Group Wants LI Police To Reopen Investigation Into Woman's Death

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Hispanic advocacy group is asking for an investigation into the death of a woman found hanged in the woods on Long Island last year.

New York City-based LatinoJustice sent a letter Thursday to Town of East Hampton Supervisor Larry Cantwell, saying the Sept. 29, 2014 death of 21-year-old Andrea Armijos should receive more scrutiny, Newsday reported.

Armijos, of East Hampton, was found in the woods a month after arriving on Long Island from Ecuador. Officials deemed her death a suicide.

The group claims town police immediately treated the death as a suicide without exploring the possibility of foul play.

"There was lots of evidence that a crime might've been involved," the group's senior attorney, Foster Maer, told 1010 WINS. " They never even looked into it; they walked over nearby footprints that showed her footprints intertwined with somebody else's and they didn't call in homicide detectives as they should have. They seemed to just want to declare this a suicide right away and walk away from it."

The group is demanding answers.

"We want them to take a look why was this put in a drawer and locked away? It should have been actively pursued from the beginning and it wasn't. Who made that decision and why? So we want to have an investigation as to why this was not investigated as a possible crime," Maer said.

Race may have played a factor in the handling of the case, Maer said.

"The police obviously have to serve the white, black and Latino communities equally," Maer said. "We've seen frequently that they do not investigate crimes against Latinos with the same energy and action as they do if it's a crime against a white resident."

The group is also calling on the Suffolk County Police Department to reopen the investigation into Armijos' death.

"Even though it's obviously quite a bit after the event there are leads that could be pursued, we believe, that might be fruitful," Maer said.

Cantwell declined comment pending a review of the letter by the town's attorney and the police.

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