Police discover remains of young boy in Farmingdale

  FARMINGDALE (WABC) -- Police have discovered the remains of an infant in the yard of a home in Farmingdale, Long Island.

The child has been identified as Justin Kowalczik, who had been missing since 2009.

The remains were discovered after a search warrant was executed at the home of the child's mother, Heather Kowalczik and her husband, Robert Rodriguez.

Police initiated the search after an Amber Alert was issued Friday for the couple's son, 9-year old Robert Rodriguez, Jr.

The boy was found and is okay.

After the boy was found, focus of the investigation then turned to the couple's home on Hallock Street in Farmingdale.

Police confirmed that they were investigating the possible murder of a child who would now be 3-years old, and that the suspect is Robert Rodriguez, the father of the 9-year-old.

Investigators say the 3-year-old had not been seen in at least a year. That is about how long the family has lived in the home, according to the landlord.

According to neighborhood residents, a family of four lived there, including Robert Rodriguez, Sr., two children and his wife. Eyewitness News' camera spotted Rodriguez's wife in the front seat of a police vehicle leaving the scene.

When neighborhood resident Meade Jackson was asked how she would describe the Rodriguez', she said that they were a nice family.

Investigators tell Eyewitness News that the investigation began after a tip from state police in Middletown, New York.

Authorities say the family never reported the child's death.

Investigators are still trying to determine how the child died, and why the family kept it a secret.

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Remains of Shannan Gilbert identified

  Eyewitness NewsLONG ISLAND (WABC) -- Remains found on Gilgo Beach earlier this week have been formally identified as Shannan Gilbert, Suffolk County police said Saturday.

The skeletal remains were found on Tuesday after a yearlong search.

Gilbert was a New Jersey prostitute whose disappearance sparked an investigation into a possible serial killing spree.

Searchers found the bones in a dense wetland thicket, about a half mile from where 24-year-old Gilbert disappeared after meeting a client for an early-morning sexual encounter.

The medical examiner's office confirmed her identity on Saturday. The cause of death had not been determined, although investigators believe her death was an accident.

Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner Richard Dormer issued a statement saying, "I think it is obvious to all that the Suffolk County Police Department has expended an extraordinary amount of time and resources over the past year and a half to locate Shannan Gilbert. Difficult terrain was searched and re-searched. The last leg involved amphibious vehicles and divers in wet suits who searched over a hundred acres of marshland. Our condolences to the Gilbert family and her friends. We hope this brings them closure and peace."

The remnants were found by homicide detectives about a quarter mile from where authorities discovered Gilbert's pants, shoes, pocketbook with ID and other personal items last week, also in the thicket.

The search for the Jersey City, N.J., woman began last December and led police to discover the first of what would become 10 homicide victims. They were strewn along several miles of thicket and bramble along a parkway leading to Jones Beach.

While police believe at least one serial killer is responsible for the deaths of the 10, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Police Commissioner Richard Dormer reiterated Tuesday that police think Gilbert likely drowned accidentally after fleeing the client's home for an unclear reason. Dormer said the location of the skeleton suggests that Gilbert may have been trying to run through the wetlands to a nearby causeway because it was illuminated by street lights.

She was last seen shortly after 5 a.m. on May 1, 2010. Dormer suggested that she had become hopelessly entangled in the brush, which he called a "tough, desolate, tangled mess."

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Skeletal remains found in Yonkers home

Web produced by Bob Monek, Eyewitness NewsYONKERS (WABC) -- Investigators have found human remains that appear to be several years old inside a home.

Christine Swenson somehow wound up in a hospital medical ward Thursday. She told a worker there that a body was still in her home on Alexander Avenue in Yonkers.

When authorities arrived on the scene, they found the home in a state of disrepair with clutter inside the house.

Members of the Emergency Services Unit and Crime Scene Unit used protective gear and respirators to search the house.

They eventually found skeletal remains in a bedroom.

For years, neighbors complained about the horrific smell coming from the house. They knew there was trash and feces piled feet high, but no one who lives here had any idea a body was inside, possibly for years.

"Of course it freaks you out. She's a sick lady. What are you gonna do?" said Louis Longo.

Swenson is known in this community to be a hoarder. She lived here with her elderly father, who neighbors haven't seen for years.

"We've been here for 4 and a half years. I've never seen her father," one neighbor said.

She apparently told some people that he was in a nursing home.

Neighbors say the smell and the trash was bad enough, but they say the big problem they had raccoons and rats would constantly be going in and out of the house.

The Westchester County Medical Examiner will examine the remains to determine cause of death and how long the body may have been inside the house.

Whatever the case may be, everyone here feels sorry for Swenson. Hoarding is a sickness, but they are relieved that finally the house will be cleaned up.

Anyone with additional information about this story can contact the Detective Division at 914-377-7724.

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More LI remains identified; DA says multiple killers

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (WABC) -- There is a major twist in the investigation of the bodies found on Long Island's south shore. Authorities now say there could be at least three killers.

The shocking news came out Monday afternoon.

Suffolk County District Attorney Tom Spota announced that the human remains discovered along Ocean Parkway beaches are from eight victims, which are being divided into separate cases.

The four women from the original case have been identified as prostitutes murdered by a serial killer. Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was last seen on July 9, 2007, was murdered first. Melissa Barthelemy was next, having disappeared almost exactly two years later in 2009. Megan Waterman vanished on June 6 of last year, and Amber Lynn Costello disappeared in early September of 2010.

The dismembered remains of two more women have been found since police began scouring the brambles along Gilgo Beach in April.

One has now been identified as 20-year-old prostitute Jessica Taylor. Most of her body was found in Manorville in 2003. Remains of the other woman were also found in Manorville in 2000.

Police say these two murders are connected to each other, but not linked to the first four.

The next victim is an unidentified baby girl, between 1 and 2 years old. Investigators say there are no signs of trauma, but homicide has not been ruled out.

The eighth victim is an Asian man in his late teens or early 20s who police say died a violent death.

"What is now very clear is that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Spota said.

The chilling new details have people in the beachfront community on edge.

"Maybe it is somebody who could live in this area," one resident said. "You really have to be a little more careful."

Two other victims, found in Nassau County, remain unidentified. Jersey City prostitute Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance sparked the initial search, still has not been found.

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