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The Long Hunt for Justice - The Lives Lost to the Gilgo Beach Killer · NO FILTER

0:02
Speaker 1: Before we begin, do you have a theory about this
0:05
Speaker 1: case or a story of your own? Share it with
0:08
Speaker 1: me at nightwatchfiles at gmail.com. Your insights could become part
0:12
Speaker 1: of a future episode and be read on air. Let's
0:15
Speaker 1: unravel this together. In the early hours of May 1st, 2010,
0:22
Speaker 1: a woman was seen running and screaming down a street
0:26
Speaker 1: in Oak Beach, a secluded gated community on Long Island.
0:31
Speaker 1: Residents Gus Coletti and Barbara Brennan were among the few
0:34
Speaker 1: who reportedly saw her. Gus Coletti stated that the woman,
0:39
Speaker 1: later identified as Shannon Gilbert, appeared to be under the
0:42
Speaker 1: influence of drugs and was barely able to stand. He
0:46
Speaker 1: claimed she entered his house seeking help, but fled after
0:49
Speaker 1: he told her he had called the police. As Shannon
0:52
Speaker 1: ran through Oak Beach, she placed a frantic call to 911,
0:56
Speaker 1: indicating she felt her life was in danger. According to
1:00
Speaker 1: her mother, Mari Gilbert, Shannon was heard saying, you're trying
1:03
Speaker 1: to kill me during the call. Shannon's driver, Michael Pack,
1:08
Speaker 1: was waiting to take her back to New Jersey, but
1:10
Speaker 1: she never returned to the car. Pack said that Shannon
1:13
Speaker 1: was irrational, saying that he and the client were trying
1:16
Speaker 1: to kill her. Pack also said he couldn't find her
1:19
Speaker 1: after she ran. Despite the 911 call and reports of
1:24
Speaker 1: a woman screaming for help, the initial response seemed to
1:27
Speaker 1: lack urgency from the police, seemingly due to prejudice against
1:30
Speaker 1: her being an escort. A flyover of the area a
1:33
Speaker 1: few days later yielded no sign of her either, leading
1:37
Speaker 1: officers to conclude she had gone into the ocean, either
1:40
Speaker 1: hysterical or under the influence of drugs. In the meantime,
1:45
Speaker 1: several months after Shannon's disappearance, the bodies of four other
1:49
Speaker 1: women were discovered along Gilgo Beach, not far from where
1:52
Speaker 1: Shannon was last seen. Shannon Maria Gilbert's story begins with
2:14
Speaker 1: a childhood marked by instability and separation. When conflicts arose
2:19
Speaker 1: between Shannon and her mother's boyfriend, she was sent away
2:22
Speaker 1: from her family home. This separation led to her entering
2:26
Speaker 1: foster care at around age seven. Despite the difficulties, Shannon
2:29
Speaker 1: Maria Gilbert's Shannon found a passion for acting, even appearing
2:33
Speaker 1: in a production of Annie during her 8th grade year,
2:36
Speaker 1: which was supposed to be a big homecoming after an
2:39
Speaker 1: agreement between her mother and the state of New York
2:42
Speaker 1: that permitted Shannon to return home to live full-time with
2:44
Speaker 1: her family. However, this period of stability was short-lived. Shannon
2:50
Speaker 1: struggled to fit in with her sisters, who seemed distant,
2:54
Speaker 1: and she eventually left home again. After graduation, her life
2:59
Speaker 1: became a series of starts and stops. She enrolled in
3:02
Speaker 1: nursing classes and worked various jobs, including at a hotel, Applebee's,
3:07
Speaker 1: a senior center, and as a secretary at a school
3:10
Speaker 1: before dropping out of college and quitting the secretarial job,
3:13
Speaker 1: citing boredom. She also left her grandmother's house after being
3:17
Speaker 1: reprimanded for staying out too late. Eventually, Shannon moved to
3:22
Speaker 1: New York City and began working as an escort advertising
3:26
Speaker 1: her services on Craigslist and Backpage. Despite the risks, she
3:30
Speaker 1: kept working. In May 2010, Shannon's life took a tragic turn.
3:36
Speaker 1: She traveled from New Jersey to Oak Beach to meet
3:39
Speaker 1: a client she had connected with through Craigslist. After arriving
3:43
Speaker 1: at the client's house, something went wrong. Shannon became fearful,
3:47
Speaker 1: claiming that the client and her driver were trying to
3:49
Speaker 1: kill her. She fled the house, running down the street
3:52
Speaker 1: and knocking on doors, frantically seeking help. Neighbors reported hearing
3:57
Speaker 1: her screams and called 911. However, when the police arrived,
4:01
Speaker 1: Shannon was gone. Her driver, Michael Pack, and another driver,
4:06
Speaker 1: Alex Diaz, searched for her, calling hospitals and police stations
4:09
Speaker 1: but to no avail. Alex Diaz filed a missing persons
4:13
Speaker 1: report in New Jersey, listing Shannon's distinguishing marks and mentioning
4:17
Speaker 1: her bipolar disorder and drug use. A few days later,
4:21
Speaker 1: Shannon's sisters visited Oak Beach, distributing flyers and seeking information. However,
4:27
Speaker 1: the neighbors offered little help, and it seemed they preferred
4:30
Speaker 1: the sisters had not come at all. With no body,
4:33
Speaker 1: Shannon's case became a run-of-the-mill missing persons case, and the
4:37
Speaker 1: stigma of prostitution further hampered the investigation. According to Oak
4:42
Speaker 1: Beach resident Gus Colletti, police didn't show interest in the
4:45
Speaker 1: gated community's security video. Several cameras record who comes through
4:50
Speaker 1: the front gate at all hours, but by the time
4:52
Speaker 1: the police came back, the tape had already been erased.
4:56
Speaker 1: It wasn't until months later, in December, that a cadaver
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Speaker 1: dog discovered the bodies of four other women in the
5:02
Speaker 1: bramble along Ocean Parkway, near where Shannon had disappeared. These
5:07
Speaker 1: discoveries brought renewed attention to Shannon's case, but her whereabouts
5:11
Speaker 1: remained unknown. The investigation into the four women's bodies found
5:19
Speaker 1: on Gilgo Beach began in December 2010, and it was
5:22
Speaker 1: determined that the remains were all within a tenth of
5:25
Speaker 1: a mile of each other. In early 2011, the case
5:29
Speaker 1: began to unfold as a complex and highly publicized investigation
5:33
Speaker 1: marked by significant discoveries, shifting theories, and increasing public attention.
5:39
Speaker 1: It started with the identification of the first four victims
5:42
Speaker 1: based on their DNA profiles as Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Melissa Barthelme,
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Speaker 1: Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, confirming that none of the
5:51
Speaker 1: four bodies found were a match for Shannon Gilbert. Authorities
5:56
Speaker 1: later determined that all four women were petite and in
5:58
Speaker 1: their 20s and had come to New York to work
6:01
Speaker 1: as escorts on Craigslist. This discovery immediately signaled a potential
6:07
Speaker 1: serial killer case. News outlets and true crime shows quickly
6:11
Speaker 1: descended on Long Island's South Shore, turning the investigation into
6:15
Speaker 1: a media spectacle. Despite the obvious signs, Suffolk County Police
6:19
Speaker 1: Commissioner Richard Dormer hesitated to label it as such, denying
6:24
Speaker 1: that there was a Jack the Ripper running around Suffolk County.
6:28
Speaker 1: As the spring of 2011 progressed, law enforcement appeared beleaguered,
6:33
Speaker 1: with some officers subtly blaming the victims. During a public
6:37
Speaker 1: meeting intended to reassure the community, the chief of detectives
6:40
Speaker 1: noted that the women had willingly entered a car with
6:43
Speaker 1: a stranger, finding, quote, consolations in the fact that the
6:47
Speaker 1: killer was selecting from a pool rather than targeting citizens
6:50
Speaker 1: at large. On March 29th, 2011, the investigation into the
6:57
Speaker 1: Gilgo Beach murders continued with police staking out a seven
7:00
Speaker 1: and a half mile stretch of bramble and poison ivy
7:03
Speaker 1: along Ocean Parkway from Oak Beach to the Nassau County line. However,
7:09
Speaker 1: on that first day of renewed searching, they found nothing.
