Police discover boy's remains in NY family's backyard

FARMINGDALE, NY -- A landlord evicted their tenants after a child's remains were found in the backyard.

After three days, the landlords said they'd had enough.

Tuesday they evicted the couple who rented their home and piled their belongings in the driveway.

"This is my family's property for 52 years, I rented it to what I thought was a nice couple, and they turned out to do this in my family's yard, it's pitiful what they did to that poor child, and then they made their other children play in that yard. Some people got no conscience," said Angela Lancia, the landlord.

Angela Lancia and her husband, Luigi have been barely able to eat or sleep after learning the dark secret that existed here for more than two years.

Seventeen-month-old Justin Kowalczik was buried in their backyard in the summer of 2010.

Police say his mother, Heather Kowalczik, led them to the little boy's body this weekend after she was confronted by a social worker about the child's whereabouts.

Robert Rodriguez is her live-in boyfriend and the father of her two older sons, but not the father of Justin.

Police have identified him as a "person of interest" in the case.

Landlord Luigi Lancia is furious.

"Why he's not in jail? Why what kind of system do we have, what kind of system? They find him! What are they waiting for? They're waiting for evidence!" Luigi Lancia said.

The landlords said the couple paid their rent on-time but lived in filth.

They kept the windows open all winter and ran-up a thousand-dollar-a-month heating bill.

The Lancias evicted the couple because they're so revolted over what's happened.

This story is from our sister station, WABC-TV in New York.

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new york, national/world, n.j. burkett

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