Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 11 victims brutally murdered and buried on a sandy stretch of beach. Who is the Long Island Serial Killer?

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11 victims brutally murdered and buried on a sandy stretch of beach. Who is the Long Island Serial Killer? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: One woman goes missing, then a second, third, fourth, up
0:11
Speaker 1: to eleven. It was really only by happenstance that the
0:17
Speaker 1: first body was found there along a stretch of beach
0:22
Speaker 1: Long Island now known as the Long Island serial Killer.
0:29
Speaker 1: Still no resolution, but in the last days, is there
0:34
Speaker 1: a break in the case. I'm Nancy Grace. This is
0:38
Speaker 1: Crime Stories Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Today we are
0:56
Speaker 1: releasing the first piece of new information that will be
0:59
Speaker 1: featured on the website. A significant piece of evidence found
1:04
Speaker 1: at one of the crime scenes along Ocean Parkway. A
1:08
Speaker 1: black leather belt embossed with the letters HM ORWH was
1:15
Speaker 1: recovered during the initial stages of this investigation. We believe
1:21
Speaker 1: that the belt was handled by the suspect and did
1:24
Speaker 1: not belong to any of the victims. We are not
1:28
Speaker 1: providing the specific location where the belt was found, and
1:32
Speaker 1: additional information on this item will not be available at
1:35
Speaker 1: this time. However, we do anticipate releasing photographs of the
1:40
Speaker 1: belt via gilgonews dot com when appropriate. You are hearing
1:46
Speaker 1: Gerald Deane Hart speaking at a Suffolk County press conference.
1:52
Speaker 1: Eleven women that we know of dead along the same
1:59
Speaker 1: stretch of beach found buried again. In total, the remains
2:04
Speaker 1: of eleven victims found buried on the same stretch of
2:08
Speaker 1: Beach Long Island. Obviously the same person or a group
2:12
Speaker 1: of people had to commit these murders. Why are they
2:17
Speaker 1: still unsolved? Now? The FBI joining in late breaking development.
2:23
Speaker 1: A belt embossed with the letters h M or upside
2:27
Speaker 1: down wh found, obviously not belonging to any of the
2:31
Speaker 1: female victims. Why is it just being found and what,
2:35
Speaker 1: if anything, will it mean to cracking the case of
2:39
Speaker 1: this serial killer. Imans Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank
2:44
Speaker 1: you for being with us, with me an all star panel,
2:49
Speaker 1: Ellen Calauria and Crime Online dot Com investigative reporter, psychologists
2:53
Speaker 1: joining us from Manhattan. Dotor Karen Stark, South Carolina medical examiner,
2:57
Speaker 1: author of homicide Investigation, Old Guy doctor, Michelle Dupree, owner
3:03
Speaker 1: ESP Investigations, former crime scene commander Chicago. Bruce Johnson, genetic genealogist,
3:10
Speaker 1: the Jean Hunter, Cheryl Appoint special guest joining me now,
3:16
Speaker 1: John Ray, lawyer of victim Shannon Gilbert, and Melissa Ken,
3:21
Speaker 1: the sister of victim Marine Brainard Barnes. Melissa, thank you
3:29
Speaker 1: so much for being with us, and first to you
3:32
Speaker 1: do you remember when you learned Marine was dead. Oh yeah,
3:38
Speaker 1: January twenty four of twenty and eleven. What happened? The
3:42
Speaker 1: Suffic County Police detectives show up to my house and
3:48
Speaker 1: they came and they sat us down and positively identified Marinus.
3:54
Speaker 1: Wanted the victims. How long had she been gone? For?
3:58
Speaker 1: Three and a half years? And I guess during those
4:01
Speaker 1: three and a half years, you imagine all sorts of
4:04
Speaker 1: things that she took off that she didn't want to
4:07
Speaker 1: be found. But in the back of your mind you
4:10
Speaker 1: had to know something horrible had happened. Oh yeah, I
4:13
Speaker 1: knew right away when she didn't come home, because she
4:16
Speaker 1: wasn't one that just like kind of like randomily like
4:19
Speaker 1: left and then it come back home. But also it
4:23
Speaker 1: kind of knew because I also saw that, you know,
4:29
Speaker 1: she wasn't responding to anybody's calf and that was unlike
4:32
Speaker 1: her because she's very talkative. Did she have any children? Yeah,
4:37
Speaker 1: she had to two children. What were their ages when
4:40
Speaker 1: Maureene went missing? One and eight? Oh? My stars, Oh
4:45
Speaker 1: my stars? Who has the children? Now? I'm their fathers?