7:13
Speaker 1: The search on the following day would prove more fruitful
7:16
Speaker 1: but it did not bring law enforcement any closer to
7:19
Speaker 1: finding Shannon Gilbert. A police officer, driving slowly down the parkway,
7:24
Speaker 1: scanning dunes flanking Cedar Beach, noticed something on the side
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Speaker 1: of the road and stopped the car. Despite cadaver dogs
7:32
Speaker 1: having searched the area many times before, a fifth set
7:35
Speaker 1: of remains was discovered. Again, authorities initially speculated that the
7:39
Speaker 1: remains might belong to Shannon Gilbert, but these were soon
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Speaker 1: proven false. Moreover, This discovery was distinct from the initial four.
7:49
Speaker 1: The remains were located a full mile from where the
7:52
Speaker 1: other bodies were found, and not on the edge of
7:54
Speaker 1: the bramble, but some 30 feet in from the highway.
7:59
Speaker 1: These remains were later identified as belonging to Jessica Taylor,
8:02
Speaker 1: a 20-year-old escort killed in 2003, whose torso had previously
8:07
Speaker 1: been discovered in Manorville, Long Island. Building on the previous searches,
8:12
Speaker 1: on April 4th, the Gilgo Beach investigation uncovered three more bodies.
8:17
Speaker 1: The authorities broadened their search to include underwater areas, the
8:21
Speaker 1: dunes south of Ocean Parkway, and the shores of Oak Beach,
8:25
Speaker 1: with divers working in pairs in Hemlock Bay. The FBI
8:29
Speaker 1: contributed aerial support, deploying a Black Hawk helicopter and a
8:33
Speaker 1: fixed-wing aircraft equipped with high-resolution cameras. Medical examiners were also
8:38
Speaker 1: on hand to distinguish between animal and human remains. However...
8:42
Speaker 1: These new discoveries diverged from the pattern established by the
8:46
Speaker 1: initial finds. Unlike the first four victims, these remains were
8:51
Speaker 1: located deeper within the underbrush, were not encased in burlap,
8:55
Speaker 1: and appeared to have been in place for a longer duration.
8:58
Speaker 1: These included more partial remains of Jessica Taylor, including her skull, hands,
9:03
Speaker 1: and forearm, discovered along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. The
9:08
Speaker 1: distance between these two locations is approximately 45 miles or
9:12
Speaker 1: 72 kilometers, indicating a significant effort to transport and dispose
9:17
Speaker 1: of the remains in separate areas. The presence of Taylor's
9:21
Speaker 1: remains in both Manorville and Gilgo Beach raises questions about
9:24
Speaker 1: the killer's motives and methods. The deliberate scattering of body
9:29
Speaker 1: parts could suggest an attempt to confuse investigators, hinder identification,
9:34
Speaker 1: or create the illusion of multiple crime scenes. Alternatively, it
9:38
Speaker 1: could point to a killer with familiarity with both locations,
9:43
Speaker 1: utilizing them as convenient disposal sites. This pattern of disposal
9:47
Speaker 1: suggests a deliberate strategy on the part of the killer
9:50
Speaker 1: to utilize both locations as dumping grounds, potentially indicating a
9:54
Speaker 1: familiarity with the area or a desire to create confusion.
9:58
Speaker 1: While the presence of multiple dumps sites raises the possibility
10:01
Speaker 1: of multiple perpetrators, investigators have leaned towards the theory of
10:05
Speaker 1: a single killer responsible for the Gilgo Beach murders. Police
10:10
Speaker 1: Commissioner Richard Dormer, for instance, posited that the killer may
10:14
Speaker 1: have evolved over time initially dismembering victims and later abandoning
10:19
Speaker 1: this practice. Dormer's theory suggests that the killer may have
10:24
Speaker 1: become more confident or complacent, leading to changes in their
10:27
Speaker 1: methods of disposal. However, it's crucial to acknowledge that former
10:32
Speaker 1: District Attorney Thomas Spoda suggested that multiple killers may have
10:37
Speaker 1: been at work, particularly in the cases where remains were scattered.
10:42
Speaker 1: Spoda's perspective suggests that the Gilgo Beach area may have
10:45
Speaker 1: been a dumping ground for multiple murderers, each with their
10:49
Speaker 1: own methods and motives. Also discovered were parts of a man,
10:55
Speaker 1: who was small in stature and of Asian descent, clad
10:58
Speaker 1: in what seemed to be women's clothing. Lastly, the remains
11:02
Speaker 1: of a child, no larger than a toddler, wrapped in
11:05
Speaker 1: a blanket, were discovered. The story of the unidentified person
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Speaker 1: of Asian descent whose remains were discovered on April 4, 2011,
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Speaker 1: near Gilgo Beach, is particularly poignant. The victim, believed to
11:18
Speaker 1: be between 17 and 23 years of age, was biologically
11:21
Speaker 1: male but was found wearing women's clothing, suggesting that they
11:25
Speaker 1: may have been a transgender woman. The victim had likely
11:29
Speaker 1: been dead for between 5 and 10 years, and the
11:33
Speaker 1: cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma.
11:37
Speaker 1: Further analysis indicated that the victim was likely ethnically Han Chinese.
11:42
Speaker 1: In an effort to identify them, police released a male
11:45
Speaker 1: presenting composite sketch in 2011, followed by a female presenting
11:49
Speaker 1: rendering in 2024. As of the latest reports, they remain unidentified.
11:56
Speaker 1: The remains of a female toddler, estimated to be between
11:59
Speaker 1: 16 and 24 months old, were also discovered on April 4th.
12:04
Speaker 1: the body was wrapped in a blanket and showed no
12:06
Speaker 1: visible signs of trauma. Through DNA testing, investigators determined that
12:11
Speaker 1: Baby Doe was the daughter of Peaches, an unidentified woman
12:15
Speaker 1: whose torso was found in Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997.
12:20
Speaker 1: This victim was nicknamed Peaches because of a tattoo on
12:23
Speaker 1: her left breast that was in the shape of a
12:25
Speaker 1: heart-shaped peach. She was found wearing gold jewelry similar to
12:30
Speaker 1: that of her daughter. Despite these connections, Both Peaches and
12:34
Speaker 1: Baby Doe remain unidentified, their stories shrouded in mystery. These
12:39
Speaker 1: cases have not led to any arrests or convictions. Also
12:43
Speaker 1: on April 12th, the first news reports aired about Mari
12:46
Speaker 1: Gilbert's claim that she spoke with Oak Beach resident Dr.
12:49
Speaker 1: Peter Hackett in the days after her daughter Shannon's disappearance.
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Speaker 1: Hackett and his wife denied that the conversations took place.
12:58
Speaker 1: One of the key points of contention is the claim
13:01
Speaker 1: that Hackett contacted Mari Gilbert, Shannon's mother, shortly after her disappearance,
13:06
Speaker 1: identifying himself as a doctor running a home for wayward
13:09
Speaker 1: girls and implying that he had seen and assisted Shannon.
13:14
Speaker 1: This claim, however, has been met with contradictions and denials,
13:18
Speaker 1: with Hackett initially denying any contact with Mari. Later, he
13:22
Speaker 1: admitted to making phone calls to the family, but refuted
13:25
Speaker 1: the details regarding his identity and the nature of the conversations.
