A Riverhead woman is facing a murder charge in a cold case dating back to September 1993, according to Suffolk County criminal court filings.
Denise Reischman Merker, 55, was arraigned on a criminal complaint in Riverhead Justice Court on Feb. 3, according to a justice court docket. She was ordered held without bail, according to the docket. She was subsequently indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury on a charge of Murder in the Second Degree.
Suffolk County court records list the incident date as Sept. 25, 1993, but provide no further details about the incident. The incident date aligns with the time frame of the discovery of a deceased newborn left in a trash bag on the westbound shoulder of Route 25, near Wading River-Manorville Road in Calverton, which was found by state transportation department workers on Sept. 27, 1993, according to a Newsday report published on Sept. 28, 1993. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner on Sept. 28, 1993 ruled the case a murder by suffocation, according to a Sept. 29, 1993 Newsday report. There is no public record of any arrest in that case. Patch reported yesterday that Merker’s attorney, Edward Burke Jr. of Sag Harbor, said his client’s arrest was “in relation to the death of her infant daughter.”
Burke did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment.
Merker, who remains incarcerated in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead, was scheduled to be arraigned in Suffolk County Criminal Court tomorrow, but that date has been rescheduled to Tuesday, Feb. 17, according to county court records.
Editor’s note: A criminal charge is an accusation. A person charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
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Source: RiverheadLOCAL