4:50
Speaker 1: Let me ask you a question. Joining me the sister
4:53
Speaker 1: of one of the serial Long Island serial killers victims
4:58
Speaker 1: Maureene Brainard Barnes with me, Melissa Can, what do you
5:02
Speaker 1: make of the discovery of this black belt with initials
5:06
Speaker 1: either HM or WH. I'm hopeful that it will lead
5:11
Speaker 1: to someone to come forward to remember it. I think
5:14
Speaker 1: it's the first like Hopelly've had in this case for
5:18
Speaker 1: a long time. I don't want to seem like kind
5:23
Speaker 1: of suspicious on the police on why they really decided
5:26
Speaker 1: nine years later. I trust that the fact that they
5:30
Speaker 1: held this evidence as if they needed it in their investigation.
5:37
Speaker 1: But I'm no matter the years that went by, I'm
5:40
Speaker 1: just happy that maybe this could be the break that
5:44
Speaker 1: we need in this case with my sister of serial
5:47
Speaker 1: killers victim, Maureine Brainard Barnes. Melissa Can to Crime online
5:53
Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter Ellen Colauren. How long have authorities
5:58
Speaker 1: had the belt? When was it discovered? It was discovered
6:02
Speaker 1: in the very early stages of the investigation, so they've
6:05
Speaker 1: had it for at least nine years. Why are they
6:08
Speaker 1: just releasing the information now? How is that going to help?
6:11
Speaker 1: I mean, anyone that knew someone that owned a built
6:14
Speaker 1: like that may have moved, have forgotten or even did yes, Nancy,
6:19
Speaker 1: Police haven't given a specific answer as to why they
6:22
Speaker 1: waited as long as they did to release the photos
6:25
Speaker 1: of this evidence. That was the very first question that
6:27
Speaker 1: every reporter in the room had after Commissioner Geraldine Hart
6:32
Speaker 1: made the disclosure. What she said is only that the
6:35
Speaker 1: investigation is constantly involving and net authorities are continuing to
6:39
Speaker 1: reevaluate basis they based on the evidence that they follow
6:43
Speaker 1: and the facts of the investigation. Also, it's been nine
6:46
Speaker 1: years and during that time there have been a number
6:48
Speaker 1: of leadership changes within the highest ranks of Suffolkani law enforcement.
6:52
Speaker 1: Geraldine Hart has only been Commissioner since twenty eighteen. Well,
6:56
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear there's been a reshuffling of people
6:58
Speaker 1: in power. But i mean, Johnson, Why in the world
7:02
Speaker 1: you're a former commander of Crime Scene Chicago owner now
7:06
Speaker 1: of ESP Investigations Bride Johnson, You're trying to solve a
7:10
Speaker 1: serial killer, string of murders, eleven women that we know of,
7:15
Speaker 1: innocent women dead and shallow graves along the same stretch
7:20
Speaker 1: of beach. Why in the world would they have not
7:23
Speaker 1: put that on TV, in newspapers, on the internet when
7:26
Speaker 1: it first happened. I'm not blaming them. They're not the murderers,
7:31
Speaker 1: but anyone that may have recognized it is long gone
7:34
Speaker 1: by now. Exactly. I don't want to blame them either,
7:37
Speaker 1: because usually when you're doing these type of cases, you're
7:39
Speaker 1: going to have command briefings, you're gonna have all types
7:42
Speaker 1: of different things. But over a nine year period, the
7:45
Speaker 1: thing that I would question is the press conference for
7:49
Speaker 1: the belt, right, you want to draw attention and your
7:52
Speaker 1: everybody's talking about it and it may lead to something.
7:55
Speaker 1: So my question to them would be, why are you
7:59
Speaker 1: not released all the information on the belt? Which victim
8:03
Speaker 1: was it you know related to? They don't show the
8:07
Speaker 1: whole size of the belt, They don't you know, they
8:10
Speaker 1: zoom in on a closeup of the initials, So you
8:16
Speaker 1: need to have an establishing shot of the belt, which
8:18
Speaker 1: I'm sure they do. Is it a thirty four thirty
8:21
Speaker 1: eight two belt? What's to make if the was it
8:26
Speaker 1: made in China? Does it stamp made in the USA?
8:28
Speaker 1: So I'm just saying, if you're going to have a
8:30
Speaker 1: press conference and announced the belt, why are they withholding
8:33
Speaker 1: the information? We're not going to tell you which victim belt,
8:37
Speaker 1: what victim that belt was found could be very important.
8:41
Speaker 1: Wait a minute, hold on, you're bringing up an incredibly
8:44
Speaker 1: good point to John Ray, attorney for the family of
8:48
Speaker 1: another victim, Shannon Gilbert. So I was happy when ellen
8:52
Speaker 1: Claurin told me that they had released information about the
8:55
Speaker 1: black belt with these initials. Then I was in despair
8:58
Speaker 1: when I found out they've known about it for years now.
9:02
Speaker 1: They're not John Ray, You're a very well known lawyer.
