Matthew Zoll, suspect in stabbing of father, identified as body found in detective's East Shoreham pool, police say

Authorities have identified the body found in an East Shoreham family’s pool as that of Matthew Zoll, the suspect in the November stabbing death of his father at their Quail Road home in Rocky Point.

Zoll’s body was found on May 22 when the homeowner, a Suffolk police detective, and his teenage son opened the pool for the season, officials said. The cause of death has not yet been determined, and it was not immediately clear how long the body had been in the pool, the police said.

Zoll, 23, fled the Quail Road home on Nov. 9 in a black GMC Yukon after allegedly stabbing his father, and crashed the vehicle at the intersection of Route 25A and the William Floyd Parkway, Suffolk police said.

Zoll's family members could not be reached for comment.

The East Shoreham home where the body was found is about a half-mile from the crash site, and a wooded lot directly behind the backyard swimming pool extends east past four neighboring yards to William Floyd Parkway.

The detective homeowner is a member of the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, sources told Newsday.

Members of the task force spent several days in November searching along William Floyd Parkway, including the 1,600-acre Brookhaven State Park, in an attempt to find Matthew Zoll after he allegedly stabbed his father, Joseph Zoll, to death.

About three dozen task force members and a police helicopter searched the woods east of William Floyd Parkway near Route 25A in Shoreham in the days following the homicide. Suffolk police also closed a turnaround on William Floyd north of Whiskey Road, where a mobile command unit was set up. Dozens of police vehicles, including marked units from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and New York State Police, lined the Route 25A intersection.

The search was mostly concentrated in Brookhaven State Park, a densely wooded property in the core pine barrens region featuring hiking trails and wetlands. The park extends from Shoreham into Ridge and is about 6 miles from the Zoll home.

A Seventh Precinct officer found Joseph Zoll in his home after a 911 call reporting a stabbing in the home, authorities said. The elder Zoll was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where police said he was pronounced dead.

Newsday's Grant Parpan contributed to this story.