Nassau police ID man believed to have been killed by MS-13

Nassau police on Tuesday released the name of a Hempstead man believed to have been killed years ago by the MS-13 street gang and whose remains were found in October in a wooded area of Uniondale.

The Nassau County Police Department did not disclose a motive in the death of Osmin Campos-Sandoval, 19, nor say why 35 days elapsed between when the remains were found Oct. 6, based on a tip, and the release of his identity. Information on Campos-Sandoval’s connection, if any, to MS-13, what precipitated the killing, or whether there is a suspect or suspects, was also not disclosed.

At a news conference the night Campos-Sandoval's body was found, Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said investigators had an idea who the victim was and that the person may be among a group of people who went missing in 2016 or 2017. The body was in "a pretty shallow grave site."

Earlier that day, a police dog helped lead detectives to the remains, about 300 yards inside a restricted Town of Hempstead public water supply site, near Hempstead Boulevard and Sterling Street.

Campos-Sandoval is one of 16 people found throughout Nassau County in recent years and believed to have been slain by MS-13, Mara Salvatrucha, an international gang that began in Los Angeles four decades ago but that's expanded to Long Island and across the United States as well as a half-dozen other countries.

Relatives of Campos-Sandoval could not be immediately reached for comment.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.