9:06
Speaker 1: Is this true. They're not telling any more information as
9:09
Speaker 1: to for instance, by which body the belt was found,
9:13
Speaker 1: nothing more. Yes, they have told nothing more, and they
9:16
Speaker 1: have deliberately said they would not tell anything more than
9:20
Speaker 1: what the commissioner said. And the photos up close of
9:25
Speaker 1: the initials. They took the photo opside down and right
9:30
Speaker 1: side up as it were, and published that time stories
9:37
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. The Suffolk Police Commissioner said the killer
9:43
Speaker 1: left a black belt at one of the multiple scenes
9:46
Speaker 1: where bodies were dumped with the initials HM or wh
9:50
Speaker 1: on it. We believe that the belt was handled by
9:54
Speaker 1: the suspect. A law enforcement source who worked on the
9:56
Speaker 1: Gilgo Beach case told me that the initials embossed on
10:00
Speaker 1: inside of the black belt are about a half inch high,
10:03
Speaker 1: and he said, the handy work looks like something you
10:05
Speaker 1: might have found done at a shopping mall in the
10:08
Speaker 1: eighties or nineties. The initials on the belt have caused
10:11
Speaker 1: a frenzy of speculation, with some web sleuthes tying the
10:14
Speaker 1: initials to a friend of disgrace, Chief James Burke. Burke
10:18
Speaker 1: went to prison in twenty sixteen for beating up a
10:21
Speaker 1: drug addicted suspect who stole a stash of porn and
10:24
Speaker 1: sex toys from the chief's official police car. Burke was
10:28
Speaker 1: released last year. Okay, now we're getting politics dragged into this,
10:33
Speaker 1: I guess John Ray, attorney for the family of serial
10:36
Speaker 1: killer victims Shannon Gilbert, you probably don't give a flying
10:41
Speaker 1: fig about some police chief in the past allegedly having
10:45
Speaker 1: a stash of porn in his car. Do I like it? Now?
10:47
Speaker 1: I don't like it. Could it have come from a case?
10:49
Speaker 1: I don't know where it came from, and I don't care.
10:51
Speaker 1: All I care about is the possibility of finding the
10:55
Speaker 1: person connected to this belt. John Ray, how is Shannon
11:00
Speaker 1: Gilbert's family taking the announcement that a belt has been
11:04
Speaker 1: there and the cops sat on the information all these years? Well,
11:08
Speaker 1: the family is upset, of course, and wondering why this
11:13
Speaker 1: was withheld from the public, along with the nine one
11:17
Speaker 1: one tape or tapes, actually four of them involving Shannon.
11:21
Speaker 1: On the evening she and morning she disappeared, including Shannon's
11:25
Speaker 1: voice for twenty three minutes. I believe well, tell me,
11:29
Speaker 1: tell me, tell me, John right, tell me about a
11:33
Speaker 1: nine one one call from Shannon Gilbert, one of the victims.
11:38
Speaker 1: Shannon made a call while she was in the house
11:41
Speaker 1: of the John. In that call, she said there was
11:45
Speaker 1: a struggle, and she said they're trying to kill me,
11:47
Speaker 1: words to that effect, and then ran out of the
11:50
Speaker 1: house of the John. His name was Brewer and began
11:54
Speaker 1: knocking on doors. Two people called nine one one on
11:57
Speaker 1: whose doors she knocked, and then the next they Brewer
12:00
Speaker 1: also called nine one. So there are four tapes. I've
12:04
Speaker 1: tried to get those tapes. I've sued the police department
12:07
Speaker 1: to get those tapes. It's taken years of litigation. They've
12:11
Speaker 1: resisted us relentlessly in court. We got a court order
12:15
Speaker 1: saying give up the tapes to John Ray. They refused
12:18
Speaker 1: to do it. Instead, they appealed it. We're waiting now
12:22
Speaker 1: for the decision on the appeal which was submitted finally
12:26
Speaker 1: just last Tuesday. Good gravy. What these victims families have
12:32
Speaker 1: been through just to get information. Take a list of
12:35
Speaker 1: our friend at Picks eleven. This is James Ford. Their
12:37
Speaker 1: search for bodies began after one of the people whose
12:40
Speaker 1: remains were found, sex workers, Shannon Gilbert, made a nine
12:44
Speaker 1: one one call after running out of a nearby home
12:47
Speaker 1: eight years ago. She disappeared, and that call led police
12:51
Speaker 1: to search for her. They found four other corpses instead
12:55
Speaker 1: before finding her remains, as well as those of five
12:58
Speaker 1: more mostly women sex workers, but Suffolk County Police never
13:02
Speaker 1: released her nine one one call. Now a judge has
13:06
Speaker 1: ordered them to do so. I think the judge was
13:09
Speaker 1: convinced of the rightness of our cause. Attorney John Ray
13:13
Speaker 1: sued for the tapes and one on behalf of Shannon
13:16
Speaker 1: Gilbert's family. They're convinced that doctor Peter Hackett, possibly the
13:20
Speaker 1: last person to have seen Gilbert alive and who had
13:23
Speaker 1: a physical reaction when he was confronted about it, is
13:26
Speaker 1: believed by Gilbert's family to be involved in her disappearance
13:30
Speaker 1: and death. They also suspect that former Suffolk County Police
13:34
Speaker 1: Chief James Burke, who's in prison now on an unrelated charge,
13:38
Speaker 1: may have also been involved. What in the hey Ellen
13:42
Speaker 1: Kalora and Crime online dot com investigative reporter as one
13:46
Speaker 1: thing for the police chief to have porn stash in
13:48
Speaker 1: his car as another thing to suggest he was involved.
