Year in Review: Five Big Crime Stories in 2012

Police Search for Man Who Shot Gun in Sound Beach

A late February night was disrupted by helicopters hovering over Sound Beach, Miller Place and Rocky Point searching for a man who had shot a gun in Sound Beach. Residents were put on alert and distressed by phone calls from Police that they were searching for a man whose face was painted white with black triangles above and below his eyes wearing a black beanie hat and a black sweatshirt.

The man had reportedly approached a group of people outside of a home on Waterville Drive around 10:30 p.m. and released a round in to the air before fleeing on foot. The man was not found that night and no arrests have been made relating to this incident.

Rocky Point teen Ryan Baumgartner was killed in an early Saturday crash in April and the driver, Thomas Smith, 20, of Ridge, was arrested on charges of driving while ability impaired by drugs, Suffolk County police said. The teens were said to have been heading home from a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey when Smith fell asleep and slammed in to a tree off William Floyd Parkway, killing two passengers.

A 15-year-old Miller Place boy was charged with DWI after a two-car crash on Echo Avenue and Sylvan Avenue on a Sunday night in October, according to police.

Police said the boy was injured and taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. According to Miller Place Fire Department First Assistant Chief Kyle Markott, the two people in the other car were also injured and taken to the hospital.

Body Found at Yaphank Recycling Center Identified as Rocky Point Man

Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives investigated the death of Joseph Chancellor of Rocky Point, whose body was found at the Eastern Resources Recycling center in Yaphank in August. Chancellor, 42, was found among refuse by employees at 6:55 a.m, Police said.  The body and refuse had just been discarded at the facility by a garbage truck.

Tennessee Shooting Victim a Rocky Point Grad

Taylor Hotzoglou, a shooting victim found dead on the side of the road near his Tennessee home in April, was a 2007 graduate of Rocky Point High School.

According to a News Channel 5 report out of Clarksville, Tenn., Hotzoglou, 22, was found in his car on the side of the road in what was thought to be the result of an accident. Clarksville Police later found that Hotzoglou had been shot in his upper body, though they did not say where or how many times.