The Suffolk County district attorney’s office confirmed Wednesday that the victim of a nearly 50-year-old cold case murder in Montauk has been identified.
The victim, known only as Montauk Mary, was found near the east overlook on Montauk Highway on March 22, 1978. She had been shot three times in the legs and once in the chest. Police said at the time that they believed she had been killed only hours before but could not identify her.
She was estimated to be between 60 and 69 years old and was about five feet tall and 204 pounds. She wore a purple dress, a tweed overcoat, socks, and slippers.
No one came forward to claim her body nor could police identify her killer.
In a press release on Tuesday, Ray Tierney, the D.A., said DNA has unlocked the identity of six long-unidentified victims of crimes spanning five decades. On Wednesday, the D.A.’s spokeswoman, Anna Sokol, confirmed that Montauk Mary is one of the six.
The names are to be released at a press conference Thursday.
