Cops: Manorville bodies likely not tied to Gilgo

The discovery of a female body in a Manorville park Wednesday brings to six the number of bodies found in the area since 2000 -- all mysteries that remain unsolved.

A jogger found the body Wednesday afternoon in Manorville Hills County Park. Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commander of the Suffolk County police Homicide Squad, said he was awaiting the results of an autopsy -- as early as Friday -- to determine the cause of death.

That grisly find comes a little more than a month after a man and his dog looking for deer antlers stumbled across the full skeletal remains of a man on North Street near Cushman Murphy County Park. Officials believe the remains had been there for at least five years.

"I suspect it [the cause of death] will be criminal," Fitzpatrick said about the male remains, at a news conference at police headquarters in Yaphank Thursday.

Of the four other sets of human remains found in the same area since 2000, two belong to women whose partial remains also were found at Gilgo Beach.

The remains of Jessica Taylor, 20, of New York City, were found more than eight years ago in Manorville, near Halsey Manor Road and the Long Island Expressway. And the remains of a woman known only as Jane Doe No. 6 were found near a Manorville sump discharge basin Nov. 19, 2000.

Taylor's and Jane Doe No. 6's remains were among 10 sets of remains found between December 2010 and April 2011 in the Gilgo Beach area.

Two unidentified men were found in a patch of Manorville woods near Halsey Manor Road and the LIE in 2000 and 2003.

Fitzpatrick said of the two most recent finds, "Nothing at all indicates a connection" to Gilgo.

The only thing that links the bodies is the isolation of the areas. "I think that I'm not going out on a limb when I point out to everyone . . . that the one common denominator is they are both remote," he said. "If you were looking to dump a body, obviously, you are going to go to a remote area. Not always but that certainly is a draw of those two areas."

The thought of a dumping ground for bodies nearby alarmed some who use the expansive area to bike or hike.

Tom Migueli, 53, said he often comes to Manorville Hills County Park from his home in the Hamptons to ride his bicycle.

"It's kind of scary," said Migueli, looking distressed as he unloaded the bike from the back of his car.

The park is part of the Long Island pine barrens and contains the longest expanse of roadless land on Long Island, according to the Long Island Pine Barrens Society.

Migueli said he feared he may have ridden by the body while biking at the park.

The woman's body was found at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday more than 100 yards from a trail and was there "at least a week," Fitzpatrick said.

He said police have "no definitive identification" of the body, and the age is undetermined.

The male bones found Feb. 17 by the hiker off Wading River Road near Cushman Murphy County Park have not been identified. They were found on a wooded part of the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve, an area of protected pine barrens overseen by Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The remains were estimated to have been there for at least five years based on vegetation in the area, Fitzpatrick said.

Bodies found in Manorville area

Nov. 19, 2000: A female torso is found about a half-mile west of Halsey Manor Road north of the Long Island Expressway near a sump discharge basin.

April 4, 2011: The head, hands and right foot of the woman are found along Ocean Parkway.

Nov. 23, 2000: The body of a man is found in the woods alongside the LIE about 1 1 / 2 miles east of Exit 68.

July 26, 2003: A torso later identified as that of Jessica Taylor, 20, of New York City, is discovered near the northwest corner of the LIE and Halsey Manor Road. Her head, hands and forearm are found along Ocean Parkway on March 29, 2011.

Nov. 10, 2003: A badly decomposed body of a man aged between 35- and 50-years-old is found several hundred yards south of the LIE.

Feb. 17: Skeletal remains of a man are found on North Street off Wading River Road near Cushman Murphy County Park.

March 21: The body of a female is found in Manorville Hills County Park about 300 feet from North Street north of the LIE.