A Manhasset high school track runner found skeletal human remains in a Long Island park Thursday, remains that may close the case of a missing 79-year-old woman with dementia.
The teenage boy was running with his track team on trails behind Plandome Pond Park in Manhasset when he saw the remains in the brush. Nassau County police opened an investigation the same afternoon.
Breitbart News reported the find in the wooded section of the park at 192 Lindberg Street, a scene that quickly drew homicide detectives and heavy police presence.
The Nassau County Police Department Homicide Squad put the time at 5:44 p.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2026. Officials said the remains were female. Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said investigators do not believe anything criminal occurred. The probe is still open.
In a department news release, detectives laid out the core facts without speculation:
"The Homicide Squad reports the details of an investigation that occurred on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 5:44 pm in Manhasset. According to detectives, skeletal human remains were located in a wooded area of Plandome Pond Park located at 192 Lindberg Street. The investigation is ongoing."
Authorities are working to determine whether the remains belong to Shi Hua Xu, a 79-year-old Great Neck woman who left her home in late 2025 and never came back. Xu had dementia. She often took long walks. She was not wearing her tracker when she vanished. The community searched after she failed to return.
Xu’s family members later positively identified a piece of clothing found at the scene as hers. That match has not been described as a full legal identification of the remains, and police have not closed the missing-person case in public statements.
Neighbor Diana Cotumaccio, who lives near the park, told ABC 7 she saw the police response up close.
"Last night there were several cop cars along with police officers, and they indicated to me there were remains in the park. I’m here 30 years and this is a new one for me."
Plandome Heights Mayor Kenneth Riscica spoke about the young runner who made the discovery. Detectives asked the teenager how he was holding up. His answer stayed on the people who had been searching for months.
"When the detectives asked him how he was doing, his response was ‘I’m doing fine. I only hope this brings closure to a family that lost someone.'"
A reporter covering the scene said the track team was from Manhasset High School. Police have not released the boy’s name. No cause of death has been made public beyond the commissioner’s statement that investigators see no sign of a crime.
For now the facts sit in a narrow lane: skeletal remains in a Manhasset park, a female victim, clothing recognized by Xu’s family, and an open Nassau County investigation that began the moment a teenager on a routine run looked into the brush.
Missing elderly residents with dementia should never wait this long for an answer. A kid on a track practice may have finally forced one into the open.
