Arthur Kinlaw: Murders Across New York and New Jersey
Overview
Arthur Kinlaw is an American convicted murderer whose crimes involved vulnerable women in New York and New Jersey during the early 1980s. He was convicted in 2000 of murdering two unidentified women and later became the accused killer of Dawn Rita Olanick, a 17-year-old Long Island teenager whose unidentified remains were known for four decades as “Princess Doe.” Investigators have described circumstances in which Kinlaw exploited women, attempted to involve them in prostitution, or exercised control over women who depended upon him for housing.
Kinlaw’s known crimes were especially difficult to investigate because two of his victims remained unidentified. One was recovered from the East River in 1984, while another remained buried beneath a concrete patio at Kinlaw’s former Bellport residence until 1999. The lack of confirmed identities complicated efforts to reconstruct the victims’ lives, locate their families, and determine precisely when they were killed.
The Murder of Dawn Rita Olanick
Dawn Rita Olanick was a 17-year-old girl from Long Island, New York. She had lived with her mother and sister and attended school in the Connetquot Central School District before leaving home in 1982. Authorities believe Olanick encountered Kinlaw after leaving her family’s residence. According to prosecutors, Kinlaw attempted to persuade or force the teenager into prostitution. When she refused, he transported her away from New York and killed her in northwestern New Jersey.
On July 15, 1982, a cemetery worker discovered the teenager’s body in a wooded section of Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. She had suffered severe injuries to her face and head, leaving her unrecognizable. Investigators could not determine her identity, and the case became one of New Jersey’s most widely publicized unidentified-person investigations. She was given the name “Princess Doe” and was buried in the same cemetery where her body had been abandoned.
Kinlaw contacted investigators from prison in 2005 and provided a written statement in which he admitted responsibility for killing the unidentified girl. Although his admissions contained information about the crime, prosecutors could not immediately bring the case to court because they still did not know the victim’s name. Without an identification, investigators had difficulty verifying important parts of his account and establishing the teenager’s movements before her death.
The mystery was finally resolved through forensic genetic genealogy. DNA obtained from the victim’s remains was compared with genealogical information, leading investigators to members of the Olanick family. Additional DNA testing confirmed in April 2022 that Princess Doe was Dawn Olanick. In July 2022, New Jersey authorities charged Kinlaw with first-degree murder. Prosecutors alleged that he killed Dawn after she resisted his effort to involve her in prostitution.
The Murder of Bellport Jane Doe
Another victim was a woman known to acquaintances as “Marie” or “Maria.” Her true identity has never been established. She lived at Kinlaw’s Michigan Avenue residence in Bellport, Suffolk County, New York, during 1983 and apparently rented a room from him. Investigators described her as a Black or Hispanic woman weighing approximately 300 pounds. She walked with a walker because of a previously shattered femur and may have worked in prostitution in New York City.
Kinlaw later admitted that he killed the woman during an argument over rent. He beat and stabbed her, then concealed her body beneath a concrete patio at the Bellport property. The burial prevented the discovery of the crime for approximately 16 years. In November 1999, acting on information supplied by Kinlaw’s wife, Suffolk County police searched the property and recovered the woman’s skeletal remains.
A rosary and a homemade blue jersey dress were found with her remains. Investigators have continued to use those belongings, her physical characteristics, forensic examinations, and updated facial reconstructions in an attempt to identify her. Kinlaw was convicted in Suffolk County in 2000 for her murder, even though prosecutors were unable to provide the jury with her legal name.
The Murder of the Woman Known as Linda
The second murder for which Kinlaw was convicted involved another unidentified woman known only as “Linda.” She was believed to have been a young adult. Her body was recovered from the East River in the Bronx on May 3, 1984. Available public records do not establish her exact date of death, although investigators determined that she had been killed shortly before her body was discovered.
Kinlaw was prosecuted in the Bronx for Linda’s murder. As in the Bellport case, the victim’s unidentified status complicated the investigation. Detectives could not easily trace her final movements, interview relatives, or establish all of the relationships in her life. Nevertheless, the evidence connected Kinlaw to her death, and he was convicted of second-degree murder.
Known Victims
- Dawn Rita Olanick: Age 17. Believed to have been killed in late June or early July 1982. Her body was discovered on July 15, 1982, in Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. She remained unidentified as “Princess Doe” until April 2022. Kinlaw was charged with her murder in July 2022.
- Bellport Jane Doe, known as “Marie” or “Maria”: Murdered in approximately 1983 at Kinlaw’s residence on Michigan Avenue in Bellport, Suffolk County, New York. Kinlaw admitted beating and stabbing her during an argument over rent. Her remains were recovered from beneath a concrete patio in November 1999. Her exact date of death and true identity remain unknown.
- Unidentified woman known as “Linda”: Exact date of death unknown. Her body was recovered from the East River in the Bronx, New York, on May 3, 1984. Kinlaw was convicted of her murder in 2000, but investigators have not publicly established her complete legal identity.
Investigation and Convictions
The investigation into Kinlaw developed over many years and crossed several jurisdictions. Suffolk County authorities investigated the woman buried in Bellport, Bronx investigators handled Linda’s death, and law-enforcement agencies in Warren County, New Jersey, worked to solve the Princess Doe case. The geographic separation of the crimes and the unidentified status of the victims initially prevented investigators from seeing the full scope of Kinlaw’s violence.
Kinlaw was convicted in 2000 in connection with the murders of Bellport Jane Doe and Linda. He received a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. While incarcerated, he began communicating with investigators about the Princess Doe homicide. On May 5, 2005, authorities received a letter in which he expressed a desire to confess. He subsequently gave investigators a formal statement and an affidavit describing his responsibility for the unidentified teenager’s death.
His confession did not immediately close the case. Investigators needed independent evidence that could corroborate his account, particularly the victim’s identity. Continued DNA testing and genealogical research finally supplied the missing information in 2022. Once Dawn Olanick was identified, prosecutors were able to connect her history and disappearance to the details Kinlaw had provided years earlier.
Unresolved Questions
Important questions remain about Kinlaw’s crimes. Bellport Jane Doe and Linda have not been publicly identified, leaving their families potentially unaware of what happened to them. Investigators have continued releasing forensic reconstructions and descriptions in the hope that someone will recognize Bellport Jane Doe or remember a woman named Marie or Maria who disappeared from the New York City or Long Island area during the early 1980s.
The absence of exact death dates for the unidentified women reflects the length of time their remains went undiscovered and the limited information available about their lives. Bellport Jane Doe was killed sometime around 1983, while Linda was found on May 3, 1984, but may have died days or weeks earlier. For that reason, discovery dates should not be mistaken for confirmed dates of death.
Legacy of the Cases
Arthur Kinlaw’s case illustrates how unidentified victims can remain hidden within the criminal justice system for decades. Although he was convicted of two murders, the women themselves remained without confirmed names. The identification of Dawn Olanick demonstrated how modern DNA analysis and genetic genealogy can restore a victim’s identity even after traditional investigative methods have been exhausted.
Dawn’s identification also allowed her surviving relatives to learn what had happened after she disappeared in 1982. For decades, residents of Blairstown had remembered Princess Doe through memorial services and a gravestone placed near the location where she was found. Once her name was restored, the anonymous teenager at the center of the case could finally be remembered as Dawn Rita Olanick.
Kinlaw remains imprisoned under his New York sentence. His convictions and later prosecution connected three murders committed during the early 1980s, but the continuing effort to identify the two unnamed women remains an essential part of the case. Until their identities are established, the histories of Bellport Jane Doe and Linda—and the complete account of Kinlaw’s crimes—remain unfinished.
