Suspect Identified In 1974 Cold Case Murder Of Barbara Waldman, NCPD Announce

Content Warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault and murder.

MINEOLA, NY. — 52 years after the brutal murder of Barbara Waldman in her Oceanside home, the Nassau County Police Department announced the identity of the man suspected of killing of the mother of three Wednesday.

In a press conference featuring Nassau County police personnel, FBI agents and Waldman’s three children, Marla, Larry and Eric, Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder announced the identification of the suspect as Thomas Generazio, a former sanitation worker in Oceanside born Feb. 1 1947, who died of cancer at 57 years-old.

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For Waldman’s children, who were 5, 6 and 7 years-old at the time of their mother’s murder, the identification of the suspect was a source of relief, even with the knowledge that this wouldn’t bring their mother back.

“Although this will not bring our mother back, or undo childhood traumas, it has allowed my brothers and I to achieve a sense of peace and relief,” Waldman’s daughter, Marla, said. “We no longer have a black cloud of uncertainty that has haunted us for decades.”

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On the subject of Generazio being deceased, Marla said the goal of having her mother’s murder solved went beyond the pursuit of legal repercussions.

“We can finally put it to rest. Yes, the perpetrator is deceased, and you ask why it matters. He’s dead, death of offender. But it does, it matters. It matters to me and my brothers very much,” Marla said. “The innate desire and goal of solving my mother’s murder case was not about seeking legal punishment. It is an emotional and psychological resolution, a closure that allows us as a family to acknowledge that her death was a serious crime, put unresolved trauma behind us, and honor our mother’s memory with a full understanding of the facts — The truth.”

Ryder said Wednesday that Generazio had, “committed a violent sexual assault,” against Waldman on Jan. 11, 1974 before shooting her in the head while she laid on the floor of her home, tied up with her own stockings.

Ryder said that the department had eyewitness reports that identified someone running away from the house and a sketch of the man, but said that there was no DNA testing being done in 1974.

(Tom Gambardella/Patch) The sketch Nassau County Police showed of Thomas Generazio Wednesday.

As for how the department was able to identify Generazio, Ryder said a light DNA match had been found in August of 2024 that set detectives down a trail that led to the former sanitation worker.

Ryder said Generazio had two other arrests on his record, one for assault and one for stolen property, but said DNA wasn’t taken off Generazio at the time of those arrests because DNA wasn’t being tested at the time.

With the help of FBI investigative genetic genealogy, or IGG, Ryder said authorities worked backwards after the DNA match, interviewing family members and others, “working it all the way back to 1974.”

Ultimately, Ryder said, the man they identified was already dead.

“We would have liked to see him in jail for that entire time for the brutal murder that he did,” Ryder said. “The animal that he was that day, taking that mother from her three children, just inexcusable.”

Ryder told the press Wednesday that Generazio had lived in Oceanside and had not been known to the department as a potential suspect at the time of his passing. He didn’t say what motive Generazio may have had.

Also speaking to the press Wednesday was Marla’s brother, Larry, who said that the siblings, “have been hurting for a really long time.”

While he said he regrets everything that happened to his mother, Larry said there had been an unexpected side effect of the terrible thing that happened when he was a child.

“It [has] probably made me a better fiance to my fiance, a better father to my daughter, cherishing every day, cherishing the women in my life, cherishing friends, but obviously we wish she was here,” Larry said. “And it’s also vindication for my father, Jerry Waldman, who went to his deathbed not really knowing who or what. So it’s a bittersweet day for me.”

On that point about their father, a dentist, Marla said there had been suspicions of their father going back to when she and her brothers were still kids.

“As children, we heard many times that people were suspicious of my father, and that he may have had something to do with my mom’s murder,” Marla said. “This powerful social mark of disgrace was heavy and hurtful to our family. My dad, being who he was, had to be strong for his children, never ran from rumors…He continued to work, live, raise his family, and become a well-loved member of the Oceanside community. Happily, today, 52 years later, I get to say to the world that our father, Jerry Waldman, is exonerated. He was a victim, not a villain.”

Waldman’s son, Eric, who found her dead in their home 52 years ago, expressed a similar sentiment to that of his sister when speaking to the press Wednesday. Some closure had been delivered with the identification of Generazio, Eric said, but it was incomplete.

“I’ve had the image of my mom in my head since I’m five. It won’t go away until I die,” Eric said. “So I’m just really appreciative for the detectives, for figuring it out. It doesn’t give me complete closure, because my mother’s not here, and it was a brutal murder. But it gives me some kind of closure, and I think it’s a great day.”

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