Cops: Miller Place beach homicide victim ID'd as gang associate
A satellite image shows the Miller Place Beach near the Miller Place Surf Club, where a body was found on March 13, 2014 that police say was a teenage homicide victim with ties to local gangs. Credit: Google
The man found dead on a Miller Place beach has been identified as a Queens resident "affiliated with" the street gang MS-13, police said Thursday.
Sidney Valverde, 19, of Jamaica, Queens, suffered a head wound, said Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, chief of the Suffolk police homicide squad. The Suffolk medical examiner was to perform an autopsy and determine the cause of death. Fitzpatrick said police are investigating the death as a homicide.
Valverde was reported missing to the NYPD by family members on March 3, Fitzpatrick said.
He said Valverde has a criminal record but declined to disclose details.
Fitzpatrick said Valverde was identified through fingerprints.
The victim was known by the NYPD to have affiliations with MS-13, Fitzpatrick said.
A man looking for driftwood found the body on the sand Wednesday in front of the Miller Beach Surf Club on Harbor Beach Road, and Sixth Precinct officers were called, police said.
A preliminary investigation by a physician assistant from the Suffolk County medical examiner's office indicated the man was a victim of violence, police said.
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