13:51
Speaker 1: What did they What did that reporter just mean that
13:54
Speaker 1: the police chief may be involved in what capacity? Ellen, Well,
13:57
Speaker 1: there is a lot of speculation amongst citizens in Long
14:02
Speaker 1: Island and people that know this case very well, that
14:05
Speaker 1: he intentionally wanted the FBI away from this investigation, and
14:12
Speaker 1: that is one of the reasons that people have speculated.
14:15
Speaker 1: Of course, there's no evidence to this, but there has
14:18
Speaker 1: been speculation that he had something to hide. He had
14:22
Speaker 1: previously been with a sex worker while he was a
14:25
Speaker 1: member of the force. The sex worker had access to
14:28
Speaker 1: his patrol car and his gun. So it's this ongoing
14:33
Speaker 1: issue of whether or not I got it. So, Ellen,
14:36
Speaker 1: you're telling me nobody thinks that the place chief was
14:39
Speaker 1: involved in the murders. That he was involved in maybe
14:42
Speaker 1: misconduct and how he handled the case. Take a listen
14:47
Speaker 1: to our friend Aaron Moriarty forty eight hours when the
14:50
Speaker 1: police are looking for Shannon with authorities searching this scene,
14:54
Speaker 1: a police made a grizzly discovery. They turned up four
14:58
Speaker 1: other bodies wrapped in borrow lap, four female victims. They
15:02
Speaker 1: had found so many bodies there we could have a
15:04
Speaker 1: serial killer. Discovery of a fifth set of human remains,
15:08
Speaker 1: one body after the other. A disturbing new discovery was made,
15:11
Speaker 1: bringing the total to eight. Long Island is a popular
15:14
Speaker 1: place to dump people. This is the American version of
15:17
Speaker 1: Jack the Ripper. We got another body and then another one.
15:20
Speaker 1: When the police find them, they were in some way mutilated.
15:24
Speaker 1: The ninth and possibly tenth victim. They're all sex workers.
15:29
Speaker 1: This is like a horror movie, Like you don't everythink
15:31
Speaker 1: that's going to happen to you. This is this is
15:33
Speaker 1: an evil place. You know. I watched all these movies
15:35
Speaker 1: with serial killers and they're like that kind have happened,
15:38
Speaker 1: but it really does happen, and the murderer has not
15:40
Speaker 1: been found. The murderer has not been found. Now eleven
15:45
Speaker 1: women dad we believe at the hands of the serial killer,
15:49
Speaker 1: all buried along the same stretch of beach. To doctor
15:54
Speaker 1: Michel du Pre, South Carolina Medical Examiner, author of homicide
15:58
Speaker 1: Investigation Field Guide, Doctor Dupree. Is there any way that
16:06
Speaker 1: DNA can be found on these bodies or maybe on
16:10
Speaker 1: this belt? Nancy, there actually is, especially on the belt.
16:15
Speaker 1: The belt can keep the DNA a lot longer, perhaps,
16:19
Speaker 1: and some of the bodies if the evidence has gone
16:22
Speaker 1: from there. Actual DNA found on the body after a
16:26
Speaker 1: long period of time is probably less likely, but certainly
16:30
Speaker 1: there may be someone still left on the belt. Well
16:33
Speaker 1: what about if the women were raped, which I believe
16:35
Speaker 1: that they were, wouldn't DNA still be inside their body cavities? Well,
16:41
Speaker 1: it could be, but DNA is only viable for about
16:44
Speaker 1: seventy two hours after the fact that we could get
16:48
Speaker 1: a DNA from seminars farm. Then how is it that
16:53
Speaker 1: told cases are cracks years later with DNA, Doctor Dupre.
16:59
Speaker 1: That can be on other substances that can be on
17:02
Speaker 1: clothing such as the belt or in other areas. DNA
17:05
Speaker 1: can also be used several years later to identify someone
17:11
Speaker 1: if it is mitochondrial DNA or something of that nature.