13:29
Speaker 1: Hackett's neighbors, particularly the Scalise family through Joe Scalise Jr.,
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Speaker 1: harbored deep suspicions about his potential involvement in the Gilgo
13:38
Speaker 1: Beach murders. They alleged that Hackett was a wannabe cop
13:42
Speaker 1: with a history of suspicious behavior and that he may
13:45
Speaker 1: have been involved in drug dealing. Despite the allegations and
13:49
Speaker 1: suspicions surrounding Hackett, law enforcement authorities have maintained that he
13:54
Speaker 1: is not a suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders. Police
13:57
Speaker 1: Commissioner Richard Dormer dismissed Hackett as a kook and expressed
14:01
Speaker 1: doubt that he was capable of committing such crimes. In
14:06
Speaker 1: light of the six latest discoveries, on May 9th, District
14:09
Speaker 1: Attorney Thomas Spoda revised his theory of the case, announcing,
14:14
Speaker 1: There is no evidence that all of these remains are
14:16
Speaker 1: the work of a single killer. The families of the victims, meanwhile,
14:20
Speaker 1: began to connect with each other. On June 14th, Family
14:24
Speaker 1: members held the first of several vigils at Oak Beach.
14:29
Speaker 1: On November 29th, a key shift occurred in the Gilgo
14:32
Speaker 1: Beach case when Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer revised
14:36
Speaker 1: the prevailing case theory. Dormer announced that he believed a
14:40
Speaker 1: single serial killer was responsible for all 10 victims. However,
14:45
Speaker 1: he also stated that Shannon Gilbert's disappearance was a separate case,
14:49
Speaker 1: potentially not even a murder. This announcement came after months
14:54
Speaker 1: of investigation and public speculation, marking a significant turning point
14:58
Speaker 1: in how law enforcement framed the narrative of the Gilgo
15:01
Speaker 1: Beach murders. Dormer's statement suggested a departure from earlier assumptions
15:06
Speaker 1: about a connection between all the discovered remains and indicated
15:10
Speaker 1: a division in the cases. This meant the police were
15:14
Speaker 1: considering the possibility that Shannon's disappearance and possible death were
15:18
Speaker 1: unrelated to the series of murders. The idea that Shannon's
15:22
Speaker 1: case was different implied a different motive, method, or perpetrator
15:27
Speaker 1: than the other victims. This shift could have been influenced
15:30
Speaker 1: by factors such as the circumstances of Shannon's disappearance or
15:34
Speaker 1: forensic evidence. In the midst of a perplexing serial killer investigation,
15:40
Speaker 1: the search for Shannon Gilbert took a pivotal turn in
15:43
Speaker 1: December 2011. After months of searching, law enforcement focused on
15:48
Speaker 1: a marsh near Oak Beach. On December 6th, Shannon's personal items,
15:53
Speaker 1: including her pocketbook, ID, cell phone, jeans, and shoes, were
15:57
Speaker 1: discovered in a marsh. This marsh bordered Anchor Way, the
16:01
Speaker 1: road where Shannon was last seen, and Larboard Court, where
16:05
Speaker 1: Peter Hackett resided. A week later, on December 13th, nearly
16:10
Speaker 1: a year after the initial discoveries of other bodies, Shannon
16:13
Speaker 1: Gilbert's remains were located on the far side of the
16:15
Speaker 1: Oak Beach Marsh, approximately a quarter mile from where her
16:19
Speaker 1: belongings were found. The location of her remains placed her
16:22
Speaker 1: closer to the other victims, near the southern edge of
16:26
Speaker 1: Ocean Parkway. They were almost a fully intact skeleton. On
16:30
Speaker 1: December 15th, a split emerged among Suffolk County law enforcement
16:34
Speaker 1: regarding the Gilgo Beach case. On this day, District Attorney
16:39
Speaker 1: Spoda publicly decried Dormer's single-killer theory. The same day, County
16:44
Speaker 1: Executive-elect Steve Ballone named Edward Weber as Dormer's replacement as
16:49
Speaker 1: police commissioner. which would be effective starting January 1st. Despite
16:54
Speaker 1: the recovery of Gilbert's remains, the circumstances surrounding her death
16:58
Speaker 1: remained a subject of debate. Authorities initially suggested that Gilbert
17:02
Speaker 1: had accidentally drowned in the marsh, possibly due to drug-induced
17:05
Speaker 1: psychosis or disorientation. However, this theory was met with skepticism
17:11
Speaker 1: from Gilbert's family and independent experts, who argued that the
17:15
Speaker 1: evidence pointed to foul play. While some investigators believe that
17:19
Speaker 1: Gilbert's death was connected to the other victims found along
17:22
Speaker 1: Ocean Parkway, others maintain that her case was distinct. During
17:29
Speaker 1: the Gilgo Beach investigation, several crucial pieces of information emerged,
17:34
Speaker 1: painting a clearer picture of the potential suspect's methods and characteristics.
17:39
Speaker 1: One significant development was the FBI's involvement in providing technology
17:44
Speaker 1: to track burner phones. By 2011, The FBI began offering
17:48
Speaker 1: assistance to see if the numbers of these phones appeared
17:51
Speaker 1: in the records of cell towers on Long Island. This
17:54
Speaker 1: technology was crucial because it allowed investigators to sift through
17:57
Speaker 1: voluminous data to find potential patterns. The FBI provided cell
18:02
Speaker 1: tower information that traced the signals from the possible killer's
18:06
Speaker 1: burner phones to two geographic boxes, one in central Long Island,
18:11
Speaker 1: including Massapequa Park, and one in midtown Manhattan. This suggested
18:16
Speaker 1: he potentially commuted between central Long Island and midtown Manhattan.
18:21
Speaker 1: Investigators also established key facts about the victims and the
18:24
Speaker 1: killer's methods. The police knew the killer targeted women who
18:27
Speaker 1: posted ads on Craigslist. They learned the killer used camouflaged
18:31
Speaker 1: burlap straps to bind the victims. This indicated the killer
18:35
Speaker 1: might be a hunter. The police knew the killer used
18:38
Speaker 1: hard-to-trace burner phones to contact each woman, using a different
18:42
Speaker 1: phone for each victim. For example, the killer made 16
18:47
Speaker 1: calls or texts to Maureen Brainerd Barnes before she vanished
18:50
Speaker 1: in 2009, and four before Melissa Barthamy disappeared. Maureen Brainerd Barnes,
18:57
Speaker 1: a dreamer from Norwich, lived a life marked by both
19:00
Speaker 1: hardship and a deep connection to her family. With porcelain skin,
19:04
Speaker 1: dark tousled hair, and green eyes, she possessed a winsome,
19:08
Speaker 1: girlish charm. Growing up in a three-bedroom apartment in Paquanic Village,
19:14
Speaker 1: a federally subsidized housing development, Maureen's early life was shaped
19:18
Speaker 1: by the realities of financial struggle. Her mother, Marie Descharmes,
19:22
Speaker 1: worked tirelessly to support the family, while her father, Bob Senecal,
19:26
Speaker 1: worked in lumber and as a mechanic. Even from a
19:29
Speaker 1: young age, Maureen had an artistic side. While her siblings
19:33
Speaker 1: played sports, Maureen would remember her dreams and scribble them
19:37
Speaker 1: down in a marble-covered notebook. And she used her MySpace
19:40
Speaker 1: page to let others know of moments when she sensed
19:43
Speaker 1: things happening before they happened. She felt somehow anointed, in
19:47
Speaker 1: touch with things that others couldn't see. Her writing helped
19:51
Speaker 1: her arrive at some central questions, such as, is heaven
19:55
Speaker 1: a physical place or just a state of mind? Maureen
19:59
Speaker 1: held various jobs to try to make ends meet, including
20:02
Speaker 1: positions at a telemarketing company, Blimpie, TJ Maxx, AutoZone, Stop
20:06
Speaker 1: & Shop, Corey's Gas Station, and Groton Cinema 6. She
20:10
Speaker 1: also worked briefly as a card dealer at Foxwoods. Unable
20:14
Speaker 1: to afford her own place, Maureen had lived with her
20:16
Speaker 1: sister and then in a place paid for by her
20:19
Speaker 1: son's father, but she didn't like being dependent on her ex.
20:23
Speaker 1: So Maureen turned to escort work, advertising her services on Craigslist.
