Update: Police Confirm Montauk Man Was Murdered

Police have confirmed that the man found on a trail in Montauk’s Kirk Park Thursday morning at about 7:30 AM had died from his injuries.

“We are treating this as a murder investigation,” said Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer of the Suffolk County Police Department homicide squad. Beyrer said the victim suffered severe head trauma.

Police have yet to uncover a murder weapon and have not made any arrests. Beyrer said there was no sign that the murder was gang-related.

The detective spoke to two reporters at the park Thursday afternoon at about 2:30 PM, as members of the victim’s family gathered around a parked Honda Pilot just east of Second House. A small group of bystanders looked on.

Several police cars lined Montauk Highway in front of Second House, and police who had closed off Second House Road in the morning, remained stationed there. Several Suffolk County Police vehicles, including a large command post and a crime laboratory truck were parked on the Second House grounds.

Beyrer said East Hampton Town Police received a 911 call of a man with “injuries to his head” on a trail in the park. Beyrer said the man was from Montauk, but he would not identify him.

“Right now, we have tentative confirmation,” he said. “When we have positive confirmation, we will release his name. We are anticipating that will be sometime this afternoon.

He said the victim was taken to Stony Brook Southampton Hospital by Montauk ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.

“We will have a medical examiner, a pathologist, examine the injuries,” he said. I can’t specifically say what the mechanism of injury was, but there was head trauma.”

Police believe the victim entered the park at about 7 AM before being attacked. He was discovered about a half hour later, he said, by two people walking on the trail.

Beyrer asked anyone with information about the case to call Suffolk County Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS or the East Hampton Town Police at 631-537-7575.

sjkotz@indyeastend.com