Murder In Montauk

A school bus was parked in front of Kirk Park last Thursday morning at about 7 as parents dropped off children bound for a field trip to Citi Field. As is usual on a pleasant day in Montauk, there would have been walkers circling Fort Pond for exercise, while other pedestrians traveled south on Second House Road to get to their jobs at establishments in “town,” most likely cutting through the park to abbreviate the trip.The morning was foggy, but with the promise of a new day, and in such an idyllic setting—the ocean just a stone’s throw past a sand dune dotted with white and magenta beach roses, Kirk Park brimming with green, and the big pond it borders brimming with blue—the scene should have inspired pleasure and a feeling of well-being.

Who would have suspected that a man was being brutally assaulted inside the park at that time in broad daylight?Robert Casado, a 38-year-old Montauk resident, died of severe head injuries not long after he was discovered, unconscious, by two walkers using a trail in Kirk Park. More than four days later, on Monday afternoon, the incident leading to his death was still being investigated by the Suffolk County Police Department’s homicide division, and a suspect had not yet been arrested.To all who knew and cared for Mr. Casado, we offer condolences.

What must have been the brutality of the attack on Mr. Casado in such a tranquil setting in broad daylight is beyond imagination. We hope that his assailant will be brought to justice swiftly, putting fears and rumors that swirl through the salty Montauk air to rest definitively once and for all.