Newly equipped with advanced technology, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office analyzed old cellphone data to home in on a shrinking list of suspects who had lived in one sleepy neighborhood not far from the shore — chief among them the former officer, whose initials matched those on a belt used to bind one of the victims. By 2021, excitement grew among prosecutors that they were on the verge of finally closing the case.
But there was a problem: The homicide detectives chasing the lead were bordering on mutiny.
Prosecutors believed the detectives refused to follow orders and clashed with federal partners, multiple high-level law enforcement officials familiar with the case said. Detectives, meanwhile, felt that the district attorney at the time, Tim Sini, was forcing them to investigate leads they had already ruled out while ratcheting up pressure to solve the case before his 2021 reelection bid. The tension grew so high that, at Sini’s urging, the case’s longtime lead detective was removed…
The previously unreported recent infighting between prosecutors and detectives illustrates how official missteps fueled years of false turns and dysfunction as the infamous killing spree remained unsolved, The Washington Post found through a review of records and interviews with more than 20 legal, law enforcement and political insiders familiar with the case — many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case or feared retaliation.
The investigation was hampered by political battles, deep-seated local resistance to federal investigators and apparent apathy toward sex-worker victims.
Sini said in a statement that he sought to remove the lead detective, Patrick Portela, because “it became increasingly clear that [he] was not willing to effectively collaborate,” including by refusing to share information with the FBI. Sini said that he was met with “fierce resistance” from within the police department when he initially advocated for the detective’s removal, and noted that investigators under his successor “solved the case in eighteen months without [Portela’s] involvement.”
Multiple former high-level law enforcement officials supported that Portela was removed due to complaints from FBI officials, but others disputed it, and none would speak on the record. The Suffolk County Police Department and the FBI declined to comment. Portela, who retired last year, declined to comment…
