NYC NOW - December 27, 2023 : Midday News

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

ConEdison and city officials are warning people to avoid the area around East 52nd Street and 2nd Avenue in Midtown Manhattan after they test for asbestos after a steam pipe leak early on Wednesday morning. Also, a Brooklyn family is searching for answers after a Tuesday night shooting in South Ozone Park, Queens ended with the death of their niece. Police are investigating. And, the National Weather Service is saying New York City's shoreline could get some minor flooding with the rain coming in the next day of so. Lastly, we continue to look back at the year's top stories with one about about the arrest of Rex Heuermann in the case of the Gilgo Beach murders. For more than a decade, the case had baffled law enforcement and frustrated victims' families. Journalist and author Robert Kolker wrote "Lost Girls," a book about the murders and was adapted into a Netflix documentary. He spoke with WNYC's Sean Carlson.

Welcome to NYC now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WMYC. I'm Junae Pierre. We're taking it easy this week, but the news doesn't stop. So here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Con Edison and city officials are warning people to avoid the area near East 52nd Street and 2nd Avenue in Midtown, Manhattan. As they test for asbestos after a steam pipe leak early this morning, Con Ed says those living in the area should be. close their windows and stay inside. First responders are there and the public should expect

traffic disruptions from East 51st through 53rd streets between 2nd and Park Avenue, according to officials. City officials say Connett shut down a portion of a steam pipe due to a steam leak that happened around 2 this morning and workers capped the leak several hours later. A Brooklyn family is searching for answers after a shooting killed its niece last night in Queens. Police say 28-year Clarissa Burgos sat on a car in South Ozone Park where a group approach to an open fire. Shots hit her in the head and hit a 39-year-old male driver in the torso. Burgos's aunt Clover Galard says the family has no idea what motivated the shooting and now we'll have to break the news to Burgos' four-year-old son.

Why? Why is there another child without his mother? The driver survived and is unstable at a high. hospital. Police are investigating and have not yet reported any arrests. The National Weather Service says all in New York City shoreline could get minor flooding from the forecast rain over the next day or so. 48 and light rain in the city. Mid-afternoon rain likely, foggy, cloudy, and 52 for a high. We could get one or two inches of rain tonight as well, so let's be careful. Stay close. There's more after the break. This week, we're looking back at the top news stories of year. The summer arrest of Rex Hewerman marked a major advancement in the case of the

Gilgo Beach murders. The Long Island architect pleaded not guilty in the murders of three women. For more than a decade, the case has baffled law enforcement and frustrated victims' families. Robert Colker is a journalist and author of Lost Girls, a book about the murders that has been adapted into a Netflix film. WMYC's Sean Carlson talked with Colker about the case and how the culture of sex work has changed in the years since it first made headlines. So for people who may not know all the details of this case, can you remind us? This has been an open serial killer case in the New York area for many, many years. It first went public as a serial killer case at the end of 2011, but the first victims may

have disappeared even years before that. This case, this particular arrest surrounds four women whose remains were found around the same time at the end of 2010. Ever since then, the police have been finding more bodies, and there have been no declared suspects, no declared leads, nothing but rumors and conjecture. And the families had been left to wonder for the longest time. Why does this case loom so large for people in Long Island and our area generally? This is such a densely populated area.

You'd imagine a case like this might be able to dwell in the shadows for years and years somewhere else. But in New York City, you know, the media center of the world, it just sort of defies common sense to think that there could be an active and success. and prolific serial killer still around. And so everyone's amazed that it's taken this long. Also, the victims in this case are all women who made money through sex work. And I can't understate just how much this hindered the investigation and the interpretation of the case early on.

It's certainly true that in a lot of these cases, these serial killer cases, the victims are vulnerable people and that often includes sex workers. In this case, the people in charge seemed to almost say this was a consolation to the general public that they didn't have to worry about this serial killer. Meanwhile, people were dead and the families couldn't get any attention until it suddenly became a broadly known serial killer case. And even then, there were no leads for years. It was incredibly frustrating.

Have you heard from any friends and family of the victims? I've been in touch with victim family members. There's a lot of optimism, but complicated feelings. And then I saw other family members up on the stage with District Attorney Ray Tierney and with Suffolk County Commissioner Rodney Harrison. It's such a different thing, I have to tell you, Sean. You know, 10 years ago when I wrote Lost Girls, the police were at odds with the families, they seemed almost to have contempt for the victims.

And now the commissioner, Rodney Harrison, is giving big hugs to the family members and thanking them. And D.A. Tierney is talking about how they represent the best in humanity. It shows progress, I think. and that alone is kind of heartening. So given your reporting background, you are one of the most knowledgeable people about this case. And you just talked about kind of an interesting evolution that's happened over the last few years. Has anything surprised to you?

I think one thing is at this press conference, they're acknowledging the humanity of the victims. They're acknowledging the humanity of the families. They're praising teamwork between different investigative agencies. This is stuff that was not necessarily on the table 10 years ago. It was almost like a finger-pointing exercise and a lot of scapegoating of victims going on 10 years ago. So I see progress there. You see our whole society actually making gentle, small progress with regard to sex work. You talk about these victims not like they deserve it and not like they are identified by their professions.

You can say in the media now that somebody was killed who was a daughter, who was a sister, who also made money. doing sex work. And that's what happened here. This case is one of the first of its kind where in the digital age, people were really part-time making money this way, that it didn't necessarily even seem like anything they would be doing for law. And yet, because they were killed, they became sort of dehumanized. That's Robert Kolker, author of Lost Girls, talking with WMYC's Sean Carlson. Thanks for listening to NYC now from WMYC. All this week, we'll have one story a day and the latest headlines.

I'm Jene Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.