NY DETECTIVES HELPING CALI COPS IN '68 COLD CASE

She was feisty, fun and had a strong New York accent.

Do you know her?

And for almost 42 years her identity and the man who murdered her has been a mystery. But now, a very cold case is about to get white hot again.
The NYPD are lending a hand to California investigators to try and identify a woman known only as "Rosie" who was savagely beaten to death. What cops know is this:

The victim -- said to have been a mother with a "strong New York accent" -- waited tables at The Circus Room, a dive in Long Beach, Calif., located along "Blood Alley," a seedy strip of gin mills catering to bikers, beach bums and seamen from a Navy base nearby. One day, she didn't show up. Her boss simply thought she had quit.

 The next day some kids playing in the sand found her body March 14, 1968, in nearby Huntington Beach. Rosie been beaten and raped, and her throat had been slit.
Tire tracks led from the scene, but without an identity investigators hit a roadblock.
Then, this week an old friend came forward after seeing a police sketch of the woman on TV. According to the New York Post, She broke down when shown gruesome autopsy photos.
"That's her," she sobbed, according to cops.
The friend provided fresh details and insight into Rosie's life that established the New York link and prompted California cops to contact the NYPD.
Now, cops in the Big Apple will scour old missing persons cases to find a link.
The tipster "was a customer who frequented the bar, and they knew each for a few months, sharing stories of their lives," Huntington Beach police Lt. Russ Reinhart told the Post.
The friend told cops that Rosie moved West in late 1967, lived in Long Beach, was "outgoing and boisterous" and had a "strong New York accent."
The tipster "said Rosie had an Italian last name, that she had a 2-year-old son they called John-John and either a husband or an ex and two older brothers in New York, in The Bronx or Brooklyn," Reinhart said.
She was 20 to 25 years old, about 140 lbs., with crooked front teeth.
Anyone with info should call Huntington Beach police at (714) 536-5940.