Ryder: Rewards rise to $25G in 4 unsolved Nassau killings 

Four unsolved homicides in Nassau County since 2015 have spurred police to up the reward in each case to $25,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions.

Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder on Thursday announced the reward hikes from $10,000 each and urged anyone with knowledge of the unrelated killings between 2015 and 2020 to come forward.

“The most important thing is giving our victims a voice and giving families closure. This team comes together anytime a life is taken in Nassau County. We never give up on victims and never stop working,” Ryder said at a news conference at police headquarters. “I don't like calling them cold cases because cases never get cold in Nassau County because we never give up.”

The first of the unsolved homicides occurred Nov. 18, 2015, when police officers responding to a call "for an aided case" in Merrick found Suzanne Goldfarb, 48, dead by asphyxiation in a cottage behind a Smith Street home, Nassau Police said in a news release at the time. Goldfarb's parents found her strangled after she didn’t answer their phone calls. Detectives said the doors and windows were locked and they believe she knew her attacker.

On April 26, 2020, Hempstead Village police officers answering a Shot Spotter report arrived near Olsen Place and discovered Taleek Smith, 23, with multiple gunshot wounds. A Nassau County Police medic pronounced the Hempstead man dead at the scene. Smith may have been targeted in retaliation after he was shot as he sat in a vehicle with three others, said Nassau Police Det. Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick.

A few months later, another Shot Spotter report led police to Martin Luther King Drive in Hempstead where they found Thiasia Williams, 28, of Amityville, and an unidentified female, 29, with gunshot wounds. Both were transported to a hospital after the shootings early on Aug. 1 and Williams was pronounced dead, according to police at the time. The other victim was shot in the leg and survived, police said.

Williams had arrived to pick up her boyfriend from an outdoor party and was an innocent bystander when one of 10 gunshots fired from a speeding white sedan struck her, police said.

“There were dozens of people there. Someone had to know who was driving that car,” Fitzpatrick said. “We just need someone to come forward with the missing pieces to push us over the goal line.”

On Oct. 5, 2020, Karson Banks, 31, of Salisbury, North Carolina, was pronounced dead at the scene on Terrace Avenue in Hempstead after police found him inside a vehicle with multiple gunshot wounds, officials said.

Police are searching for Ramel Ferguson, 26, in connection with Banks’ death, authorities said.  U.S. Marshals are also pursuing Ferguson, whose last known address was an apartment on Maple Avenue in Hempstead, and law enforcement believes he is still in the United States, Fitzpatrick said.

Banks, previously from Hempstead, and Ferguson knew each other and were arguing over a woman before the shooting, according to police.

At Thursday's news conference, Banks’ parents pleaded for witnesses or Ferguson's relatives  to come forward with information about the suspect.

“To the Ferguson family … you should have the courage for the mother and father to do the right thing and bring closure to my family," said Karl Banks, the victim's father. "If my son did this to your child, I would not hesitate to make this right and stop all this violence."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.