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Police: One Person Behind All 10 Gilgo Beach Murders
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Dec 6, 2011
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AP
By
Garth Johnston
Published Nov 30, 2011
Modified Dec 6, 2011
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Just under a year after the first bodies of dead sex workers were found on Gilgo State Beach on Long Island the Suffolk County Police have still not found a killer. But they have finally decided to let us all know that—in a change of opinion—the 10 bodies found (eight woman, one toddler and one man in women's clothing) were most likely slain by one killer. "Serial killers evolve," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said. "They don't necessarily do the same thing all the time. What's common here is the dumping ground, and the people who are victims: sex workers."
While he is still declining, understandably, to discuss the forensic details of the case, Dormer isn't staying completely mum anymore: "The sex workers dumped in the same place, the ages of the victims and even though we did have a male and a toddler's remains found, we believe that they may be connected to the sex business," he said [Reg. Req'd].
The single-killer theory "could change as the investigation moves forward," but Dormer wants to be clear that "that's the theory right now." Further, he and the police believe the killer to be a Long Islander because of where "the bodies were dumped," which included an area 42 miles away from Gilgo Beach. "That's a huge distance, so somebody has to be familiar with the Long Island area and comfortable with that area," he said.
"We know that killers of this type always make a mistake, and our job is to find a mistake, and so that's what our detectives are looking for—where this subject made a mistake," Dormer explained. "And that will certainly make this investigation move forward."
Finally, police no longer think that the disappearance of sex worker Shannan Gilbert—whose disappearance in Oak Beach in May, 2010, led to the discovery of the bodies in the first place—is in any way related to the serial killer. "We believe that it's just a coincidence that she went missing in Oak Beach and the bodies were found on Gilgo Beach, which is right across Ocean Parkway and farther west," Dormer said. "The M.O. is completely different, the scenario is completely different."
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