Skeletal remains, necklace, found on Long Island beach

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.

That bag was buried in the sand of a beach in Lattingtown, on the island's Gold Coast.

A woman walking her dog near the shores of Long Island Sound in the Town of Oyster Bay made the discovery around 3 p.m. Monday.

Investigators pinned up the 22 carat gold necklace with a pig pendant as they pinned their hopes on the public that someone may recognize the jewelry and help solve a murder mystery unearthed on this windswept beach.

It was a complete skeleton, likely a woman, buried in a bag, sources say.

Detective found signs of traumatic injury, but won't say what kind. They don't know when the person died or how long the body was here.

John Azzata runs Nassau County homicide.

"I wish I had a more specific timeframe I'd be further in this investigation," Azzara said.

The crime scene is just about 30 miles north of another remote beach - the notorious serial killer graveyard on Ocean Parkway in neighboring Suffolk County, where in the past two years police have discovered 10 bodies, eight of them young women and some buried in plastic bags.

"Obviously, we're near the water, bodies were found near the water that's a similarity but there are other dissimilarities so it's much too early to say that we definitely have a connection," Azzara said.

Among the dissimilarities, the pig pendant made of a type of gold popular in the Asian community. One theory: it's a woman of Chinese or Korean descent born in the year of the pig. All the women found on the south shore were white, but whether or not this is related to the serial killer case, it's been quite a shock to this wealthy community to learn of the disturbing discovery on their private beach.

"It's surprising around here you wouldn't expect to find that. I guess it's secluded enough though," Kathy Travis said.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS or the Homicide Squad at 516-573-7789.

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