Larry Ross spent most of Wednesday morning hanging fliers near his home in Medford, N.Y., hoping someone had spotted his missing 24-year-old stepdaughter.

Around 4 that afternoon, he got a call from the Suffolk County police informing him that his daughter had been located almost 100 miles away in Connecticut. She had been murdered.

Rebecca Koster was officially identified Thursday by Connecticut State Police as the woman whose burning remains were found off Jeremy Hill Road in North Stonington on the night of Dec. 4 - the same day she had last been seen alive.

"I spent eight hours yesterday posting fliers," Ross said Thursday. "I've had to post 180 fliers. I can't go to all those places and tell them that she's been found."

Ross said police told him that Koster had been stabbed and that her body was found burning in North Stonington. He said police wouldn't say whether the murder occurred in New York or Connecticut.

"I hope she was dead before they set her on fire," he said.

Koster was hanging out with some friends at a local bar and was last seen around 3:30 a.m. near her home in Medford, police said.

Ross said Koster didn't have any connections to Connecticut.

Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said Thursday that troopers are in New York exchanging facts and evidence with investigators there. He would not say where Koster may have died.

"We're all working together to find out what happened to Rebecca," he said.

At first, Ross said, it was believed that Koster made her way home from the bar, but now he isn't sure.

"I don't know if she came home," he said. "We just don't know what happened. She was a great person. She worked with the sick and elderly."

In her most recent job, she helped a 16-year-old get ready for school. Before that she worked as a nursing assistant at an area hospital.

"She was always helping people," Ross said.

Friends have started to express their condolences on Koster's Myspace page. Anthony Krempa posted that he was one of the last people to see Koster alive:

"i was one of the ppl that had the honor of spending ur last happy night with you. its a memory that will forever be etched in my mind. the good lord must have realized wut a wonderful soul there was on this earth and jus had to have you by his side."

Crystal Otero also posted: "becca...beautiful lady....rest in peace...you will always be remembered...and u will always be missed..."

Ross said that his wife, Barbara, and their son, 15-year-old Damian Ross, are "devastated."

"I've been up since 3 a.m.," he said. "I hope they catch the sick person who did this to her. I want them brought to justice. Nobody deserves to go through this."

Ross said hopes someone in Connecticut saw something that could help solve his stepdaughter's murder.

Koster's body was found near the intersection of Jeremy Hill Road and Route 201 just before 7:30 p.m. Friday, not far from the roadway, after a caller reported a possible brush fire.

"It's not like it happened in the middle of the night," Ross said. "There had to be cars driving through. Someone had to see something."

i.larrañeta@theday.com