HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., July 18 (UPI) -- Investigators were trying to determine Friday if a head found in a suburban New York yard matches other body parts found in the area.
Jonathan Grier, 51, told Newsday that two of his neighbors in Hempstead Village discovered the head Thursday inside a shopping bag. He said he smelled a foul odor in his yard last week but was afraid to look for the source.
Two severed arms were found on lawns in the same neighborhood on July 9 and July 10. A few days earlier, a torso was discovered in Bay Shore on a short cut to a Fire Island Ferry dock.
The investigation involves police in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island and New York City. Investigators were trying to determine if the body parts are those of a missing Brooklyn woman, identified by her family as Chinelle Latoya Browne, 27.
Browne, who is married and has four children, has not been seen since July 5.
Hempstead Deputy Mayor Waylyn Hobbs went to Grier's property after the head was reported Thursday.
"We don't believe the crime was committed here," Hobbs said. "Unfortunately, they picked the Village of Hempstead to dump the body parts. Residents are shocked. ... It's just not the norm."
