Body Found in Storage Unit May Be Missing Staten Island Teacher, Police Say

[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

Jeanine Cammarata was last seen alive on Saturday night while she was driving to Queens to visit her two children who lived with her estranged husband.

Ms. Cammarata, a first-grade teacher in Staten Island, had filed for divorce in February, which started a difficult and contentious custody battle with her husband, Michael Cammarata. The two were scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

But Ms. Cammarata never showed up. The following day, she didn’t report for work either.

On Thursday, five days after Ms. Cammarata, 37, went missing, the police were investigating whether charred human remains that were found at a Staten Island storage facility were hers — and whether Mr. Cammarata was involved in her disappearance.

The city medical examiner’s office was conducting an autopsy to formally identify the remains, which were found in a bag inside a storage unit and were burned beyond recognition, William F. Aubry, assistant chief of the Detective Bureau, said on Thursday.

But the police said that the body appeared to be linked to Ms. Cammarata’s case, Chief Aubry said. They were now exploring the possibility that she was murdered, and have focused their investigation on Mr. Cammarata, 42, Chief Aubry said.

“With the discovery of these human remains, the investigation has taken a turn into a murder investigation,” Chief Aubry said. “We are working with the Staten Island district attorney to establish probable cause and to charge him with murder.”

Image

Mr. Cammarata was taken into custody earlier this week on charges that he assaulted and stalked his wife in earlier incidents unrelated to her disappearance, Chief Aubry said.

As of Thursday, he was being held at the 120th Precinct while detectives continued to search for evidence at the Extra Space Storage facility on Arden Avenue in Staten Island, Chief Aubry said.

Officials did not provide the name of Mr. Cammarata’s lawyer, and so they could not be reached for comment.

Ms. Cammarata, who was reported missing on Tuesday, had been at her boyfriend’s home in Staten Island, about six miles from her own residence, on Saturday night. After leaving his house, she was on her way to the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, Chief Aubry said.

Friends and family became alarmed when Ms. Cammarata, who had been teaching at a Staten Island public school since October and also had a part-time job at a Dollar Tree, did not show up at the school on Tuesday.

Her lawyer, Eric M. Gansberg, said it was also surprising that she failed to show up for her court appearance on Monday. He last spoke to her on Friday to confirm she was coming, he said.

Mr. Cammarata separated from her husband nearly two years ago, when she left the home they shared because of “domestic violence,” Mr. Gansberg said.

The couple had a troubling history of marital conflict dating back to 2016, Chief Aubry said. He added that the assault charges against Mr. Cammarata stemmed from that history.

After separating in 2017, the couple had worked out a visitation agreement for Ms. Cammarata to see their 7-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son. Ms. Cammarata had agreed to allow the children to remain with Mr. Cammarata in the family’s home in Staten Island, since it was a house that they were familiar with, Mr. Gansberg said.

After her husband moved to Far Rockaway, however, she became unhappy with their arrangement and decided to file for divorce, Mr. Gansberg said.

“She came to me and said she had to take action,” Mr. Gansberg said. “Her husband was being dictatorial about when she could see the children.”

Ms. Cammarata’s friend and landlord, Jose Perez, said that Ms. Cammarata had complained that her husband had made it difficult for her to spend time with the children.

“She was very angry about not being able to see her kids,” Mr. Perez said. “He didn’t follow his end of the agreement.”

Mr. Perez also said Ms. Cammarata had told him that her husband harassed her. She told Mr. Perez, who lived above Ms. Cammarata, that her husband followed her in his car and sent her menacing text messages.

“It was not good,” he said. “It was all sexual and inappropriate.”

Ms. Cammarata’s reports alarmed Mr. Perez enough that he told her to watch out for her physical safety.

“I told her, ‘You better be careful,’” he said. “She said, ‘Oh, he’s harmless, he would never do anything to me.’”

In addition to her children with Mr. Cammarata, who police said had been placed in the care of the city, Ms. Cammarata also has a child with her first husband. She has been an employee of the city’s Department of Education since 2005.

The boyfriend at whose house she was last seen, Aaron Suchecki, did not respond to requests for comment.

Family members of Ms. Cammarata, who has a younger brother and sister, have also been anxious about her whereabouts.

Her mother, AnnMarie Ross, said on Wednesday that she had been struggling to make sense of her daughter’s absence.

“She’s very assertive, she’s strong-willed, she’s a workaholic, she’s determined, she’s smart, witty and for her to become missing is very puzzling to me, because she’s a fighter,” said Ms. Ross.

Corina Knoll, Ashley Southall and Ali Watkins contributed reporting.