Teen runner finds skeletal remains in Manhasset park; police probe link to missing Great Neck woman

Right · 2A runner on a local high school track team found skeletal human remains in brush at Plandome Pond Park in Manhasset, New York, on Thursday 1 October 2026. 1 2 Right · 1The Nassau County Police Department's Homicide Squad put the time at 5:44 pm and said the remains were in a wooded area of the park at 192 Lindberg Street; the investigation is ongoing. 2 Right · 2Plandome Heights Mayor Kenneth Riscica said the runners were running next to the train tracks and coming into the park when the runner made the discovery; the New York Post says the runner is an Eagle Scout, and Breitbart, citing a report by ABC 7, says the team was from Manhasset High School. 1 2

Right · 2Police are examining whether the remains are those of Shi Hua Xu, 79, who has dementia and vanished from her home in Great Neck in late 2025 (December, per the New York Post). She often took long walks and was not wearing her tracker when she disappeared. 1 2 Right · 2Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said the remains are female and that police do not believe the case is criminal in nature. According to the Post, he said police hoped to identify the body by the end of the day. 1 2 Right · 2Xu's family positively identified a piece of clothing recovered at the scene as hers. The New York Post adds that the medical examiner's office is awaiting DNA testing to confirm whether the body is Xu. 1 2

Right · 2Riscica said that when detectives asked the teen how he was doing, he replied that he was fine and hoped the find would bring closure to a family that had lost someone. A neighbour, Diana Cotumaccio, told ABC 7 that police cars were at the park the night of the discovery. 1 2