Murder of George Seitz

George "Clarence" Seitz (December 12, 1894 – December 10, 1976)[1] was an American World War I military veteran,[2] who was murdered in the neighborhood of Jamaica in New York City on December 10, 1976. Police recovered his remains 43 years later, and arrested his alleged murderer in 2021.

George Clarence Seitz
Born(1894-12-12)December 12, 1894
Long Island City, NY
DisappearedDecember 10, 1976(1976-12-10) (aged 81)
Jamaica, New York City, U.S.
Cause of deathHomicide
Body discoveredQueens, New York City
NationalityAmerican
Known forCold-case homicide victim identified through genetic investigation 45 years after his murder

Disappearance

The victim was a World War I veteran who went by "Clarence".[1] He was reported missing after leaving his house to get a haircut;[3] at the time, Seitz was 81 years old.[3]

Investigation

There were no leads and the investigation was placed in the cold cases file, abandoned for decades.[3] However, in early 2019, a woman in her 50s informed the police that as an 11-year-old girl,[4] she had seen her mother's companion dismember and bury a body.[5] The police used dogs to scour the property where she had lived at the time, and found human remains, but were unable to identify the victim.[3] Only the pelvis and part of the torso were found.[1]

Identification of victim

Using material from the remains, investigators generated a genetic profile. Two years later, still unable to identify Steitz as the victim, the FBI were called upon,[1] as well as an external forensic genealogy laboratory, Othram[3][6] Detectives were then able to find close relatives and identified Seitz through DNA samples.[3]

Arrest, plea, and sentencing

Investigators identified the man mentioned by the informant as Martin Motta.[1][3] He and his brother had owned the barbershop,[7] where Seitz visited when he disappeared, located only a few city blocks from Seitz' home[3][5] He was arrested, arraigned,[3] and indicted by a grand jury in November 2021.[1][3][5]

Motta pled guilty in October 2022, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on November 7.[8]

See also

References
  1. Garger, Kenneth (2021-11-03). "NYC man charged in cold-case killing of WWI vet missing since 1976". New York Post. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  2. Ancestry.com. New York, Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919 [database online]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022. Original source: New York, U.S., Abstracts of World War I Military Service, 1917-1919 for George C Seitz, WWI Army Cards, Seifert, E - Semple, H (Box 548).
  3. Watkins, Ali; Schweber, Nate (2021-11-04). "Bones in the Backyard: How Police Cracked a Grisly Cold Case". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  4. McShane, Ellen Moynihan, Rocco Parascandola, Larry. "NYC girl watched as killer dismembered World War I veteran inside Queens barbershop". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. "Queens Man Martin Motta Arrested In Connection To 1976 Murder Of World War I Veteran George Seitz". CBS-NY Television. 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  6. "Murdered World War I Veteran from Queens is now Identified". DNASolves.com. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  7. "Queens Man Martin Motta Arrested In Connection To 1976 Murder Of World War I Veteran George Seitz". 2021-11-04. Retrieved 2021-11-08.
  8. "Former Queens barber Martin Motta sentenced in grisly 1976 dismemberment murder of World War I veteran George Seitz". cbsnews.com. CBS News. Retrieved 5 July 2023.


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