Volunteer firefighters place flowers at a makeshift memorial at a sign for the Sandy Hook Elementary school on Saturday, Dec. 15 in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Conn.
Syracuse, NY -- Connecticut shooting victim Mary Joy Sherlach, who worked as a school psychologist at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. has Central New York ties.
Sherlach, 56, is one of only two people so far identified from Friday's shooting that claimed 28 lives, including 20 children, owns a home on Burtis Point Road, which runs along the northeastern shore of Owasco Lake in Auburn, according to public records and neighbors in Cayuga County.
Sharon Springer, a neighbor on Burtis Point, said the Sherlachs had been coming up for years, staying at the house formerly owned by Mary Joy's father, Jack E. Greene. Mary and her husband William, purchased the house in April 2011, from the Jack E. Greene Trust, according to Cayuga County property records.
"They were very nice," said Springer. "Mary would sometimes babysit for our sons when they were little. I didn't know her that well, but she talked of retiring soon so that they could spend more time here on the lake."
Sherlach's online bio says "We enjoy traveling and spending time at our lake home in the Finger Lakes in upstate New York."
According to Sherlach's online bio, she earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from SUNY Cortland.
Read more about Sherlach from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Sherlach and Sandy Hook Elementary School principal Dawn Hochsprung, 47, were among the six adult victims of the mass shooting on Friday, educators gunned down alongside the children they cared for.
We are pursuing this story throughout the day. If you know Mary Sherlach and would like to speak with a reporter, please call The Post-Standard city desk at 315-470-2265.