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 expected on 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.

Edwward Mack, the father of Gilgo Beach victim Valerie Mack, said he appreciated the effort that goes into making additional cold case identifications.

“The feeling that comes to mind is that I am glad it is working,” Mack said of genetic genealogy. ”It is a tool of science that has been helpful and has been used to bring closure to the loved ones.”

A law enforcement tool investigators are harnessing around the country, genetic genealogy uses DNA profiles of unknown victims—and sometimes criminal suspects—to compare with genetic profiles in public databases often used to search family trees. If a close genetic match is found, investigators will then seek out the relatives of the unknown person and try to find the identity of the unidentified individual through detective work, including a search of public records and family histories.

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.

Colleen Fitzpatrick, a nationally known genealogist with Identifinders in California, said these cases show how investigative genetic genealogy has become a standard in forensic investigations.

"It is a game changer; now it is pace setter,,” Fitzpatrick said. "This is consistent with history of DNA development, every 5 to10 years there is another game changer that becomes the pacer setter.

Fitzpatrick said with each successful case, confidence in the new technique grows.

"As success stories role in more people are comfortable with it," Fitzpatrick said.

Last month, the cold case unit announced investigators had charged a 59-year-old Virginia woman with murder in the 1996 killing of her newborn baby boy, whose body was found dumped in a toilet at a Commack movie theater. Authorizes said they had linked her to the baby through DNA and she allegedly confessed to giving birth to the baby and then covering him with toilet paper.

Michelle Chronick Tyson was arrested in Hampton. She waived extradition to Suffolk County, where she pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging her with two counts of second-degree murder in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.