N.Y. police seek link between body parts found in two towns

Authorities have not identified the woman. But the Associated Press, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, said a tattoo on the body parts matched one belonging to a missing Brooklyn woman.

Police have not announced a cause of death for the woman, but an agency spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times the case is being investigated as a homicide.

In the last 10 days, body parts have also been discovered in three separate locations in Hempstead, roughly 20 miles from Bay Shore, the release said. Police recovered scattered body parts after responding to 911 calls on July 9, July 10 and July 17, the release said.

A spokeswoman for the Suffolk County Police Department would not say whether the pieces were linked to the discovery of the woman's body in Bay Shore. She also declined to specify what body parts had been recovered.

The most recent discovery was made Thursday, when a woman found a human head in a row of bushes, according to the Associated Press. The woman did not respond to a request for comment from The Times.

Sgt. Ivory Dixon, a spokesman for the Hempstead Police Department, told The Times that body parts found so far did not match any recent missing persons reports filed with the agency.

The macabre discoveries are not the first to rock Long Island in recent memory.

In 2010 and 2011, police discovered at least 10 sets of human remains that were linked to an unidentified serial killer believed to be murdering sex workers and dumping their bodies along the Ocean Parkway highway, nearly 20 miles away.

Police have not identified any suspects in the so-called "Gilgo Killer" case.