Suffolk cops resume search for evidence in Brentwood

Suffolk investigators resumed their search Wednesday for evidence into the gang-related killings of four young people in Brentwood, police said.

About 20 officers searched a wooded area near the grounds of the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, where police recently found the skeletal remains of two teenagers, days after the double murder of two other teens.

“We’re continuing to do our due diligence, searching for additional evidence,” said Justin Meyers, the department’s chief spokesman.

Last Wednesday, police found the skeletal remains of Miguel García Morán, 15, of Brentwood, in an industrial location west of Emjay Boulevard, east of Sagtikos Parkway and north of the Long Island Rail Road tracks, the same area where the remains of Oscar Acosta, 19, of Brentwood, were found Sept. 16.

The remains were found a few miles from the location of the suspected gang killings earlier this month of Nisa Mickens, 15 and Kayla Cuevas, 16.

Cuevas had a dispute in school with students believed to be members of the MS-13 street gang, and police are investigating whether that played a role in the killings, a law-enforcement source has said.

At a news briefing earlier at police headquarters in Yaphank, police Commissioner Timothy Sini said officials are still trying to determine how Acosta and Moran were killed.

“We have a forensic anthropologist working hard to discover precisely how they died,” Sini said.

Asked if there had been any progress in the ongoing investigation into the four killings, Sini said:

“We’re out there in force. The community has been great. We’re getting a lot of feedback and information from the community. I’m optimistic it is progressing and hopefully I’ll have some more updates soon.”

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.