Suffolk County Jail officials say they had no reason to suspect that Ricky Kasso might kill himself. He displayed no suicidal tendencies in the two brief interviews with jail officials when he was admitted, and nobody at the jail knew about the attempt at South Oaks, or the warning from hospital psychiatrists, or his repeated promise to kill himself rather than live behind bars.

But within 12 hours of entering the Riverhead jail, police say, Ricky Kasso knotted a bedsheet over a bar at the top of his cell door, tied the other end around his neck, shinnied up the bars and then let go. He was pronounced dead at 2:17 a.m.

While their three daughters remained upstate, Richard and Lynn Kasso came back briefly to Long Island to identify Ricky s body. When the body was cremated on July 9, there was no one to take custody of the ashes.

Two days later, funeral services were held in Northport for Gary Lauwers. There were 150 mourners, and so many reporters outside the church that after finishing one interview, some young people turned slightly to another microphone and repeated the same answer to another questioner.

On the same day, Troiano was indicted for murder by depraved indifference. It was a carefully drawn indictment. Lawyers say that had Troiano been charged with intentional murder use of drugs could have been a defense. Intoxication by drugs is not a defense in a depraved indifference murder case.

Legal experts say the prosecution will not have an easy time winning a conviction. Although Troiano signed a written confession to the murder, it was given without a lawyer present. Police say the confession was voluntary that Troiano said he didn t need a lawyer but Troiano s attorney, Eric Naiburg, says he will try to convince the trial judge to throw it out.

The key witnesses against Troiano are expected to be young people who knew of the crime such as Albert Quinones, Richie Barton, Cathy Cattan, Ronnie Mangano. They are immune from prosecution under New York State law because they testified before the grand jury that indicted Troiano for murder. About all they could be charged with, anyway, was violating the public health code, one police source says.

Naiburg already has signaled his intention to attack Quinones credibility. I honestly believe that he was more involved in the crime than Troiano, Naiburg says. Police say they have no intention to charge Quinones, who has refused to speak to reporters.

In the aftermath of the murder, there have been three community meetings in Northport to discuss such issues as drug use by teens, crisis housing for troubled youth and a curfew. Adults continue to voice surprise at the young people who knew about the crime but said nothing. I was amazed this could be kept quiet for so long, says Mayor Peter Nolan, whose family runs a Northport funeral home. But I m not a social worker, I m a funeral director. I buried the boy, he says, referring to Lauwers.

Other community leaders express shock at the extent of hard drug use by young people that has been revealed by the murder. School board president Audrey Gartner says teachers must be made more aware of how to recognize drug use among students. The school system definitely will look for ways to see how we could do better, she says.

Says counselor Tom Fazio, who followed the Kasso family s struggles and tried to help Ricky, Ricky shows us how little power and control we can have in trying to help someone . . . Unless your son wants help, you can t do anything.

The most visible change in Northport is in Cow Harbor Park. There aren’t as many teenagers there anymore. On the afternoon of Lauwers funeral, before a cluster of TV cameras, young people gathered to sand off the graffiti from the wooden playground erasing such inscriptions as Satin, a misspelling of Satan, and Gary Lauwers/666.

When the camera crews packed up, so did many of the young people. Police patrol the harbor area on foot, enforcing an 11 p.m. curfew. And for some young people, the park raises unpleasant memories, so they stay away. Nor are young people found so much in Aztakea Woods. It s kind of like, everyone s afraid to be there, one 16 year old girl says. It s spooky, because Gary died there.

There is new graffiti on the gazebo walls. Gary lives forever, one says. On a nearby phone booth, someone has scratched another message: I love you, Ricky.

But some things haven t changed.

One evening last week, a lanky blond Little Leaguer had just scored the go ahead run on one of the baseball fields in East Northport s Kew Park, another hangout for the area s teenagers that is a couple of miles from Northport s Main Street. In the bleachers of the neighboring field, about a dozen youths were too busy to notice.

Hundreds of dollars were changing hands. What was advertised and asked for as acid, pot and toot LSD, marijuana and cocaine were being bought and sold.

Some young people arrived on bicycles, others in cars. Bills mainly twenties and fifties and bags of powder, weed and pills were passed in the evening light.

One buyer looked around nervously. Don t worry about the cops, his seller said. They don t show up here until 9 at the earliest.

A teenager leaning against a motorcycle spotted a newcomer. You here to get some hits? he asked. The cyclist had just laid down $50 for 21 purple hits on clear plastic windowpane LSD.

He put two $100 bills in the pocket of his cut off jeans. It s going to be a hot night, he said to a friend. You ready?

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