A decomposed body dumped on Long Island in the 1980s has finally been identified as a long-missing 15-year-old girl whose remains were likely moved from another grave, police said Thursday.
Susan Mann disappeared in Queens on May 17, 1980, with her remains found in a Freeport dumpster more than two years later, yet her identity remained a mystery until now — with cops still trying to solve the grisly cold-case murder, police said at a press conference.
“We never give up,” Nassau County Police Detective Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick told reporters. “There are no cold cases. Only open cases.
“This technology has been extraordinary,” Fitzpatrick said of the high-tech DNA testing that led to the break in the case. “This is just another positive identification utilizing the advances in DNA technology that is advancing every day.”
Police said Mann left her home on a bicycle to recover her sister’s pocketbook, which had been stolen at school — and was never seen alive again.
On Nov. 4, 1982, cops found her remains in a dumpster behind Cantor Glassworks on North Main Street in Freeport, but were unable to match the body to the missing teen at the time.
Buried as a Jane Doe, the girl’s body was exhumed earlier this year for testing with new DNA technology that wasn’t available in the 1980s, Fitzpatrick said.
He said the ID was made through the FBI Investigative Genealogy Program.
“Our investigation believed that she was moved, that she was possibly buried shortly after 1980 and then moved to this location in 82,” he said, adding that it is unknown why the body was moved.
It’s possible the killer relocated the remains from a makeshift grave due to fears it would be unearthed during a construction project that was set to get under way, he added.
“If anyone remembers construction sites in 1981 or 1982, call us,” he said.
Crime Stoppers is now offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Mann’s death, which was ruled a homicide after the grisly discovery, left cops with few clues, other than a “K” necklace found intact on the body, ruling out robbery as a motive.
Fitzpatrick said the ordeal has meant a “full spectrum of emotions” for the tragic teen’s family.
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