108 Precinct (Photo: Google Earth)
Nov. 27, 2013 By Christian Murray
Police precinct 108, which covers Sunnyside/Woodside and Long Island City, is starting to become a hub for unsolved murder cases.
There are currently four murders that remain unsolved and details on how the investigations are faring are not known.
Police Captain Brian Hennessy, who spoke at the Police Precinct 108 meeting Thursday, said that he had no new information on the cases.
The unsolved cases, listed below, span the time period from October 2012 through September 2013.
1) On Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, Lou Rispoli was killed by a blow to the head on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012.
2) On May 23, Young Joo Byun, of Flushing, was discovered in a black plastic garbage bag inside her blue Honda Civic. near 61st Street and Queens Boulevard.
3) A man was fatally stabbed after trying to flag down a cab at 68-10 Roosevelt Ave on July 13.
4) A homeless man was beaten to death at Sabba Park, located at 49th Street and Queens Blvd., on Sept. 7.
In the past 23 months, there have been seven murders in the precinct. Four were reported in 2012, with 3 so far this year.
The NYPD typically solves about 60% of homicide cases. In 2012, the NYPD solved 57% of the 419 homicides in New York City, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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26 Comments
24 October 2017
RE: Young Joo Byun murder
It’s been four years and five months and the murder of this mother of three remains _unsolved_.
thats all I have to say about that , and I new alot of cops .I see Vincent spano wrote a book I worked with him good cop.
I had worked in the 108pct. I only worked for 1 year in the Squad.There was a Homicide that always bothered me that went unsolved. A young female found hands tied and strangled, she had visited the train tracks over pass with food, it was seen on video. My opinion it was very clear it was her X boyfriend, I got a climpse of the case, the detective that had the case was over his head.. There were ficticous comimunication made comments of the “LIME LIGHT ” a night club,between her and her boyfriend , who had left suddenly and went down south made sure he made documemeted phone calls. I think he had a pass in new york and thats why he fled…Com on man.. he murdered her.. the parents hated him, etc. etc…
This tim again..was the case ever solved..unfortunately, the Detective had no idea the letter he wrote to the victim. Concerning the Lime Light was miss understood by the detective he rather interpreted it as a feeling, rather then the night club.. simple there is DNA from the victim..ask for A SWAB, or surval him after drinking a soda or coffee, wait till its thrown away. Then send it to the lab..getter done.
Was the murder of John Dalton in June 2005 ever solved ?
Or the detectives are at Pio pio at 46st having they sweet lunch with wine…wasting tax money…. why not…….”after giving couple peddy tickets”
I guess they busy giving tickets to cyclists mostly Hispanics ridding no helmets or side walk….mean while burglaries are done daytime on there shift… 108 is garbage…
looks so to solve on easy on TV!! but in real life, when i am hanging with my kids over in the park behind the 108 in LIC, i see 3-4 chubby cops hangin out on the back patio smoking cigarettes and chatting, i guess they’re discussing clues and stuff.
I think the street cops r good but the detective squad is another story
The Lou Rispoli case is the only with which I have a connection: I live in the building where this happened. The investigation didn’t happen until about 14 hours after. They taped off my building, but let me enter without questioning me or my neighbors. Our community is changing. Sure we need cameras, but we need investigations to happen with greater sense of urgency as well.
They need to get Detective Ice T on the cases.
They need to get Detective Ice T on those cases.
Security Cameras make WAY more sense than funding some stupid audio system for birds and disgusting art under the train that nobody wants. The people in charge of spending Sunnyside money are retards.
Theirs a huge lack of police force in the area.
The councilman never returns emails or phone calls and is one of the biggest bullshit politicians in all the boroughs.
It’s a shame for such an upcoming area people need to come together more and start getting vocal.
security cameras can aide the cops in finding criminals…..but they don’t necessarily stop the crime from happening to begin with…..i’d say the 108th should have more visible patrols throughout the neighborhoods it covers, but i don’t have a lot of confidence in their ability to fight crime, let alone use critical thinking skills in apprehending the criminals who committed these reported crimes in the past year.
I was at the same meeting the reporter attended (full disclosure, I am a volunteer member of the 108 council, made of up both civilians and police).
I know newspeople must search for trends, but the “108 starting to become a hub for unsolved murder cases” seems unfair and unconstructive as the takeway.
Commanding Officer Capt. Hennessy cannot be more forthcoming or accessible to the public. If a resident comes to a meeting with a complaint, he or she has the guarantee that it will heard by the commanding officer, and reverberate throughout the entire system of the DA, 1PP and the press.
Month after month, problems are brought in and the next month a solution, progress or lack thereof is openly addressed. In general, even with increases in some crimes, the 108 remains one of the safer precincts citywide. We live in a kind of paradise here at the moment.
Resources for crime solving in homicide cases are more citywide since the implementation of CompStat. The old ways of policing are gone and means taxpayers pay less for fewer people keeping the peace, but also means that blame for unsolved crimes is not necessarily a local issue.
How about an article about methods that have worked in other municipalities with intractable cases? We have arguably, the best police force in the world – why can’t we find some criminals?
Fernando, I’ll tell you where you can put your gps chip….
Everyone should have a little gps tracker chip implanted in their arm, so the police can know where everyone is at all times. When a crime is committed, they can immediately look up who was in the area at the given time and interview all the suspects. The technology for this already exists – it could be run by cellphone companies.
Cold case file
It is the Rispoli murder – because he was a friend of Va Bramer – that has received all the attention. I feel bad for all the crime victims. The relatives need to stay on the police to solve these murders. Don’t you feel safer now that Bill Deblasio will be Mayor?
108 never found the guy who sexually assaulted the 4 year old girl at doughboy (2010) , never found the attempted rapist who was attacking women on woodside ave at 50s (2012) and haven’t found Avonte – who went missing two blocks from the precinct door – and was seen on Surveillance cameras. there’s a real problem at this precinct.
Security cameras don’t stop crime. They may deter crime to an extent but let’s be honest, The 6 o’clock news always leads with a crime story where the perp was caught on video…..
Building owners should be made install security cameras. End of story. Most of the crimes in the neigherhood would be solved if this were to happen. JVB should make this a priority on his list.
No new information? Fine. But why wasn’t community notified promptly when # 4 happened? Maybe precinct needs a real Detective Reagan!
Surveillance cameras are not the answer to everything on earth. Enough cameras already.
These cases have been fairly challenging…best way to help our local law enforcement is to install more surveillance cameras to help aid in their investigations.