Arrest In Yonkers Homicide Reveals Serial Killer

Serendipity can often help law enforcement crack cases that have to date been unsolved. This is one of those possible situations.

Police in Yonkers stumbled upon a murder scene when they sought a 63 year old man, Lucius Crawford, to question him about two other homicides.

Upon entering the apartment at 7-9 Beekman Avenue, the detectives discovered under a sheet on the suspect’s bed the body of a 41-year woman, who had been stabbed nine times in the chest. The suspect’s parole tracking ankle bracelet had been removed and was found in the apartment. The NYPD detectives notified the Mount Vernon police, and through joint efforts by the three police departments, local authorities captured the suspect, Lucius Crawford, M/B/60, three hours later at 4:05 p.m. at Hussey Road and East Grand Street in Mount Vernon.

Crawford subsequently confessed to detectives of three jurisdictions to the murders of the Mount Vernon woman; a Yonkers woman, Laronda Shealy, stabbed to death September 13, 1993; and to the October 20, 1993 murder of Nella West, 38, in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. She had been stabbed multiple times in the head, face, and torso, a sustained a broken eye socket and crushed skull. Crawford has been charged with murder by Westchester authorities.

This makes the guy a serial killer by any definition, but it's the MO that led the police to notify Long Island police authorities about his possible connection to the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. At least 8 victims were recovered in the search for Shannon Gilbert and all appeared to be homicide victims.

Yet Suffolk County cops say that Crawford doesn't appear to have any involvement in the Gilgo Beach murders.

Traffic Jam On Long Island Leaves Many Wary

Last week, there was a major traffic jam on the East End of Long Island out near the Hamptons. Normally, that's wouldn't merit much of a news report, except that this one stretched out for 20 miles and led to a standstill on the two major roads leading out of the area (and back towards the mainland).

CBS 2’s Jennifer McLogan was one of the thousands that were trapped in the traffic nightmare as a portion of County Road 39 and Sunrise Highway were shut down, creating sheer agony, bedlam and confusion throughout Southampton.

“I think someone needs to make a plan so we can get out. I feel trapped,” one woman said.

“I have children that are hungry, thirsty; 95 degrees in the car, and we have no gas and nowhere to go,” motorist Ana Amato said.

As the hours passed, Village police referred McLogan to the state police, who told her it was town police that closed the highway to clean oil and clear debris from a two-vehicle collision. Motorists complained the authorities were passing the buck, keeping them uninformed.

“We’re in a lot of trouble,” one person said.

“If there’s an evacuation we should just camp out?” another said.

“This is Montauk Highway, right? And 27′s not moving either,” added another.

The backup surged through the Hamptons for 20 miles along the emergency coastal evacuation route.

“This is a good example of what we are really facing on the east end if there were to be any kind of evacuation necessary. The intersections are getting blocked. I’m afraid cars will be overheating soon. There’s nowhere to go,” motorist Maria Wilson said.

Finally at 9:49 p.m., nearly seven hours after the roads were closed, traffic began to ease. McLogan showed her exclusive video to some East End town and county leaders, who called the dangerous conditions unacceptable.

Had this occurred during a hurricane evacuation or severe storm evacuation, thousands of people would have been put in jeopardy.

Long Island's geography and geographical location means that those living on the East End are vulnerable to hurricanes and severe storms (Nor'easters) and evacuation routes need to be optimized to deal with getting people out in a timely manner. While the roads may appear to be sufficient to handle the traffic under normal conditions, traffic accidents can reduce or eliminate the margin of safety.

It also means that potential traffic accidents have to be addressed promptly to avoid major traffic jams that could delay evacuations. Law enforcement failed to handle the situation in as efficient a manner as possible, and this needs to be addressed as we head into the height of hurricane season.

New Remains Discovered Near Where 10 Bodies Found On Long Island

Law enforcement on Long Island have discovered another set of remains near where 10 sets of remains were found at Gilgo Beach and near Jones Beach.

The question now is whether the skeletal remains, found on Friday evening by a man walking his dog on a trail in Manorville, represent an isolated death or is the latest clue in a continuing serial-killer case that is confronting investigators in Suffolk County.

“At this time, we cannot say if the remains are connected to any other cases,” a spokeswoman for the police said on Saturday. “The scene will be processed and re-evaluated,” he said, but that they were “at the preliminary stages of the investigation”

The spokeswoman said investigators “cannot yet determine the age or gender of the remains.”

The police said a forensic anthropologist from the New York City medical examiner’s office would assist the Suffolk authorities in removing and evaluating the bones, which they said were believed to have been in the woods for several years based on the degree of plant growth around them.

Investigators are trying to solve the killings of 10 people whose remains have been found since December 2010, spread amid the brush of Jones Beach Island, which is about 45 miles west of Manorville.

