A Tattoo is the Only Clue to the Identity of a Murder Victim and Possibly Her Killer

Decade Long Mystery Still Baffles Police

On June 28,1997 a man hiking with his children made a grisly discovery in a wooded area of Hempstead Lake State Park in the town of Lakeview, New York. Stuffed inside of a large black garbage bag that was placed in a large plastic container was the torso of a murdered woman.

For almost a decade, Nassau County Police has been trying to identify this woman, unfortunately, they do not have much to go on. They could not match her fingerprints to any law enforcement database because her lower legs and arms were missing. They can not do a composite sketch of what she looked like because her head has never been located.

However, Law Enforcement have one big clue that has led them to a possible description of who this murdered woman is. On the left breast of her torso, was a two inch tattoo of a peach shaped like a heart with a bite taken out of it and two drips falling from it. After publishing a picture of her tattoo in a national tattoo magazine, Law Enforcement received a huge break. A tattoo artist in Bristol, Connecticut claimed the work to be his and remembered a few items about the woman he performed his work on.

The Tattoo artist claimed that he thought the woman was around 18 or 19 years old. She was black or bi-racial and had gone to the studio with two other black women who were her cousin and aunt. The artist remembered that the woman was visiting Connecticut because she was having boyfriend problems at the time. The artist also indicated that the woman was either from Long Island or the Bronx.

Law Enforcement believes that the woman could be between the ages of 16-30 and that a scar on her abdomen could indicate that she could have given birth to a child through a caesarean section. It is possible that she may have had additional tattoos on other parts of her body and that she may still have relatives that live in the Bristol, Connecticut area. This is a grisly crime and whoever committed it went to great lengths to cover it up.

If you have any information about the identity of this murder victim, please contact the Nassau County Police Department at 1-800-573-7000. All calls can be confidential.