In February 1985 the body of 27-year-old Jonie Jackson, an African American woman, was found in a parking lot on Franklin Avenue in Hempstead, New York. Jackson was discovered on February 18, 1985; though found then, evidence indicated she had been killed earlier. Her body had been concealed under a plastic bag and the medical examiner determined the cause of death was a head injury from a violent beating. Decomposition suggested she had been dead for some time before discovery.

Jackson’s case was later grouped with four other unsolved killings of young women in Nassau County between 1984 and 1989, prompting speculation about a possible serial offender; several of those victims had histories of drug use or involvement in prostitution. Investigators later identified Allen Gormely Jr. as a prime suspect. Gormely, a Long Beach resident with a transient lifestyle who worked in adult entertainment venues, was convicted in 1990 for two Queens murders in which victims were strangled and left in plastic garbage bags. Authorities did not obtain enough evidence to charge him in Jonie Jackson’s death. The murder remains unsolved.

Did anyone in Hempstead at the time recognize Gormely or remember suspicious activity near Franklin Avenue in early 1985?