A serial killer is believed to be responsible for the deaths of four of those victims — all women who had worked as prostitutes.

Four other sets of human remains found off Ocean Parkway, on Jones Beach Island, included body parts from two victims who had been dismembered and whose torsos were discovered in Manorville, about four miles from where the newest remains were discovered, the authorities said.

Most of the remains of one of those victims, Jessica Taylor, 20, were found by a woman walking her dog off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville, shortly after Ms. Taylor disappeared in July 2003. She had worked as a prostitute in Washington, and briefly in New York. Her head and hands, were discovered in March off Ocean Parkway, about a mile from the location of the bodies of the other four women.

Investigators believe that this is the work of a serial killer, but I think that we're looking for at least two serial killers based on the timeframe involved and commonalities that investigators have found among the bodies and evidence.

Bias Attack Bottle Bomber Caught On Video; Additional Long Island Incidents Identified

In the span of a couple of hours, four Muslim and Asian businesses, mosques, or temples across Queens were firebombed by a man who used Starbucks drink bottles. A fifth location on Long Island may also have been attacked by the same individual:

A fifth building — a Long Island home — has been hit by a Molotov cocktail, and cops are investigating if the attack is linked to four similar incidents in Queens, authorities said Monday.

The harrowing Queens arsons, including one at a mosque, took place within a mile of each other in Jamaica between 8 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. Sunday.

At 9:40 p.m. Sunday, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a Glafil St. home in Elmont. Nassau County police said there were no injuries or damage to the home.

Bejai Rai, 77, was having dinner with his wife and two sons when they heard glass smash and saw fire sparks.

“My son thought the chandelier had fallen,” Rai said. “We saw that a bottle, like a coffee glass bottle, hit our front window then landed in the concrete.” It was similar to the ones cops described as Starbucks bottles found at the mosque scene and at a bodega that was attacked.

“It sparked, but didn’t catch a fire,” he said. “We were lucky.”

They saw a two-door silver Honda Accord lingering.

Video at one of the locations caught the man throwing the bottle bomb at the location:


One of the locations was a convenience store, and a disgruntled customer may have decided to take revenge on that location and the others:

A worker at the deli said the man showed up at the store about three nights ago, tried to shoplift and threatened employees when they caught him in the act and ejected him. Police said the suspect had tried to steal milk and a Starbucks Frappuccino and appeared to be of Guyanese descent.

Latest Developments in LI Serial Killer Case Highlights Dispute Over How Many Killers Involved

I've long suspected that there were two or more serial killers involved in the grisly killing field uncovered by law enforcement along a stretch of highway near Jones Beach. The recovery of 10 sets of remains was due to a search was initiated in order find a missing New Jersey woman, Shannan Gilbert. Her body was recovered earlier this week.

The Suffolk County police chief now says that the killings were the work of a single killer. The Suffolk County District Attorney questions that, considering all the evidence pointing towards at least two killers.

The district attorney and Mr. Dormer were in agreement in May when they appeared at a news conference to say that the authorities believed multiple killers were most likely responsible for the deaths.

The remains of eight women, a man and a toddler were found in the thick underbrush along the highway between last December and April.

Mr. Dormer said in an interview this month that he had revised his theory and thought that one killer was most likely responsible. He discounted the fact that some victims had been dismembered while some had not, arguing that serial killers often evolve and change their tactics. And Mr. Dormer pointed to the likelihood that all the victims were linked to the sex trade as another indicator that one killer was responsible.

On Thursday, Mr. Spota countered that because 5 of the 10 victims had yet to be identified, Mr. Dormer was not able to confirm that all had a link to the sex trade.

The toddler is thought to be a child of one of the unidentified women, believed to be a prostitute, Mr. Dormer has said. The man was found wearing women’s clothing, which Mr. Dormer said indicated that he might have been a prostitute. Mr. Spota said that men can be cross-dressers without being prostitutes.

The district attorney said that not only did he disagree with Mr. Dormer, but that many of the detectives investigating the case also did not share Mr. Dormer’s opinion. Mr. Dormer has conceded that others may not agree with him and has left open the possibility that he could change the theory.

Mr. Dormer, who is leaving office at the end of this month, testified before Mr. Spota’s appearance on Thursday but left before the district attorney’s testimony. A spokeswoman said later that Mr. Dormer had no comment on what Mr. Spota had said.

Dormer also claimed that Gilbert was not murdered, and most likely drowned in the marshy area from which her body was recovered. That was before the medical examiners could determine a cause of death, and it doesn't explain why her body was found a quarter mile from her clothes and purse and other items she apparently was carrying at the time of her disappearance. Dormer's theory of how Gilbert's last minutes played out doesn't quite pass Occam's Razor either:

“You know, that’s explainable because she’s hysterical,” said Dormer. “We know that and she’s discarding her possessions as she moves along. Her jeans could have come off moving in that environment. We’ve looked at this very carefully and that is a possibility, that the jeans came off and she kept running, kept running towards the lights. Obviously, she was disturbed that night.”

