AP Features, March 28th, 2007
A severed human leg that washed ashore Wednesday on the estate of billionaire James Dolan may be linked to a torso discovered inside a suitcase three weeks ago on a beach on the other side of Long Island Sound, authorities said.
Police were investigating whether another leg bone and human foot discovered Tuesday night in Suffolk County on Long Island, east of New York City, were related to the other body parts which washed ashore, authorities said.
"Based on some similarities that I can't really comment on, we're treating it as a very good possibility that the two legs belong to our victim," said Detective Sgt. Robert Holland of the Village of Mamaroneck police department.
On Wednesday morning, a landscaper working on the Dolan property found the limb inside a bag near the shoreline, where it apparently washed in from the sound and remained after low tide, said Nassau County police Lt. Kevin Smith. The employee opened the bag and made the grisly discovery.
Dolan is the CEO of Cablevision Systems Corp. and the chairman of Madison Square Garden, owner of the New York Knicks pro basketball team and New York Rangers pro ice hockey team.
The small, exclusive village where the leg surfaced is also home to the former so-called summer White House of President Theodore Roosevelt.
On Tuesday night, a fisherman found a right foot and a leg bone _ possibly female _ among the rocks in Cold Spring Harbor, said Lt. Dennis Dooley of the Lloyd Harbor police. The remains were turned over to the Suffolk County medical examiner for identification.
The two legs appeared a little more than three weeks after the stabbed torso, stuffed inside a suitcase with a shirt and a pair of pants, floated onto a beach in suburban Mamaroneck on March 3. Authorities said at the time that the victim was a Hispanic or black woman.
The victim had a tattoo of two red cherries on a green stem above her right breast. Police had yet to identify the body when the two legs were discovered on Long Island.
Homicide investigators were at the Dolan property, and a police dive team was in the water searching for further remains or evidence, Smith said. It was unclear how long the leg had been in the water, and the remains were turned over to the Nassau County medical examiner for identification, the lieutenant said.
