Police Crack 1980 Cold Case Murder Of New York Woman Murdered While Walking Home From Work

“She was a real person,” Irene Wilkowitz says of her sister, Eve, who was killed on her way home from work in 1980.

Eve Wilkowitz, shown here smiling with brown hair and wearing a fur coat, was murdered in 1980.

Irene Wilkowitz helped solve the decades-old mystery of who murdered her sister, Eve, in 1980.

Photo by: Irene Wilkowitz via Facebook

Irene Wilkowitz via Facebook

By: Aaron Rasmussen

A persistent family and dogged detective work helped solve the decades-old mystery of who murdered a New York woman then callously dumped her body in a yard near her apartment.

On March 22, 1980, Eve Wilkowitz left her secretarial job at a Manhattan publishing house and took the train to her Bay Shore, Long Island home. As she walked from the station, the 20-year-old woman was attacked.

Days later, her body was found and an autopsy determined she had been raped and strangled.

Police canvassed the area, speaking with neighborhood residents — but it would be nearly half a century before police files showed officers made contact with a woman at a nearby home who said she hadn’t noticed anything unusual at the time. Her son, it turned out, was connected to the homicide.

Although the case grew cold, detectives through the years regularly used DNA evidence recovered from the victim’s body and compared it with criminal databases in hopes of finding a match and identifying the perpetrator.

Irene Wilkowitz said the murder of her sister “who never got a chance to fulfill her dreams” had a huge impact on the course of her own life. “I've lived these last 42 years afraid all the time that I was going to be killed next,” CBS News reported.

Still, Irene wanted justice for her older sibling, doing her best to make sure detectives were working the case despite the passing time. She regularly emailed investigators and pushed them to use genetic genealogy after her 25-year-old son Evan — named in honor of his late aunt — told her about the fledgling DNA technology that uses consumer DNA databases and family trees to trace and narrow down possible suspects in a case.

In December 2021, it was Suffolk County detectives’ turn to reach out and contact Irene Wilkowitz. They told her, thanks to genetic genealogy, they knew who killed her sister.

“These are the most exciting kinds of visits we can do, to give a family some sort of answer,” Suffolk County Police Detective Jeffrey Bottari said at a March press conference, according to NBC News. “Especially for her. We had decades of detectives who worked on this.”

According to authorities, Herbert Rice, a man living with his mother several doors down from where Eve Wilkowitz’s body was discovered, was responsible for what was likely a crime of opportunity.

Rice, whose wife had kicked him out of their home shortly before the murder, died from cancer in 1991, detectives said.

“For 42 years, this was all I wanted — I just wanted it to be over,” Irene Wilkowitz said at the press conference. “My goal was to be a mom, and beyond that, I didn’t allow myself to dream any other dream because I was afraid someone would come along and murder me. So I can’t process that it’s solved now, and that I’m still here.”

Now, Irene Wilkowitz can focus on what truly matters most to her: honoring her older sibling’s memory.

“She was a real person,” she said. “She was outgoing, had lots of friends, loved horses, loved music, liked to read and write and draw. And she liked to be a big sister to me. I want people to know that.”

Next Up

Still Unsolved: Olivia Lone Bear Found Dead In Submerged Truck After She Vanished In 2017

“Our primary goal is to uncover the facts surrounding her death in order to get a clear picture of what actually occurred,” FBI officials say.

Headless, Handless Body Found In 1980 Was Finally Identified Over Four Decades Later

On March 20, 1980, police in Fishkill, New York found a decapitated and handless body. 42 years later, the body was identified as 44-year-old Manhattan woman Anna L. Papalardo-Blake.

‘Beautiful Soul’ Maylin Reynoso Was Found Dead In NYC — But Her Case Went Largely Ignored

The 20-year-old woman’s body was recovered from a river in Manhattan in July 2016.

Police Identify Remains Of Murdered California Woman After More Than 30 Years

Marina Ramos and her two small children disappeared in the late 1980s. Police finally identified a body found in Mohave County as Ramos, but her two daughters remain missing.

Brandon Teena’s Legacy And The Devastating Hate Crime That Took His Life

After 21-year-old Brandon Teena reported being raped by two men, the rapists broke into the home he lived in and murdered him and two others.

Police Seek Possible Witnesses To 22-Year-Old Brooklyn Woman’s Murder

On Sept. 21, 2022, police responding to reports of a foul odor at a Brooklyn, New York apartment found the dismembered remains of 22-year-old D'Asia Johnson stuffed into a suitcase.

The Mysterious Murder Of Syracuse Teen Remains Unsolved

While the nation was focused on The New York Giants and Baltimore Ravens playing in Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa, Florida, a young woman in Syracuse, New York, met a violent end.

Man Convicted In 1981 Cold Case Murder Of Woman Strangled To Death With Her Own Pantyhose

More than 40 years after the murder of 30-year-old Sonia Carmen Herok-Stone, DNA from under her fingernail led to the conviction of Michael Scott Glazebrook.

True Crime News Roundup: Texas Doctor Arrested For Contaminating IV Bags After His Colleague Died

Plus: Prosecutors move to overturn Adnan Syed’s murder conviction; human remains of missing woman found; suspect in Eliza Fletcher case indicted on separate rape case; Cincinatti woman arrested after her baby dies from ‘co-sleeping’.

NYPD Detective Identifies Suspect In Cold-Case Murder Of Pregnant Woman Who Died In Front Of Son

“Justice is at least on its way to being served,” Bronx Homicide Detective Robert Klein says of the 1996 case.