Claire🐻

Thanking @RayTierneyDA and his team for the special invite to attend today’s press conference where 6 families were given their loved one’s names back. Thanks also to @SCPDHq for the hospitality. Today was very moving for me- seeing Riverhead Jane Doe and Heckscher Jane Doe announced as Kyong Ok Kim and Antoinette Rugg meant a lot to me. Sofia Margherita Marrone has her name back. Ramon Perez Y Rivera has his name back. Omelios Steward has his name back. Andreas Kupke has his name back. This is a blessing. I was humbled to be a part of it.

Happy Heavenly Birthday, Tina Foglia. There is something heartbreaking about wishing someone a happy birthday when they were never given the chance to grow older. The world kept turning, the years kept passing, and life continued for everyone else. But somewhere in time, your story was interrupted, your future stolen, and the people who loved you were left with a lifetime of unanswered questions. You deserved so much more than becoming a name in an unsolved murder. You deserved to grow older, to laugh, to love, to dance to the music you adored, and to experience all the beautiful, ordinary moments that make a lifetime. And perhaps that is one of the cruelest things about an unresolved murder. The world measures the passing of time in years, while those left behind measure it in everything their loved one never got to experience. Today, we remember not simply how your life ended, but the beautiful life you were entitled to live. May those who loved you find comfort in knowing that even after all these years, there are still people who speak your name, remember your story, and believe that you deserve justice. Happy Heavenly Birthday, Tina. You should be here celebrating another year of life, not being remembered for all the years you’ve been gone. You are not forgotten. Your life mattered. And the passage of time will never make what happened to you acceptable.

Today's announcement of 6 identifications by @RayTierneyDA is extremely significant. Six families will get some of the answers that have eluded them for years and decades. Many other questions will remain. We must look at this announcement as the ongoing commitment by the DA's office to resolving "cold cases". There are 39 unidentified persons on NamUs in Suffolk County stretching back to 1973. We know there are others that are not in NamUs- why is a sperate question. There are 11 on the DA's Cold Case website- we know Montauk Mary will be announced today, and the resolves will cover 5 decades. I won't speculate who else might be identified but I am hoping that one is Riverhead Jane Doe. Regardless, every identification is uniquely important and for people like me, who track and actively submit possibles, today will be a beautiful day for resolutions. I will be at the press conference. It will be carried live on the DA's You Tube channel at 11am EST. youtube.com/@SuffolkCountyDA

DA: Suffolk investigators to announce identities of cold case victims using genetic genealogy Cold case investigators in Suffolk County have used investigative genetic genealogy to a identify a number of homicide victims, including a woman who was found shot dead in Montauk in 1978, and are expected to announce their findings later this week, law enforcement officials told Newsday. The new identities stem from work out of the Suffolk County District Attorney Cold Case Unit which — since at least 2025 — has been probing the identities of scores of homicide victims found in the county going back to the 1960s, according to investigators. The cold case task force was featured in a 2025 Newsday story. Some of the cases involve women who were killed and whose physical attributes in terms of weight and height and approximate age were similar to some of the victims in the Gilgo Beach case. In a telephone interview, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney, who has been spearheaded the cold case initiative, said one of the identities uncovered is believed to be that of a woman known for decades as “Montauk Mary,” whose body was found riddled with bullets on March 22, 1978, face-up on a footpath in East Overlook Park by Montauk Highway, according to police. The victim, whom Tierney wouldn’t identify in advance of his official announcement, which is expected Thursday, was said to be white, in her 60s and weighing about 200 pounds. Suffolk police and prosecutors have been using genetic genealogy in earnest since 2020 when the Gilgo Beach task force used it to identify Valerie Mack, one of the eight women Rex Heuermann has admitted killing. Another of the victims Heuermann admitted killing but was not formally charged with the murder of was Karen Vergata, whose remains were also identified through genetic genealogy. A law enforcement tool being used around the country, genetic genealogy uses DNA profiles of unknown victims and compares them with genetic profiles uploaded to public databases often used to trace family trees. In recent months, investigators with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner have used the genealogy method to identify two victims of the World Trade Center. The NYPD has a special unit that uses genetic genealogy to not only help in the World Trade Center initiative but other cold case murders. newsday.com/long-island/crim…

