Crime & Safety

Beach Searching on Hold in Serial Killer Case

Police have no set plans to resume searching the beach or water along Ocean Parkway at this time.

As the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation hits the 132-day mark, Nassau Police have no future search plans as well and are awaiting photography results taken during aerial searches.

Suffolk Police have completed aerial and waterway search efforts and also don’t have any immediate plans to resume beach search activity along Ocean Parkway.

"We are awaiting results from the FBI pictures and have no plans to do anything unless something comes from that which requires more searching," said a police spokesperson. The FBI results are expected within the next 10 days.

Find out what's happening in Wantagh-Seafordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the ninth and tenth set of human remains were discovered by Nassau Police along the state parkway in the Jones Beach area and several days since aerial searches, using highly-advanced photography technology, was deployed using FBI aircraft

The latest find was a bone earlier this week that police concluded was not human.

Find out what's happening in Wantagh-Seafordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The serial killer investigation kicked off in mid December with a search related to the missing persons case of Shannan Gilbert. The 24-year-old New Jersey woman, who police say was a Craigslist escort, was last seen in Oak Beach in the early morning hours of May 1, 2010. A canine unit involved in that case discovered what would be the first of 10 sets of human remains on the north side of the parkway over the next several months.

The first four sets of bodies were identified as young females working as sex escorts. One was a North Babylon woman last seen in September 2010. The remaining six sets of remains are still undergoing forensic testing by both county and New York State medical examiners. The first body was identified 40 days after its discovery, and the remaining three were identified three days later.

The investigation has featured comprehensive, days long beach, aerial and water searches by both county police departments. The aerial search efforts, aided by the FBI, were conducted after the Nassau remains were found on April 11.

Suffolk Police have not ruled out future beach search plans. At the last press briefing on April 13 police said they were following up on over 600 tips phoned into its crime tip hotline and asked any one with information to come forward.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.