20:27
Speaker 1: She sometimes traveled to New York for work. According to
20:31
Speaker 1: Sarah Carnes, Maureen's friend, doing escort work in New York
20:34
Speaker 1: required a certain fearlessness. Despite the anxieties she couldn't tamp down,
20:39
Speaker 1: The money promised freedom and possibility. On July 9, 2007,
20:43
Speaker 1: Maureen Brainerd Barnes was in Manhattan. She was staying at
20:48
Speaker 1: the Super 8 Hotel in Times Square with her friend
20:50
Speaker 1: Sarah Carnes. That night, Maureen had a series of appointments.
20:55
Speaker 1: Sarah and Maureen had been staying in room 406 of
20:58
Speaker 1: the Super 8. Alarm bells started ringing when Maureen didn't
21:02
Speaker 1: return calls and texts. Sarah called Maureen's phone and left
21:06
Speaker 1: a voicemail. I heard what happened. You need to call
21:10
Speaker 1: me back. An acquaintance had informed Sarah that Maureen had
21:14
Speaker 1: been robbed of $ 5, 000 by a man with dreads whom
21:17
Speaker 1: they had met the previous night. Sarah was skeptical because
21:21
Speaker 1: she knew Maureen didn't have that much money. Maureen called
21:25
Speaker 1: her sister Missy at home in Groton with her husband
21:27
Speaker 1: Chris Kan and their three children. On the phone, Maureen
21:32
Speaker 1: kept things light and didn't say anything about being robbed
21:35
Speaker 1: or being in trouble whatsoever. or how she had to
21:37
Speaker 1: appear in eviction court on Tuesday, July 10, or that
21:41
Speaker 1: she needed cash or she'd be out on the street. Instead,
21:44
Speaker 1: she said she was calling from Penn Station and asked,
21:47
Speaker 1: Can Chris come pick me up? But Missy declined because
21:51
Speaker 1: it was late and Chris had to work in the morning.
21:55
Speaker 1: Maureen then asked Will, her younger brother, if he could
21:58
Speaker 1: pick her up, but he was also unavailable because he
22:00
Speaker 1: had to work. Ultimately, Maureen said she had enough money
22:04
Speaker 1: to take the train herself. Maureen never made it back
22:08
Speaker 1: home to Connecticut. On Tuesday, when Missy called Maureen, there
22:13
Speaker 1: was no answer. Missy assumed Maureen was either catching up
22:17
Speaker 1: on sleep or had simply run out of minutes on
22:19
Speaker 1: her phone. However, by Wednesday, Will contacted Missy with growing concern,
22:24
Speaker 1: revealing that he hadn't heard from Maureen either and that
22:28
Speaker 1: her phone was going straight to voicemail. Driven by mounting worry,
22:33
Speaker 1: Missy and Will contacted the Norwich police on Thursday. To
22:37
Speaker 1: their dismay, the officers dismissed their concerns upon learning that
22:41
Speaker 1: Maureen worked as an escort in Manhattan and might be
22:44
Speaker 1: avoiding her responsibilities due to financial troubles. Determined to find answers,
22:50
Speaker 1: Missy sought information from Sarah Carnes, learning the location of
22:54
Speaker 1: the Super 8 Hotel in Manhattan where Maureen had been staying.
22:58
Speaker 1: Will and Chris then rode their motorcycles to the Super 8. There,
23:02
Speaker 1: the hotel clerks feigned ignorance, claiming to have no memory
23:06
Speaker 1: of Maureen. although the hotel records indicated that Maureen had
23:10
Speaker 1: checked out on Tuesday, the very day she was supposed
23:13
Speaker 1: to be back in court. There is no evidence indicating
23:16
Speaker 1: that Maureen attended the hearing. In a state of increasing alarm,
23:21
Speaker 1: Missy rushed to Maureen's apartment in Norwich, only to find
23:24
Speaker 1: the entire place cleared out. All of Maureen's belongings had vanished,
23:29
Speaker 1: either loaded onto a dump truck out front or simply gone,
23:33
Speaker 1: including her cherished composition books, personal books, and clothing. A
23:37
Speaker 1: friend of Maureen's claimed to have taken them all, asserting
23:41
Speaker 1: that Maureen had given her permission. As the pieces of
23:44
Speaker 1: the puzzle grew more disturbing, the police informed Missy that
23:48
Speaker 1: Maureen's food stamp EBT card had been used in New
23:52
Speaker 1: York City, but it was later determined this same friend
23:55
Speaker 1: of Maureen's had used it. This person was never publicly identified,
24:00
Speaker 1: and there's no evidence that they had been considered a
24:02
Speaker 1: suspect at any point in the investigations. What followed was
24:07
Speaker 1: a tireless quest led primarily by her sister. She hacked
24:11
Speaker 1: into Maureen's email accounts seeking clues, scoured adult websites for
24:15
Speaker 1: any sign of her, and relentlessly contacted police in both
24:19
Speaker 1: Groton and New York for updates. Even after a lead
24:22
Speaker 1: emerged from Maureen's Craigslist activity that pointed to a New
24:25
Speaker 1: York police officer, and a ping from Maureen's cell phone
24:28
Speaker 1: registered at a water tower on Fire Island, the search
24:33
Speaker 1: yielded nothing. Melissa Mary Barthelmy was born on April 14, 1985,
24:39
Speaker 1: to Lynn Barthelmy. She entered the world after 18 hours
24:43
Speaker 1: of labor, weighing 7 pounds 9 ounces. Shortly before Melissa's birth,
24:48
Speaker 1: her grandmother Mary passed away during an epileptic seizure, and
24:52
Speaker 1: Lynn named her baby Melissa Mary Barthelmy. Lynn returned to
24:56
Speaker 1: school six weeks after Melissa was born and took a
24:59
Speaker 1: job washing dishes after school at the Manhattan Manor Nursing Home.
25:03
Speaker 1: a job she would hold for 25 years. Lynn was
25:07
Speaker 1: often too busy working to pay attention to Melissa, who
25:10
Speaker 1: was left to police herself. As a little girl, Melissa
25:14
Speaker 1: was adorable and smart, just like her mother had been.
25:18
Speaker 1: Despite her pixie looks, she was formidable and quick to
25:21
Speaker 1: shout down someone twice her size for looking at her
25:23
Speaker 1: the wrong way, which reminded everyone of Lynn. When Melissa
25:27
Speaker 1: was about 16, Lynn sent her to live with her father, Mark,
25:31
Speaker 1: in Dallas, Texas. However, The reunion failed, and Melissa often
25:36
Speaker 1: complained about her stepmother. After Melissa returned from Texas, she,
25:41
Speaker 1: along with Lynn and Amanda, her younger sister, shared a
25:44
Speaker 1: residence in Alden. This move occurred after Melissa's grandparents made
25:49
Speaker 1: the decision to sell their house in Kensington Bailey. With $ 2, 000
25:53
Speaker 1: left on the mortgage, Elmer and Linda sold their home
25:56
Speaker 1: and purchased a new one in Alden, a suburb of Buffalo.
26:00
Speaker 1: Alden presented a stark contrast to Melissa's previous neighborhood, feeling
26:05
Speaker 1: almost like her experience in Dallas all over again. She
26:08
Speaker 1: expressed her dissatisfaction, finding Alden so boring and noting the
26:13
Speaker 1: predominantly white demographic of her new school. Melissa surprised Lynn
26:18
Speaker 1: by finding a roommate and getting a job working at
26:21
Speaker 1: a pizzeria to make her half of the rent. She
26:24
Speaker 1: re-enrolled at South Park High, the school she most likely
26:27
Speaker 1: would have attended if her family had stayed in Kensington-Bailey.
26:31
Speaker 1: After a few months of not speaking, she and Lynn
26:34
Speaker 1: started going out to dinner, and Melissa seemed upbeat trying
26:37
Speaker 1: to get her life together. Sometime in 2006, Melissa met
26:43
Speaker 1: Kritzia Lugo, a fellow escort also known as Mariah in
26:47
Speaker 1: Times Square, and they became close friends. Kritzia saw that
26:51
Speaker 1: Melissa would go with anyone who would rent a room.
