Severed body parts have been popping up all over Long Island, but dismembering people limb from limb appears not to be enough to keep the suspects police arrested behind bars.
Four arrested and released after severed body parts found in park
Suffolk County Police Department confirmed the arrest of four individuals in relation to a series of macabre discoveries where human remains were unearthed in Long Island.
The body parts began appearing in late February, when several children found a detached arm at a park while they were on their way to school.
Local police responded to the scene to collect the tattooed arm, which was missing fingertips, then discovered a severed leg “sticking out of a pile of leaves” around a mile away with the help of a K-9 unit.
Later in the day, a right arm was found about twenty feet from the first one, which led authorities to discover four more severed limbs at the Southards Park Pond in Babylon.
That Friday, police located a woman’s head, which appeared to match the the leg and arm that were found the day prior. The rest of the limbs they collected were two arms that belonged to a man.
Less than a week later, law enforcement authorities executed a search warrant at an Amityville residence, where suspects Amanda Wallace, 44, Steven Brown, 38, and Jeffrey Mackey, 40, reportedly reside.
They were all arrested, along with Alexis Nieves, 33, who is currently homeless, but is also suspected in the crime.
The search revealed not just the remaining human body parts but also an array of cutting instruments, with a meat cleaver amongst the tools used in the heinous crime.
The dismembered remains are believed to be those of a man aged 53 and a woman aged 59, but their identities still remain undisclosed by the authorities.
Four charged after gruesome discovery of severed body parts
Charges levied against the four suspects arrested on Wednesday include the concealment of a human corpse, tampering with evidence, and impediments to the prosecution process—all on counts of the first degree.
However, none of the people arrested were charged with actually killing the couple they allegedly dismembered in their home.
They all entered not guilty pleas, and in a shocking move, the court mandated supervised release for the quartet.
The suspects were explicitly instructed to remain within the bounds of Suffolk County and have had their passports stripped while they’re allowed to roam freely around the area.
The court at least had the foresight to equip each of them with electronic monitoring devices, in case they defy the order and decide to make a run for it.
The motivation behind the crime is still unknown, but police are pursuing a theory that a love triangle spurred the killings.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney blasted New York law for failing to hold the suspects behind bars while they await trial.
“Unfortunately, due to ‘Bail Reform’ passed by the New York State Legislature in 2019, charges relating to the mutilation and disposal of murdered corpses are no longer bail-eligible, meaning my prosecutors cannot ask for bail,” Tierney remarked in a press release.
“This is yet another absurd result thanks to ‘Bail Reform’ and a system where the Legislature in Albany substitutes their judgment for the judgment of our judges and the litigants in court,” he noted.
