Last night, the local Ronkonkoma Branch of the Long Island Rail Road was shut down due to an investigation surrounding two Farmingdale victims. Today, more details emerged on the gruesome deaths – thought to be Halloween pranks – of Patricia Ward and her son Derek Ward.
Patricia Ward, 66, was found beheaded according to local police officials. While emergency responders, officers and detectives surrounded the building, the elderly woman’s body was covered by white sheets.
Witnesses thought the woman’s headless body was a sick joke since it was near a home full of Halloween decorations including a mock cemetery and cobwebs. Neighbor Dale Silverman recounted, “I saw what I thought was a head in the street. I saw long, black, straight hair and the head face down. And I did a double-take. And I opened the window and said, ‘No, that can’t be what that is.’”
“I saw the body, completely straight legs together, hands at its side,” she continued.
Patricia’s son and assumed murderer, Derek Ward, 35, was also found a half mile from the original scene after being fatally struck by a Long Island Rail Road train. The train from Penn Station en route to Ronkonkoma struck him around 8:15pm near Clinton Street in Farmingdale.
Derek Ward has a psychiatric history going back about 10 years and had been arrested previously for gun possession and criminal mischief. No motive has been established in the alleged murder-suicide.