Cops: Missing LI woman found dead

Connecticut authorities have located the body of the Medford woman who has been missing since early Friday, Suffolk police said - and they said she is the victim of a homicide.

The body of Rebecca Koster, 24, of Falcon Avenue, was found in North Stonington, Conn., on Friday, the day that she was reported missing from Long Island.

Connecticut authorities on Friday reported that a body was discovered after they responded to a 911 call of a possible brush fire on Jeremy Hill Road in North Stonington.

Police said that the caller believed that a body was on fire at that location. State police and local fire officials found the body and pronounced the victim dead.

A Connecticut state medical examiner later determined that the case was a homicide.

Koster was reported last seen on Falcon Avenue in Medford at about 3:30 a.m. on Friday; she was wearing a black puffy jacket, black tank top, light blue jeans and black fur boots, Suffolk police said.

Police said she was dropped off by friends at her home after spending the night with them at a Holbrook bar.

It was unclear Wednesday how she died, and Connecticut State Police investigators could not be reached for comment.

Koster's mother, Barbara Ross, reached by telephone at her Medford home, declined to comment last night. The family had launched an intensive search for Koster, passing out fliers urging people to contact police if they had seen her.

Details of Koster's disappearance and her smiling image appeared on Internet sites devoted to the return of missing persons.

Suffolk police referred all questions about the case to Connecticut authorities.

But Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance told The Associated Press that Koster's death happened in New York, and that it would be up to authorities there to release any further information.