17:14
Speaker 1: It really just depends on those circumstances. Joining me right now,
17:18
Speaker 1: genetic genealogist, the gene hunter ge ne gene hunter Cheryl
17:23
Speaker 1: A point sure. Thank you for being with US explained
17:26
Speaker 1: to me how this belt could identify the Long Island
17:30
Speaker 1: serial killer, Nancy. With the advancement in DNA processing over
17:35
Speaker 1: the last few years, it's very possible now that even
17:40
Speaker 1: though they had the belt, say nine years ago, they
17:43
Speaker 1: didn't have the capacity to extract the DNA and put
17:47
Speaker 1: it in what we call snip files, which is what
17:51
Speaker 1: is used to do investigative genetic genealogy. This new process
17:55
Speaker 1: allows us to put this information in databases that we
18:01
Speaker 1: use to find shared ancestors, just like we do when
18:04
Speaker 1: we search for adoptees, we find shared ancestors, we reverse
18:09
Speaker 1: engineer a tree, and we hopefully find leads that can
18:13
Speaker 1: help investigators solve these crimes. Take a listen as I'm
18:19
Speaker 1: speaking with Robert Coke, or author of The Boat Lost Girls.
18:23
Speaker 1: And they only started to take shannon disappearance seriously by
18:27
Speaker 1: around August. Really it was May when she disappeared in
18:30
Speaker 1: August when the police start looking for her. But then
18:33
Speaker 1: the most amazing thing happened. Nancy, a cop and a
18:36
Speaker 1: cadavered sniffing dog go looking for Shannon. Months and months
18:40
Speaker 1: after Shannon disappeared. The cop and the cadaver dogs find
18:45
Speaker 1: a set of bones along Ocean Parkway, just three miles
18:48
Speaker 1: away from where Shannon disappeared. It's a woman. She's petite
18:53
Speaker 1: like Shannon, but it isn't Shannon. And within two days
18:56
Speaker 1: they find three more bodies, just about a tenth of
18:59
Speaker 1: a mile apart from each other, evenly space, clearly planned out,
19:03
Speaker 1: clearly the work of a premeditated killer. None of these
19:07
Speaker 1: women are Shannon Gilbert. From there, the entire New York
19:13
Speaker 1: media world explodes. The national media world explodes. There's a
19:16
Speaker 1: serial killer in New York City. Some of these women
19:18
Speaker 1: have been disappeared for three or four years. Nobody knows
19:23
Speaker 1: who he is. The police don't have leagues. It's like
19:25
Speaker 1: they've imperative for cold cases. Five of you include Shannon
19:44
Speaker 1: crime stories with Nancy Grace. We're looking at most likely
19:49
Speaker 1: one serial killer, because it would be a little odd
19:52
Speaker 1: that another serial killer also found this great dumping ground.
19:56
Speaker 1: And what does happen with serial killers who dispose of
20:00
Speaker 1: bodies and places that they think won't be found. If
20:03
Speaker 1: they find a good place, nobody has discovered that body,
20:08
Speaker 1: why look for another place where you could get caught
20:11
Speaker 1: or the body could be discovered. Why not just keep
20:13
Speaker 1: using that same stretch of road, and that's clearly in
20:17
Speaker 1: my mind what he did and was very successful at it.
20:20
Speaker 1: If it hadn't been for the peculiar moment of Shannon
20:25
Speaker 1: Gilbert going missing, a I think it's just a bizarre coincident.
20:29
Speaker 1: That's Colonel Profile or Pat Brown is joining us explaining
20:33
Speaker 1: why she believes it is a single serial killer. To
20:38
Speaker 1: Ellen Kalora and Crimalline dot Com investigative reporter, Obviously, these
20:43
Speaker 1: women had been sexually assaulted, murdered and buried. Was DNA
20:50
Speaker 1: recovered from any of the bodies, and what was the
20:54
Speaker 1: mode of death? Was it the same on all eleven victims.
20:58
Speaker 1: Nancy authorities have not revealed anything about the DNA of
21:04
Speaker 1: specifically about the DNA evidence that was taken from any
21:07
Speaker 1: of the victims or any of the crime scenes. And
21:11
Speaker 1: also as far as the mode of death, we know
21:15
Speaker 1: that the guil go for died of asphyxiation, but that
21:20
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean that they were strangled, as has been
21:23
Speaker 1: widely reported. There's other ways that you can die in
21:27
Speaker 1: that manner. As far as the other victims, some of
21:31
Speaker 1: these victims have not been identified. Only five of the
21:35
Speaker 1: ten that they have found have been identified, so that is,
21:39
Speaker 1: but they do have DNA evidence from some or all
21:44
Speaker 1: of the unidentified victims, because they recently made an announcement
21:48
Speaker 1: that they've given DNA evians from identified victims to the
21:52
Speaker 1: FBI for further announce Okay, well, I don't understand. At
21:56
Speaker 1: the beginning, you said they weren't releasing whether or not
21:59
Speaker 1: there is DNA, But now I'm understanding there is DNA.
22:03
Speaker 1: They just announced a week and a half ago that
22:07
Speaker 1: they have sent DNA from the five unidentified victims to
22:12
Speaker 1: the FBI for analysis. I wonder if that's DNA as
22:15
Speaker 1: to determining who the victims are, or if it's DNA
22:19
Speaker 1: they got from the bodies to determine who the killer is.
