Police have released a sketch of the woman whose skeletal remains were found near a stretch of the Greenway Trail earlier this year, and are asking for the public’s help to identify her.
The human remains were found on March 22 around 4 p.m., near a stretch of the 3.5-mile hiking and biking trail — which connects Setauket and Port Jefferson Station — off of Gnarled Hollow Road. At the time, police could not confirm whether the person was a male or female and had not determined a cause of death. But the Suffolk County Police Department said Aug. 4 that the deceased was a woman, believed to have been white or Hispanic and between 30 and 50 years old. She was between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall and had poor dental work, police said.
Police, asking for help to identify her, said her remains are believed to have been at the location for about a year.
Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at 631-852-6392, or to anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.
The Greenway Trail runs between Port Jefferson Station and East Setauket. File photo by Rachel Shapiro
With the summer in full bloom, the Friends of the Greenway will mow, prune, clip and beautify the Greenway Trail — and the group would like community help.
Volunteers for the event, this Saturday, July 25, from 8 to 10 a.m., should bring gloves, trash bags, clippers, mowers, brooms or shovels along with any gardening tools. They can choose an area on the hiking and biking trail to clean or report to a trailhead for an assigned task.
The Greenway Trail, which opened in 2009, runs from Limroy Lane in East Setauket to the New York State Department of Transportation parking lot in Port Jefferson Station, close to Route 112.
A monthly effort to clean the trail will help maintain the community connection. Volunteers who cannot make the Greenway’s monthly beautification schedule can contact Charlie McAteer from Friends of the Greenway at [email protected] to find out other ways to help.
Michael Cosel fought hard for people with disabilities, will be remembered as model of advocacy, generosity
By Alex Petroski
Michael Cosel is remembered as a staunch advocate for the community. File photo
The North Shore’s own Michael Cosel will always be remembered as a relentless advocate for people with disabilities, according to those who knew him.
Cosel, a resident of Setauket for 44 years, died this week. He was 69 years old.
Cosel dedicated much of his life to improving the lives of others, his wife Ronne said.
“It forces me to reflect on those things and makes me realize just how deep and enduring his effect was on people and the community,” she said.
The couple was married for 48 years.
It is difficult to quantify just how many lives her husband touched, she said.
“He had a big heart and a generous spirit,” Ronne Cosel said. “We had a lot for ourselves so he had enough to share.”
In addition to his wife, Michael Cosel is survived by a daughter, Paige, and a son, Andrew. His mother, Claire, will turn 90 on Friday.
He leaves behind the Michael & Ronne Cosel Foundation, which was established in 2007 to fight for the rights of people with disabilities. The Cosels’ son Andrew, 43, has cerebral palsy.
Cosel was a coordinator for the Suffolk County Special Olympics. Because of those efforts, Andrew was the first student to attend Ward Melville High School with a service dog in the mid-1980s. Cosel also helped to set up a vocational program for students with disabilities to help them find work after high school. Andrew works at Stony Brook University Hospital today.
“We were a very big thorn in Three Village school district’s side,” Ronne said with a chuckle.
The North Shore native was also instrumental in helping to spark efforts to put in a pedestrian and bike path linking Port Jefferson to Wading River as well as the Setauket-Port Jefferson Station Greenway Trail, which eventually secured $2 million under a federal grant to finance the project linking the communities.
Cosel’s efforts in the community did not in any way impact his dedication to his family.
Daughter Paige mentioned Cosel’s humor and generosity as the traits that she would remember most.
“As a father and a grandfather he was playful and generous,” she said.
Ronne Cosel had similar memories of the family man.
“He always had time to have dinner with us,” she said.
Along with his advocacy efforts, Cosel was a custom builder of single-family homes. In his spare time he liked to travel, scuba dive, sail and ski. His wife said she shared nearly 400 dives with her late husband over the years.
“I would have probably stayed home,” she said. “He was an adventurer.”
The Greenway Trail runs between Port Jefferson Station and Setauket. File photo
Days after human skeletal remains were discovered near the Greenway Trail, a Suffolk County police officer assured local residents that he would be patrolling the hiking and biking path in the warmer weather.
Officer William Gibaldi said at the March 25 meeting of the Port Jefferson Station/Terryville Civic Association that he had just driven the trail, which runs between Setauket and Port Jefferson Station, the day before in a police car with another officer.
“When it warms up a little, we’re going to be riding our bikes through there, at least two or three times a week,” he said. “We’re gonna be in there.”
On March 22, around 4 p.m., skeletal remains were spotted close to the 3.5-mile trail at its stretch off of Gnarled Hollow Road. Police are investigating the human remains, and officials have not yet released the sex of the deceased or the person’s cause of death.
It was also unclear when the person died and how long the body had been in the place it was found.
The Greenway Trail, which opened in 2009 and originally ran from Gnarled Hollow Road to Sheep Pasture Road, was recently extended by two miles — one mile on each end — to bring it all the way to Limroy Lane in Setauket and close to Route 112 in Port Jefferson Station. While construction was largely completed in late 2013, the community officially opened the trail with a ceremony in early 2014.
“The inspector of the precinct, he wants us on that trail all the time anyway, so we’re gonna be on that trail a lot,” Gibaldi said. “You’ll see us in there, hanging out, riding around or … driving a car.”
Human remains were found along the Greenway Trail in Setauket. Photo by Phil Corso
Skeletal remains were spotted in Setauket on Sunday, prompting a police investigation, officials said.
Suffolk County police were seen investigating the human remains soon after they were found, around 4 p.m. on Sunday near at a stretch of the hiking and biking Greenway Trail off of Gnarled Hollow Road, police said. The cause of death was unknown, and it was still unclear whether the remains belonged to a male or female, cops said.
The medical examiner’s office is still determining the cause of death, police said.
The Greenway Trail runs 3.5 miles between Setauket and Port Jefferson Station. It starts at Limroy Lane on the western end and goes to the state department of transportation’s Park and Ride lot near Route 112.
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