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Long Island/Gilgo Beach Serial Killer


rashore

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This has been coming up in some recent media releases. Netflix has a movie, there's a podcast series.. and it's been a while since this cold case has been hashed around by folks here. 

Anyone interested in the case? I'll start tossing out links if folks want to discuss it. 

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I read a book about this case, but it was a while ago. I think there was a suspect in the case of one girl but he was never charged or arrested. I'll have to look at the book again. It was called Lost Girls by Robert Kolker. It's good to see the case is back in the public eye.

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54 minutes ago, susieice said:

I read a book about this case, but it was a while ago. I think there was a suspect in the case of one girl but he was never charged or arrested. I'll have to look at the book again. It was called Lost Girls by Robert Kolker. It's good to see the case is back in the public eye.

I guess it was made into a movie, I watched Lost Girls on Netflix.

I also watched a documentary, but I can’t remember the name. 

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I remember a lot of the girls were picked up on Craigslist. The killer stalked the internet.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_serial_killer#:~:text=The Long Island serial killer,South Shore of Long Island%2C

"Craigslist serial killer" redirects here. For other uses, see Internet homicide.
Long Island serial killer
Other names LISK
Gilgo Killer
Gilgo Beach Killer
Seashore Serial Killer
Craigslist Ripper
 
Details
Victims 10–16
Span of crimes
c. 1996c. 2010 and possibly up until 2013
Country United States
State(s) New York
Website www.gilgonews.com

The Long Island serial killer (also referred to as LISK, the Gilgo Beach Killer or the Craigslist Ripper) is an unidentified suspected serial killer who is believed to have murdered 10 to 16 people over a period of nearly 20 years, mostly prostitutes, and left their bodies in areas on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.

The victims were found along the Ocean Parkway, near the remote beach towns of Gilgo and Oak Beach in Suffolk County, and the area of Jones Beach State Park in Nassau County. The remains of four victims were found in December 2010, while six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011.[1][2][3] Police believe the latest sets of remains predate the four bodies found in December 2010.[4]

On May 9, 2011, authorities surmised that two of the newest sets of remains might be the work of a second killer.[5] On November 29, 2011, the police stated their belief that one person is responsible for all 10 deaths. They also had concluded that the case of Shannan Gilbert, an escort who disappeared before the first set of bodies were found, was not related.[6] "It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," said Suffolk County District Attorney

https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/lost-girls-long-island-serial-killer-true-story/

What Lost Girls Didn’t Tell You About the Long Island Serial Killer True Story

True crime drama Lost Girls is on Netflix now, but here are some details of the case of the Long Island Serial killer the movie doesn’t get into.

Netflix latest true crime drama Lost Girls tells the story of the Long Island Serial Killer – or elements of the case at least – but there is plenty more to learn about this strange and horrible series of crimes that didn’t make it into the movie. If you’ve seen Lost Girls and want to know more about the true story of the Long Island Serial Killer (aka the Craigslist Killer), here are some of the things the movie changed, omitted or chose not to focus on.

This article contains spoilers for Lost Girls (but check out our spoiler free Lost Girls review)

I hadn't heard about this before so just added links for others like me.

jmccr8

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I was thinking of Joseph Brewer. He was known to have taken Shannan Gilbert to his home on Oak Beach. He had hired her for the night through Craiglist. He told police she left his home acting crazy. She was seen roaming the area and banging on doors for help. The police actually ruled her death accidental. She was found in a marsh. Police said she wandered there and drowned.

There's been several new suspects since I read the book.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_serial_killer#Suspects_and_persons_of_interest

James Burke[edit]

On December 15, 2016, the attorney for Gilbert's family said that an escort who had conducted business with former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke claimed he was connected to the Long Island murders.[33] In November 2016, Burke had been sentenced to 46 months in federal prison, along with three years of supervised release, for beating a man who stole a duffel bag filled with sex toys and pornography from his vehicle. Burke had pleaded guilty in February 2016 to charges of a civil rights violation and conspiracy to obstruct justice.[34] Gilbert's attorney said in December that one escort claimed that she wanted to have "rough sex" with Burke during an Oak Beach party.[33] The escort identified herself as "Laenne". She specifically stated that at the first party she attended in April 2011 in Oak Beach she saw Burke drag an Asian looking woman by the hair to the ground. She stated that the woman did, however, think that this was playful rather than violent. Laenne said that when she saw him for the second time, she decided to hook up with him, as she was told that he was a high ranking official and that was intriguing to her. She described that he violently yanked her head during oral sex to the point where she started tearing up. Burke was unable to reach orgasm and proceeded to throw $300-400 at her afterward. This was in August 2011. At the time she was not a professional prostitute and she states that this was the first time she was paid for sex.[35] Burke was reported to have blocked an FBI probe of the LISK case during his time as police chief.[36]

