Body dug up behind Queens home may be tied to barber shop murder, 40 years ago
NEW YORK _ The skeletal remains unearthed in the backyard of a Queens home may be connected to a murder at a Queens barber shop, officials said Thursday.
NYPD Chief of Department Dermot Shea said a lot still needs to be done, but his investigators are narrowing down the timeline on what led to a body being buried in the rear of a Richmond Hill home more than four decades ago.
"The genesis of the (investigation) was essentially a woman coming forward to us," Shea said during a press conference at police headquarters. "She recalls now that a little over 40 years ago she was present at this house and gave us information regarding the presence of a body that was buried in plastic bags in the back yard."
Following up on the tip, cops recovered part of a skeleton buried in the back yard of the home on 115th St. near Jamaica Ave. on Tuesday.
A forensic anthropologist with the city's Medical Examiner is conducting an autopsy to identify the remains and determine how the person died.
The death has not been declared a homicide, but detectives are investigating as it is one, Shea said.
"In all likelihood we are dealing with a homicide," Shea said.
Police believe the death took place at a spot "connected to a barber shop in Queens," Shea said, although detectives have been unable to find an exact location.
No one involved in the case still lives at the address and cops have been unable to find any missing person reports that correspond with the body recovered.
_New York Daily News
