Murder's agony endures on Valley Stream's Horton Road

This block of Horton Road in Valley Stream remains a snapshot of the agony experienced there when Kelly Ann Tinyes was killed 20 years ago in a crime that repulsed Long Island.

Many of those who lived on the block when 13-year-old Kelly Ann Tinyes was murdered still live within steps of the house where she died. Her parents are in the Cape Cod down the block; others who played roles in the investigation and trial are a few doors down. Just beyond, at the Tudor home at 81 Horton Rd., the parents of convicted killer Robert Golub hang on, still living on a block where they are considered pariahs - or worse.

"As long as there is a block, as long as there are people here who were around back then, it will never end," said neighbor Jackie De Luca, now 27. "Think about it; why would anything really change when every time you go out they are right there, you have to drive right by them?"

The murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes would have been difficult for any community to put in the past. On March 3, 1989, Tinyes was lured from her home by a phone call to the Golub home, where she was beaten and strangled, her body hidden in a closet. After a lengthy, televised trial, Golub, then 21, was convicted.

The fact that both families remained on the block and the persistent rumors that one or more other people were involved or knew more than they revealed have kept the pain of the murder sharp. The bitterness played out in the street for years as the Golub and Tinyes families exchanged taunts and filed lawsuits and police complaints. While recent years have been peaceful - the last calls to Nassau police were in 2007 when the Golubs reported two cars being vandalized - neighbors say there remains a palpable tension.