By Bryan Schwartzman
Worthy was found by police bound and gagged inside a plastic bag at about 1 p.m. in Springfield Park just off Springfield Boulevard, said Cadet John Buthorn, a police spokesman.
She was found just five days after another woman, Tracy Jackson, was found dead in nearby Rosedale, also in a plastic bag.
Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office, said the cause of death in both cases was still under investigation. Police had not made any arrests, said Buthorn.
A source in the 105th Police Precinct said authorities were investigating if the two crimes were related and were considering the possibility the two victims knew each other.
Warren Hinson, a friend of Jackson, said she had disappeared with a friend named Star several days before she was found dead Lennie Nunez, Jackson's grandmother, said Worthy went by the name of “Star” or “Angie.”
Family and friends attended Jackson's funeral Jan. 3 in Harlem.
Jackson was a mother of four who spent her high school years in Springfield Gardens but had been living in South Jamaica at the time of her death.
Jackson, 28, had a 3-year old daughter, two younger children, and a newborn. Relatives said all of the children were in foster care at the time of Jackson's death.
Roy Nunez, 38, Jackson's uncle, has custody of Jackson's oldest daughter and plans to adopt her.
“I raised this girl,” Nunez said, referring to Jackson. When Jackson's father died of cancer in 1986, she moved from Staten Island to live with her family in Springfield Gardens.
Nunez is also married and has several children of his own, including a 23-year-old.
“My plate is really full,” he said.
After graduating from Springfield Gardens High School, Jackson held several jobs, including working as a security guard, but she had run into trouble with drugs, Nunez said.
“She was trying to get her life back together,” he said. “She went back to school.”
Jackson said he has no idea who would have wanted his niece dead.
“We need this person caught,” he said. “You can't go around murdering people.”
