Experts Disagree Over Number Of Long Island Serial Killers
As the parents of a Stony Brook University student who went missing in 1998 wait to find out if their son is the unidentified John Doe found among the murdered prostitutes on Gilgo State Beach, some uninvolved criminologists are publicly doubting the current theory that the beach was a dumping ground for at least two killers.
Daily News has rounded up a former detectives and a forensic psychologist who doubt the current theory of there being multiple killers—one who killed the four women found in December, one who killed the two dismembered women, one who killed the young Asian man and, assuming it was murdered, one who killed the toddler.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to be talking about multiple killers,” retired NYPD detective and textbook author Vernon Geberth told the tabloid. “The probability of having two serial killers using the same dumping ground is very, very remote—to the point where I don’t buy into it.”
And a forensic psychologist, N.G. Berrill, cautiously agrees saying that “That coincidence, in and of itself, would be remarkable.”
The two point out that bodies disposed of in different ways don’t necessarily mean different killers. Instead they could simply imply that the one killer tried out decapitation and then found he could get his rocks off without it. “I am looking at a serial killer who has basically progressed,” said Geberth. “He has become more effective at disposing of the bodies. He doesn’t have to go through all the work of decapitating his victims.”
But others think there is a good chance the police are on the right track seeking out at least two killers. Forensic psychologist Barbara Kirwin chimes in with this chilling point: “We are not talking about a person as much as we are talking about a place. That desolate stretch of Gilgo Beach is a haunted graveyard, and what holds it all together is that it is an unpatrolled, completely private and deserted place where you can dump a body.”
Another Article
Long Island Serial Murders: The Victims of a Killer – or Killers
By Jaclyn Gallucci on May 9th, 2011
It was 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert’s disappearance that led police to the discovery of a 15-mile-long graveyard on Ocean Parkway used by one or more killers. An investigator with a cadaver dog looking for Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who worked as a prostitute and was last seen meeting a client in Oak Beach in May 2010, found the first set of remains in early December of 2010. Later in the month, three more sets of remains were discovered in the area. In April of 2010 another six bodies or partial remains were found. None have been determined to be those of Shannan Gilbert. As of May 9, 2011 the known victims left on Ocean Parkway in order of their disappearance are:
Jane Doe: Nude torso found off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville Nov. 19, 2000; Head, hands and foot found on Ocean Parkway April 4, 2011. White female, 5’5”, 125 lbs, 35-40 years old, brown hair, body in pieces and wrapped in plastic bags. Head, hands and right foot missing. Died weeks before (November 2000)
Jessica Taylor: Nude torso found off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville July 26, 2003; last seen weeks before (July 2003). Head, hands and forearm found on Ocean Parkway March 29, 2011. Taylor had recently left Washington, D.C. and multiple prostitution arrests. She had been working in the area of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC when she disappeared. It was a D.C. investigator who recognized a mutilated tattoo found on Taylor’s hip, released by the Suffolk County Police Department, and was able to identify her. Her murder remains unsolved. 20 years old at time of death
Maureen Brainard-Barnes: 25 years old, of Norwich, Connecticut, last seen July 9, 2007 in Manhattan. Found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
Melissa Barthelemy: 24 years old, last seen in July 12, 2009 in the Bronx. Found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
Megan Waterman: 22 years old, from Maine. Last seen on June 10, 2010 leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge alone early in the morning. Found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
Amber Lynn Costello: 27 years old, last seen in North Babylon in Sept. 2, 2010. Found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
DATE OF DISAPPEARANCE UNKNOWN:
John Doe: Asian male, clothed, late teens to early 20s. Evidence of trauma to the body. Undisclosed cause of death. Police say the man’s body has been here for years. Found April 2011.
Baby Doe: 18-24-month old girl wrapped in a blanket. No apparent injury or trauma to skeleton. Found 200 feet away from Jane Doe on Ocean Parkway, but no believed connection between the two. Found April 2011.
Real Life Monsters 