A group of middle and high school students in New York made a grisly discovery on their way to school Thursday morning: a human left arm.
The group was walking along Southards Park Pond in Babylon Village, Long Island, just 15 miles from Gilgo Beach, the cemetery of accused serial killer Rex Heuermann, who was active from 1996 to 2011.
Fingertips removed and tattoo revealed, reports ABC New York. The arm belonged to a biological male. Authorities have not commented on the cause of death because they believe the tattoo will be part of the investigation.
Suffolk County Police Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer told reporters that one of the teens, a high school student, alerted her father shortly before 9 a.m., who went to the park, confirmed it was an arm, and then called police. .
In a subsequent search of the area, a police dog recovered a human leg about a mile away in the same park at 1:30 p.m., near an elementary school. Then, as night fell, he found a right arm about 20 feet away in a wooded area.
The park where the body parts were found is popular with children, joggers and people walking their dogs.
After the initial gruesome discovery, a cadaver dog located another body part, this time a leg.
Officials at nearby schools kept students inside while the investigation unfolded.
The death has been ruled a homicide and detectives have been seen at the scene throughout the day.
The third part of the body, a right arm, was not found until the evening in the park.
‘There is a mound of leaves. We don’t know what will be under the mound. “Once we clear the mound we may or may not find the rest of the body,” Beyrer said.
Officials at nearby schools kept students inside while the investigation unfolded. According NBC New York, The area is frequented by runners, children and dog walkers.
Homicide detectives were reportedly at the scene. The affiliate reports that the body parts were recently left at the site.
“It’s a little unsettling because the school is right here, so I was a little worried,” Salma Lakhaney, a local parent, told ABC New York.
Another local told the station that she no longer walks her dog in the park in question.
“There’s definitely a bad vibe here. Like the last two weeks, for sure. I stopped walking alone because there are weird bugs,” she said.
“It’s terrible and very scary to hear that something like this is happening so close to home,” said Josephine Roche, a Babylon local. News day.
‘I think we’re safe. There is a good police presence and I think it was not necessarily related to this area. I told my kids, “Close the doors, always, in any area.”
The area is also near where accused killer Rex Heuermann, shown here in February, searched for victims over a 15-year period.
The area is also close to where accused killer Rex Heuermann searched for victims over a 15-year period.
Earlier this month, Heuermann was formally charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, months after being labeled the prime suspect in her death when he was arrested in July along with the deaths of three other women.
Additionally, gang violence had been a problem in some Long Island communities for more than a decade, but local police and the FBI began pouring resources into a crackdown sparked by the murders of high school students Nisa Mickens, of 15 years old, and Kayla Cuevas, 16, in 2016.
The most active violent gang has been the feared MS-13.
The murders in Brentwood, about 30 miles east of New York City, shook parents and local officials and shed light on the deepening problem of gang violence in the suburbs.
Police also began discovering the bodies of other young people, mostly Hispanic, who had disappeared months earlier, but whose disappearances had not initially been reported by civic leaders or the media.
Some parents of the missing complained that police had not done enough to search for their missing children sooner.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-852-6392 or call CrimeStoppers at 1-800-220-Tips.