Police: Lattingtown Victim Was Murdered, Buried

A gold necklace is the best lead police have in identifying the person whose remains were found Monday in a beach area of Lattingtown, Nassau County Police said.

The pig pendant attached to the necklace may denote a Year of the Pig in Chinese culture. Homicide Squad commanding officer John Azzata said at a Wednesday briefing that the style of the gold necklace is popular in Indian and Asian communities.

Azzata said the person is believed to have been between 20-30 years old when they were killed. Pendants like the one found often represent the wearer's birth year. Azzata said the most relevant Years of the Pig in recent decades were 1971, 1983 and 1995.

The victim is believed to be female but that can't be confirmed until a forensic anthropologist examines the remains Thursday. Azzata said what appeared to be a female's pants and undergarments were found at the scene. 

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Police used cadaver dogs and conducted a grid search at the spot, similar to how police searched Gilgo Beach after bodies turned up there.

Azzata said there has been no determination that this case has anything to do with those murders, which remain unsolved.

He confirmed that there were signs of trauma and said the case is a homicide.

A woman walking her dog Monday afternoon found the body when her dog began digging at the spot. Azzata said the woman had to remove the material containing the body to see what her dog was digging at, but he did not say what it was the body was contained in.

Police recovered 90 percent of the remains Monday and the last 10 percent Tuesday after digging below the spot where the body was located.

He said the body was buried there and had not washed up on the beach, although there had been washover between the bay and the Long Island Sound at the spot during Hurricane Sandy.

Azzata appealed to the public for help in identifying the victim.