NHPD photos
Denise Leary.
City police have identified the human remains found on Rock Creek Road last week as belonging to Denise Leary.
An initial press release posted to the New Haven Police Department’s (NHPD) X account last Friday stated that, last Thursday, at around 6:41 p.m., city police officers responded to the 100 block of Rock Creek Road in the West Rock neighborhood “after residents reported finding human remains while clearing brush in a wooded area behind the house.”
Because the remains “were in an advanced state of decay,” police were not immediately able to confirm the individual’s identity, gender, and race.
Detectives responded to the scene. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner arrived, removed the body, and conducted an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
On Tuesday, police posted a follow-up notice identifying the remains as belonging to Denise Leary, who was born in 1965. “Cause and manner of death are still pending.”
According to this November 2024 article by NBC News, Leary was last seen in New Haven on Sept. 29, 2024. She raised her two children in Atlanta. She reportedly moved to Connecticut in 2022 when her mother had a stroke.