When reports of an unidentified body found floating in the waters of Little Neck Bay surfaced three weeks ago, Village of Saddle Rock Mayor Dan Levy said he stayed on top of the developing homicide investigation.
As it turned out, the mayor never really had a choice.
The body of Richard Appleby, a retired assistant prosecutor of the Eastern District in Brooklyn, was found on May 25 in the water near the rear dock area of the mayor’s family residence on Bayport Lane North, Levy said.
“I think the first responder was my five-pound puppy, who kept barking from 10 until 11 o’clock at night,” Levy recalled of the night before Appleby’s body was discovered. “We couldn’t believe that he had a problem. We thought he saw a cat.”
But the next day, Levy said it was discovered that his family pet had made a much more gruesome discovery.
“Our neighbor’s grandchild that discovered the body, told us,” Levy said last Wednesday during a Village of Saddle Rock Board of Trustees meeting. “Police were called.”
Levy said before too long police helicopters and boats were on the scene.
“The boat had recovered the body,” Levy said. “They took it to the dock. The coroner came, picked it up, took it away.”
Appleby originally went missing on May 24.
Officials from Atria West 86, an Upper West Side of Manhattan nursing home, confirmed that the 66-year-old Appleby never returned to the assisted living facility that he lived in for less than a year following a walk.
Then Appleby’s body was found the following morning wearing a white-collared golf shirt with the word “collegiate” and two crossed tennis rackets embroidered in blue, along with blue Adidas sweatpants.
Although Nassau County Police Department homicide detectives initially launched an investigation, it was determined last week that no foul play was involved in Appleby’s death.
“Hopefully, we won’t have any other sad issues like that to discuss,” Levy said.