Gilbert was last seen running and screaming for help in Oak Beach in May 2010.

Why would she remove her jeans as she's running through thick thorny brush? Why would she drop her cell phone and other items and continue running for a quarter mile before her untimely end?

We might get a very different picture from Dormer's successor - and more leads on who was involved in these killings.

New Remains Discovered On Long Island Beach May Belong To Missing Shannan Gilbert

Investigators have discovered the remains of what appears to be a woman near where 10 other sets of remains were discovered along the Suffolk/Nassau county border on Long Island. The remains may be Shannan Gilbert, a prostitute who went missing and whose disappearance sparked the search that uncovered the killing field of at least one serial killer.

After a yearlong search, police on New York's Long Island announced Tuesday that they believe they have discovered the skeletal remains of a New Jersey prostitute whose disappearance sparked an investigation into a possible serial killing spree.

Crime Scene investigators use metal detectors to search a marsh for the remains of Shannan Gilbert on Monday in Oak Beach, New York.

With about a half-dozen news helicopters whirring overhead, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said searchers found the bones at around 9:15 a.m. in a dense wetland thicket, about a half mile from where 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert disappeared after meeting a client for an early-morning sexual encounter.

Dormer said the medical examiner's office would confirm whether the remains were Gilbert's, but the commissioner left little doubt that officers had found their intended target.

"It's certainly a sad day for the Gilbert family," he said. "And our condolences to that family on the death of their daughter."

The remains were found by homicide detectives about a quarter mile from where authorities found Gilbert's pants, shoes, pocketbook with ID and other personal items last week. On Tuesday, they were searching on an aluminum amphibious vehicle equipped with pontoons that can maneuver over land and water when they came upon the remains.

The search dragged on for more than a year because of the difficult terrain involved and the thick foliage that usually fills in the area during other than the winter.

Gilbert's remains were found several miles east of the grouping of 10 remains that were discovered in the past year.

Police don't think that she was a victim of the serial killer, and may have accidentally drowned trying to navigate the area to a lit causeway and became hopelessly entangled in the brush.

That theory still doesn't explain how and why she fled from a client's home and feared for her life.

We'll have to wait for the forensic reports to determine a cause of death that may shed more light on her unfortunate end.

Another LIRR Pension Scandal Brewing

It's been a few years since the last pension scandal at the LIRR, but it seems that whatever procedures were put in place to prevent abuse of the pension system were insufficient. 10 people were arrested in connection with the latest pension scam. This investigation grew out of the original 2008 scandal, as federal investigators dug deep to find out what was going on.

The United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, and the head of the New York F.B.I. office, Janice K. Fedarcyk, were expected to announce the charges at a news conference with two inspectors general, Barry L. Kluger of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Martin J. Dickman from the Retirement Board. The investigation was conducted by the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors in Manhattan, along with the inspectors general of the federal Railroad Retirement Board and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Long Island Rail Road’s parent agency, the people said.

The Times articles reported that virtually every career employee of the railroad was applying for and receiving disability payments, giving the Long Island Rail Road a disability rate of three to four times that of the average railroad. The Times found that retired railroad employees who had successfully claimed disability were regularly playing golf at a state-owned course without charge — another perquisite of their disability.

Indeed, the railroad’s retirement rate was particularly striking when compared with the number of disability pensions at Metro-North, another transportation authority subsidiary that serves commuters north of New York City and has a work force of similar size and composition.

The articles revealed that a web of doctors and facilitators were helping the workers file papers claiming they were disabled.

The authorities estimate that the cost to the Railroad Retirement Board of disability claims by Long Island Rail Road retirees was $1 billion, the people briefed on the case said.

Turns out that this was a billion dollar scandal.

Think about what a billion dollars could do for the LIRR. That's a one followed by nine zeroes. 1,000,000,000.

It could buy a solvent pension system that does what it was intended to do by servicing all eligible employees in a fair and just manner.

It could buy hundreds of railcars.

It could upgrade signal and rail systems.

It could renovate stations throughout the system to bring them up to modern standards.

Instead, it's a billion dollars that was siphoned silently from the system and commuters and taxpayers paid for it.

Now, investigators have to attempt to claw back the ill-gotten gains and take criminal actions against all those involved. It means that the agency will likely get back only a fraction of that amount, but it's still better than nothing. LIRR commuters deserve as much; they deserve a chance to recoup these costs from these defendants.

Tips Roll In On Long Island Serial Killer Cases After New Info Released

Long Island law enforcement officials are getting tips from people after police released new information about the cases. Once again, it appears that there are several serial killers at work here - dumping bodies of 10 victims along a stretch of highway near Jones and Gilgo Beaches on both sides of the Nassau/Suffolk border.

