This is kind of interesting... if the woman was from out of state, she did choose an unusual spot to get her tattoo done at. Then again, I believe she was said to be with her cousin, and it could be possible she was spending time in her cousin’s hometown.
The tattoo parlour is in Forestville, which is a 23 minute drive to Waterbury. There were several murders in the surrounding towns around Waterbury linked to serial killer William Devin Howell. One of his dump sites was behind the WestFarms shopping mall. All seven of the found victims here were killed in 2003. One was a transgendered woman. The last unidentified victims were not discovered there until 2015. The dump site is just 13 minutes from the tattoo parlour Peaches went to.
These women were killed 5 years after Peaches was found. I wonder if back in 1998 the killer could have been extra careful not to dump remains near home, and was driving to places on LI to dispose of the bodies. The first victims of William Howell were discovered behind the mall in 2007.
The famous LISK belt has the initials WH. I just realized this as I’m typing this comment. Super interesting — this guy must be their prime suspect which is why SCPD said they are confident the belt was handled by the killer. This would explain why nothing more was said about DNA — it sounds like they don’t have it. If they do have DNA, they’d be able to rule this guy out pretty quickly.
The one thing that doesn’t line up with this case is that the GB4 were women who went missing a few months after Howell was on trial in early 2007. This would mean that we would have to assume the two killer theory is correct, and thus consider the western half of Ocean Pkwy (where the GB4 are lined up in burlap) to be its own separate dump site, and the victims found further east and around Fire Island (which were all killed between 1996-2003, with an estimated PMI of 2000-2005 for Asian Doe).
I can see how this makes sense — surely not only one person on Long Island thought that the desolate Ocean Pkwy with it’s impenetrable bramble and unsuitable terrain for trekking through would be a good dump site or at least noticed how quiet it gets at night.
Another thing that stands out is that the bodies found on the eastern side of the parkway seem to be disposed of in a disorganized manner. They’re scattered further apart and seemingly at whichever convenient location along the Parkway the killer could find. The remains of the victims found on the eastern side of the Parkway were just dismembered skulls/hands/feet (aside from Asian Male), leaving no clues as to the cause of death.
One final difference to note: There seemed to be no ritualistic manner of disposal or placement with the victims who were killed between 1996-2003, unlike the burlap sack victims on the western side on Gilgo Beach who were placed 100m apart in burlap sacks with each body laid in the same position carefully.
It seemed like the only important thing with the killings between 1996-2003 was making sure everyone knew about what he was doing, but not who he was killing. No one throws suitcases into salt water (buoyant) near shore if they don’t want the contents to wash back onto shore. All it does is buy some time and randomize the location it might be found at.
The only two victims out of this group who don’t follow this pattern are Baby Doe and Asian Male, but Baby Doe was more than likely killed out of necessity since she was Peaches’ daughter. I do wonder if Asian Male Doe was a victim of the killer who is responsible for the GB4 and was placed further than 100m from the women in the burlap sacks because he’s still not very far from them. His remains date to several years before the GB4, however.
Cherries’ death doesn’t fit with the timeline of this theory - In March 2007, Cherries’ legs and torso were found on the shore in Oyster Bay. It is impossible for William Howell to be the suspect of this murder because he was apprehended in 2005. He became a suspect in April 2004, when his van was searched.
Coincidentally, aside from Cherries, no other victims were found killed in this way (the last was Valerie Mack in 2003). I’m wondering if the fruit tattoos are a symbol used by a pimp or organized trafficking ring so any women who had a part in it would never be able to try and disguise themselves by working for another pimp. Jessica Taylor had her pimp’s tattoo on her back, after all.
It’s possible the link between the two victims is a red herring. It would not surprise me if the (totally separate) killer disposed of Cherries in the same manner as Peaches because they knew the simple fact that the two women had fruit tattoos would throw investigators off the trail.
What are everyone’s thoughts on this theory?