Suffolk County police are expanding their investigation into accused serial killer Rex Heuermann to determine whether he may have been involved in the deaths of two other sex workers, whose remains were found scattered across Long Island.
Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison assigned two additional investigators to the Gilgo Beach task force to prioritize work on the backgrounds of alleged victims Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata, he told Newsday.
Additional officers are also working to examine “numerous” clues, while others are trying to identify the remains of three other bodies that were found near Gilgo Beach.
“I thought it was a good idea to get some outside people together to take a look at other things that maybe potentially relate to Rex Heuermann,” Harrison said.
“This is something I need: a dedicated team of researchers to prioritize, to come to work; I’m not going to do anything, but I will see if they can be linked to where they came from,” she added.
“Once we have that, maybe we’ll move forward with either option. [the bodies] be something that Rex Heuermann could have been involved in or identify another guy who could have been involved.”
Karen Vergata, 34, was identified as a potential victim of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann in August. Suffolk County Police are investigating the whereabouts of Valerie Mack in the days before she disappeared. Investigators are working to determine a possible connection between the women and Heuermann.AP
Harrison said the two additional officers assigned to the task force are investigating the activities of sex workers Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata before their deaths.
Mack, 24, had disappeared from her home in New Jersey in the summer of 2000, and her dismembered remains were found in two different locations on Long Island, including along Ocean Parkway, which borders Gilgo Beach.
In recent weeks, Tricia Hazen, Mack’s half-sister, said task force detectives asked her about Mack’s family history, since she was adopted, and collected copies of letters Mack sent to different family members. .
Investigators told him they were trying to construct a timeline showing where Mack was traveling, Hazen said.
“This is not going to be solved overnight,” she told Newsday, adding, “I’m grateful to dig deeper into Valerie and the other murdered women.”
Valerie Mack’s half-sister said investigators have been in contact with her in recent weeks as they try to build a timeline showing where she was traveling. Facebook / Remembering Valerie Mack Mack’s dismembered remains were found in two different locations on Long Island, including along Ocean Parkway, which borders Gilgo Beach.AP Karen Vergata’s body was found on Fire Island in April 1996, but his skull would be found years later along Ocean Parkway.AP
Harrison also said the task force is trying to determine how the dismembered body of Vergata, 34, was found on Fire Island in April 1996.
His skull would be found years later, in April 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
The two sets of Vergata’s remains were linked through DNA analysis in July 2011 and were subsequently definitively identified through genetic genealogy and a relative buccal swab in October 2022, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement. press conference in August.
He is believed to have disappeared around February 14, 1996, but was never reported missing.
Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney identified Vergata as a potential victim of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann in August. Kevin C. Downs of the NY Post Tierney said Vergata disappeared on February 14, 1996, but was never reported missing.
“We have to look at what happened on Fire Island and look at that investigation and how it happened from Fire Island to Ocean Parkway,” Harrison told Newday.
“We will continue to work hard to see if we can attach these other unidentified bodies that were discovered on Ocean Parkway, so it is a work in progress,” he added.
Who were the victims of Gilgo Beach?
Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, a New York City architect and married father of two, was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is linked to the so-called “Gilgo Four”, women found wrapped in burlap a few days apart at the end of 2010.
The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011.
Most of the victims were petite sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24 years old
- Barthelemy was a sex worker living in the Unionport section of the Bronx who dreamed of one day opening her own salon. She was last seen alive in her Underhill Avenue basement apartment on July 12, 2009.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 years old
- Brainard-Barnes lived in Norwich, Connecticut. He disappeared after taking an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007.
Amber Lynn Costello, 27
- Costello, 27, was a sex worker and heroin addict who lived in West Babylon, New York, in a house with a woman and two men. She advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ drug habits. Costello was found in December 2010 after having last been seen leaving her home in September.
Megan Waterman, 22 years old
- Waterman, a 22-year-old mother of one, was last seen on June 6, 2010. She lived in Scarborough, Maine, and earned a living as an escort. Her family last saw her boarding a Concord Trailways bus bound for New York in Maine. Her body was found on December 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach.
Jessica Taylor, 20 years old
- The remains of Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old woman who worked as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area of Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains, initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5 “, They were discovered on March 29, 2011 along Ocean Parkway.
Valerie Mack, 24 years old
- Valerie Mack was 24 years old and living in Philadelphia when she disappeared. She worked as an escort, using the alias “Melissa Taylor.” Her relatives last saw Mack in the spring or summer of 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey, but never reported her missing to police. Her partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000, but were initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6.”
Unidentified Asian man
- The skeletal remains of a yet-to-be-identified Asian man were found along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. The man was estimated to be between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death. He was approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall and had bad teeth.
‘Peaches’ and her daughter
- The partial remains of an African-American woman were discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997, and she was known as “Peaches” because of a chewed-out tattoo of a peach on her left breast. On April 4, 2011, police discovered the remains of a young girl, who was approximately 2 years old at the time of her death. DNA testing confirmed that one of the skeletons was that of the 2-year-old girl’s mother, “Peaches.”
Karen Vergata
- A victim formerly known as Jane Doe No. 7 has been identified as Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old Manhattan woman. Vergata is believed to have disappeared around February 14, 1996; Two months later, her legs were found in a plastic bag in a park near Blue Point Beach on Fire Island. At the time of her disappearance, Vergata was believed to be working as an escort.
Shannan Gilbert, 23 years old
- Gilbert was a Craigslist escort living in Jersey City, who traveled with her driver Michael Pak from Manhattan to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home in Oak Beach Association on the morning of May 1, 2010. She spoke with two neighbors beforehand. . disappearing Her body was discovered in a swamp near Oak Beach, approximately half a mile from where she was last seen alive on December 13, 2011.
The three unidentified remains found near Gilgo Beach include a woman referred to as “Peaches” because of a tattoo she had, a young child identified as her son, and an Asian man.
Authorities said genetic genealogy is being used to identify victims, particularly in the case of Peaches, who they said may have had relatives in Alabama.
The Post has contacted Heuermann’s attorney for comment.
Heuermann has already been charged with the deaths of (counterclockwise from top left) Amber Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
He had previously been arrested and charged with murder for the deaths of three women who were found abandoned in Gilgo Beach in December 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Heuermann, 59, is also considered the prime suspect in the death of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
He pleaded not guilty, but prosecutors say a DNA sample he was ordered to take matched DNA from a pizza crust found outside his Midtown Manhattan office in July, which, in turn, matched a hair found in Waterman’s body in 2010.
Heuermann is due back in court on November 15.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn