Peaches

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Peaches
Discovered	June 28, 1997 (torso) April 11, 2011 (limbs)
Unidentified for	26 years
Sex	Female
Location	Lakeview, New York
Age	16-30
Race	Black/White
Body condition	Traumatic injuries
Postmortem interval	3 days
Cause of death	Decapitation

"Peaches" was the nickname given to a black or biracial female whose torso was discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. Her nickname originates from a distinctive tattoo she had. Her case could be related to that of "Cherries" from 2007.

Additional remains belonging to the victim were found in 2011. An unidentified toddler located near the vicinity of the secondary discovery site was determined to be the victim’s child.

Case

On June 28th, 1997, a torso was discovered in a Rubbermaid container with a red towel and a floral pillowcase. After no leads came in, police published a photo of the tattoo that she had. After some time, a tattoo artist artist from Connecticut named Steve Cullen claimed he remembered giving a woman the same tattoo. He described the woman as a 18 to 19 year old accompanied by two other women, an aunt and cousin, During the session, he claimed that she told him she was from either the Bronx or Long Island, and that she was having trouble with her boyfriend at the time.

In December 2016, it was confirmed that her case is connected to the Long Island Serial Killer, and "Peaches" was the mother of an unidentified toddler whose skeletal remains were found near to Cedar Beach in 2011.

It has been suggested that this victim and her child may have been connected to the killer in a personal nature, unlike the others, who were presumably selected based on their status as escorts or as those involved in sex work.

2022 developments

The FBI has publicly asked for relatives of an Alabama man named Elijah "Lige" Howell or Howard (1927-1963) to come forward as they may recognize this victim and her child. Lige lived with his wife Carrie in Prichard, Alabama.

Gallery

Media

• Her case appeared on America's Most Wanted.
• The case was discussed on the miniseries The Killing Season, which focused on the Long Island Serial Killer.

Exclusions

• Lora Stubbs

Sources

• Peaches at the Doe Network^{POSTMORTEM WARNING}
• Peaches at NamUs^{POSTMORTEM WARNING}
• Peaches on Wikipedia^{POSTMORTEM WARNING}
• Long Island Serial Killer on Wikipedia
• Long Island Press^{POSTMORTEM WARNING}
• The Killing Season
• Fox News ^{POSTMORTEM WARNING}