Rebello Family Calls Police About Disturbing Phone Calls After Daughter's Death

In addition to facing the news of their daughter’s death and the ongoing reality of news crews vans camped out for days, Andrea Rebello's parents also received a few phone calls that left them concerned for their own safety.     

According to Tarrytown Police reports, the Rebello parents first heard of Andrea’s death hours after the break-in on Long Island during which she was fatally shot. The officer responding after 2:30 a.m. on May 17. to a call for a forced break-in reportedly found himself faced with the intruder holding Andrea, 21, in a headlock. The suspect Dalton Smith, 30, of Hempstead was allegedly shot and killed by police, as was Andrea by accident.  

At 6:22 a.m., Tarrytown police received a call from the Nassau County Police Department detective telling local police what had happened and asking them to please inform the parents residing on Altamont Avenue.

Tarrytown officers went to the home and told the parents at 6:40 a.m. Police remained on the scene that morning until a family relative arrived to bring the parents to the Nassau County Police Department.  

Later the next day, 10:22 p.m. on May 18, a detective from the homicide squad of the Nassau County PD again called Tarrytown police. Apparently, a Rebello family member called them saying she had received a call from the sister of the suspect. The Nassau detective said he was concerned how the caller got the family’s phone number and was worried they may have their address as well.  

Tarrytown Police said they would follow up with the Rebello family to find out the nature of the call. Officers reported that the unknown caller was asking questions about what happened to her brother; the family had become concerned for their own safety and called Nassau police.   

Tarrytown Police in turn called the suspect’s family, who live in Greenville, North Carolina. They said they had very little information on the incident and Smith's death and were trying to find out more. Police directed the suspect’s mother to the Nassau County homicide squad for further questions and advised them to leave the Rebello family alone.   

The Smith family said they would not contact the Rebello’s again.

However, on the same night at 11:40 p.m., the Rebello’s called Tarrytown PD again to report that they had received another call from the suspect’s family in North Carolina. The call came from a different number and was apparently the mother.  

Police called her back from the Rebello home.  

In the last incident related to this tragedy in the police blotters: someone called police to report a suspicious person in front of an Altamont Avenue residence. Officers on the scene said the person was from the NY Post.
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Meanwhile, at Hofstra University, students are signing a petition in droves for increased security measures. So far, 2,475 and counting students past and present are asking the university president to do more to ensure safety in the off-campus area where Andrea lived, long deemed dangerous by many.

"Being so active on and off campus made me realize the actual danger that students are in if they choose to live in this unsafe neighborhood," said 2007 Hofstra graduate Cassie Goldberg, who started the petition with former classmate Alex Strum.

"[We] believe that there is more they can be doing to ensure student safety in general, and so we decided to take a stand," Goldberg said. "We have each personally seen too many incidents – break-ins, assaults, robberies and more. Students should not have to feel so unsafe so close to their campus and certainly no additional students should die or be harmed in and around their own homes."

The petition can be found on Charge.org here.

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