Hundreds of people turned out to bid a final farewell to slain former Riverhead councilman and retired Riverhead police officer Tim Buckley today in Wading River.
About 50 members of the Riverhead Police Department, along with town officials and members of the community joined Buckley’s family and friends for funeral services this morning at St. John the Baptist Church. Interment, with military honors, followed at Calverton National Cemetery.
Buckley, 51, was slain in South Carolina, where he’d moved after resigning from the Riverhead Town Board in 2009 to care for his ailing wife. Buckley had gone missing Sept. 29 and his remains were found earlier this month about nine miles from where he was last seen. Police in South Carolina have charged a 29-year-old Georgia man with murder and a 33-year-old Georgia woman with being an accessory to the murder. See prior story.
Buckley left behind his wife Ruth and three teenage daughters, Katie, Bridget and Elizabeth.
He was a much-beloved member of the Wading River community and the Riverhead police force, which he joined in 1988.
“He was one of those guys that when you met him, you automatically liked him,” Supervisor Sean Walter said. “It’s a terrible, terrible loss for his family and friends and for the Town of Riverhead.”
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