A New York man who killed his roommate with a hammer and buried the body on the beach, only to have the remains discovered after Hurricane Sandy, has been convicted of murder in a city court.
Thryon Aycock, 48, was convicted of second-degree murder in the Queens Supreme Court, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday.
New York City parks employees discovered the body of Shawn Rucker, 32, on a Far Rockaway beach in November of 2012 in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, after seeing an elbow sticking out of the sand.
Seven years later, police arrested Aycock, who had described killing someone in detail to a friend, who called the authorities.
“In the days following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, park workers saw an elbow sticking out of the sand,” Ms Katz told the local Rockaway newspaper The Wave. “The victim, in this case, had been stuffed in a garbage bag by his killer. Despite the 10 years that have passed since this brutal killing, our Office pursued this case – investigating and prosecuting – and today the jury found the defendant guilty of murder. He now faces a lengthy term of incarceration when the presiding judge sentences him in the coming weeks.”
According to court records, Aycock lived in a house with his girlfriend and Rucker, her ex-boyfriend. In November of 2012, Aycock demanded the man leave the home, and the two engaged in an argument that became physical.
The 48-year-old struck Rucker with a hammer multiple times, before wrapping him in a patterned section of cloth and burying him on the beach in a garbage bag, according to police.
Authorities later searched the home where both men had been staying, and found a knife with the victim’s blood, a piece of cloth matching the one in the garbage back, and a saw that could be forensically matched to deep cuts found on Rucker’s body, suggesting Aycock had tried to dismember his victim.
The jury deliberated for two hours before reaching its decision.
Aycock is expected to be sentenced in March, and could face up to 25 years in prison.
