Suffolk County police found skeletal remains Monday buried under the basement of a Southold home while investigating the case of a 38-year-old woman who was reported missing 51 years ago, authorities said.
Homicide Squad detectives and Southold town police used ground-penetrating sonar to narrow down where to dig in the basement of a Lower Road home, where the remains were found shortly before noon, police said.
Investigators suspect the remains to be that of Louise Pietrewicz, of Cutchogue, who’s boyfriend owned the home at the time of her disappearance in October 1966. The remains were taken to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office to determine the identity and cause of death.
The boyfriend, former Southold Police Officer William Boken, died in the 1980s, according to police and reports. The current homeowner, who investigators said has no involvement in the case, consented to the search, authorities added.
Police noted that the search was a follow-up to a 2013 dig in the basement of the home that turned up no results.
The discovery came after Suffolk Times, a community weekly newspaper covering the North Fork, published an in-depth report on the case last year.
