The location where Tina Foglia was found

Crime Scene Location in North Bay Shore, New York, United States

This is the location where murder victim Tina Foglia was found.

It is situated on the westbound ramp that connects Southern State Parkway with Sagtikos State Parkway in North Bay Shore, New York.

On February 3rd, 1982, crew workers from the Department of Transportation were picking up trash when they discovered Foglia's dismembered body on the shoulder of this ramp on Long Island. Her killer had placed her remains in three plastic bags and then dumped them in the brush.

The 19-year-old was last seen in the early hours of February 1st, after she had left a popular rock nightclub called Hammerheads, which was situated in a converted supermarket at 135 Sunrise Highway in West Islip.

It is believed that she left the club alone at roughly 3 a.m. and may have attempted to hitchhike back to her house in Brentwood.

Sadly, she never made it home that night.

Foglia had thumbed a ride to Hammerheads to see one of her friends play in a band called Equinox. The last verified sighting of her was near the exit of the nightclub.

The teenager frequently hitchhiked from place to place—a habit that worried some of her family members. This, combined with the fact that she left the club by herself, indicates that she may have been picked up by her killer (or killers).

This theory is strengthened by the fact that nobody has ever come forward to say that they picked the young woman up that night.

Notably, Hammerheads had a reputation for drug dealing, fist fights, and other social nuisances. During a town hall meeting in 1980, it was noted that the popular rock venue was a constant source of pretty street crime.

Detectives from the Suffolk County Police Department believe that Foglia was sexually assaulted and then subsequently murdered to prevent her from speaking out.

The cause of death was determined to be asphyxia by smothering, which means that someone placed their hands or another object over her mouth and nose until she suffocated.

Although a male DNA sample was taken from the crime scene on Sagtikos State Parkway, no hits for this sample have been found in the national CODIS database. This suggests that the man in question hasn't been convicted of a crime in the past decade or so.

Despite the passage of time, it is hoped that a familial DNA match will one day bring Foglia's killer to justice.

Further information is available in the "Photos" section below.

Tina Foglia - Crime scene location

Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location.

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the site are:

40.747462, -73.278704

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps Link

Address

The full address for this location is:

Sagtikos Parkway
North Bay Shore
New York
NY 11706
United States

Directions

Foglia's remains were found on the westbound ramp that connects Southern State Parkway with Sagtikos State Parkway. The highway sits between Baywood and North Bay Shore in Long Island.

Details about the general area

North Bay Shore is a hamlet in Islip, New York. It is situated between Baywood and Brentwood.

Photos

Photos of the site and other related images.

Sagtikos State Parkway

Tina Foglia's dismembered remains were found in the brush at this roadside in North Bay Shore.

The shoulder in question is on a westbound ramp that connects Southern State Parkway with Sagtikos State Parkway.

The plastic bags were spotted by a DOT worker who was a part of a cleanup crew that had been picking up trash from the side of the highway.

After seeing the shape of one of the bags, the worker immediately began to suspect that there was a body inside. At that point, he moved in for a closer look and saw human hair.

Foglia's naked remains were separated into three bags that contained her arms, legs, and torso.

Notably, a diamond ring that she usually wore was missing.

The police do not believe that the motive was robbery. However, it is not uncommon for killers to take items from their victims, especially if those items are small, convenient to take, and have an obvious monetary value (jewelry and cash).

Therefore, it is possible that the killer noticed the ring and realized that he could sell it at a pawn shop.

Another, far darker explanation is that he may have kept it as a trophy to help him relive the crime.

Foglia was found in the brush beside the ramp

This is an aerial map of the location where Foglia's remains were found.

The bags were dumped in the brush between the highway ramp and the intersection between North Gardiner Drive and Privet Place.

Investigators were unable to confidently determine which side of the brush the killer parked his vehicle. In other words, he may have parked in the residential area on the other side (Gardiner and Privet).

Gardiner Drive and Privet Place

This is a Google Street View image of the other side of the brush.

It was taken at the intersection between Gardiner Drive and Privet Place.

This location is at the end of a quiet residential neighborhood. This section of Privet Place is 0.6 miles from the main entrance on Manatuck Boulevard. Furthermore, it is well concealed from nearby houses, all of which are surrounded by trees.

Judging by an aerial photograph that was taken two years before Foglia's murder, this section of the road has always had a thick wall of foliage on either side of it.

