Nassau Police Up Reward Money For 4 Unsolved Homicides To $25K Each

NASSAU COUNTY, NY — On Thursday, the Nassau County Police Department announced that the Crime Stoppers rewards in four open homicide cases will increase.

Commissioner Patrick Ryder held a news conference in Mineola, where the four cases were named:

The August 2020 Hempstead shooting death of Thiasia Williams, 28

The October 2020 Hempstead murder of Karson Banks, 31

The April 2020 Hempstead shooting death of Taleek Smith, 23

The November 2015 Merrick murder of Suzanne Goldfarb, 48.

Information leading to arrests will now be awarded with $25,000.

According to friends who started a fundraiser to name a street in her honor, Williams was "hit by a stray bullet on Martin Luther King drive while attending a community" event.

Banks was from North Carolina, found shot multiple times in a car in Hempstead. Smith was also found shot in a car in Hempstead. Nassau police also released the name and photograph of a man they say is wanted in connection with the homicide of Banks, Ramel Ferguson of Hempstead.

Goldfarb was found bound, gagged and strangled to death in her bedroom.

Family members of the victims also attended Thursday's announcement. Banks' father spoke on Thursday about gun violence.

All calls to Nassau's Crime Stoppers, 1-800-244-8477, are confidential.