Police say they've seen an increase in calls after releasing new information in the Long Island serial killer investigation.

The remains of 10 people were found strewn along a remote beach parkway and elsewhere across Long Island.

A Suffolk County police spokeswoman says 22 tips have been received since Tuesday. That's when detectives released sketches of two of the unidentified victims.

Police have identified only five of the 10 victims. Those five were all women working as escorts.

Among the unidentified victims are a toddler and a woman believed to be her mother. Their remains were found seven miles apart.

Body parts have been found in four separate locations. The oldest remains are linked to a case 15 years ago. No suspects have been identified. There's a $25,000 reward.

Five sets of remains have been positively identified, and those five were working as prostitutes at the time of their death.

At least one of the remains are tied back to an unsolved murder from 2000:



A toddler was among those recovered, and appear to be related to a victim found about 10 miles away. Another victim appears to have been a cross-dressing male who had poor dental hygiene.

The Long Island Killing Beach

Over the past 24 hours, law enforcement has concluded in press conferences that they are looking for Multiple killers involved in Long Island murder cases where remains of 10 people have been found near Jones and Gilgo beaches.

Well, to anyone who has been following the case like myself, we came to that conclusion a month ago. As I wrote on April 13, 2011, we're looking for at least two if not three serial killers (at the time, Joel Rifkin was being bandied about as a possible responsible killer for the older remains found).

Over the past 24 hours, it appears that law enforcement has divided up the remains into at least three discrete groups. There are the original four remains (all women who were apparently prostitutes via Craigslist) found last November and belongs to what I would say is one serial killer.

There are the dismembered remains of another woman, Jessica Taylor , whose partial remains were discovered on Long Island 40 miles away in 2003. That modus operandi is similar to partial remains of another dismembered woman found in Manorville, Long Island in 2003 and is highly suggestive that there's a serial killer at work in those cases. Whoever murdered and dismembered those women was doing their best to prevent anyone from ever identifying them or their murderer, up to and including trying to eliminate the presence of identifying tattoos on Taylor's body.

Then there are the remains of an Asian man and a young child, but those aren't connected to each other or any of the other remains. It's troubling that no one has apparently come forward with a missing persons report for the child, but that can be instructive as well. Perhaps the person who killed the child was a parent and the child died of neglect or mistreatment and instead of taking the child to a hospital where the parent/guardian's actions would be scrutinized, he or she buried the child along this stretch of beach.

I'd say now that we're still looking for at least two serial killers, and at least one other killer (though it's possibly two other killers since the Asian man and the child were not apparently related to the others or each other).

Despite all the evidence and remains discovered to date, one person is still missing. No one knows the whereabouts of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance sparked the original hunt along Ocean Parkway and Gilgo Beach. These discoveries would not have been made had Gilbert not gone missing and law enforcement began a search along Ocean Parkway.

This situation has a long way to go before the case can be closed, but it is surely going to not be a happy ending for any involved.

Investigators Acknowledge At Least Two Killers Dumped Victims On Long Island Beach

After identifying the remains of a 5th victim whose remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach, investigators can acknowledge that they are now looking for at least two killers, one of whom is a serial killer.

The head and hands of 20-year-old Jessica Taylor were among 10 sets of remains found in recent months along a Long Island highway, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said at a news conference. Her headless, handless body was found in July 2003 in Manorville near the eastern end of Long Island.

The information Spota disclosed Monday only served to deepen the puzzle about the remains found in the underbrush along Long Island's Ocean Parkway since December.

Authorities still have not identified a suspect connected to any of the remains, but earlier they theorized that investigators could be on the trail of a serial killer.

Eight sets of remains were found in Suffolk County. Two sets were found in neighboring Nassau County.

Spota said at least two suspects killed the eight people whose remains have been found in his jurisdiction, judging from the methods and circumstances of the crimes.

"It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Spota said. "As distasteful and disturbing as that is, there is no evidence that all of these remains are the work of a single killer."

That's something I was saying from the outset, given the way that the second set of remains discovered didn't match the descriptions from the first set of remains. It's quite possible that law enforcement is dealing with the burial grounds from at least two serial killers, if not more. Considering that this area was rather easily accessible but still secluded to allow a killer to dispose of their victims, it's not all that surprising that law enforcement has come upon several victims from different time periods.

You can also bet that the cold case squads from law enforcement agencies around the region are looking anew at various unsolved cases involving disappearances and potential murders of prostitutes and call girls.

A "Profile" Emerges In Long Island Serial Killers Case

Investigators have released what they claim to be is a profile of the serial killer on Long Island who may have dumped up to 10 people along Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach.