26:54
Speaker 1: Melissa was in New York for three years until 2009.
26:58
Speaker 1: She learned the parameters of the stroll from Kritzia. including
27:02
Speaker 1: that you couldn't look at or talk to other pimps,
27:05
Speaker 1: and that when there was a pimp on the sidewalk,
27:07
Speaker 1: you had to walk in the street. According to Kritzia,
27:10
Speaker 1: Melissa had nerve and swag. When Melissa would come home
27:14
Speaker 1: to Buffalo for a visit, she, her mother Lynn, Lynn's
27:17
Speaker 1: boyfriend Jeff, and her aunt Dawn would all go out
27:20
Speaker 1: to a club or a corner bar where they could
27:22
Speaker 1: talk and drink. There was none of the old friction.
27:26
Speaker 1: Melissa was a grown woman making her own decisions. However,
27:31
Speaker 1: Jeff thought that she wasn't making as much money as
27:33
Speaker 1: she wanted to, but she still came back with gifts.
27:36
Speaker 1: In the summer after Melissa moved, Amanda visited her in
27:39
Speaker 1: New York and saw the basement apartment in the Bronx
27:42
Speaker 1: where Melissa was living. In the spring of 2008, Amanda
27:46
Speaker 1: visited Melissa again, but this time things seemed much bleaker.
27:51
Speaker 1: She had broken up with Blaze, her pimp, and didn't
27:54
Speaker 1: talk about him much anymore, although breakups and reconciliations with
27:58
Speaker 1: him were a frequent occurrence. Amanda saw through to the
28:02
Speaker 1: bare facts of what her sister was doing to herself.
28:05
Speaker 1: She understood that there might never have been a hair salon,
28:08
Speaker 1: at least not one run by Blaze. She saw Melissa
28:11
Speaker 1: on the computer, posting ads on Craigslist, and she saw
28:14
Speaker 1: the livery cabs that picked her up. However, Amanda was
28:18
Speaker 1: nine years younger than her sister, and didn't know how
28:21
Speaker 1: to talk about something like this. One day in Times Square,
28:25
Speaker 1: Melissa asked Kritzia to go with her to Buffalo, but
28:28
Speaker 1: Kritzia refused. Melissa seemed sad and mentioned that her mom
28:32
Speaker 1: was putting pressure on her to come home. According to Melissa,
28:36
Speaker 1: the street was getting harder for her and that this
28:38
Speaker 1: was not for her. Kritzia started to see Melissa doing
28:42
Speaker 1: calls without Blaze around. Melissa had more than enough reasons
28:46
Speaker 1: to leave Blaze because she lived on her own and
28:49
Speaker 1: most of the time paid her own rent. As Chloe,
28:53
Speaker 1: Melissa advertised outcalls only. She made enough money to come
28:57
Speaker 1: home to Buffalo at Christmastime and take Amanda and Lynn
29:00
Speaker 1: to a spa for massages. However, there were consequences for
29:04
Speaker 1: breaking her arrangement with Blaze. A few weeks after she returned,
29:09
Speaker 1: Melissa got jumped by a group of women with one
29:11
Speaker 1: man nearby. Police later said she had her cell phone,
29:15
Speaker 1: and a witness heard the man say something like, this
29:18
Speaker 1: is what you get for disrespecting me, and identified that
29:21
Speaker 1: man as John Terry, Blaze, from a photo the police
29:25
Speaker 1: showed him. On July 11th, Melissa sent a late-night text
29:29
Speaker 1: message to Amanda to firm things up for another visit
29:32
Speaker 1: to New York. The next day, the security camera of
29:35
Speaker 1: her local bank recorded Melissa depositing $ 1, 000 into her account.
29:40
Speaker 1: and withdrawing $ 100 before heading out the door. That afternoon,
29:44
Speaker 1: July 12th, Melissa was seen sitting on the curb outside
29:48
Speaker 1: her building on Underhill Avenue in the Bronx. Her phone
29:52
Speaker 1: records show a call to Blaze that evening, under a
29:55
Speaker 1: minute long, and Blaze would later say that he knew
29:58
Speaker 1: Melissa had lined up another $ 1, 000 date the next night,
30:02
Speaker 1: somewhere on Long Island. He said that Melissa was working
30:06
Speaker 1: on her own and had declined his offer for a ride.
30:10
Speaker 1: When Melissa stopped returning all calls and texts the next day,
30:13
Speaker 1: Lynn and Jeff called off Amanda's trip and began calling
30:16
Speaker 1: local hospitals. Melissa's landlady got worried too when she heard
30:20
Speaker 1: the cats crying and scratching at the door. Lynn and
30:23
Speaker 1: Jeff tried to file a missing persons report, but for
30:26
Speaker 1: three days, the police deflected them. Only ten days later
30:31
Speaker 1: would the police start a missing persons investigation. Only then
30:35
Speaker 1: would they subpoena Melissa's phone records, canvas the neighborhood, and
30:39
Speaker 1: pull a DNA sample from her toothbrush. That was when
30:42
Speaker 1: they learned that her phone records showed access to her
30:45
Speaker 1: voicemail on the night of her disappearance, and that the
30:48
Speaker 1: calls were traced to a cell tower in Massapequa, Long Island.
30:53
Speaker 1: Nearly two weeks after she went missing, The police would
30:56
Speaker 1: visit two nearby motels, Budget Inn and Best Western, to
31:00
Speaker 1: speak to the staff and review security tapes, and find nothing.
31:06
Speaker 1: On July 16th, the fourth day of Melissa's disappearance, Amanda's
31:09
Speaker 1: cell rang in Buffalo. Instead of her sister's voice, she
31:13
Speaker 1: heard another, controlled, comfortable, soft-spoken male. Amanda received eight calls
31:19
Speaker 1: in all, always in the evenings, with the caller taunting
31:22
Speaker 1: Amanda in a low voice. The last call came on
31:25
Speaker 1: August 26, 2009. I'm watching your sister's body rot. Steve Cohen,
31:31
Speaker 1: the Bartholomew family's lawyer, told the police about the calls,
31:35
Speaker 1: and starting with the third call, police traced the signal
31:38
Speaker 1: to cell towers in Times Square and Madison Square Garden.
31:42
Speaker 1: The detectives wondered if the caller worked in Midtown and
31:45
Speaker 1: commuted from Long Island. Eyewitness testimony provided a physical description
31:55
Speaker 1: of a potential suspect. The police started looking for anyone
31:59
Speaker 1: who could remember seeing a client of Amber Costello on
32:02
Speaker 1: the night of her disappearance. They found a witness who
32:06
Speaker 1: described seeing a large white male resembling an ogre driving
32:10
Speaker 1: a green Chevrolet Avalanche with a distinctive rear door. This description,
32:15
Speaker 1: along with the vehicle details, provided the police with their
32:18
Speaker 1: closest opportunity to target a suspect. Detectives used a program
32:22
Speaker 1: called Lawman to search millions of New York State DMV records. However,
32:27
Speaker 1: the initial database search for the car went nowhere. The
32:31
Speaker 1: Lawman program, using 1990s database technology, struggled with newer vehicles
32:36
Speaker 1: like avalanches, which were sometimes misfiled by the DMV. In retrospect,
32:41
Speaker 1: a source close to the Gilgo investigators believed that the
32:44
Speaker 1: car must have been miscategorized, causing it to disappear from
32:48
Speaker 1: Lawman's searches. Despite having eyewitness information about the last man
32:53
Speaker 1: to see Amber Costello alive, the police seemed to stop
32:56
Speaker 1: talking about the ogre and the avalanche, not discussing it
33:00
Speaker 1: with superiors or outside agencies like the state police or
33:03
Speaker 1: the FBI. A senior police official with close knowledge of
33:07
Speaker 1: the investigation's first year said that he had no recollection
33:10
Speaker 1: of the avalanche tip, and for a decade, the lead
33:13
Speaker 1: sat at the bottom of a growing case file. Amber
33:18
Speaker 1: Costello's early life was marked by trauma, instability, and a
33:22
Speaker 1: persistent search for belonging. Born Amber Overstreet on February 12th, 1983,
33:30
Speaker 1: she experienced a turbulent childhood in Wilmington, North Carolina. When
33:34
Speaker 1: Amber was very young, her family experienced a traumatic event
33:37
Speaker 1: that deeply affected her. A neighbor named James sexually assaulted her.