If her killer did park on the residential side of the brush, then it would suggest that he had enough local knowledge to know that it was a sheltered and private spot.

Crime scene

This crime scene photograph of the ramp was taken shortly after the 19-year-old's remains were discovered by a DOT worker.

Hammerheads

Hammerheads was situated at 135 Sunrise Highway in West Islip.

Foglia was last seen near the exit of the venue at around 3 a.m.

Judging by newspaper archives, both the police and the general public considered the busy rock venue to be a nuisance, as it was a hot spot for fist fights, drug dealing, public drinking, and other petty crimes.

Hammerheads was situated in a disused supermarket that the owners had converted into a club.

It was eventually replaced by another club called "Key Largo" in 1984.

The building was torn down at some point in the 1990s and replaced by the strip mall that is present today.

Coordinates: 40.720722, -73.308002

Google Maps Link

Foglia's house

Tina Foglia's house was situated at 15 Lloyd Drive in Brentwood. She lived here with her mother, brother, and sister. Her father was living in the Bronx (her parents were divorced).

The teenager left her residence on the evening of January 31st, 1982, to go to Hammerheads. It is believed that she hitchhiked to the club.

This house is roughly five miles from the roadside where her remains were dumped.

Coordinates: 40.760766, -73.238375

Google Maps Link

Locations

This aerial image highlights all of the relevant locations. As you can see, all of these places are situated inside a relatively small neighborhood (roughly 8 square miles).

This indicates that Foglia's killer was somewhat familiar with this section of Long Island.

The short distance between Hammerheads and the dump site also raises the possibility that she was murdered somewhere in the immediate area.

This makes more sense when you consider the killer either attended the club or was driving in the vicinity when he pulled over and picked her up.

Even the most evil killers will experience significant levels of nervousness and anxiety when they are transporting human remains.

Visions of random traffic stops, DUI checkpoints, and traffic accidents will play in their heads, even though such events are pretty rare. This "unease" will often cause them to select the closest and most secluded dump site that comes to mind.

Long Island serial killer

It has been widely theorized that Foglia may have been one of the earliest victims of an unidentified serial killer called the Long Island serial killer.

Although detectives have not ruled it out, they have stated that it is not an "active avenue of investigation."

Foglia's murder has been linked to the LISK case due to the location where she was found and the manner in which her killer disposed of her body.

However, there are a few problems with this theory.

Firstly, there is a significant 14-year gap between her death (1982) and the murder of the first known Long Island serial killer victim, Karen Vergata (1996).

Secondly, LISK specifically targeted sex workers.

Thirdly, dismemberment is not as uncommon as many people seem to think it is. For example, we previously covered serial killers such as Joel Rifkin, Richard Cottingham, and Jeffrey Mailhot, all of whom dismembered their victims. The mob has also been fond of using this method to make their enemies disappear.

Fourthly, a number of online sources suggest that Foglia's remains were found close to the Gilgo Beach dump site. However, this is misleading, as the two locations are actually 17 miles apart.

Last but not least, the motives for dismemberment in these cases seem to differ.

LISK dismembered his victims and scattered their remains around Long Island in an effort to hinder their identification.

This is in stark contrast to Foglia's case, in which her remains were put into plastic bags and then dumped in one spot.

This suggests that the teenager's killer (or killers) wasn't too concerned about her being identified. Instead, it seems likely that they chose this "method" because it made it easier to conceal her remains.

He may have lived in an apartment building, or he might have simply come to the conclusion that moving her body in one piece was far too risky.

For example, in the case of serial killer Jeffrey Mailhot, he left his first victim in his bathtub for two days while he deliberated over what to do. Then, following two days of panic, he finally decided that dismemberment was the only way to get rid of the body without being spotted.

Doctor

In 2017, Tina Foglia's sister, Amy Gagliardi, recalled how the 19-year-old had met a doctor at Hammerheads in the weeks leading up to her death.

Although Tina never mentioned the doctor's name to Amy, she did reportedly go on a number of dates with him.

Following the murder, a "source familiar with the investigation" stated that Foglia had been dismembered with a sharp instrument, such as a butcher knife, and not with a hatchet or an ax.

This has led to speculation that she may have been murdered by someone with medical knowledge.

Although this statement does raise eyebrows, it is worth pointing out that a person does not have to be a doctor to use a sharp butcher knife.