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http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/42723.htm
NY Post
March 3, 2002

HELLISH '79 SLAY CASE GOES COLD AFTER COPS DROP BALL

By JAMIE SCHRAM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The bodies of Carol Marron and Howard Green of Brooklyn were mutilated in
what could have been a satanic-ritual killing.

Confusion among cops as to who should have investigated the ghoulish murder
of a Brooklyn couple may have resulted in the case remaining unsolved for
more than 20 years.

Howard Green, 51, and his girlfriend Carol Marron, 33, were bludgeoned to
death in a possible devil worship-related attack in 1979.

Their eyeballs were blown out, the tips of their ears cut off and almost all
their blood had been drained through approximately 30 puncture marks made in
identical places on the two bodies, investigators said.

The two corpses were bound in canvas and rugs and dumped in West Paterson,
N.J., where they were discovered by a boy walking his dog.

A Post investigation into the double homicide found not only that the trail
to the brutal killer has gone cold, but it may never have been followed
properly.

Retired detectives from Brooklyn's 88th Precinct and the West Paterson
Police Department, along with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office,
confirmed they all thought the others had done the follow-up investigation.

"Technically, Jersey's got the responsibility [to follow up]," said retired
Brooklyn detective James Devereaux. He says he assisted the original
investigation of the Brooklyn couple's murder as a courtesy to the Passaic
prosecutor.

But retired West Paterson detective Thomas Hemsey says the investigation was
left in New York, where the murders probably occurred.

"Devereaux was supposed to keep following up on it if any new information
came," Hemsey said.

Capt. Ed Murphy of the Passaic Prosecutor's Office also put the burden on
New York and was surprised to learn the case was unsolved.

A New York police spokesman, Walter Burns, said the Brooklyn Cold Case Squad
is currently not working on the case.

The Post investigation also found startling inconsistencies in the
investigators' recollections of their work.

Devereaux said he twice interviewed a resident of the victims' neighborhood,
who, he reported, admitted to having drained the blood of mice he kept. He
said he wanted to impress his girlfriend at the time, Devereaux recalled.

The man, who now lives out of state, dismissed Devereaux's recollection and
says he never met the detective.

"Hell no, I never said that stuff," he said, adding he was on a hitchhiking
holiday in Texas at the time of the murders.

Devereaux said he thought the murders were part of a ritual because he
recalled satanic paraphernalia being found inside the victims' apartment at
280 DeKalb Ave. in downtown Brooklyn. He said the apartment was in disarray
and drenched in blood, as if a struggle had occurred there.

But retired West Paterson detective Joseph Lambert said the apartment was
neat and clean, with no signs of devil worship.

Lambert said the building's landlord, Jonathan Nelson, wanted Green's
apartment for his terminally ill father because Green was paying "peanuts"
in rent each month. He said Nelson had taken Green to court over it.

Nelson confirmed to The Post that he had wanted the apartment for his father
because it was on the ground floor and easily accessible. He said he had
nothing against Green and Marron and had been interviewed by police at the
time.



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