33:43
Speaker 1: This event led to the family falling apart, with Amber
33:46
Speaker 1: blaming her mother, and her mother blaming herself. Her mother
33:49
Speaker 1: was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown, and Amber's parents separated.
33:54
Speaker 1: The rape had lasting physical and emotional scars, with Amber
33:58
Speaker 1: later telling friends and family that she couldn't have children
34:01
Speaker 1: because of it. In 2005, Amber's mother Margie died. Shortly
34:07
Speaker 1: after her mother's death, Amber moved to Florida with her
34:09
Speaker 1: sister Kim and Kim's boyfriend Mike Donato, seeking a fresh start. There,
34:15
Speaker 1: she joined a Christian congregation in Dunedin and immersed herself
34:18
Speaker 1: in the church community. She sang in the choir, attended
34:22
Speaker 1: women's retreats, and worked at a diner near the church.
34:26
Speaker 1: She also joined Celebrate Recovery, a church-affiliated group that helped
34:30
Speaker 1: people deal openly with addiction. Amber married Don Costello in 2007,
34:35
Speaker 1: and the marriage was seen as a promise from God.
34:39
Speaker 1: They lived in Don's apartment, joined his church, and Amber
34:42
Speaker 1: worked in the nursery. They tried to start a family,
34:46
Speaker 1: but endured a miscarriage and adoption plans that fell through.
34:49
Speaker 1: The euphoria didn't last, and her marriage to Don ended
34:52
Speaker 1: in March 2009. According to Don, she was not truthful
34:57
Speaker 1: throughout our marriage. After her marriage ended, Amber moved to
35:01
Speaker 1: Long Island to clean herself up. Kim was waiting there
35:04
Speaker 1: with a new boyfriend, Dave, who promised to help Amber
35:06
Speaker 1: change her life. Amber, Kim, and Dave became housemates. One night,
35:11
Speaker 1: Amber got hurt doing an outcall by herself. She called Dave, crying,
35:15
Speaker 1: saying that a guy had beaten her and thrown her
35:17
Speaker 1: out because she wouldn't give him oral sex. In September 2010,
35:22
Speaker 1: Amber disappeared. On her last night at the house, she
35:25
Speaker 1: was on the phone with a potential client and arrived
35:28
Speaker 1: at an unusually high fee, $ 1, 500 for the whole night.
35:33
Speaker 1: She asked to meet him outside the house, and Dave
35:35
Speaker 1: walked Amber out the door but didn't see her client.
35:39
Speaker 1: According to police records, the same man she was talking
35:41
Speaker 1: with had also been texting her the night before. In
35:45
Speaker 1: December 2010, Amber's remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway in
35:49
Speaker 1: Gilgo Beach. As time passed, the investigation seemed to stall entirely,
35:57
Speaker 1: with police updates becoming infrequent. From 2012 on, the Gilgo
36:01
Speaker 1: Beach investigation was mired in a decade-long stagnation due to
36:05
Speaker 1: a confluence of corruption, political obstruction, and sheer investigative inertia.
36:11
Speaker 1: James Burke's rise to chief of police in 2012 marked
36:15
Speaker 1: a pivotal moment solidifying the power axis between the police
36:18
Speaker 1: department and District Attorney Spoda, creating an environment deeply resistant
36:23
Speaker 1: to external oversight. This consolidation of power served to insulate
36:27
Speaker 1: the investigation from the kind of scrutiny that might have
36:30
Speaker 1: unearthed critical leads and propelled the case forward. The FBI's
36:34
Speaker 1: Behavioral Analysis Unit was turned away. the so-called Gilgo Room
36:39
Speaker 1: at Suffolk Police Headquarters became a place for part-time work
36:43
Speaker 1: with little urgency. Burke's unchecked behavior triggered a series of events.
36:49
Speaker 1: A witness in a drug case who was also stealing
36:51
Speaker 1: from police vehicles grabbed a duffel bag from Burke's car
36:55
Speaker 1: containing pornography, sex toys, cigars, a gun belt, and ammunition,
37:00
Speaker 1: which federal prosecutors later called Burke's party bag. When Burke
37:05
Speaker 1: discovered this, He attacked the witness in full view of
37:08
Speaker 1: other detectives, some of whom participated in the beating and
37:11
Speaker 1: even bragged about it later. Federal agents began investigating Burke
37:15
Speaker 1: in April, leading Burke to pressure witnesses to participate in
37:19
Speaker 1: a cover-up. Spoda's staff used wiretaps and car-tracking devices to
37:23
Speaker 1: monitor police detectives they distrusted, searching for blackmail material. Instead
37:29
Speaker 1: of filing subpoenas for more cell tower data in the
37:32
Speaker 1: Gilgo case, Spoda's staff wiretapped a police detective they suspected
37:36
Speaker 1: of leaking information about a gang case to Newsday, the
37:40
Speaker 1: Long Island newspaper. The tapes included calls between the detective
37:44
Speaker 1: and FBI agents, as well as the federal prosecutors involved
37:48
Speaker 1: in the investigation into Burke. The FBI was as frustrated
37:52
Speaker 1: with the police and threatened to leave the investigation. The
37:56
Speaker 1: situation was further exacerbated by Burke's ethical freefall. His staff
38:01
Speaker 1: serving him drinks in his office... ordering officers to spy
38:04
Speaker 1: on others and punishing those deemed disloyal. In December 2012,
38:10
Speaker 1: Burke's unchecked violence inside a police precinct led to a
38:13
Speaker 1: federal investigation. In 2017, Spoda resigned after being indicted on
38:18
Speaker 1: charges including conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Tim Sini became
38:24
Speaker 1: police commissioner in 2015, aiming to clean up the mess,
38:28
Speaker 1: but faced pushback due to the deep-rooted culture within the department.
38:32
Speaker 1: Sini opened the county's first conviction integrity unit, which reviewed
38:36
Speaker 1: past cases in which police malfeasance led to gross injustices,
38:40
Speaker 1: potentially alienating some senior detectives. Sini's office kept narrowing the
38:45
Speaker 1: data that police needed to investigate, and the police kept
38:48
Speaker 1: not doing anything with that data. The conflict between the
38:52
Speaker 1: police and Sini seemed to have a direct effect on
38:54
Speaker 1: the Gilgo case. There were conflicts between law enforcement agencies
38:59
Speaker 1: and the district attorney's office. Cini attempted to modernize the investigation,
39:05
Speaker 1: but according to a source close to the Gilgo investigators,
39:08
Speaker 1: police felt he was more interested in his image than
39:11
Speaker 1: solving the case. Megan Waterman's early life was marked by
39:16
Speaker 1: instability and a search for acceptance. She was born on
39:20
Speaker 1: January 18, 1988, in a rented room in Portland, Maine,
39:24
Speaker 1: occupied by her mother, father, and father's new girlfriend. Soon after,
39:29
Speaker 1: her maternal grandchild, Muriel, took her and her brother, Greg,
39:33
Speaker 1: away from their mother, Lorraine, due to concerns about neglect
39:36
Speaker 1: and abuse. Muriel became a central figure in Megan's life,
39:40
Speaker 1: though their relationship was complex. Megan's childhood was characterized by outbursts,
39:45
Speaker 1: a need for attention, and a tendency to seek adventure.
39:49
Speaker 1: She was known for her ability to shift from rage
39:51
Speaker 1: to charm and often acted out, leading to trouble in school.
