The body of a 5th teenager was found on Long Island. According to FOX5NY, the body of Jose Pena-Hernandez, 18, was discovered on October 17, 2016 in a wooded area at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.
Suffolk County Police say Pena-Hernandez was a known member of the notorious MS-13 street gang. Pena-Hernandez was reported missing on June 13, 2016. All of the deaths are believed to be gang related.
The skeletal remains of 2 other teenagers were found on the hospital property in September. The victims were identified as 19-year-old Oscar Acosta, who went missing on May 2, and Miguel Garcia-Moran, 15, who disappeared in February.
Two girls were beaten to death in nearby Brentwood, L.I. Nisa Mickens, 15, died attempting to prevent the kidnapping of her best friend, Kayla Cueva, 16.
“It’s so hard, I’m hurting,” Evelyn Rodriguez, Kayla’s mother, told a writer from the NY Times. “I wish I could hold my daughter again.”
Four of the teens attended the same Long Island high school.
Terrified residents blame the recent killings on newly transplanted gang members from El Salvador in Central America.
“It makes me feel bad that people think this of all Salvadorans,” said Ana, 38, the mother of two school age girls. “Violence was the reason I left — when they killed my brother. And now we are experiencing the same violence.”
Federal agents are assisting the Suffolk County Police with the investigation into the 5 deaths.