He is most likely a white male in his mid-20s to mid-40s. He is married or has a girlfriend. He is well educated and well spoken. He is financially secure, has a job and owns an expensive car or truck. He may have sought treatment at a hospital for poison ivy infection. As part of his job or interests, he has access to, or a stockpile of, burlap sacks.

And he lives or used to live on or near Ocean Parkway on the South Shore of Long Island, where the police have found as many as 10 sets of human remains.

In interviews with serial-killer experts and criminologists, including a former F.B.I. profiler, a portrait emerges of the man who investigators on Long Island believe is responsible for several of the bodies they have discovered in the brush off Ocean Parkway since December. For the moment, he is known in law enforcement jargon only as Unsub, or unknown subject. No arrests have been made, and no suspects have been identified by the Suffolk County Police Department, which is leading the investigation.

Profiling serial murderers is far from a precise science. There are nearly three million people on Long Island, and the man who killed at least four prostitutes who advertised for clients on Craigslist is perhaps but one.

And the experts interviewed are sketching out a possible suspect based only on details of the case that have been publicly revealed, like the burlap sacks that the four women’s bodies were found in and the series of taunting phone calls that the killer is believed to have made to one victim’s relatives.

Some of the aspects of his personality are common to most serial killers - they're usually male, and they're usually in their 20s to 40s. They're usually white, and they're usually from a middle class background and easily blend into the background because they outwardly seem normal. It's why so many serial killers go unnoticed for so long.

Yet, some aspects of the profile seem to be a stretch. In particular, the portion claiming that he may have sought treatment at a hospital for poison ivy infection seems to be a reach, as does the claim that his job or interests gives him access to burlap sacks. That might seem to point towards a landscaper or someone in the home and garden business, but then again, if they're in the home and garden business they'd know how to deal with poison ivy without going to a hospital - there are any number of over the counter products or even distilled alcohol/mineral spirits that can remove the poison ivy oils before they cause the allergic reaction in most people. This is the least useful portion of the profile in my opinion.

Of more interest is the fact that the profilers think that the killer owns or has access to an expensive car or truck.

NY Magazine also notes that the taunting messages left with family members of one of the women murdered suggests that not only is the killer organized enough to lure women into the deadly situations, but that he's a sadist who takes pleasure in taunting the victims and their families.

ABC News is reporting that there may have been a witness to one of the disappearances. The roommate of one of the victims might be able to identify the killer. Divers are continuing to search for victims and evidence near the location where the remains were discovered.

Also, a new Facebook page has been set up to gather evidence and information that could lead to the whereabouts of Shannan Gilbert, the woman whose disappearance led to the original discovery of four sets of remains of women who used Craigslist to solicit sexual services. Gilbert's whereabouts remain unknown but may have been another of the victims of the serial killer or killers who dumped bodies near Jones Beach.

The website is sponsored by Robin Sax, a lawyer whose firm specializes in criminal law, family law, victims and constitutional rights.

It offers visitors a way to submit anonymous tips, learn more about Gilbert and see the facts of the case. For example, it features an interactive Google map of the police search area, discoveries, last sightings of known victims and Gilbert's movements.

Sax and her team aren't the only ones looking for Gilbert.

Jersey City investigator Charles Hannon, who offered $1,000 of his own money as a reward in 2010 for anyone with information about Gilbert, has raised the reward to $5,000 and hopes to find her soon.

Police investigating Gilbert's missing persons case have found 10 bodies in the Jones Beach area of Long Island and theorize a serial killer was responsible for the killings. Not all the bodies have been identified, but so far all have been ruled out as being Gilbert's.

Search Resumes In Hunt For LI Serial Killers Victims

Investigators have resumed their search for remains of victims of serial killers on Long Island near Jones Beach.

Authorities said identifying the human remains already recovered is crucial to this case.

"We're waiting for the forensic analysis of the remains that have been recently found in Suffolk County as well as those found in Nassau County. When we get those answers, as soon as we possibly can, we will make that information available," Dominick Varrone, Suffolk Police Chief of Detectives, said.

Eight sets of human remains have been discovered in Suffolk County. Bones and a skull were recovered in two separate locations, several miles down the road in Nassau County this week.

Only four of those bodies have been identified. All were women who vanished between July 2007 and September of last year.

There's still no trace of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance last year prompted the search that uncovered the bodies.

If there are others, investigators are hoping that a series of over-flights with a high-tech FBI imaging device will find them.

"These flyovers maybe able to identify skeletal remains that we have not located," Varrone said.

Varrone said the flyover is expected to happen on Monday.

The search was put on hold yesterday as bad weather, including thunderstorms and torrential rains, pummeled the region and technical difficulties kept the FBI helicopter grounded. The FAA has issued a no-fly zone in the vicinity of Jones Beach so as to give the FBI helicopter unfettered access to the region.

