On the night of November 8, 1980, 24-year-old Thomas Neilan was returning to his home on 216th Street in Queens, New York when two men approached his vehicle and forced their way inside at gunpoint. Neilan, a Special Investigator for the New York State Office of the Attorney General, was then compelled to drive to another location in what investigators characterized as an abduction and robbery.

Neilan drew his service weapon, identified himself as law enforcement, and fired at one of the assailants. A shootout occurred inside the car; Neilan was struck twice in the head and once in the neck and died at the scene. Three suspects were arrested in connection with the killing. Two were later acquitted, and a third was convicted and received a 25-year prison sentence.

Did anyone in Queens at the time remember seeing Neilan’s vehicle or the men who forced him into the car?