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DNA Helps Solve Another Series of Murders
It was 2010 and I had just heard that a young woman was reported missing after contacting 911 with a frantic plea for help. She, reportedly, had said, "They are trying to kill me."
For days I watched as the news indicated she had not been
found. Searchers failed to turn up any sign of her or her belongings as
they canvassed the marshy area bordering the exclusive gated community
of Oak Beach where she was last seen.
Her name was Shannan Gilbert, a pretty young woman who
aspired to become an actress, but supporting herself as a call girl
plying her trade on Craig's List. She had contacted her driver/security
partner to deliver her to her client's home on May 1, 2010.
Shannan's 911 call was placed at 5:41 a.m. on May 2, 2010.
That call would trigger a search that extended for months. After being
pushed by Shannan's mother, Mari Gilbert, the search efforts were
refocused to an area outside the exclusive community where she had
last been seen.
In June of 2010 after Shannan Gilbert went missing, the
Suffolk County Police Department missing persons bureau asked
Officer John Mallia to search the Oak Beach area using his trained
cadaver dog Blue. Over the remaining summer months, Mallia and
Blue searched unsuccessfully for Gilbert or her belongings through the
marshy tracts of Oak Beach.
Officer Mallia began to research FBI materials related to
body disposals and determined the brushy area outside but proximate to
Oak Beach might be worthy of investigation.
On December 11 of that year, Officer Mallia and K9 Blue
began their search along the Gilgo Beach parkway. In spite of the cold
and a sprinkling of snow, K9 Blue picked up on the scent of
decomposition. Soon after, K9 Blue found a set of human remains later
determined to belong not to Shannan Gilbert but to Melissa Barthelemy.
Her skeletal remains had been bound in a burlap material secured
around her head, chest, and legs. Melissa had gone missing July 10,
2009.
Two days later, December 13, three more sets of human remains
were found, all secured within burlap material and bound similarly to
those of Melissa Barthelemy. Examination of these sets of remains would
ultimately identify the unfortunate young women as Maureen
Brainard-Barnes, missing since July 9, 2007; Megan Waterman, missing
since June 6, 2010; and Amber Costello, missing since September 2, 2010.
Police continued to search along the Gilgo Beach marsh area,
all the way back toward Oak Beach. During that search six more sets of
human remains were discovered. Most were petite young female sex
workers, but also located were an African American female toddler about
16 to 24 months of age, and an Asian American male of slight build
dressed in feminine clothing whose cause of death was determined to have
been blunt force trauma.
Inexplicably, some of the victims recovered were partial sets
of skeletal remains that would later be connected to dismembered bodies
whose torsos had been found years before.
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On March 29, 2011 the partial remains of a victim later
identified as Jessica Taylor were discovered. Her torso had previously
been found in Manorville in 2003. Her head, hands and a forearm had been
placed in a plastic bag discovered on Gilgo Beach.
On April 4, 2011, four more sets of remains were located that
included the toddler whose body had been wrapped in a blanket, no
visible damage to the skeleton, and pieces of gold jewelry still
contained in the blanket. Nearby were partial remains of a victim whose
torso had been found June 28, 1997, at Hampstead Lake State Park in the
town of Lakeview, New York. Above the left breast was a distinctive
tattoo of a peach with a bite taken from it. Her torso had been found
soon enough after death to permit a clear photo of the tattoo above her
breast. She was called "Peaches". DNA testing later showed Peaches to be
the toddler's mother. Attempts to put a name to Peaches and locate any
living relatives have so far been frustrating.
Also found were the partial remains of a victim later
identified through genetic DNA investigation to be Valerie Mack. Her DNA
matched to a maternal aunt, sibling to six sisters one of whom had been
Valerie's mother. Valerie had been adopted, had an infant son when she
went missing and had a history of drug use and a record of convictions
for prostitution. Her torso, less head, hands and a foot removed high
above the ankle were found in Manorville on November 19, 2000, but not
identified until 2020. (Photos of this young woman tugged at my
heartstrings as they reveal, first, a vibrant and beautiful young teen
and then her descent into heavy addiction and a lack of care for her
appearance.)
The similarities in the murder and disposal of their
dismembered body parts in the cases of Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack
require consideration of a shared killer. Whether that killer is
responsible for all the victims must be determined.
The fourth set of remains discovered on this date was the Asian male dressed in woman's clothing.
One week later, on April 11, 2011, the remains of Jane Doe 7
were discovered. Her remains consisted of a skull and several teeth
recovered from Tobay Beach. DNA testing revealed a match to severed
legs found April 20, 1996 on Fire Island. The left leg bore a surgical
scar. Jane Doe 7 has not yet been identified.
The investigation into the murder victims whose remains have
been disposed of on the stretch of land lying off Long Island continues.
Your author continues to follow developments and will compile an
update in our September issue.
Fascinating what one can explore from the comfort of their Armchair ... Genealogy and mysteries... Oh, yes.
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