22:22
Speaker 1: To Melissa Ken, the sister of one of the serial
22:25
Speaker 1: killers victims, Marine BRAINERD Barnes, Melissa, what if anything, how
22:30
Speaker 1: detectives told you about potential DNA Nothing. Damn't told us
22:35
Speaker 1: anything about potential DNA. I do know, just because not
22:41
Speaker 1: that I'm privileged to this information, but I know what
22:44
Speaker 1: they're doing with the DNA is actually extracting the DNA
22:48
Speaker 1: from the unidentified bodies and putting them in a database
22:52
Speaker 1: to try to find relatives to try to identify those bodies.
22:57
Speaker 1: It's kind of a daylight in a dollar or I mean,
23:01
Speaker 1: this is years and years later that they're just now
23:04
Speaker 1: trying to identify the victims' bodies. But John Ray, attorney
23:09
Speaker 1: for the family of victims Shannon Gilbert, that could be
23:13
Speaker 1: because we are just now getting to use familial DNA,
23:17
Speaker 1: So if they're looking to identify family members, maybe that
23:22
Speaker 1: has been the delay. John Ray, what do you know
23:24
Speaker 1: about it? No, I don't know of that being the
23:28
Speaker 1: reason for the delay. The police have been investigating this
23:33
Speaker 1: case apparently actively for the nine years. It's the question
23:38
Speaker 1: is rather whether their investigation has been sufficient, and that
23:43
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be so. Now. There can be a
23:46
Speaker 1: number of reasons for that, but one of the reasons
23:48
Speaker 1: that has just emerged is that Chief of Police Burke,
23:53
Speaker 1: who's convicted now and has served prison time and is
23:56
Speaker 1: out for his corruption, he was in charge of the
24:03
Speaker 1: investigation only days after Shannon was found. He was made
24:07
Speaker 1: chief of police. Before that, he was the chief one
24:10
Speaker 1: of the chief investigators for the District Attorney's office, so
24:13
Speaker 1: we had a lot of control over the situation, and
24:17
Speaker 1: he deliberately suppressed any involvement of the FBI, not only
24:21
Speaker 1: in this case, but in all cases involving Suffolk County.
24:26
Speaker 1: So we have that factor. But we also know that
24:29
Speaker 1: we know I've known, and I've reported it to the
24:31
Speaker 1: police a long time ago and again recently, that Chief
24:34
Speaker 1: Burke ran lived with a woman who ran a prostitution
24:39
Speaker 1: ring from Burke's home on a deeper registered to a
24:42
Speaker 1: Jane Burke at his address. There is no Jane Burke
24:46
Speaker 1: at his address. And this prostitution ring, which I independently corroborated,
24:53
Speaker 1: was ongoing for about ten years. Good gravy. So if
24:59
Speaker 1: you have a man who's completely addicted to prostitution, and
25:03
Speaker 1: he had he had another prostitute who I represented named
25:06
Speaker 1: Larina Rickenbacker and Lurita. You know she was with Burke
25:12
Speaker 1: during his years. She had a baby with Burke. And
25:16
Speaker 1: during all this time none of the police seemed to
25:18
Speaker 1: notice this. And yet he during this prostitution era. Shall
25:24
Speaker 1: we say, we have this man in charge of investigating
25:27
Speaker 1: dead prostitutes. Take a listen to our friends at CBS
25:30
Speaker 1: and US is a set down. Now, let's believed the
25:33
Speaker 1: killer may work in or be familiar with law enforcement,
25:37
Speaker 1: and how an investigation would unfold. Detectives are focusing on
25:41
Speaker 1: a series of seven disturbing calls from one of the
25:45
Speaker 1: victim's own phone. Police believed that the killer may have
25:48
Speaker 1: made several phone calls to the sister of one of
25:51
Speaker 1: the victims from busy places around New York City like
25:55
Speaker 1: here at Penn Station. The calls were kept short, so
25:59
Speaker 1: if they could be traced, the killer still could not
26:02
Speaker 1: be identified by surveillance cameras. During one call, an unidentified
26:07
Speaker 1: man asks, do you know what your sister's doing? She's
26:11
Speaker 1: a whore if you look for the common denominator and
26:13
Speaker 1: the common denominator right now is Craigslist to Ellen Kalaura
26:19
Speaker 1: and Crime online dot Com investigative reporter. So the killer
26:24
Speaker 1: knows the victims to the extent that he calls their family. Yes, Nancy.