Latest Developments in Long Island Serial Killers Case

Convicted serial killer Joel Rifkin has reportedly denied that any of the remains discovered in the past month along Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach are related to any of his victims. That contradicts a working theory that some of the oldest remains could potentially be those of Rifkin, who preyed on prostitutes in the 1990s.

The working theory that there may be at least two serial killers involved in these cases seems to be as good as any to explain the recovery of the remains of these victims:



Meanwhile, investigators are looking at cell phone call records in the hopes of tracking down the serial killer who murdered four Craigslist prostitutes. They're also looking at a computer belonging to a pimp linked to one of the dead prostitutes.


Divers searched a nearby bay yesterday and left the scene with several bags worth of evidence, but they didn't appear to find anything relating to the serial killers cases or the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance sparked the initial search of the area and the grisly discovery of 9-10 victims.

Serial Killers Running Amok in New York and New Jersey

Investigators no longer believe that the same killer is involved in the murder of four women outside Atlantic City and the murders on Long Island near Jones Beach.

"There is no connection between the Atlantic City case and the Suffolk County case," Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said, citing recent investigative findings.

Suffolk investigators began looking closely at the unsolved Atlantic City murders after the remains of four craigslist call girls were found on a remote coastal island in December. The four victims in Atlantic City were all female prostitutes. And they were found dead in November 2006 in a ditch behind a motel on the Black Horse Pike highway.

All were barefoot, their bodies arranged facedown in a line with their heads pointing toward Atlantic City. The four slain hookers found near Gilgo Beach on Long Island were wrapped in burlap sacks and dumped amid brush-covered dunes. Dormer said the different methods used to dispose of the bodies is not the only factor that sets the cases apart.

"There were other items connected to the two cases that indicate that it may not be the same person," Dormer said, without elaborating.

The FBI will lead an aerial search of the island dumping ground, where the bodies of five - and possibly six - additional victims have been found in the past two weeks.

That indicates that we're talking about two separate serial killers, but in reality, the recovery of 9 or 10 sets of remains in Long Island suggests that we've got at least two, if not more killers involved in dumping their victims along a stretch of highway near Jones Beach.

Due to the age of some of the remains, speculation is that at least some of the older remains may be the victims of serial killer Joel Rifkin, but that will take further forensic investigation and the remains are being reviewed and studied by the New York City Medical Examiners and forensic scientists.



The FBI will be assisting local law enforcement in their search, and are using specialized aircraft to identify areas for additional ground searches in the thick scrub brush along Ocean Parkway and the nearby beaches.

Suffolk County Police Chief Richard Dormer suggested that there are at least two suspects in the serial killings of four Craigslist call girls found in December near Oak and Gilgo beaches.

Police divers are also combing the waters of the bay near where the other remains were recovered.

As I had surmised yesterday, it would appear that investigators are looking at multiple serial killers dumping bodies in the area. Due to the evidence gathered thus far, investigators now think that there are at least three serial killers victims recovered thus far, including those that may be the work of Rifkin - and that doesn't count the serial killer who struck outside Atlantic City.

NY Serial Killer(s) Case Takes Unexpected Turn

There were two developments in the past 24 hours that casts a serious pall over the ongoing investigation to determine whether additional bodies are to be found along a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach.

The first is that one of the bodies recovered is a male. Several of the remains have been dismembered.

The grisly twist was the latest revelation as police continued to uncover the murderous path carved along Long Island beaches by at least one killer.

Investigators have determined that bones found Monday were human, bringing the body count to nine and possibly 10 victims. It's still not clear whether a skull found alone Monday was part of victim number 9 or would be victim number 10.

The bodies were strung out over a 3.5 mile stretch of beach with five of the bodies spaced out about 500 feet apart, police said.

The possibility that some of the skeletal remains were dismembered came as police were considering clear cutting the thick brush that has made seaching the area difficult. Police fear that when the brush starts blooming in the coming weeks the search would become even more difficult. Police divers are also preparing to dive in order to search bay waters for more bodies.

Searchers have used cadaver dogs, horses and fire truck aerial ladders to scour the thick vegetation for victims. Faced today with slashing rains and swampy ground, a helicopter was used for today's dragnet.

While at least several of the victims appear to have been killed and dumped by a serial killer, authorities had not yet ruled out the possibility that more than one killer was responsible for the growing pile of human remains, which included those of a child.

The other is that at least some of the remains might be the work of notorious serial killer Joel Rifkin, who was imprisoned for killing 17 prostitutes.

The skull and torso found on a desolate Nassau County beachfront are too old to be connected to the serial killings of four Craigslist call girls -- and could belong to long-lost victims of notorious Long Island butcher Joel Rifkin, a source said yesterday.

"These are so old that roots were growing around the vertebrae and the skull," the source told The Post.

"These could be one or two of Joel Rifkin's victims who were never found," or the work of another killer, the source said.

