Remembering the victim of a brutal and bizarre murder

 

Kelly Ann Tinyes

A meditative reflection garden will be created at Grant Park in Hewlett to commemorate Kelly Ann Tinyes, a Valley Stream 13-year-old who was brutally beaten, mutilated and strangled by neighbor Robert Golub in 1989.

The Nassau Legislature's Rules committee on Monday quietly accepted a donation of $25,000 to $30,000, successfully fundraised by the Hewlett Woodmere Public Schools Endowment fund,  to cover the costs of installing a memorial garden, including pavers, benches and shrubbery, in the county park. It will be named the "Kelly A Tinyes Meditative Reflection Garden." 

The full legislature will be asked to vote on the gift at its next meeting.

Tinyes was a student at the Woodmere Middle School when she disappeared one early March afternoon after an answering a phone call while babysitting her little brother.

Her slashed and naked body was found the next afternoon stuffed in a sleeping bag in a neighbor's basement.

Golub, then 21, was charged with her murder. He and his family lived on the same surburban block on Horton Road.

The murder rocked Long Island for years. As the Long Island Herald reported, the murder was so horrific that it was dubbed  “Hell on Horton Road” and captured national attention for its brutality. It was also one of the first cases in the United States to rely on DNA evidence to secure a conviction of Golub after a year-long trial.

The Herald also noted that news accounts from the trial indicated Tinyes fought back during the 20 mintues she was reportedly beaten and slashed with an 18-inch bayonet before dying by strangulation.

Rumors and suspicions that others were involved in the murder continued for 20 years  while the Tinyes and Golubs continued to live five houses away from each other, trading insults, lawsuits and police reports. The strained continuing relationship seemed incredibly grueling at the time.

The Golubs finally moved in 2009.

Golub was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.  Despite all the prison releases that have occurred in the past year because of criminal justice reforms and the coronavirus pandemic, he is still in custody in Fishkill, according to the state corrections department.

He has a parole hearing in November.  So far, the state parole board has denied him early release every two years since 2013, citing the depravity and brutality of his crime.