MANHATTAN, New York — Two men have been charged in the murder of a Connecticut man whose body was found stabbed and burned Wednesday in a shallow grave.
Joseph Comunale, 26, was last seen alive at a party with friends Saturday at the Grand Sutton, a luxury apartment, according to WPIX.
The friends left but Comunale willingly stayed behind.
"We uncovered a substantial amount of blood evidence inside the building, inside plastic bags that were downstairs through the garbage chute. (In the bags) were his clothing," New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said during a press conference Wednesday.
Police were called with a tip to Comunale's body and a police dog made the grim discovery in Oceanport, New Jersey, 55 miles from where he was last seen alive, according to ABC News.
Comunale, who attended Hofstra University, was stabbed 15 times and his body burned, according to the Monmouth county coroner and medical examiner.
James Rackover, 25, of Manhattan, who hosted the party in his third floor apartment, and Lawrence Dilione, 28, of New Jersey, were charged with second-degree murder, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence, according to the New York Police Department. Dilione is also charged with hindering prosecution in the first degree, according to ABC News.
Rackover is the son to well-known jeweler Jeffrey Rackover, whose client list includes Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez and Melania Trump, according to the New York Daily News.
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