If you have any information about the death of Dawn Higgins, who was found strangled to death in a wooded area off the Clearview Expressway and Union Turnpike 33 years ago, please contact @NYPDtips via DM, or by calling 800-577-TIPS. It is never too late for justice. #ColdCaseUnit @QueensDAKatz

#MedfordJaneDoe Beneath The Surface On the morning of December 7, 1994, a supervisor with the Suffolk County Department of Public Works stopped to inspect a discarded blue Rubbermaid garbage can along Long Island Avenue in Medford and discovered the dismembered remains of an unidentified woman inside. Medical Examiners were able to determine the victim was a white female, between 20–30 years old, standing approximately 5’1″ tall and weighing approximately 135 pounds. The victim also had an identifiable tattoo on the upper left shoulder (a red heart with the name ADRIAN on a banner which runs through the heart). Despite extensive investigation, her identity has never been determined, and she remains identified only as “Medford Jane Doe.” Recently, the investigation has established, through genetic genealogy, that the victim was likely Caucasian, with Western European ancestry—at least 75% attributable to England, Scotland, and Wales. Two depictions of how the victim likely appeared prior to her death are included: a clay reconstruction (left), which is a three-dimensional model built on the skull using clay, and an updated composite sketch. Do you recognize the tattoo? Did you possibly see her in NYC getting into a blue Cadillac? If you have any information about the victim’s identity, please email [email protected] or call (631) 263-0526. suffolkcountyda.org/cold_cas…

#CarmenVargas It is #TipTuesday and your help is needed. Carmen Vargas’ murder is still unresolved, if you know anything, no matter how insignificant, please reach out to Troop L SP in Farmingdale at (631)756-3300. On September 11, 1989, a body was discovered along the right shoulder of Meadowbrook State Parkway in Freeport, NY by a passerby. The body was later identified as Carmen Vargas. Carmen was found with a towel over her face, a rope around her neck, and her ankles bound with a cord. Her body was located approximately a half mile south of Merrick Road in Long Island, New York. Carmen was wearing a gray tank top, a mini skirt, and silver crescent-shaped earrings. She was a petite Hispanic woman who stood at approximately 5'1" and weighed 105 pounds. She had black hair and brown eyes. There is limited information available about Carmen's case. In 2023, Rex Heuermann was arrested in connection with the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK). Heuermann lived in Massapequa most of his life but was working for Greer Construction Company and was living in Freeport on Bedell Avenue during this time. Like many of the LISK victims, Carmen's ankles were bound. The location where Carmen's body was found leads to Ocean Parkway, where many of the other LISK victims were found.

#BethEllenVinson It's #TipTuesday and we need your help to bring more attention to Beth-Ellen's #Unresolved murder and to bring more pressure to Raleigh, North Carolina PD. On August 23, 1994, approximately four weeks after Beth Ellen Vinson, a 17-year-old white female, left her home in Goldsboro, North Carolina, and went to Raleigh to work and save enough money to get to New York, her body was found. Ms. Vinson’s body had been covered with cardboard, and left between two warehouses on Wicker Road. Ms. Vinson who worked for an escort service was last seen at 2:30 a.m. on August 16, 1994, when she left her apartment to meet a client. At 5:30 a.m. her 1990 white four door Mazda 626 was found at the entrance of a car dealership on Capital Boulevard. Continuing investigation of this homicide, determined that Ms. Vinson was in possession of four pieces of jewelry and a multi-colored cloth purse the morning of her homicide. These items have never been recovered. Medical examination disclosed that Ms. Vinson had been stabbed in excess of 15 times. To learn more about Beth-Ellen and her case, you can listen to the previous episodes on Spotify or Apple podcast by searching, Who Killed Beth-Ellen. You can also join the Facebook group to share in the conversations and be among the first to know when new episodes drop. If you have information about Beth-Ellen's case, please call 1-866-tips-4-BE or email [email protected] fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/homicid…

“The world may have come to know this tragedy in 2010. But our families were already living it.” - by Jasmine Robinson catchlisk1.substack.com/p/be…