26:29
Speaker 1: This is one of the most chilling and frustrating parts
26:32
Speaker 1: of this case. That call was made shortly after Melissa
26:37
Speaker 1: Bartholomy wet missing from her own phone, and it was
26:42
Speaker 1: made to her younger sister, who was only a teenager
26:45
Speaker 1: at the time. This person called her about seven times,
26:50
Speaker 1: at least seven times, but police were never able to
26:55
Speaker 1: trace the call because he was making the calls from
26:58
Speaker 1: busy areas in Mentown, Manhattan, and he didn't stay on
27:02
Speaker 1: the phone long enough to Bruce Johnson, owner ESP Investigations,
27:07
Speaker 1: former crime scene commander Chicago Metro Area, Bruce Johnson, it's
27:12
Speaker 1: believed that all of these women, all eleven, were killed
27:15
Speaker 1: elsewhere then dumped buried there along this stretch of Long
27:22
Speaker 1: Island Beach. How could cops know that? Oh? Well, on
27:26
Speaker 1: some of the cases there was actually body parts found
27:30
Speaker 1: at different locations. They had ahead at one location and
27:33
Speaker 1: a torso at another. But there's no reason why this
27:39
Speaker 1: case could you know, could not be taken over from
27:42
Speaker 1: the FBI, even if the chief was trying to prevent it.
27:48
Speaker 1: With eleven bodies, the FBI could take it over against
27:52
Speaker 1: their willth FBI comes in and takes cases away from
27:55
Speaker 1: local departments all the time, so there's no reason why
27:58
Speaker 1: that couldn't happen. And the other information, as far as
28:02
Speaker 1: evidence is concerned, three of the bodies that were found
28:05
Speaker 1: when they were looking for the one, we're all in
28:08
Speaker 1: burlap sacks, which is noted and reported. It's important to
28:12
Speaker 1: get that out. What's the make you make and description
28:15
Speaker 1: of those burlap sacks? Can you find a manufacturer where
28:18
Speaker 1: they were produced, can you get a link to a
28:20
Speaker 1: subspect that worked at that factory. So a lot of
28:23
Speaker 1: questions as to why certain things are being released and
28:26
Speaker 1: certain things aren't, but the FBI needs to take it over. Today,
28:30
Speaker 1: we are launching a website dedicated to sharing information with
28:33
Speaker 1: the public about these unsolved murders and also providing a
28:38
Speaker 1: new way for the public to provide us with tips.
28:42
Speaker 1: To that end, we are asking the public to carefully
28:44
Speaker 1: consider the information provided on the website and whether they
28:48
Speaker 1: may have any information that could bring this case forward.
28:53
Speaker 1: As appropriate, we will share additional information via the website
28:57
Speaker 1: with the hope that with its release, the public will
29:00
Speaker 1: generate new tips and new investigative leads. The website will
29:05
Speaker 1: be dynamic, with evolving content posted over time from the onset.
29:10
Speaker 1: There will be a section to enable the submission of
29:13
Speaker 1: tips anonymously. Should the tips to choose so crime stories
29:30
Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace, we have leveraged the expertise of our
29:34
Speaker 1: federal partners and are utilizing new scientific advances to expand
29:39
Speaker 1: our investigative capabilities. We were granted approval by the New
29:44
Speaker 1: York State Department of Health and have provided the FBI
29:47
Speaker 1: with DNA samples from our unidentified victims for the purpose
29:52
Speaker 1: of conducting genetic genealogy. The process includes uploading DNA to
29:57
Speaker 1: public genealogy databases in an effort to identify possible relatives
30:03
Speaker 1: of our unidentified victims. It is not clear how long
30:07
Speaker 1: this process will take. Information about the possibility of other
30:11
Speaker 1: DNA collected during the investigation will not be discussed. Even
30:16
Speaker 1: with these advances in technology, we know that the public
30:19
Speaker 1: remains one of our greatest resources. I encourage anyone who
30:23
Speaker 1: may have information to submit a tip, even if you
30:27
Speaker 1: wish to remain anonymous. The new website can be accessed
30:30
Speaker 1: at gilgonews dot com. You are hearing Gerald Dean Hart
30:35
Speaker 1: speaking at a Suffolk County press conference. Eleven women dead
30:42
Speaker 1: along the same stretch of beach found buried late breaking development.
30:50
Speaker 1: A belt embossed with the letters h M or upside
30:54
Speaker 1: down wh found obviously not belonging to any of the
30:59
Speaker 1: female victims. What, if anything, will it mean to cracking
31:04
Speaker 1: the case of this serial killer? I Nancy Grays, this
31:09
Speaker 1: is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us, with
31:13
Speaker 1: me an all star panel to Cheryl A point genetic genealogist,
31:18
Speaker 1: the gene hunter cheryla point. We're also learning that many
31:22
Speaker 1: cops believe the belt was used to bind the victims,
31:27
Speaker 1: not just a belt that the perpetrator wore on a slacks.