Investigators also say more than one murderous psycho may be dumping the more recent bodies found on a remote stretch of Long Island beach.

"There are at least two persons of interest," the source said, declining to say if cops think the suspected killers acted independently or as a deadly team.

Rifkin, 52, confessed to cops in 1993 to killing 17 prostitutes, and was convicted a year later in nine of the deaths. Three of his victims were never found.

If the connection with Rifkin is true, then we're talking about potentially solving several cold cases, but are dealing with victims from at least two serial killer cases. The addition of a male victim may be the work of a third killer.

Perhaps most troubling of all is the fact that the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24, remains unaccounted for. It was her disappearance that sparked the search along Ocean Parkway that led investigators to find four remains of women who had offered their sexual services on Craigslist last year and then additional remains in the past month.

Thus far, 10 sets of remains or partial remains have been recovered. Investigators are expanding their search to include the surf and additional areas near Jones Beach.

Details Emerging About Long Island Serial Killer(s) Case

There have now been 10 sets of remains or partial remains that have been recovered from a stretch of beach along the South Shore of Long Island. While many reports seem to indicate that this is the work of a single serial killer, which is bad enough, the fact that some of the remains were deposited there in a different manner suggests that there may be two or more people involved.

Partial skeletons were recovered yesterday and medical examiners were working to determine whether the remains were human.



Four bodies were discovered in December, and were believed to be prostitutes working through Craigslist. A renewed search last month turned up four more bodies, and two sets of remains were found yesterday.

Investigators have made the following information known about the remains discovered thus far:

Of the eight in Suffolk, sources with knowledge of the case say:

-- One victim was a child, perhaps no older than 5, discovered near the remains of an adult. The child was found wrapped in a blanket.

-- Another discovery consisted of a human head in a plastic bag.

-- A third set of remains showed signs of dismemberment.

-- One source also said that all of the four female victims found in December were strangled. One had an "item" around her neck.

The discoveries yesterday in Nassau yielded further clues, sources with knowledge of the case say:

-- A preliminary analysis of the skull and vertebra suggests it is of a woman. The four Gilgo Beach victims were all women who worked as prostitutes.

-- The other set of human bones was found stuffed in a black plastic bag. At least one of the recently found Suffolk remains was in a black plastic bag.

Investigators could not rule out the possibility that those bones belonged to one of the Suffolk victims.

"We had eight sets out in Suffolk County already. We have two more now. It’s all been very startling," said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith of Nassau police.

As the search for clues to the Gilgo Beach serial killer expanded into Nassau yesterday morning, a state trooper walking along the edge of an excavation site found bones believed to be human legs in a plastic bag.

Other reports indicated that several of the bodies were wrapped in fabric, while several others were dumped in plastic bags. Several of the remains may have been dismembered.

Typically serial killers stick to a particular method, which is why I think that more than one person may be involved here. Another possibility is that this is the work of a single person, but who is trying to cover up his tracks by using different techniques to throw law enforcement off his trail.

Search Continues For Long Island Serial Killer and His Victims

Law enforcement is continuing its expanded search for victims along the South Shore of Long Island near the Nassau/Suffolk County border and Jones Beach. The searches are being carried out with tremendous care and urgency because the spring foliage is likely to hinder searching the area.

And some sources in law enforcement are raising the specter that the serial killer may be involved in law enforcement in some fashion (akin to Dexter in the tv show).

Then, there are reports that the serial killer apparently called the sister of one of his victims.

"I just don't understand why he chose me...how many other girls and how many other families...why was I chosen, why was I taunted?" she told "Good Morning America" today. The teenager was shown in silhouette and spoke on the condition that she not be identified out of growing fears for her safety.

Her older sister, Melissa Barthelemy, disappeared in July 2009. Her body was found in December on Gilgo Beach in New York's Long Island area along with the bodies of three other women. All found women were prostitutes who advertised on Craigslist, police said.

Four more bodies were found earlier this month, including what the New York Post claims may be the body of a child. Those victims have yet to be identified. In addition, police are still searching for the body of Shannan Gilbert, a woman who also advertised sexual services on Craigslist and was last seen near Gilgo Beach.

One of the victims may have been a child, according to the New York Post. If that's the case, then it wouldn't appear to fit the profile of a serial killer - or at least the one involved with the disappearances of many of the women. However, it is possible that the serial killer targeted a young woman who fit his profile, and that the woman had a child with her. Still, the disappearance of a child is likely to elicit more reports than we have seen to date and law enforcement needs to get all the help it can from the public as well. If you've seen something, say something to law enforcement tip lines. More lives depend on it.

Body Identified In Long Island Serial Killer Case

The medical examiners have identified one of four bodies recovered from a Long Island beach and are in the process of identifying the other three bodies, but are no closer to figuring out who murdered them and proceeded to dump the bodies near Gilgo Beach:

A Maine prostitute missing since June has been identified as one of four bodies found on an isolated Long Island beach late last year, authorities said Wednesday.

