Michael J. Sakara, 55, vanished in the early hours of July 30, 1993, after spending the night at the Five Oaks piano bar in Greenwich Village. Witnesses say he left the bar near closing with a man he introduced as Mark, described as a nurse from Saint Vincent’s Hospital. By July 31 a briefcase and a bag containing clothing and a wallet identifying Sakara were found at a Hudson River overlook in Haverstraw, Rockland County.

On July 31 a lunch-truck operator discovered a knotted green bag in an overlook trash barrel containing a severed head and arms; on August 8 additional green bags farther north on Route 9W near Stony Point held Sakara’s torso and legs. The autopsy reported extensive blunt-force skull injuries, brain fractures and stab wounds to the torso, and investigators concluded the killing occurred around the time he left the bar.

Investigators later linked the dismemberment pattern in this case to a series of killings of gay men and identified Richard W. Rogers as their central suspect; he acknowledged knowing Sakara from Five Oaks but did not work at Saint Vincent’s. No arrest or prosecution for Sakara’s murder in New York has been brought.