A family member found 62-year-old Rachel Frislid unconscious inside her home on Pearl Court in Sayville at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, setting off a homicide investigation that has brought Suffolk County's Mobile Crime Lab and Medical Examiner personnel to the quiet residential street. Homicide Squad detectives believe Frislid was a victim of violence, though police have not released additional details about how she died or who might be responsible.
According to CBS New York, police are asking anyone with information to contact the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392. Emergency dispatchers first received the 911 call about the Pearl Court home at 8:34 p.m. Thursday, and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina scheduled an 11 a.m. briefing at the scene the following morning, as reported by Greater Long Island. Investigators worked the scene.
A Familiar Name Behind Long Island's Craft Fair Circuit
Pearl Court sits off Johnson Avenue, a quiet residential stretch between Sayville Middle School and Sunrise Highway, per the same outlet's reporting on the scene. Frislid and her husband, Don, founded Preferred Promotions in 1996, building it from a single craft show into one of Long Island's most prominent juried artisan event organizers, running festivals at locations including Stony Brook and Deepwells Farm in St. James, according to the trade site Where The Shows Are.
Rachel Frislid was identified by Greater Long Island as the owner and director of corporate development at Academy Tent Rentals, a family-owned event equipment business based in the Sayville area. A 2016 GoFundMe campaign identified Donald Frislid as the owner of Academy Tent Rentals and Preferred Promotions.
Jurisdiction Shifts From Local Patrol to Homicide Squad
Sayville is an unincorporated hamlet within the Town of Islip on Long Island's South Shore. The Suffolk County Police Department's Homicide Squad is handling the case.
The investigation adds to a string of recent violent incidents that have unsettled the hamlet. In July, a 19-year-old was stabbed during an early-morning fight inside a South Main Street restaurant in Sayville, leading to assault charges against a 23-year-old man, as News 12 Long Island reported at the time. Sayville has also grappled with the fallout from the killing of 18-year-old Sayville High School graduate Emily Finn, who was fatally shot in nearby Nesconset in November 2025 — a case that led to a second-degree murder indictment against her ex-boyfriend this past March.
Countywide Numbers Show Violent Crime Trending Down
Despite the recent incidents, broader crime data suggests Suffolk County has been trending safer overall. County police recorded 67 stabbings between January and July 2025, down slightly from 71 during the same period the year before, amid a general decline in countywide crime, according to Newsday. A 2024 U.S. News & World Report ranking placed Suffolk County 22nd nationwide among safest communities with a public safety score of 83 out of 100, while neighboring Nassau County ranked first in the country in that same evaluation, Greater Long Island noted separately.
No suspect, motive or cause of death has been made public as investigators continue seeking information about Frislid's death.
