Investigators identify 6 cold case victims, including Montauk Mary who was found in 1978, with use of new DNA technology

Law enforcement officials have identified six dead and previously unknown people, including three believed to be homicide victims, using advances in DNA technology, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said on Thursday.

The cases span 50 years, with the earliest dating back to 1976, Tierney told reporters during a news conference in Brentwood.

"Every person deserves to be known by their name, and every victim deserves answers and justice," Tierney said. "Five decades have passed since the first of these individuals was found deceased, but our commitment to identifying them and pursuing justice has never wavered.

"Through advances in DNA technology, including Next-Generation Sequencing, and the persistence of our Cold Case Task Force, we have been able to identify six individuals whose cases had long gone unsolved," Tierney added.

The homicide victims include "Raymond Doe," who was found on Nov. 27, 1976, when three hunters looking for rabbits in Deer Park discovered the remains of a man who had been severely burned. Investigators determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to his lower right abdomen. The victim was known as Raymond Doe because of the Raymond tattoo on his left arm.

Suffolk cold case investigators have identified the man as Ramon Perez y Rivera, a native of Puerto Rico who lived in South Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He was approximately 41 at the time of his death.

Officials also identified "Montauk Mary.” She was found when a U.S. airman on his lunch break discovered the body of an elderly woman near the parking lot of East Overlook Park on Montauk Highway on March 22, 1978. The medical examiner’s office determined the woman had been shot four times and had only been dead for a few hours.

Investigators identified the woman as Sofia Margherita Marrone, of Pleasantville, New Jersey.

"Heckscher Jane Doe" was found on April 2, 1978, after a man walking his dog along the beach at Heckscher State Park in East Islip discovered what appeared to be a human skull in the sand. Law enforcement later uncovered a set of human skeletal remains. A belt was tightly bound around the victim’s neck, and an autopsy determined the cause of death was strangulation.

Authorities identified the victim 48 years later as Antoinette Rugg, who was 26 and had a 10-year-old son at the time of her death.

Other newly identified remains in include "Riverhead Jane Doe."  She was found when a Riverhead Town employee operating a street sweeper near a wooded area off Osborne Avenue on March 12, 1990, discovered the body of a woman. The cause of death remains under investigation.

Officials have identified the woman as Kyong-Ok Kim, of South Korea. Kim had gotten married and moved to Michigan in 1978. She gave birth to a son but became estranged from her family. Kim moved to New York around 1985 and resided in Woodside, Queens, at the time of her death. She was 32 years old when she died.

The U.S. Coast Guard found the remains of "John Doe" approximately 9 miles south of Fire Island on Nov. 4, 1990. The cause of death is believed to be drowning. Cold case investigators have identified him as Omelios Steward, of Brooklyn, who was 26 at the time of his death.

Another "John Doe," whose partially decomposed body was found alongside the high tide mark east of Ditch Plains in Montauk, was found in 1999. Authorities have identified the man as Andreas Kupke, a German tourist. He was 27 when he died.

Kupke had planned to visit the United States between Nov. 24 and Dec. 4, 1999. He arrived at Newark International Airport but never boarded his return flight. Kupke’s parents reported their son missing to German authorities.