The Long Island Serial Killer

Long Island has a dark and terrible secret: the infamous Long Island Serial Killer – also known as the Gilgo Beach Killer. This still unidentified killer is responsible for the murder of over 10 women and one man, all whose remains were dumped along the Ocean Parkway.

In December of 2010, the Suffolk County Police Department was conducting a search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker. Shannon lived in Jersey City and she had been missing since running away from the home of a client that May. While conducting that search in the dunes of Ocean Parkway, Police Officer Mallia and his German Shephard Blue found the skeletal remains of a woman stuffed into a burlap sack. But these remains were not Shannon Gilbert’s.

The search expanded and, two days later, they uncovered three more bodies – all female – that had been dumped in the thick vegetation along the road.

The four bodies were identified within weeks. All four women were revealed to have been escorts or sex workers who had advertised their services on Craigslist. Six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011.

As the police widened the scope of their search, they continued to find more human remains.  The FBI eventually became involved and speculated that the alleged killer was someone familiar with law enforcement techniques.  But finding the killer has proven been impossible.  Psychologists have put together a profile and several suspects have been looked at, but the case remains unsolved.

Join us today at the quiet end for a discussion of these murders, including a heartbreaking look at the victims and what turned their lives in a direction where they became vulnerable to this serial killer.