with a foot.
- Body was likely dumped and mutilated in order to hide its identity. Police said “he might have been killed and stored and then dumped last-minute into the woods”
- Police said “we don't believe the head and hands are there… there’s always a chance we may locate missing items at another location”
Melani Vilavencencio (Melville)
- 12/13/95 "Body Found in Melville Dumpster"
- A white woman's nude body, severed of its hands and encased in a sleeping back was found in a dumpster at a Melville construction company
- Victim had brown hair, hazel eyes, 5’3”, weighed 118lbs between ages 25-45
- Tattoo just above left breast with the name “Melani”
- Body showed signs of significant impacts wounds to the head. Hands were severed and not found with the body
- 12/15/95 "Police Give Initial ID for Body Found in Dumpster"
- Melani Vilavencencio of Queens was found nude and dismembered in a Melville dumpster Monday. Police believe she worked as prostitute
- Police received an anonymous tip which helped identify distinguishing features on the body (tattoo with her name)
- Body was found without hands.
Unidentified? (Northern State Parkway)
- 1/25/96 "Body Found On Northern State"
- Body of a man who appears to have been stabbed to death was found on the Northern State Parkway in Commack yesterday
- Body was found wrapped in plastic.
Tanya Rush (Southern State Parkway/North Bellmore)
- 4/17/11 "Unsolved Mysteries of Dumped Bodies"
- Focus on Tanya Rush but includes other related victims
- Tanya Rush worked as a prostitute in Brooklyn until she went missing in June 2008. Her body was found days later stuffed in a suitcase along the Southern State Parkway in North Bellmore
- Her body had been dismembered, placed in a suitcase and tossed along the Southern State
- 7/13/2008 "Body Found off Southern Parkway"
- A “laundry type bag” containing a badly decomposed body was found two weeks after Tanya Rush
