The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

TWO men in custody for the killings of a mother and daughter in Long Island will likely learn today if either or both will be charged with murder, Chief Superintendent of Police Solomon Cash said yesterday.

The Tribune understands the men are 19 and 26.

The bodies of Melissa Hui, 34, and Jane Harding, 62, were found on Friday, two days after they were reporting missing.

Yesterday, CSP Cash said police believe whoever killed the women intended to rob them but ultimately did not steal anything from their house. 

Ms Harding’s partially nude body was found on Friday around 10am and Ms Hui’s body was found around 3pm, police said.

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.

This is the first homicide in Long Island since 2017. 

Though murders are rare on the island, the ones that occur are typically gruesome and shocking, happening 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.

There have been 13 murders for the year, according to Tribune records.