Coram resident Jonathan Roman was arrested early last Friday afternoon for the murder of his uncle, John Frankowski of New Hyde Park, according to Nassau County Police.

Frankowski, 71, was reported missing on Saturday, March 1, by his son who resides in Florida, detectives said.

During a subsequent investigation, Nassau County missing person detectives determined Roman, 42, of 5 Grove Avenue, Coram had an argument with his uncle which escalated, resulting in Frankowski’s death.  

On the day of the arrest, the Nassau County homicide squad along with a Suffolk County K9 unit recovered the victim’s body buried in a wooded area behind Roman’s home. 

Frankowski was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:45 p.m.

Roman pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder in the second degree at his arraignment on March 8 at 1st District Court in Hempstead. He was held without bail and  was scheduled to return to court on March 11. He was represented by a legal aid attorney at the arraignment.  

Nassau County prosecutors reportedly said Roman killed Frankowski by strangling him.

Frankowski’s son, John Frankowski, Jr., said his father and his cousin had been engaged in a dispute over the estate of his father’s late mother, according to news reports. The elder Frankowski, an accountant, reportedly had been put in charge of his mother’s trust after she died in June 2013.

In court last Saturday, Roman reportedly said he is an unemployed electrician living on public assistance.

The younger Frankowski is reported to have said his father was about to be his best man at his wedding in three weeks.

Attempts to contact John Frankowski Jr. were unavailing.  

Sandra Roman, Roman’s mother, reportedly denied her son was concerned about the money in her late mother’s estate. She also reportedly said her dead brother was attempting to gain control of the estate, which was to be divided evenly between her mother’s heirs.

An elderly neighbor of the late Frankowski’s, who declined to be identified, described him as a reclusive man who did not interact with his Second Street neighbors in New Hyde Park.

She said he was a parishioner at St. Hedwig’s Church in Floral Park. She also said he was a veteran of the U.S. Army.

An official at the New Hyde Park Funeral Home, which is handling funeral arrangements, said Frankowski’s family directed that no information about him be released.

A staff member at St. Hedwig’s declined to say whether a funeral mass would be held there, but also said the family directed the church to release no information.