39:56
Speaker 1: She was eventually removed from public school after attempting to
39:59
Speaker 1: dunk a child's head underwater. Despite her rebellious behavior, Megan
40:04
Speaker 1: had a vulnerable side and craved acceptance. As a teenager,
40:09
Speaker 1: Megan's behavior became more erratic. She stopped attending school at
40:12
Speaker 1: 17 and worked odd jobs. She had brushes with the law,
40:16
Speaker 1: including arrests for shoplifting and alcohol-related offenses. At 19, Megan
40:22
Speaker 1: became pregnant. The father was a DJ she met at
40:25
Speaker 1: a club. With Muriel's consent, a judge ordered Megan to
40:29
Speaker 1: stay at St. Andre's, a home for unwed mothers for
40:32
Speaker 1: the duration of her pregnancy. She feared the state would
40:35
Speaker 1: take her baby away. After giving birth to her daughter, Liliana,
40:39
Speaker 1: motherhood initially brought Megan joy and seemed to curb her
40:42
Speaker 1: volatile behavior. However, Megan soon felt new pressures. The financial
40:47
Speaker 1: support she received wasn't enough to provide for herself and
40:51
Speaker 1: her daughter. She sought a way to secure her daughter's
40:54
Speaker 1: future and find personal fulfillment. This led her to begin
40:58
Speaker 1: working as an escort. Her first escort gigs were arranged
41:01
Speaker 1: by a boyfriend named Banks. She then became involved with
41:05
Speaker 1: Akeem Cruz, also known as Vibey, who became her pimp.
41:09
Speaker 1: With the money she earned, Megan moved out of her
41:11
Speaker 1: grandparents and into an apartment. She told her grandparents she
41:16
Speaker 1: was dancing at a strip club. Megan's relationship with Vibey
41:19
Speaker 1: was tumultuous. He was sometimes abusive, and their involvement led
41:24
Speaker 1: to legal trouble. In May 2010, police raided Vibey's hotel room,
41:29
Speaker 1: arresting him and others on drug and weapons charges. In
41:33
Speaker 1: June 2010, Megan disappeared from a Holiday Inn Express in Hopage,
41:37
Speaker 1: Long Island. Vibey reported her missing, claiming she had left
41:41
Speaker 1: to get something to eat and never returned. He told
41:44
Speaker 1: Megan's grandmother that Megan had called his phone and said
41:47
Speaker 1: she was getting something to eat and would call when
41:50
Speaker 1: she got back. After Megan disappeared, Vibe became the prime
41:54
Speaker 1: suspect in the eyes of Megan's family. Vibe was eventually
41:58
Speaker 1: arrested on unrelated charges. In December 2010, Megan's remains were
42:04
Speaker 1: discovered along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach. Ray Tierney's path
42:10
Speaker 1: to becoming the Suffolk County District Attorney was far from straightforward.
42:15
Speaker 1: It was marked by setbacks, perseverance, and a deep commitment
42:18
Speaker 1: to seeking the truth. Early in his career, Tierney worked
42:22
Speaker 1: as a junior prosecutor in the office of then District
42:25
Speaker 1: Attorney Thomas Spoda. However, his dedication to justice soon put
42:29
Speaker 1: him at odds with the established order. When Tierney began
42:33
Speaker 1: questioning some corner cutting in Spoda's political corruption unit, he
42:37
Speaker 1: quickly found himself on the outside. In 2008, he was
42:41
Speaker 1: abruptly transferred to the Rackets Division, a move that effectively
42:45
Speaker 1: derailed his career in the DA's office. They took my car,
42:50
Speaker 1: they took the phone, Tierney recounted, understanding the message loud
42:53
Speaker 1: and clear. My career in the DA's office is effectively over.
42:58
Speaker 1: I was way outside the circle of trust. Despite this setback,
43:02
Speaker 1: Tierney never abandoned his pursuit of justice. He continued his
43:06
Speaker 1: career as a prosecutor, first in the U.S. Attorney's Office
43:09
Speaker 1: on Long Island and later under Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn
43:12
Speaker 1: District Attorney. In these roles, he honed his skills in
43:17
Speaker 1: building cases against violent gangs, relying heavily on cell tower data,
43:22
Speaker 1: a technique that would later prove crucial in the Gilgo
43:25
Speaker 1: Beach investigation. During his 13 years outside Suffolk's closed universe,
43:31
Speaker 1: Tierney closely followed the troubles of the Burke era and
43:33
Speaker 1: kept an eye on the Gilgo case, waiting for a break.
43:37
Speaker 1: In 2021, he saw an opportunity to make a difference
43:40
Speaker 1: and ran for Suffolk County District Attorney, making cracking the
43:44
Speaker 1: Gilgo case a central promise of his campaign. While campaigning,
43:49
Speaker 1: Tierney met with the victim's family members, witnessing their frustration
43:53
Speaker 1: and pain. Despite the daunting task, he refused to make
43:57
Speaker 1: promises he wasn't sure he could keep, acknowledging that solving
44:01
Speaker 1: the case still seemed like a needle in a haystack.
44:05
Speaker 1: After winning the election, Tierney partnered with Rodney Harrison, the
44:08
Speaker 1: new police commissioner, to form an interagency task force in 2022,
44:13
Speaker 1: bringing together resources and expertise from various law enforcement agencies. Then,
44:19
Speaker 1: after years of investigative gridlock, the Gilgo Beach case finally
44:23
Speaker 1: gained momentum again, breathing new life into long-dormant leads. A
44:28
Speaker 1: crucial turning point came when investigators revisited an early, yet
44:32
Speaker 1: unresolved clue, the description of a green Chevrolet Avalanche. A
44:37
Speaker 1: member of the newly formed task force leveraging more advanced
44:40
Speaker 1: technology used a private subscription-based database called TLOXP to search
44:45
Speaker 1: for the described avalanche. Unlike the previous fruitless searches, this
44:50
Speaker 1: inquiry yielded immediate results. It presented a match. The TLOXP
44:55
Speaker 1: database revealed that a green Chevrolet avalanche was registered to
44:59
Speaker 1: someone at the time the bodies were initially discovered. His
45:03
Speaker 1: name was Rex Huermann. Horman spent much of his life
45:09
Speaker 1: residing in Massapequa Park on Long Island's south shore. This
45:14
Speaker 1: location is particularly notable as it sits across the bay
45:17
Speaker 1: from where the bodies were discovered. This paints a picture
45:20
Speaker 1: of deep roots in the community, a place where he
45:24
Speaker 1: established his home and family. Professionally, Horman worked as an
45:28
Speaker 1: architect in Manhattan since 1987. This long-standing career suggests a
45:34
Speaker 1: level of stability and success in his field. The daily
45:37
Speaker 1: commute between his Long Island home and his Manhattan office
45:41
Speaker 1: is a recurring detail, underscoring the routine and structure of
45:44
Speaker 1: his life. Huerman was married to Asa Ellerup for 27 years,
45:50
Speaker 1: and they had two children together. From the outside, his
45:53
Speaker 1: life seemed to embody a typical suburban existence. However, it
45:57
Speaker 1: was discovered that Huerman had accumulated a large number of
46:01
Speaker 1: gun permits, totaling 97. This raised concerns among investigators about
46:06
Speaker 1: his potential for violence and instability. These details paint a
46:10
Speaker 1: disturbing picture of a man whose outward appearance of normalcy
46:14
Speaker 1: concealed a darker, more sinister reality. This discovery was more
46:19
Speaker 1: than just a vehicle registration. It was a pivotal link
46:23
Speaker 1: connecting Hoyerman to the geographic area of interest in the
46:26
Speaker 1: Gilgo Beach case. Further investigation revealed an archived Google Maps
46:31
Speaker 1: photo from November 2011 showing a Chevy Avalanche parked outside
46:35
Speaker 1: Huierman's residence. This visual confirmation placed the vehicle, and by
46:40
Speaker 1: extension Huierman, in close proximity to the crime scene during
46:44
Speaker 1: the relevant period. The convergence of these details, the avalanche,
46:49
Speaker 1: the geographic proximity, and the physical description, prompted the team
46:53
Speaker 1: to lock in on him as a potential suspect. From
46:57
Speaker 1: that moment, Rex Huierman became the central focus of the investigations.
