Police are looking for the suspects wanted in the murder of two men who were killed and left in burning grass near the Belt Parkway in Howard Beach before dawn on Wednesday. In the meantime, cops have identified the victims, both of whom were from Brooklyn.
The bodies of 22-year-old Rudy Superville and 25-year-old Gary Lopez were found bound, gagged and face down in a grassy section of Spring Creek Park near 78th Street and 159th Avenue in Howard Beach, only steps from the Belt Parkway, around 6 a.m. Wednesday after firefighters and emergency crews responded to a fire in the park 90 minutes earlier. Both Superville, who lived in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, and Lopez, who lived in Bushwick, had been shot in the head.
Police had released video of what they believe are the cars that may have fled the scene. The video was taken from security camera footage from St. Helen School. It shows three cars — a light-colored four-door sedan; a dark four-door sedan; and a dark two-tone custom van — heading east on 157th Avenue at 83rd Street past St. Helen Church at 4:12 a.m. Wednesday morning, five blocks from where the fire was set and the bodies were found. Officials responded to the call of a fire 13 minutes later. Police say the cars may have been heading away from the scene of the fire.
They stress that the drivers of the vehicles are not considered suspects right now, but are wanted for questioning.
Spring Creek Park, an isolated marshy area on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, is notorious for being a location where hundreds of bodies have been found in the past half century. In February, 2006, the body of graduate student Immete St. Gullien, who disappeared from a nightclub in Manhattan, was found in a section of the park across the creek from Howard Beach in Brooklyn. The area is also believed to be a location where victims of organized crime have been dumped as well.
Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS (8477). The public can also submit tips by logging onto nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting 274637 (CRIMES), then entering TIP577. All tips are strictly confidential.
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