A persistent cold case investigation by the Suffolk County Cold Case Task Force has finally identified Steven Briecke, a Long Island man with a documented history of sexual assaults, as the perpetrator responsible for the unsolved murder of 69-year-old Ann Lustig in February 1997 and the rape of an elderly woman two months prior in December 1996. Both horrific crimes were linked to the Kings Park Psychiatric Center, according to law enforcement officials.

District Attorney Ray Tierney announced the breakthrough at a news conference in Hauppauge, revealing that recent advancements in DNA technology proved critical. A mixture of DNA found on Lustig’s clothing was able to be identified as belonging to both Lustig and Briecke. Tierney emphasized that if Briecke, formerly of West Islip, were alive today, there would be sufficient evidence to indict him for the killing. Briecke died in 2014 at the age of 56.

Officials detailed Briecke’s extensive criminal past, which included 20 arrests. At the time of Lustig's murder, he had only recently completed a lengthy prison sentence for a 1984 burglary and assault of an elderly West Islip woman. Furthermore, at the time of his death, Briecke was a registered sex offender in Florida, having assaulted a child there. Tierney described Briecke’s actions as “two horrific crimes targeting the most vulnerable among us.”

Ann Lustig was living at the Dawn Hill Group Home in Northport when she was abducted and killed on February 18, 1997. She was last seen attending an appointment with a therapist at the Buckman Day Treatment Center, located on the Kings Park Psychiatric Center grounds. After completing her appointment, she failed to book a taxi home. Her body was discovered the following day more than 35 miles away in Calverton, with police finding evidence of sexual assault.

Investigators had long suspected a connection between Lustig’s murder and the December 1996 rape of an 82-year-old woman who was leaving another building on the Kings Park campus. This connection has now been confirmed. Both victims were frail, older women who were driven off the campus and sexually assaulted. Tierney noted that carpet fibers found at both crime scenes were similar. In the 1996 incident, the victim had gone to a cafeteria for coffee before being driven to a nearby house and raped.

Additional evidence linking Briecke included a witness sighting of a blue and white van near where Lustig’s body was found. Police determined that Briecke drove a Ford van matching this description around that time, registered to his mother. He even received a ticket in it about a month after Lustig’s death. Briecke’s DNA was added to the CODIS law enforcement database in 2000, a database that did not exist in 1997.

Joseph Saccone, Lustig’s grandson, expressed profound gratitude at the news conference for the answers provided by the cold case team. He stated, “You were able to give us … a name, a face and the knowledge that the monster who took her last breath from her, that stole her precious smile and ended the life of our loved one, is no longer walking among us. He no longer serves as a threat.” Saccone, joined by his mother and uncle, urged other families of unsolved crime victims to maintain hope in their search for justice.

Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina and County Executive Edward Romaine commended the original detectives in the Lustig case for their meticulous evidence collection, which allowed for the application of advanced technology decades later. Catalina expressed optimism for future successes, stating, “I can pretty much guarantee that we’re going to have a lot more success moving forward with some of these cases.” This marks the second solved case announced by the Cold Case Task Force since it began closely examining approximately 300 cases dating back to 1965, following the arrest in February for the 2003 murder of Edna Schubert of Bay Shore. Romaine concluded, “Let justice be done,” affirming the Task Force's dedication to their work.