Dead bodies discovered outside house in New Cassel, Long Island

Children on their way to school Monday morning made a grim discovery as they walked past a Long Island house.

Yellow police Crime Scene tape flutters in the breeze at the corner of Sohmer Street and Roman Avenue, New Cassel, yesterday afternoon.Photo byC.J. Teevan

Nassau County detectives are investigating the deaths of two men whose bodies were discovered outside a private house on Roman Avenue in New Cassel.

3rd Precinct Police rushed to the scene early Monday morning, April 8, 2024, after a 9-1-1 caller reported seeing someone lying on the ground near the side door to the house.

A second body was subsequently discovered by police in the back yard of the same house, according to local residents.

Efforts to revive both victims were unsuccessful, according to one woman who asked not to be identified. She said local residents have complained to law enforcement about drug activity in the neighborhood, but response has not been significant.

The cause of death for both victims remains unknown. But a person close to the investigation said the Coroner has determined that the two deaths did not necessarily involve drugs.

Detectives spent hours parked outside a house on Roman Ave yesterday collecting evidence surrounding the deaths of 2 men.Photo byC.J. Teevan

A Crime Scene van was parked outside the house on Roman Avenue for hours while detectives searched for evidence and witnesses. The property is secured with surveillance cameras, visible from the street. Whether the cameras were operating or recorded recent activities remains unclear.

Investigators sealed off Roman Avenue between Brook Street and Sohmer Street – the block where the house is located -- limiting access strictly to law enforcement until the afternoon.

But at least one civilian got close enough to record workers in the yard lifting a body, shrouded in white. The video was widely distributed.

A separate vehicle transported the two deceased victims to the County Morgue to determine an official cause of death and identify the men.

The house at 705 Roman Ave, New Cassel. Neighbors say locals have been gathering for years in the rear yard outside the house to socialize.Photo byC.J. Teevan

Locals say both victims were Hispanic males who live in the neighborhood. A woman seen exiting the house Monday afternoon described the police activity at the house as “no big deal”.

Neighbors describe the house as a location of frequent casual social gatherings, with drugs and alcohol use by visitors at the property. Police would not confirm that report.

Speculations about fatal drug abuse is unfortunate, but not unexpected. Locals note that the New Cassel neighborhood has a thriving black market of drug dealers, drug users and, sometimes, drug overdoses.

County officials have so far declined to comment on or confirm details. But an official statement is expected to follow, due to extensive media coverage.

The Department of Justice announced a major drug bust in the Bronx this week, shutting down what the DOJ calls "an industrial scale illegal narcotics pill-pressing operation" that pushed "millions of deadly pills", many of them laced with Fentanyl -- profitable for the drug dealers, potentially fatal for their customers.

Roman Ave, New Cassel, L.I. Monday afternoon after a preliminary police probe into two deaths was completed.Photo byC.J. Teevan