The Suffolk County medical examiner identified Megan Waterman's body through a DNA match, police said.

Investigators say Waterman was the victim of foul play, but would not disclose the exact cause of death.

The three other bodies remain unidentified - for now, police said.

"We're very close to identifying the other three bodies," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said.

Waterman's family was notified of the match early Wednesday, said her mother Lorraine Ela, of Portland, Maine.

Investigators continue looking at whether this case is related to a similar incident in Atlantic City.

The case originally began as a search for another missing woman:

It was the hunt for a missing Craigslist prostitute, Shannon Gilbert, which led cops to the bodies in the first place. Gilbert had vanished in Oak Beach, miles from the discovery, around the same time as Waterman. But when dental records disqualified Gilbert as a match, investigators said they did not believe Waterman would turn out to be one of the victims. For that reason, family members say, they were stunned to hear the news this morning. Two Suffolk County homicide detectives made the trip to Maine to notify them in person.

If you have any information leading to the arrest of the person(s) responsible, please call the Scarborough Police Department at 207-883-6361, or their anonymous tip line at 207-730-4200, ext 3093, or the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-854-8400.

Is a Serial Killer On Loose on Long Island?

The discovery of four bodies alongside a road near Jones Beach on Long Island has raised the specter of a serial killer. The remains of the four bodies, each in various states of decomposition, have been tentatively identified as all women, and investigators from the Suffolk County police department are working with the FBI to ascertain the identities of those bodies.

This discovery recalls a similar discovery of four bodies near Atlantic City under similar circumstances. If the two incidents are connected, we're talking about a methodical serial killer who targets prostitutes. Investigators are trying to connect the two cases by examining Craigslist as the link.

Detectives are looking into the Craigslist angle of the women who were murdered in New York. If that information can be tied to gambling records, including comps and casino credit, they may be able to establish the critical link to bringing the killer to justice, accordint to officials.

After the murders in Atlantic City, detectives scoured hotel records for the names of any known offenders in the area. The prostitutes on Pacific Avenue met with detectives and offered information about strange clients they encountered.

Hundreds of leads were investigated and followed up on by the Atlantic County Task Force that was formed to investigate the murders. The unit is still working and waiting for more information from Long Island detectives.

In Atlantic City the bodies were found relatively soon, approximately one month after the murders. This allowed for fast identification of the victims. The police immediately reached out to witnesses in the community for additional information. There are no such witness groups in the Long Island case.

The bodies found on Long Island laid out in the elements for so long that only skeletal remains were left of three women. Two of the bodies in New York were stuffed into burlap bags keeping critical evidence with the bodies.

Prostitutes who advertise on Craigslist are more isolated from each other. They often work alone unlike the street walkers in Atlantic City who all seem to know each other and exchange information about their clients. However, prostitutes who use Craigslist to advertise their services leave an electronic history of their records. This may be the leverage detectives need to catch the killer.

Investigators are looking for hallmarks of the killer (the signature) by which the killer identifies the victims as his. The investigators are busy trying to figure out the identities of those victims:

Dental remains might uncover fillings or a false front tooth, which could help identify the victim, Mr. Van Zandt said. Investigators can tell if a skull has been crushed by a rock or if throat bones show signs of being crushed. All of that can be matched against existing missing-persons records — there are some 875,000 people reported missing in the United States each year — and run through a federal database, he said.

Already, two cases of missing women are being studied in connection with the Long Island case. One is the disappearance in May of Shannan Gilbert, 24, a prostitute from Jersey City. She was last seen not far from where the remains were found.

The other involves Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Me., who was last seen on June 6 leaving a hotel in Hauppauge, N.Y., several miles northeast of where the bodies were found, after she had been coaxed into doing escorting, with meetings arranged on Craigslist, said Cynthia Caron, who runs a nonprofit group that helps families of missing people.

Investigators have removed the SUV from a home where Gilbert was last seen.



Some of the more notorious New York area serial killers are known to target prostitutes, including Joel Rifkin, who may have killed as many as 17 drug-addicted prostitutes before being captured and thrown in prison on a life sentence, and Arthur Shawcross, whose parole on an earlier manslaughter case enabled him to resume a murderous spree across upstate New York.

The Recession Has Hit Darth Vader Hard

Darth Vader has hit on real tough times. With the Empire on its heels, he can't count on Emperor Palpatine for handouts.

He was caught on video robbing a bank in full regalia. He's described as 6'2" and was wearing camouflage pants and brandishing a handgun (which was truly unnecessary given that he could kill with a thought).

I'm just surprised that he didn't just use the Force and demand that the bank teller hand over the cash with a thought or else crush her trachea in a fit of rage.

Darth's just gotten a wee step slow these days.