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Body found dumped in North Merrick near parkway

BY BILL MASON | bill.mason@newsday.com

8:27 PM EDT, July 10, 2008

For the second time in two weeks, a body was found dumped on the side of a road near the Southern State Parkway in the North Merrick area, police said yesterday.

A "laundry-type bag" containing the badly decomposed body of an adult was found Wednesday night on the shoulder of the parkway west of Merrick Avenue in North Merrick, State Police said. That was about a mile away, police said, from a parkway ramp at Newbridge Road in Bellmore where a suitcase was found on June 27 that contained the dismembered body of a Brooklyn woman. Investigators have not identified the latest victim but they suspect it is the body of a woman.

Over the years, there have been other instances of bodies dumped on the side of Long Island parkways, but it is rare for there to be two instances within such a short period of time, police said.

Major Walter Heesch, commanding officer of state police Troop L, whose officers are investigating both cases, said yesterday that the two homicides do not appear to be related.

"Both of these cases are earmarked homicide, but the cause of each one is quite different," Heesch said. "The only thing that's consistent is the distance, a mile apart."

Michael Marin, an off-duty state police investigator, saw what he considered a suspicious bag on the shoulder of the roadway about 7 p.m. Wednesday and stopped to investigate and made the discovery, police said. Heesch said the body may have been dead for more than three weeks. Experts will be brought in to try to determine the person's sex, age and identity, as well as cause of death, police said.

The dismembered body found two weeks ago was eventually identified as Tanya Rush, 39, of East New York, Brooklyn, a mother of three. There have been no arrests in that case.

State police have asked that anyone with information concerning either case contact the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation at 631-756-3390.