Community shaken by shooting death of 100-year old womanBY ANDREW STRICKLER AND JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER | [email protected], [email protected]
8:51 PM EDT, September 2, 2008
North Haven is a place where residents pride themselves on keeping lights low so they can see the stars, a placid community where you're more likely to find a deer in the road than a police cruiser.

But the calm of the village, nestled on a spit of land between Sag Harbor and Shelter Island, was shaken with the violent death of Jessie Burke. Burke, who turned 100 years old last month, was shot in the head Sunday in the home she shared with her daughter.

"To be honest with you, I've never locked my house or my car," said Fred Stelle, a local architect and former deputy mayor. "I may start now."

The shooting was the topic du jour yesterday outside Murf's bar in Sag Harbor Village, about a mile from the crime scene. M.J. Radziewicz said that when he heard about the homicide, he figured it was a mistake.



"Nothing like this ever happens here," he said, drinking beer out of a wine glass. "People keep their keys in the ignition."

A neighbor of the Burkes', Missie Mahoney, 38, said the death brought more vehicles down the road than she'd seen all year. Her boyfriend, Jeremy Karl, 38, said safety is never a concern. "You have more deer here than people. There's no streetlights, there's nothing."

Police have questioned Burke's daughter, Margaret Jean Burke, 76, who found her mother's body, as well as others. No arrests have been made.

A woman at the Burke home on Payne Avenue yesterday declined to speak with a reporter. Reached by phone, one of Burke's children, John Burke, 72, of Oceanside, Calif., said his sister was "in an absolute state of shock.

"To have found our mother like this, I can't imagine it," he said. "We don't know how something like this can happen." Citing advice from an attorney, he declined to comment further.

Margaret Burke has at times been a strong voice in the quiet village, a political gadfly who often sparred with village trustees at public meetings.

Her attorney, Colin Patrick Astarita, of Southampton, said Margaret Burke was a New York City parole officer for 33 years before retiring as a supervisor.

She turned over clothes she wore Sunday as well as her 2002 Toyota sedan to police, he said. She also allowed investigators to swab her hands to test for gunpowder residue.

Her interview with detectives focused primarily on Margaret Burke's whereabouts on Sunday, Astarita said. She told police she left her mother home alone about 11:30 a.m. and drove to a nearby garbage and recycling station to make a drop-off. Burke then shopped at King Kullen and a farm stand before she returned home and finding her mother dead about 12:30 p.m., she reported. The family "has been over-the-top helpful, as they should be," he said.

Margaret Burke bought the property in 1991 and lived "comfortably in the house together" with her mother since then, Astarita said.

Stelle described Margaret Burke as an opinionated, often critical voice at trustee meetings in past years. "She always spoke very forcefully about whatever issues were concerning her," Stelle said.

She ran an insurgent mayoral campaign in 1994 because she disagreed with how the village was handling a surge in the deer population. After losing the election, Margaret Burke continued to appear at village meetings and was often at odds with officials, Stelle said.

Jeffrey Sander, 66, a village trustee since June 2007, said he remembered Margaret Burke as an active participant in a contentious debate over zoning. "She was someone who was interested in the community and what was going on," he said.


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Really, NOTHING happens in North Haven...
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