Heidi Susie Balch, a 25-year-old White woman, was killed on February 20, 1989, in East Meadow on Long Island. Her death was not publicly connected to a named victim for decades; instead the case began when a severed head was found on March 5, 1989, inside a paint can on a golf course in Hopewell, New Jersey. Weeks later additional remains were recovered miles away and forensic testing linked the parts, but the victim’s identity remained unknown for many years.

Authorities later reported Balch had worked in New York City and used multiple names while living on the street. Investigators concluded she had been targeted, killed, and dismembered, with identifying features removed. After Joel Rifkin was arrested in 1993 for a series of killings, detectives compared his statements and physical evidence with the 1989 Hopewell remains. In 2013 family DNA identified the remains as Heidi Balch, and police said they believed she was Rifkin’s first victim.

Did anyone who knew Heidi Susie Balch in the late 1980s ever report seeing her in East Meadow or New York City before February 20, 1989?