PA and NY Police Pawn Murder Investigation Onto Each Other

File photo DAN MACLEOD/ BROOKLYN PAPER

I’ve watched a lot of TV police dramas. A common plot point in these shows is that a body is found across state lines, and the town's respective police departments argue over whose case it is. According to the New York Post and the Brooklyn Paper, that’s what’s happening in the case of Ditmas Park cafe owner, Josh Rubin.

South Whitehall Police Department found Rubin's shot and charred body in the PA woods on November 1st, just one day after he went missing in Brooklyn. It was so badly burned that it took them almost two months to identify the remains. Now the NY cops and the PA cops are allegedly arguing over who should be investigating the murder. They each argue Josh was killed in the other’s jurisdiction. Neither wants the homicide on their own board. Via the BK Paper:

“The speculation is that the homicide occurred somewhere else and the body was dumped here,” said David Gross, a spokesman for the South Whitehall Police Department.

But the NYPD disagrees.

“His body was found in Pennsylvania, that’s where the investigation is right now,” said an NYPD spokesman.

If you’ve got any knowledge of the legal system -- and if you’re reading a Park Slope blog, there’s a good chance you do -- please tell us in the comments if this sounds like the usual protocol and politics of a cross-state investigation. 

From a practical perspective, it seems to me both sides need to be investigating. All the reports released to the public imply the beef that got him murdered began in NYC, likely with locals. But whoever did it clearly must have left a trail in PA.

Get to work, people.