I have been checking online compulsively to see if there has been any update. The only article I found was the NY Post blurb from Sunday, which was quoted in a few more news sources the following day. I actually just joined websleuths today to discuss this case and see if anyone else has any updates, theories, etc. I cant help but be deeply disturbed by this story, not only because I live in Elmhurst, but also by the nature of the crime (we dont even know the cause of death yet
but to dispose of a fellow human being like that is so evil, so dehumanizing
).
I live around the corner from where I think* these bags were found (*one online report said the bags were found on 43rd and Judge Street, but I dont think this is correct because the activity I witnessed was on 43rd Avenue and the railroad cut- what would be 73rd Street).
This stretch of 43rd Avenue is actually an overpass; about 100 feet below, a service train (LIRR?) runs a few times a day. Its actually quite beautiful to gaze down at the tracks and surrounding trees. Up on the 43rd Avenue overpass, there are a couple of houses, but also one big lot that has been vacant for about 3 years (a house once stood on the property). There is a wooden construction company-type/temporary fence about 8 feet high- around the property. The property/lot is directly adjacent to the railroad (though a person would have to climb down 100 feet to reach the tracks). There are holes in the fencing around the lot, as well as in the fencing surrounding the drop to the tracks- in other words, it would be pretty easy to access both the lot and the tracks from 43rd Ave.
On Saturday afternoon, a neighbor asked me if I knew why there was so much police activity on the Avenue. I had been inside all day so I hadnt even noticed, but when I walked up the block to 43rd Avenue I discovered that there were cop cars everywhere, and that the cops had taped off one entire side of the street. A homeless man was sitting calmly with the cops (I went back to 43rd Ave off and on for the next several hours to see what was going on, and the homeless gentleman was sitting there that whole time). Around 5pm I went by again and saw a few big trucks- I thought they were from the OCME, but I cant say for sure. I asked a policeman if he could tell me what was going on, but all he could say was that they were conducting an investigation.
Sunday morning there was still plenty of police activiy. Oddly, on Sunday night I walked by the lot again and it was completely deserted of cops (or at least, obvious/marked vehicles). I was actually able to walk right up to the fence around the lot and look through (I just saw really high grass/weeds, and lots of garbage). I didnt check Monday night, but last night there was a cop car parked in front of the lot again.
-I believe the bags were found in the overgrown lot next to the drop to the tracks. On Saturday afternoon, when all the activity was going on, I walked up to the overpass on the next block; from this point I could see what was going on on the tracks behind 43rd Ave, and there was no one searching there at all. So I guess all the activity (ie, searching) was concentrated in that lot.
-If the bags were indeed found in that lot, it would have had to have been placed there within the last few years (it was 2 or 3 years ago that they razed the house that stood there- the records of the exact date should be easy for authorities to come by).
-There have been two instances of property dumping in the last few months, on the sidewalk (43rd Ave) across the street from the lot. In each case, it looked like someone had put all of a persons worldly possessions (except clothing, oddly) in a vehicle and deposited it right on 43rd Avenue. There was so much stuff that it took up 2 parking spaces. The first time, there were boxes and boxes of music CDs, as well as books and all kinds of personal papers- from what I saw just looking at the pile, there were piles of unopened mail, school papers, taxes
. In other words, stuff that you would not want to have dumped on the sidewalk for anyone to see. I called Sanitation and they picked up everything pretty quickly (I guess other neighbors had called as well). At the time I assumed it was a landlord who was trying to get rid of a tenants property- maybe they were kicked out/arrested/ etc, and he or she just wanted to get rid of it. But the same exact thing happened a couple weeks later. This time there werent any CDs, just piles and piles of someones personal papers and books, as well as weird stuff like half-used tubes of toothpaste and soaps, etc. I was pretty annoyed, called Sanitation again, and Sanitation picked it up pretty quickly (kudos to the DSNY!). This time though, I picked up an envelope from the top of the pile, and did a perfunctory online search for the name that was on the documents (orthodontist bills). I couldnt find anything, and unfortunately threw out the papers because they were really dirty. (Both dumpings happened during the winter- Jan/Feb maybe, when it was snowing all the time, so everything was soaked and really gross-to-the-touch. I wish I held onto something. I dont know if it has anything to do with the body that was found across the street- probably not, but those two incidences of dumping (the AMOUNT of stuff, and the personal nature of the stuff) just struck me as so odd at the time.