Prostitutes Lead Police to Suspect in Five Killings

Prostitutes led police to the home of a postal worker who later confessed to beating five women to death, dismembering them and dumping their body parts in garbage bins, authorities said.

Robert Shulman, 42, was charged with two counts of murder in the slayings of two prostitutes whose bodies were found on Long Island. Authorities said Shulman also confessed to killing three other prostitutes whose bodies were found in Brooklyn and Yonkers.

“He told us he picked up the prostitutes, brought them back to his house, engaged in drugs and sex with them, beat them and then disposed of their bodies,” said Detective Lt. John Gierasch.

Shulman was being held without bail Monday. His arrest Saturday came after police identified a prostitute whose dismembered body was found in a trash bin on Long Island last year.

Police traced the woman to Queens, where other prostitutes recalled seeing her ride off with a man in a blue Cadillac. Several told police that they had gone with the man on other occasions and led police to his house.

Police said Shulman had picked up many prostitutes and brought them to his one-room apartment in this suburb 25 miles east of New York.

For the last 22 years, Shulman has worked at the Hicksville post office as a mail handler.

Neighbors described him as a recluse. “He is weird,” said Florence Bialick, who lived next door. “He always walks with his eyes downcast. He’ll never look you in the eye, even when you call to him and say hello.”

As he left a police station in handcuffs Monday, reporters asked Shulman if he had anything to say.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, keeping his head down. Asked how he felt, he replied, “Horrible.”