Long Island To Announce Breakthrough In 6 Historic Cold Cases - Newsweek

Long Island prosecutors are expected to announce a major breakthrough in six historic cold cases Thursday, including the long-unsolved mystery of a homicide victim known only as “Montauk Mary”.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney will be joined by Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina to announce the identities of the six victims for the first time in a series of Cold Case Task Force investigations spanning five decades.

The previously unknown victims were identified using genetic genealogy and will be unveiled at a press conference on Thursday, November 12, 2026 at 11 a.m.

In addition to "Montauk Mary," Suffolk County officials said victims connected to cold cases in Deer Park, Riverhead, Montauk, Great River and Fire Island Inlet will be identified. The oldest case dates to 1976.

Officials have not released further details about the cases ahead of the announcement. Based on publicly available records, Newsweek identified a small number of unresolved unidentified-person investigations in each location that could correspond to those being announced. Suffolk County has not confirmed any of the cases discussed below.

A woman later nicknamed "Montauk Mary" was found dead on March 22, 1978, at around 12:30 p.m. by a passerby walking through East Overlook Park, on Montauk Highway.

The passerby, who alerted law enforcement immediately, reported finding the victim lying face-up, about 15 feet from the parking lot. Authorities said the body was that of a white female, likely in her 60s, about 5 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds.

The victim had short gray hair, hazel eyes, and was dressed in a plaid tweed coat, a multicolored dress, and orange slippers. None of her clothing had tags, and the victim was not wearing undergarments. In 2025, Suffolk County investigators released an updated forensic sketch depicting what the woman may have looked like before her death.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner determined at the time the victim had been shot four times—once in the chest and three times in the legs—and believed the woman had only been deceased for a few hours before the discovery of her body.

One possible candidate is a set of skeletal remains discovered at West Brook Pond on April 13, 2021.

The remains have never been publicly identified following their discovery. Authorities have not confirmed whether this is the Great River case referenced in Thursday's announcement.

Public records indicate one unresolved Fire Island Inlet case involves an unidentified man whose remains were recovered from the Atlantic Ocean in November 1990.

According to publicly available case records, the investigation began on November 4, 1990, when a fishing vessel recovered the decomposing remains of an adult male approximately nine miles south of Fire Island Inlet in the Atlantic Ocean. Despite extensive efforts by investigators, authorities were unable to determine the man's identity or how he came to be in the water.

The area is historically tied to the high-profile Fire Island Jane Doe case, which was solved via genetic genealogy in 2023.

She was identified as Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old woman from Manhattan who vanished around Valentine's Day in 1996.

One possible case in Deer Park dates back to November 1976, where the charred remains of a man were found on the Pilgrim State Hospital grounds. Because Suffolk County has said the oldest identification dates to 1976, the case is among the possibilities that could match Thursday's announcement. Authorities have not confirmed a connection.

Not much is known about the victim but autopsy notes suggest the man was about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed around 110 pounds. The victim's most distinguishing features were three tattoos: a panther on his left forearm, the name "Raymond" on his left bicep and a depiction of a face on his right bicep.

One unresolved Riverhead case involves a woman found dead in a wooded area off Osborn Avenue on March 12, 1990.

Publicly documented case records show a town highway worker found the victim and reported it to police. The woman was believed to be of Asian descent, between 25 and 40 years old, approximately 5 feet 3 inches and weighing about 110 pounds.

Authorities determined she had been dead for several days before she was discovered and concluded she died from blunt-force trauma to the head.

Because the victim was never publicly identified, the case has long appeared in national unidentified-person databases and remains one of the area's most prominent Doe investigations.

Another possibility from the area relates to a man whose remains were discovered in Riverhead in October 2011. Despite forensic examinations and efforts to compare the remains against missing-person databases, investigators were unable to determine the man's identity.

While "Montauk Mary" is the best-known unidentified victim connected to Montauk, Suffolk County officials indicated there could be another cold case victim identification announced today.

Among the possibilities are unidentified male victims discovered in Montauk in 1999, 2003 and 2008.

Thursday's announcement is expected to reveal which of the unidentified victims linked to those locations have now been identified through genetic genealogy.

Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Rhian Morgan.