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Looking for Long Island links

Investigators comb through a pair of past unsolved local killings to see if Glen Cove suspect is connected

BY MICHAEL FRAZIER | STAFF WRITER; Staff writers Ann Givens, John Hildebrand, Olivia Winslow and Bart Jones contributed to this story.

August 23, 2006

Suffolk police are investigating whether two unsolved murders in which women were decapitated are connected to the slaying of a retired educator in Glen Cove who was similarly dismembered, authorities said yesterday.

So far, no evidence links Thursday's killing of Denice Fox, 57, to the bodies found in Manorville in 2000 and 2003 said Det. Sgt. Vincent Posillico of Suffolk's Homicide Squad.

"Right now, it's just the obvious," Posillico said of any possible link. "There are three cases with females who were decapitated."

Posillico's comments came after Det. Sgt. Dennis Barry of Nassau's Homicide Squad spoke during a news conference about Suffolk's efforts to find possible connections.

No arrests have been made in either Suffolk case.

In Nassau, police on Friday arrested and charged Evan Marshall, 31, of Glen Cove with second-degree murder in the decapitation and dismemberment of Fox, his neighbor.

Since the killing, police have been trying to determine whether Marshall, a bedding salesman, is connected to other, similar crimes.

In November 2000, an unidentified woman between 30 and 40 years old was discovered with her head and hands removed in a heavily wooded area just off Halsey Manor Road, north of the Long Island Expressway in Manorville. In July 2003, a dead woman later identified as Jessica Taylor, 20, of Washington, D.C., was found without a head or hands about 300 feet west of Halsey Manor Road, Posillico said.

Taylor, a prostitute with relatives upstate, had to be identified by means of a tattoo on her body, Posillico said.

Neither of the women's heads were ever found, police said. No evidence was uncovered to suggest a common killer in the two cases, Posillico said.

While authorities probe deeper into similar killings on Long Island, the investigative scope is stretching nationwide.

In addition to the FBI, Nassau police contacted authorities in other states - including Arizona, California and Florida - where Marshall lived to see whether similar crimes have been committed there.

Investigators have also been in contact with at least two rehabilitation centers in Miami and upstate Brewster, where Marshall received treatment. Barry didn't know what treatment he received.

Before his recent arrest, Marshall had no record of a violent criminal history, with charges only of petit larceny and driving while intoxicated, Barry said.

In a brief court appearance yesterday in Mineola, Nassau prosecutor Mitch Benson requested a court order for a DNA swab from Marshall so it can be compared to evidence from the crime scenes.

While being escorted past news reporters to a police vehicle, Marshall glared at them and snapped, "I make no comments. I told you that!"

Police have described Marshall as a psychosexual murderer. During the investigation, Nassau police seized boxes of pornographic VHS tapes, sadomasochistic paraphernalia and sex toys from Marshall's basement room closet.

Barry said he "couldn't say" if Fox had been sexually assaulted. "That's still being conducted by the medical examiner."

Other details also emerged about Marshall's life. After graduating in 1997 from Arizona State University in Tempe with a history degree, Marshall earned a master's degree at Hofstra University in Hempstead and worked as a salesman at Rockaway Bedding in upstate Carmel. Workers there said they had no sign that Marshall would commit such a crime.

State Education Department computer files show a teacher's certification issued to Evan B. Marshall of Glen Cove, said a department spokesman.

Also, Hofstra University confirmed that he obtained a master's degree in education in 2004 from Hofstra's School of Education and Allied Human Services, specializing in social studies education.

Staff writers Ann Givens, John Hildebrand, Olivia Winslow and Bart Jones contributed to this story.