The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE are holding two men for questioning in connection with the shocking double murder of a mother and daughter that has rocked the tight-knit community of Salt Pond, Long Island.

Two days after they were reported missing, the bodies of Melissa Hui and her mother Jane Harding were found in the quiet settlement.

Ms Harding’s body was found on Friday around 10am and Ms Hui’s body was found around 3pm, according to Superintendent Harvin Curtis. Ms Harding, he said, was partially nude. Chief Superintendent of Police Solomon Cash said yesterday it is uncertain whether the women were sexually assaulted, adding that post-mortem analysis will now be conducted.

The Tribune understands that two men, one 19 and the other 26, are in custody as police conduct a homicide investigation.

Nearly everywhere Ms Hui went, her mother followed. They shopped together, ran errands together and lived together in the small settlement of Salt Pond.

“Melissa didn’t believe in leaving the mummy,” an elderly relative, who did not want to be identified, recalled yesterday. “Like the Bible says, so shall you live, so shall you die. They went together.”

Ms Hui, 34, worked at the community gas station. She was the breadwinner and her mother, 62, took care of the household needs, washing the clothes, cleaning the house and preparing the meals, residents said.

Betty Miller, 53, owns a convenience store in the community of fewer than 100 people.

She said she will miss Ms Hui’s frequent visits to her store. The 34-year-old, she said, frequently talked about wanting to improve her life and was especially interested in building a house on a property she had acquired.

“She was always smiling and was quiet,” Ms Miller said. “It feels like a link is gone.”

In small communities like Salt Pond, the residents are all familiar with each other and have family linkages.

Another elderly relative of the victims, who declined to give her name, said the violent deaths of two people everyone knew from they were young is especially difficult.

“It’s usually a quiet settlement, that’s all we were ever used to since I knew this place. We never experienced anything like this,” she said.

This is the first homicide in Long Island since 2017. Though murders are rare on the island, the ones that occur are typically gruesome, shocking and happen to people residents least expect.

In 2017, Eleanor Dean, 54, was hacked to death. Her husband, Philip Dean, 61, was charged with her murder.

In 2015, a retired doctor, Harry Geoffrey Harding, 88, was found stabbed to death in his home.

And in 2014, Andrea Carroll, 53, was found dead in her house with her hands and feet bound.

Adrian Gibson, the Long Island MP, said he met family of the deceased women to express condolences.

“It was an emotional and heart wrenching visit,” he said yesterday.

In a statement released on Friday, Mr Gibson said he was troubled by the murders.

“I am deeply saddened and troubled by what has occurred,” he said. “To have their lives abruptly taken for reasons we will never understand has truly shaken our community to the core.”