31:31
Speaker 1: How does that increase the likelihood that we may find
31:34
Speaker 1: DNA Nancy The DNA on the belt in that case
31:38
Speaker 1: would probably have the perpetrator as well as the victims
31:42
Speaker 1: DNA if the belt was indeed used to bind the victim,
31:47
Speaker 1: and with the advancements in DNA processing now it's very
31:51
Speaker 1: possible to separate the two profiles and that information can
31:56
Speaker 1: be used to put into the coded system see if
32:01
Speaker 1: someone who is already a perpetrator may be connected to
32:04
Speaker 1: the case. If not, it's moved onto familial DNA testing
32:09
Speaker 1: where they look for a possible family member. And now
32:15
Speaker 1: to my understanding that they're going to be using investigative
32:19
Speaker 1: genetic genealogy, where it's put into the databases that is
32:25
Speaker 1: used to look for ancestors and they build family trees
32:30
Speaker 1: to find a lead. Now that belt again, you know,
32:35
Speaker 1: it's it's very possible that it wasn't brought up in
32:39
Speaker 1: the past because they didn't have the investigative genetic genealogy,
32:44
Speaker 1: and if the DNA was put into the CODA system
32:47
Speaker 1: and there was no hit, then it was of no
32:50
Speaker 1: use to them. But I think it's very possible now
32:53
Speaker 1: that it definitely can lead to finding someone that could
32:58
Speaker 1: be a suspect. Now when we are talking about familial DNA,
33:02
Speaker 1: that all came about and is now allowed in that
33:06
Speaker 1: jurisdiction because of the slain New York jogger Carina the Tronto.
33:13
Speaker 1: Her father, a retired firefighter, led the charge to allow
33:18
Speaker 1: familial DNA. In other words, let's just say Jackie Howard
33:23
Speaker 1: robs a bank and shoot somebody, We find the gun,
33:27
Speaker 1: we have DNA on it. There are no eyewitnesses. It's
33:29
Speaker 1: Jackie's DNA. She's not in the data bank. She hadn't
33:32
Speaker 1: committed a crime before. But with familial DNA, her DNA
33:37
Speaker 1: can be put into a larger DNA bank and maybe
33:41
Speaker 1: find relatives of Jackie Howard's blood relatives based on DNA,
33:47
Speaker 1: and then you start there and you investigate until you
33:51
Speaker 1: identify who lives in the area of the bank robbery,
33:55
Speaker 1: who owned a gun by that last name. It just
33:58
Speaker 1: goes on from there. That's what we're talking about. Familial DNA.
34:05
Speaker 1: It's amazing to me that the police sat on the
34:08
Speaker 1: belt for nine years. Ellen Klaura and Crime online dot
34:11
Speaker 1: Com investigative reporter. Where was the belt? Fan? Was it buried?
34:16
Speaker 1: Was it on the side of the road. Do we know, Nancy?
34:19
Speaker 1: We know so little. The police won't disclose at which
34:23
Speaker 1: crime scene the belt was found. And one thing that
34:26
Speaker 1: I would really like to know is how they were
34:30
Speaker 1: able to rule out that the belt belonged to any
34:33
Speaker 1: of the victims. All that they have said is that
34:36
Speaker 1: the belt was handled by the suspect and they do
34:39
Speaker 1: not believe the belt belong to any of the victims,
34:43
Speaker 1: and I'm very curious to know how they made that
34:45
Speaker 1: determination and what that means. John Ray, lawyer for family
34:49
Speaker 1: of victims Shannon Gilbert, do you have any answers on that?
34:53
Speaker 1: The only answer I have is what I said before,
34:55
Speaker 1: which is that the initials matched woman that Burke, Chief
35:00
Speaker 1: Burke was with who was running a prostitution ring from
35:04
Speaker 1: his home. Then they match her first and last name.
35:08
Speaker 1: We've we've informed the police of that, We've asked them
35:11
Speaker 1: to look at that. That's it. There's there's no more.
35:14
Speaker 1: The very fact that they are deliberately refusing to reveal
35:18
Speaker 1: anything else can suggest that this was nothing but a
35:23
Speaker 1: public relations stunt because the police were facing our court
35:29
Speaker 1: decision regarding the nine one one tapes about to be made,
35:32
Speaker 1: and that the Netflix movie was about to come out,
35:35
Speaker 1: or it could and by the way, those things would
35:38
Speaker 1: result in the criticism of the police. Or it could
35:41
Speaker 1: be that the police have a purpose and one of
35:43
Speaker 1: them is to flush out the suspect or suspects. I
35:47
Speaker 1: don't think it's necessarily just one and uh, you know
35:51
Speaker 1: by by releasing that information signaling to the suspects, we
35:56
Speaker 1: know who you are, words to that effect. So it
35:58
Speaker 1: could be that, and I'd always like to give the
36:01
Speaker 1: police the benefit of the doubt. It doesn't mean it
36:04
Speaker 1: will work. We wait as justice unfalls. To the family
36:08
Speaker 1: of Shannon Gilbert, and to Melissa can sister of Maureen
36:13
Speaker 1: Brighter Barnes, and to all the other families. Our thoughts
36:18
Speaker 1: and prayers with you. Nancy Grace Crime Story signing off,
36:23
Speaker 1: goodbye friend.