Ten years after 35-year-old Jennifer Cohen was found dead inside the locked Millennium Skate Park in Bay Ridge's Owl's Head Park, the man last seen walking into the park with her has never been identified, charged, or publicly named. A jogger discovered her body inside the skateboard ramp the following morning, and despite surveillance video tracking the man's movements through the neighborhood that night, the case remains exactly where it started: unsolved.
Cohen and the unidentified man entered Owl's Head Park together around 2:45 a.m. on September 29, 2016, according to Brooklyn Paper. He left alone about an hour later. NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said at the time that investigators estimated Cohen was killed before 5 a.m. that morning — less than two hours after she walked into the park — though police could never determine exactly what happened between 2:45 a.m. and her death, according to Patch.
Her body was found the next morning, between roughly 9 and 10 a.m., inside the gated enclosure of Millennium Skate Park near Colonial Road and Wakeman Place — a 14,000-square-foot fenced facility on the eastern side of the 27-acre park that was supposed to be locked overnight, per the seed reporting and corroborated by the Brooklyn Eagle. Some accounts identified the jogger who found her as an off-duty firefighter, per Brooklyn Paper. The medical examiner's office determined Cohen died by homicide from blunt impact injuries to her head and torso.
A Night Tracked Block by Block, A Man Never Named
Surveillance footage reconstructed by investigators and reported in October 2016 showed the person of interest traveling more than a mile through Bay Ridge before he ever crossed paths with Cohen, walking from 79th Street and Third Avenue north to 56th Street before doubling back south to meet her near 59th Street and Second Avenue, according to a Reddit account citing contemporaneous coverage. Detectives at the time noted the route suggested someone familiar with the neighborhood, and Detective Robert Agron said the man likely lived or worked near Bay Ridge, per Brooklyn Paper's reporting.
Camera footage also showed Cohen and the man walking together on Second Avenue toward the park before separating, per Brooklyn Paper. Police released video and images of the man and initially described him as approximately 5 feet 2 inches tall and 175 pounds, though revised NYPD descriptions released later in October 2016 put him closer to 5 feet 8 inches tall and 175 pounds, carrying a black backpack — a discrepancy noted in the same Reddit thread. He was described as wearing a black jacket, black shorts with white trim, a dark baseball cap and dark sneakers, per Brooklyn Paper.
Police found Cohen's purse near her body without identification but containing needles and condoms, according to unidentified sources who spoke to the New York Daily News, as cited by Brooklyn Paper. ABC7 and the Daily News reported that Cohen had allegedly struggled with drug addiction and had been arrested several times for drug possession and minor offenses.
A Life Marked By Sobriety, Then Relapse
Cohen's history was more complicated than any single arrest record suggested. According to Youth Today, she maintained sobriety for roughly nine years starting in 2001 before relapsing around 2010, a setback that led to the loss of custody of her two sons. Her final drug-related arrest came on September 26, 2016 — just two days before her death — and those charges were dropped posthumously, the outlet reported. Cohen grew up between Bay Ridge and Staten Island and lived in Bay Ridge at the time of her death, leaving behind two children. Her brother later launched a fundraiser to help cover her funeral expenses, per Brooklyn Paper. Brooklyn Paper reported it was unable to reach Cohen's family for comment on the 10th anniversary of her murder.
Entering Owl's Head Park at 2:45 a.m. was itself a violation of city rules. Under Section 1-03 of the New York City Parks Rules and Regulations, public parks including Owl's Head Park are officially closed between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m., making unauthorized presence inside the park at that hour a misdemeanor trespass violation, as Hoodline has reported in a separate case. The skate park where Cohen's body was found, Millennium Skate Park, opened in September 2001 as Brooklyn's first concrete skate park, built with $1.5 million in city capital funding secured by local elected officials, according to NYC Parks.
The Search That Followed, and a 'White Whale'
Investigators offered a $2,500 reward in 2016 for information identifying the man, and the NYPD considered him a person of interest, according to Brooklyn Paper. True-crime journalist Billy Jensen opened a Facebook page on October 28, 2016, inviting residents to share footage and images of the man, whom he called a “white whale.” Jensen spent thousands of dollars on geotargeted Facebook ads aimed at area residents in an effort to generate leads, per the same reporting.
The Crime Stoppers reward has since grown to $3,500, and an NYPD spokesperson has confirmed the investigation remains open, though the man has never been identified. Cohen's murder came amid what the Brooklyn Eagle described as an uncharacteristic spike in violent crime in Bay Ridge that fall, which also included a triple shooting inside a Third Avenue deli on October 12, 2016. Historical crime analyses have characterized Cohen's killing as the most violent incident recorded inside Owl's Head Park in a generation, following a non-fatal shooting in the early 1990s and a murder in the 1970s, according to a local history account.
Park Upgrades, Falling Crime, and a Still-Open File
Owl's Head Park has since received lighting and security improvements. Josephine Beckmann said the upgrades throughout the park were funded with $2 million secured by then-Council Member Justin Brannan in fiscal year 2021, covering paths, slopes, retaining walls, stairs, drainage, landscaping, seating areas and security lighting, intended to help residents feel safer and keep the park accessible, per Brooklyn Paper. Beckmann said police investigators should continue efforts to identify the person responsible and bring them to justice.
The 68th Precinct, which covers Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, has historically reported relatively low crime compared with other parts of the city. Since Cohen's murder, Owl's Head Park has recorded one burglary, one felony assault, two grand larcenies and three robberies, according to NYC Parks crime statistics cited by Brooklyn Paper. The precinct saw 23 killings — including Cohen's — between 2016 and 2026, according to police statistics, while New York City recorded nearly 4,000 homicides citywide over the same span; the city's murder rate has declined for more than a decade.
Cohen's case is one of many that never reach resolution. Public safety data analyses published in 2025 showed New York City's citywide homicide clearance rate has averaged between 60% and 65% in recent years, leaving hundreds of violent deaths unsolved annually across the five boroughs, according to the Slaycation Podcast. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS, or 888-57-PISTA for Spanish speakers, or submit a tip online at nypdcrimestoppers.com or via Twitter at @NYPDTips. Crime Stoppers keeps all calls and messages confidential.
