A shocking case has rocked Queens, where police uncovered the dismembered remains of a missing woman—identified by nothing less than her unmistakable rose tattoo—after months of heartbreak and mystery.
The victim, 27-year-old Christina Purdie, vanished back in May while working the nightlife as a stripper, her family revealed in an emotional conversation with The Post. Her cousin, Geneva Purdie, said Christina had abruptly cut ties with loved ones before her disappearance, leaving her mother and relatives desperately searching for answers.
In early August, a worker from the Department of Transportation stumbled across human body parts scattered off the Jackie Robinson Parkway, the gruesome scene unfolding near Cypress Hills Cemetery around 10:30 a.m. Only a unique floral tattoo and some jewelry on the decomposed body offered clues for investigators trying to piece together the victim’s identity.
The turning point came when the NYPD released a photo of the rose tattoo, prompting Geneva and the Purdie family to recognize it instantly as Christina’s. Her devastated mother was then forced to visit the city morgue—confronting the heartbreaking truth she’d been fearing since Christina went missing.
Geneva, now 41, confirmed, “Christina isolated herself from everyone. She was dancing, maybe more. I can’t say exactly, but she got caught up in that world.” Christina’s nickname among friends and relatives was “Gemini,” a name that now echoes in their memories.
The family’s pain is intensified by the swirling mystery around the murder. “We don’t know if it’s the work of a serial predator or someone familiar to us. The case just sits, like it’s destined to go cold,” Geneva lamented, adding that the killer’s identity remains a complete enigma.
Prior to her death, Christina lived in The Bronx with a boyfriend and his mother—neither of whom notified relatives when she disappeared in May. One of the few people she regularly stayed in contact with was her cousin Desmond. “We’d always check in: ‘Desmond, have you seen her?’ He’d say, ‘Yes, Gemini stopped by,’ or ‘I saw her at the corner.’ But suddenly she was gone. Desmond said he hadn’t seen her in a week—and then the silence was deafening,” Geneva recalled.
Underneath the tragedy, Geneva remembers Christina as light-hearted and spirited. “She was the one who’d have you smiling—no alcohol required. Always joking to brighten your day, never to put you down.”
Months have slipped by since the shocking discovery, and with no suspects, Christina Purdie’s murder lingers as one of NYC’s most unsettling unsolved crimes.
