News: Update for Gilgo Beach Victims
(Long Island, N.Y.) The search for missing person Shannon Gilbert has continued as of seven this morning. Last week, police involved with the investigation discovered a fifth set of remains about a mile from the area where four female remains were discovered last December. Since last week’s finding, authorities have determined that the remains are human, and that they don’t belong to Gilbert.
Today’s search will span for twelve hours and shut down areas of Ocean Parkway including all westbound lanes from the Nassau/Suffolk County border to Tobay Beach. The area at Captree Bridge will also be shut down, and police have suggested that residents wishing to visit Jones Beach from those areas should search for alternate routes. Today’s endeavor includes a full-scale investigation involving cadaver-sniffing dogs and a vigorous search for evidence. Police will start at Oak Beach and move west to the county line.
It has not been determined if last week’s remains are linked to the four women who have been identified as victims of a serial killer. Many questions remain including the gender of the remains and the duration of time they had been buried. It is unknown whether the fifth set of remains was also found wrapped in a burlap sack like the others.
The fifth body was found on March 29th west of Cedar Beach and a mile east of Gilgo. Reports claim that a police officer from the Marine Bureau discovered the remains while he was scanning the dunes from his vehicle. He had been driving slowly along Ocean Parkway at the time of the discovery. Both the Homicide Canine Marine Bureau and the Aviation Bureau have been involved in the search.
Since then, the remains have been taken to the County Medical Examiner’s office in Hauppauge. Members of the Homicide Squad from the Suffolk County Crime Lab, County Police I.D. Section, and Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner have all been helpful in identifying the remains. Police expect more information leading to identification in the near future.
On March 31st authorities determined that last week’s remains did not belong to Gilbert, the twenty-four-year-old Jersey City woman that has been missing since May 1st of last year. All of the bodies were found after police had been looking for Gilbert; the first was discovered on December 11th, 2010. The original discovery was made three miles west of the Robert Moses Bridge at a quarter to three in the afternoon.
About two days after the first set of remains was discovered three more were spotted within five-hundred feet of each other. Some reports stated that they all belonged to petite Caucasian women and were buried equidistant from each other. Two days after authorities discovered the second set of findings, the FBI offered its forensic services to assist investigators with the case.
As part of the investigation into Gilbert’s case, a resident of a gated seaside commune in the area told police that a woman came to his door at about a quarter to five in the morning at the time of her disappearance. According to reports, he claimed that she fled before he could access police, and that a man in an SUV drove by looking for her shortly after. Neither was seen again, and some reports stated that police had seized a white SUV from an Oak Beach residence as a part of their initial investigation.
The resident claimed that the woman appeared ‘disoriented’ and was pleading for help. The person who supplied Gilbert with transportation to the area said he waited for her for an hour before leaving. According to reports, the client she was scheduled to visit was questioned several times by police before he was released without charges and ruled out as a suspect. His car and home had also been searched by authorities.