John Bittrolff[edit]

On September 12, 2017, Suffolk County prosecutor Robert Biancavilla said that John Bittrolff, a Suffolk county resident convicted of murdering two prostitutes and suspected in the murder of a third, was a suspect in at least one of the LISK murders. Biancavilla stated that Bittrolff was likely responsible for the deaths of other women, and that there were similarities between the Gilgo Beach crime scenes and Bittrolff's known murders, for which he was convicted in May 2017 and sentenced in September.[24][37][38]

Bittrolff was arrested in 2014, linked by DNA found on two prostitutes homicide victims, Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee, whose bodies were found in 1993 and 1994, respectively. (The match had been made through DNA submitted by his brother, who was convicted in 2013 in an unrelated case.)[24] Bittrolff was convicted in May 2017 of these murders, and in September sentenced to consecutive terms of 25 years for each murder.[24] The Suffolk County police did not comment on the prosecutor's statement, due to the active homicide investigation of the LISK murders. Bittrolff's attorney rejected the prosecutor's assertion.[37]

A married carpenter, Bittrolff had lived in Manorville, three miles from where the torsos of LISK victims Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were recovered (see victims in section below). Biancavilla said that Bittrolff was a hunter who was said to enjoy the killing of animals.[38]

The grown daughter of Rita Tangredi, one of Bittrolff's known victims, was reported to be "best friends" with Melissa Barthelemy, one of the Gilgo Beach victims.[39]Barthelemy's mother said that her daughter Melissa "had a lot of calls to Manorville from her phone" before her death.[37][39]

Joseph Brewer[edit]

Joseph Brewer, an Oak Beach resident, was one of the last people known to have seen Shannan Gilbert alive. He hired her as an escort from Craigslist on the night of her disappearance. Brewer said that shortly after Gilbert arrived at his residence, she began acting erratically and fled into the night. Gilbert was reportedly seen running through Oak Beach, pounding on the doors of homes in Brewer's neighborhood. Around this time, Gilbert called 9-1-1, saying that "they were trying to kill her". However, police did not find any evidence of wrongdoing, and Brewer was quickly cleared as a suspect.[40]

Dr. Peter Hackett[edit]

Two days after Gilbert's disappearance, Dr. Peter Hackett, an Oak Beach resident and neighbor of Brewer, called the woman's mother, Mari Gilbert. She later recounted that he said he was taking care of Gilbert, and that he "ran a home for wayward girls." Three days later, he called the mother again, denying that he had any contact with her daughter and that he had called Mari Gilbert. Investigators later confirmed through phone records that Hackett called Mari twice following the disappearance. The marshy area where Gilbert's remains were found was also noted as near Hackett's backyard. Gilbert's family filed a wrongful death suit against Hackett in November 2012, claiming that he took Gilbert into his home that morning and administered drugs to her, facilitating her death. Later police revealed that Hackett had a history of inserting himself into, or exaggerating his role in, certain major events. Police later ruled out Hackett as a suspect in the deaths of Gilbert and the LISK victims.[41]

James Bissett[edit]

Two days after Shannan Gilbert's remains were found, James Bissett took his own life while in his car at Mattituck park.[42] He ran a nursery which was the main supplier of burlap in the region.[43]

 

Edited by susieice
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14 hours ago, SecretSanta said:

I guess it was made into a movie, I watched Lost Girls on Netflix.

I also watched a documentary, but I can’t remember the name. 

I watched it too.. that's what got me thinking about starting this thread :)

Some info for folks... 

This is a website dedicated to the case, lots of info: https://www.gilgocase.com/index.html

A podcast series... https://art19.com/shows/lisk

And CBS News article: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/long-island-serial-killer-lookalike-victims-online/

From the article, The police website on this, Gilgo News: https://www.gilgonews.com

 

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I think this is one of those cases where the killer has been identified but there's just not enough evidence to make an arrest. But at the same time it's also possible these girls weren't all killed by the same person. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It’s been more than two decades that the unidentified Long Island serial killer (LISK) wreaked havoc on the streets of Long Island and it is one of the most nerve-wracking cases in the history of the United States. It is believed that the LISK murdered more than 15 women, mostly prostitutes, over the period of 20 years and left their bodies in areas on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.

In 2010, Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker, disappeared from one of her client’s houses in the Oak Beach area of Long Island. The police launched an investigation and to their horror, they found remains of four female victims that were buried there years ago. However, none of them was Shannan. From 2010 to 2011, the police officials found more than 10 more bodies in and around the Gilgo Beach and Oak Beach area.

Full article at Meaww: Link

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