Take this for whatever it is worth. About two weeks before this rumor went viral I posted a message say the 'best' way for them to solve this case is to blame in on a dead man. BAM! just like that it happened. Spota had to go public and state this fellow was not a suspect.
The rumor, IMO, was started by the cops. If you hear a cop say it , or hear it from a friend who said they heard it from a cop then it is probably true. This doesn't mean the cop you heard it from is complicit in this BS. He heard it and he passes it along. Of course they can give you good reasons why they think this guy did it.
What they didn't tell you is the dead guy had suicide running in his family. It is well known that a person that has a close relative in their family is prone to commit suicide.
The burlap bags? So what. I wrote about a guy that sold drugs in the area who went to jail. When he got out he went into the sex trade business: Films, massages, and whatever else. He proudly post himself on the Internet.
In 2000 he bought a house on Oak Beach for 225K. Four years later he sold it to a ranking political figure that is joined at the hip with Bellone for 825K. At the time the house was valued at 425. The politico took out at least one mortgage for 700K.
This fellow was arrested in 1985 for drug dealing. He was convicted in a Suffolk Court. The FEDS took him and his brother and put them in a federal jail where I believed he remained until he finished his 10 year sentence. At one time he was arrested and the cops found a burlap bag in his car. He is as good a suspect as anyone else. He died in 2011.
Much of this information was gathered by a web poster on this board known as PRECIOUS DUST. Precious Dust was meant to ID the guy I speak about - the suspect.
When this guy went to jail the FEDS opened up a corruption investigation into the SCPD. The 1987-89 NYS SIC investigation into corruption in the SCPD and DA office followed shortly thereafter.
If you get a chance you should read that report. It is still on the Net. You might find it in a Marty Tankleff search.
Nothing much changes in Suffolk County, that is if you don't count things getting worse as no change.