Posted on: October 03, 2025 07:30 AM

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Jane Doe from 1982 cold case identified as missing Queens teen But who killed her

The body of a young woman found inside a dumpster behind a Long Island glass factory in 1982 has been identified as Susan Mann of Queens.

Suzy, as her family called her, was just 15 years old when she left her house in the Hollis neighborhood to get her sister’s purse back for her. She was never seen again. That was May of 1980.

For decades, Suzy’s family wondered what happened to her. Her parents, burdened by their loss, passed away before detectives made the connection. It was in March 2025 when the family was contacted by Nassau County police.

Police exhumed a Jane Doe in 2023 to obtain a DNA sample. They gave that sample to the FBI’s New York Investigative Genealogy Program. Agents were able to find a match to familial DNA and they contacted the Mann family to confirm the connection.

“There are no cold cases, they are open cases, we never give up on any of our cases,” said Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick. “This technology, in my 40 years in the department, has been extraordinary. How they are coming up with these families is amazing.”

While Suzy disappeared in 1980, the body was discovered in Nov. 1982. It had been moved to a dumpster, which was located behind Cantor Glassworks on North Main Street in Freeport.

“Our investigation believes that she was moved,” said Fitzpatrick. "That she was possibly buried, her body was decomposed. The M.E. put the timeline of her death shortly after 1980 and moved to this location in 1982."