Photo: Instagram
She was killed in 2016.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on Mar 25, 2019
Investigative journalist Billy Jensen has set out to solve the murder of Jennifer Cohen.
Jensen, one of the hosts of the new true-crime podcast "The Murder Squad" with criminal investigator Paul Holes, focuses on unsolved homicides and is determined to find the man who was last seen with 35-year-old Cohen. Jensen has dubbed her case his "white whale."
Cohen's murder has gone unsolved for two-and-a-half years but Jensen plans to change that. Throughout his career as a digital detective, he has solved or helped solved 10 homicides. WIll this be his eleventh?
So who is Jennifer Cohen? Here's everything you need to know about her and her murder.
1. She was brutally murdered.
On Sept. 29, 2016, Cohen was found beaten to death on a half-pipe in Owl Head Skate Park in Bay Ridge, ABC7 reported at the time. Her body was discovered just after 9 a.m. and she was declared dead at the scene with severe head and face trauma and "multiple lacerations" to her head. Her death was ruled a homicide.
"It was a brutal scene. It was a bad scene," Det. Robert Agron told the news outlet, recalling the incident a year later.
2. She was a mother of two who struggled with drugs.
Cohen had two children and a very loving family, but spend the last few days of her life on the streets. She was struggling with drug addiction and had been arrested a total of 24 times. Most of her charges were misdemeanors, such as drug possession and petty larceny or for engaging in prostitution, ABC7 reported in 2017.
"I told her to stay off the stinking streets, especially at night," said Harry Lavin, Cohen's grandfather. "You try to tell them what's best for them but they do what they want."
3. She was last seen with an unidentified man.
The last time Cohen was seen alive she was with a man who has yet to be identified. Surveillance footage shows Cohen walking with the mysterious man just hours before she was found dead, NBC reported in October 2016. The pair were strolling down Second Avenue at 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2016.
Jensen has named the man “Owl’s Head Park, Brooklyn Man," and is determined to find out who he is.
“I saw him and said, ‘I’m gonna get this guy in a week,’” Jensen said at his “How to Solve a Murder” seminar at Gramcery Theatre during the Death Becomes Us true crime festival Thursday, Oxygen reported.
Jensen said the man “very much looks identifiable,” noting his unique stride and the fact that he seems to like to ash his cigarettes over sewer grates.
According to police, the suspect is thought to be 5-foot-8 and weighs 175 pounds.
4. Jensen has created a Facebook page dedicated to finding her killer.
Jensen started the Facebook page, Owl's Head Park, Brooklyn Man, in an effort to spread the word of the killer and hopefully reach someone who knows who he is. The page has over 500 followers and posts videos and photos along with information regarding the unidentified man, hoping a tip from a citizen detective will lead him to Cohen's murderer.
The page, along with Jensen's location-specific ads, has brought in a number of tips about the male in the footage, but Jensen has had no luck solving Cohen's murder. That isn't stopping him from trying, though.
“I said, ‘I’m going to be looking for this guy my entire f***ing life,'" he said Thursday.
NYPD
5. Police have not given up.
As the years go by, police continue to ask for the public's help in identifying Cohen's killer. Agron even keeps two photos of Cohen on his desk.
"I keep them yeah," He told ABC7 in 2017. "Just so she is not forgotten. I have not forgotten her."
Jensen's recent renewal of efforts has brought Cohen's death into the light years later, which may bring authorities new information about her murder.
Anyone with information regarding Cohen's death or the man she was last seen with is urged to call NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. All tips are confidential.
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.