Westchester DA Seeking Clues In 40-Year-Old Hastings Cold Case

HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, NY — The Westchester County district attorney is asking the public for help identifying a man found dead in a wooden chest more than 40 years ago.

A news release from DA Mimi Rocah's Cold Case Bureau said "John Doe" was found April 23, 1978, at 10:15 a.m. by a motorist traveling north on the Saw Mill River Parkway in Hastings-on-Hudson.

The driver spotted a cedar chest on the side of the parkway and pulled over. The chest was nailed shut, but the driver used a tire iron to open it and found the body of the victim inside.

Authorities said the man had been fatally shot.

The Westchester County Department of Public Safety, which in 1978 was called the Westchester County Parkway Police, tried at the time to ID the man but his name was never discovered.

Rocah said one of her top priorities when she took office was to establish the office's first Cold Case Bureau.

"This bureau is dedicated to solving the over 140 cold cases in Westchester County," she said. "We will not give up on these cases because the victims and their families deserve justice, regardless of how long it takes."

The sketch of the victim was done by the Texas Department of Public Safety based on autopsy photos and the case was placed into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System in May.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Westchester County District Attorney's Office at 914-995-TIPS.

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