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Human torso discovered on Queens beach may be that of missing Irish filmmaker Ross McDonnell, police believe
Ross McDonnell was last seen leaving his home on Taaffe Place near DeKalb Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn around 8:30 pm on November 4, the NYPD said
Police believe that a human torso discovered on a Queens beach may be that of prominent Irish filmmaker and photographer Ross McDonnell. Ross mysteriously disappeared in New York over a week back.
Law enforcement sources said that authorities are awaiting DNA test results, which they would need to make an official pronouncement about the 44-year-old’s fate. For now, it is believed that he may have drowned in the waters, following which his body was destroyed by some natural phenomena, New York Post reported. It then washed up on Breezy Point Beach.
Ross was last seen leaving his home on Taaffe Place near DeKalb Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn around 8:30 pm on November 4, the New York Police Department said. As per a circulating missing persons’ flyer, someone may have seen him at Fort Tilden Beach later that night, or the next morning.
Ross won an Emmy award back in 2021 for his cinematography on the Showtime series The Trade. Gene Gallerano, Ross’ friend, previously told The Irish Time that it seemed like Ross and had been on the , “went out into the ocean,” before vanishing.
“He was last seen last Saturday night; the alarm was sounded on Sunday. We don’t know much more than that,” Gallerano said. “It’s been a very, very emotionally heavy week.” According to the poster, Ross’ bike was found locked at the beach on Tuesday, November 7.
According to Ross’ website, he was born in Dublin, Ireland. His “early experience of travel and his love of cinema sparked a fascination with image making and storytelling,” the website says. It adds that Ross’ work “reflects his interest in the open-ended nature of non-fiction and the tensions, inherent in the photographic process, between transience and permanence.”
“Ross’ debut feature film Colony premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the IDFA First Feature Award as well as an Irish Film and Television Award Nomination. Since then Ross has continued working as an image maker moving between disciplines as a Director, Cinematographer and Producer. In 2021 he won an Emmy Award for his Cinematography on the Showtime series The Trade,” the website says.
It adds, “In 2019 he was shortlisted for the world’s pre-eminent photography award Prix Pictet in it’s cycle ‘Hope’. The work opened with an inaugural exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. A global exhibition tour continues through 2021. In 2018 he was Emmy Nominated for his Direction of the feature length documentary ‘Elián’ produced by CNN Films, BBC and Jigsaw Productions. His first monograph ‘Joyrider’ was published in October 2021.”
