2 Charged with Murder of Stamford Man Whose Body Was Dumped in NJ

Authorities charged two men with murder in the case of a missing Hofstra graduate from Stamford, Connecticut, who was stabbed to death in a fight at a party in a luxury Manhattan apartment and then buried in a shallow grave in New Jersey, according to police.

James Rackover and Lawrence Dilione both face charges of second-degree murder.

Police said 26-year-old Joey Comunale appears to have been stabbed to death in some sort of dispute after he, two other men and three women returned from a nightclub on 14th Street late Saturday or early Sunday.

One official said that Comunale was stabbed sometime after the three women left the luxury apartment building, NBC New York reports. Police aren't sure how the body was removed from the apartment, but believe it was then transported to a shallow grave in Monmouth County, New Jersey and partially burned.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, at a news conference Thursday, confirmed that Comunale was stabbed 15 times in the chest.

Arrested:
Rackover, James
25-year-old male
418 East 59th Street #4C
New York, NY
Charges:
Murder 2nd
Concealment of a Human Corpse
Tampering With Physical Evidence
Arrested:
Dilione, Lawrence
28-year-old male
255 Warren Street 
Jersey City, NJ
Charges:
Murder 2nd
Hindering Prosecution 1st
Concealment of a Human Corpse
Tampering with Physical Evidence

James Rackover, 25, of New York, and Lawrence Dilione, 28, of Jersey City, New Jersey, were charged with second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence.

Chopper 4 showed an extensive law enforcement presence at the scene where Comunale's body was found — a wooded area behind an old police department that had to relocate due to Sandy devastation. NYPD vehicles were spotted in addition to local law enforcement.

Police had said there were signs of foul play in the disappearance of Comunale, who was last seen on surveillance video entering the Grand Sutton building near the corner of East 59th Street and First Avenue Sunday morning.

Stamford police said on Wednesday that the man had gone to New York City with friends on Saturday night and separated from them at some point. Police in Connecticut have not yet contacted the friends, but are aiding the NYPD in its investigation.

His father reported him missing Sunday.

Crime scene investigators were later seen carrying out bags of evidence from the apartment building. Law enforcement sources said they found bloody clothing and bloody sheets, along with a luggage cart that had evidence of blood on it. Boyce described the blood spatter in the apartment as "quite noticeable."

Comunale's family was asked to come to New Jersey to make an identification.

"He was one of a kind," Comunale's stunned father, Pat, told reporters from his Connecticut home Wednesday. "We're just in denial. This is not something that happens to kids like this. I don't know if it was pre-meditated. I don't know how it happened."

Comunale graduated from Hofstra University and was an avid hockey player.

"He was that kid, life of the party, never did anything wrong. Good-hearted kid," said friend Devin Edwards. "A lot of people, a lot of friends loved him very much."

"He didn't deserve this," Pat Comunale said. "He didn't go looking for trouble. It wasn't right. This is not right."

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