Breezy Point beach has a reputation for tranquility, a slice of calm in the otherwise bustling New York landscape. Yet, this year, the area’s serenity has been marred by a chilling string of discoveries: eight bodies have surfaced in or around Jamaica Bay over the past twelve months, igniting fears and sparking strange theories in nearby neighborhoods.
The cases have a mystique of their own. Five of these “floaters” have been officially closed by investigators, but the circumstances surrounding four of them remain suspicious. The New York City Medical Examiner’s office could only declare the causes of death as “undetermined,” leaving the exact circumstances of their passing a mystery.
One of the victims was Ross McDonnell, an Emmy-winning cinematographer and photographer whose partial, headless remains were found washed up on Breezy Point beach last November. Friends described McDonnell as an avid “wild swimmer,” which led police to initially suspect an accidental drowning. However, when only a few skeletal remnants were found, the Medical Examiner held back from making any conclusions, leaving McDonnell’s death unresolved.
Local authorities are still working on three other open cases, including one involving Brooklyn resident Marco Ramirez, found along Jamaica Bay’s Cross Bay Boulevard shoreline in October. Another unidentified woman turned up on a Breezy Point beach earlier the same month. Only one case, that of an unidentified man whose headless body was discovered near the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge, has been officially ruled a suicide. Police cited a rope hanging nearby, identifying it as evidence of a self-inflicted hanging.
In Queens, Councilwoman Joann Ariola has raised questions. “Growing up, you’d hear about bodies in the East River, the Hudson River, but not in Jamaica Bay,” she told The New York Post, having seen only the occasional drowning or accident in her years living near Howard Beach. Ariola’s concerns began as the body count reached five earlier in the summer, yet she recalls law enforcement’s reassurances that these deaths were likely isolated events. But as more bodies appeared, her worries intensified. “To have so many in less than a year? This is really unprecedented.”
Local figures like Dan Mundy Jr., president of the Broad Channel Civic Association and Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, echo these fears. “If there were eight bodies popping up in [another] neighborhood in a year, it would be a big deal. The police should be treating this the same way and should let us know what’s going on here,” he said, explaining that, while he’s lived on the water his entire life, this frequency of bodies is something new.
Nearby in Belle Harbor, Paul King, president of the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association, shares the same bafflement. “To have eight bodies wash up since last November, and they have seemingly no connection to one another… it’s strange and disconcerting to say the least,” King added.
Jamaica Bay is no ordinary waterway. A unique blend of marshes, creeks, and human-made channels, it spans southern Brooklyn and The Rockaways, even brushing up against parts of Nassau County. Historically, bodies surfacing in New York’s rivers and bays aren’t rare, according to retired NYPD sergeant Joe Giacalone, now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “Floaters” occasionally emerge in the city’s waterways, and when a body turns up, detectives rely heavily on “victimology”—understanding who the person was and what circumstances they were in before their death. Giacalone urges caution, noting, “Some of these deaths could be accidental; some could be suicides, but I would think that many of them do not turn out to be homicides.”