47:01
Speaker 1: leading to an intensive effort to gather additional evidence and
47:05
Speaker 1: build a case against him. Following the identification of Rex
47:09
Speaker 1: Huerman as a potential suspect in 2022, law enforcement launched
47:14
Speaker 1: an intensive investigation which leveraged cell tower data provided by
47:18
Speaker 1: the FBI and refined by Tim Sini's office to track
47:21
Speaker 1: Huerman's movements in relation to the victims and the alleged
47:25
Speaker 1: burner phones used by the killers. This analysis revealed a
47:30
Speaker 1: correlation between Hoerman's personal cell phone and the burner phones
47:33
Speaker 1: attributed to the killer, showing they followed the same patterns.
47:39
Speaker 1: Tierney's office filed about 300 subpoenas and search warrants. Investigators
47:44
Speaker 1: also delved into Hoerman's personal life, uncovering that his wife
47:47
Speaker 1: was out of town during the disappearances of Megan Waterman
47:50
Speaker 1: and Amber Costello. When Megan Waterman disappeared, Hoerman's wife, Asa Ellerup,
47:56
Speaker 1: was away. in the middle of a four-day trip to Maryland.
47:59
Speaker 1: When Amber Costello vanished, Ellerup was spending a week away
48:03
Speaker 1: from home in New Jersey. DNA evidence became a critical
48:07
Speaker 1: component of the case. Investigators followed Hurman and obtained a
48:11
Speaker 1: DNA sample from a pizza box he discarded in a
48:14
Speaker 1: garbage can in Manhattan. The FBI matched Hurman's DNA to
48:19
Speaker 1: a hair found on tape used to bind the bodies.
48:22
Speaker 1: Two other hairs found on bottles outside Hurman's home matched
48:26
Speaker 1: his wife's DNA. The theory is that Hurman used a
48:29
Speaker 1: roll of tape that had been lying around the house.
48:32
Speaker 1: On July 15th, officers apprehended Hurman on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
48:37
Speaker 1: The arrest was executed smoothly without violence. Hurman was initially
48:42
Speaker 1: charged with the murders of three of the four women, Waterman, Barthelemy,
48:47
Speaker 1: and Costello, and remained a prime suspect in the murder
48:50
Speaker 1: of Brainerd Barnes. Following the arrest, District Attorney Tierney and
48:57
Speaker 1: Commissioner Harrison held a news conference with the victims' families.
49:01
Speaker 1: The arrest of Rex Huerman in July 2023 sent shockwaves
49:05
Speaker 1: through Long Island and beyond, unleashing a cascade of consequences
49:09
Speaker 1: for the victims' families, the suspects' loved ones, and the
49:13
Speaker 1: investigation itself. For the families of the victims, Huhrman's arrest
49:18
Speaker 1: represented a long-awaited, yet bittersweet moment. They had endured years
49:23
Speaker 1: of uncertainty, grief, and frustration with the stalled investigation. While
49:27
Speaker 1: the arrest offered a sense of closure, it also forced
49:30
Speaker 1: them to confront the horrific details of the crimes and
49:33
Speaker 1: the loss of their loved ones. Hoorman's arrest also had
49:37
Speaker 1: a devastating impact on his estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, and
49:41
Speaker 1: their two children. Ellerup, who filed for divorce shortly after
49:46
Speaker 1: Hoorman's arrest, has maintained her husband's innocence. Through her attorneys,
49:51
Speaker 1: Ellerup expressed heartfelt sympathies for the victims and their families,
49:55
Speaker 1: stating that she would listen to all of the evidence
49:58
Speaker 1: and withhold judgment until the end of trial, giving Rex
50:02
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserved. Ellerup
50:06
Speaker 1: and her children became collateral damage to Horman's alleged actions
50:10
Speaker 1: and are now piecing their lives back together. The arrest
50:14
Speaker 1: also triggered intense scrutiny of the Suffolk County law enforcement
50:18
Speaker 1: and their handling of the Gilgo Beach case. The years
50:21
Speaker 1: of investigative gridlock, alleged mishandling of evidence, and the initial
50:25
Speaker 1: failure to identify Horman as a suspect came under renewed examinations.
50:31
Speaker 1: DA Ray Tierney acknowledged the past shortcomings and vowed to
50:34
Speaker 1: personally lead the prosecution of Horman, signaling a commitment to
50:38
Speaker 1: rectifying the mistakes of the past. Legally, Horman faces several
50:43
Speaker 1: life sentences without parole if convicted. He has pleaded not
50:47
Speaker 1: guilty to all charges. His attorney, Michael Brown, has expressed
50:51
Speaker 1: concerns about the DNA evidence linking Horman to the victims,
50:55
Speaker 1: calling the testing methods used by a California lab unproven. Prosecutors, however,
51:01
Speaker 1: maintain that the DNA evidence is reliable and state-of-the-art. On
51:06
Speaker 1: Rex Horman's computer, investigators discovered what they describe as a
51:10
Speaker 1: chilling blueprint detailing his alleged plans for the Gilgo Beach murders.
51:15
Speaker 1: This wasn't just a collection of notes. It was a
51:18
Speaker 1: meticulously crafted document outlining every stage of the crimes. The
51:22
Speaker 1: blueprint included detailed labels outlining categories such as problems, supplies, pre-prep, prep,
51:29
Speaker 1: and post-event, with references to DNA, tire marks, and bloodstains.
51:35
Speaker 1: It highlighted lessons learned from past murders and killing methods
51:38
Speaker 1: that Horman had researched. The document allegedly referenced removing tattoos.
51:43
Speaker 1: It also listed a dump site at Mill Road, where
51:46
Speaker 1: some of Valerie Mack's remains were discovered. Prosecutors noted evidence
51:51
Speaker 1: of careful and meticulous planning, with the road near where
51:55
Speaker 1: Mack's remains were found labeled DS, believed to stand for
51:59
Speaker 1: Dump Site. In the year following Hurerman's arrest, he has
52:03
Speaker 1: been charged with additional murders, bringing the total number of
52:06
Speaker 1: victims he is accused of killing to seven. Hurerman's legal
52:10
Speaker 1: team is also considering the possibility of requesting separate trials
52:15
Speaker 1: for the different sets of murders, given the complexity of
52:18
Speaker 1: the case. In the intricate narrative of the Gilgo Beach case,
52:23
Speaker 1: Shannon Gilbert's story stands somewhat apart from the accounts of
52:26
Speaker 1: the other victims, and according to sources, her death has
52:30
Speaker 1: not been officially linked to Rex Horman. As the investigation unfolded,
52:35
Speaker 1: law enforcement authorities, including Commissioner Dormer, initially posited that Gilbert's
52:41
Speaker 1: case was separate from the others. This was based on
52:44
Speaker 1: the reasoning that, unlike the other victims, Gilbert had a
52:47
Speaker 1: driver and was not contacted directly by the killer, thus
52:51
Speaker 1: not fitting the established pattern. Despite the discovery of Gilbert's
52:55
Speaker 1: remains in Oak Beach in December 2011, Her death was
52:59
Speaker 1: officially ruled as an accidental drowning by the Suffolk County
53:02
Speaker 1: Medical Examiner. However, the circumstances surrounding Gilbert's disappearance and death
53:08
Speaker 1: have been subject to much speculation and debate. The controversy
53:13
Speaker 1: surrounding Gilbert's death led to an independent autopsy of her remains,
53:18
Speaker 1: which suggested strangulation may have occurred. Despite this, her death
53:23
Speaker 1: remained officially listed as an accident. The complexities of the
53:27
Speaker 1: case are also reflected in the perspectives of those close
53:30
Speaker 1: to the investigation. While some, like Joe Scalise Jr., developed
53:35
Speaker 1: theories implicating individuals like Dr. Peter Hackett and Gilbert's death,
53:40
Speaker 1: these theories lacked corroboration. Others, like Missy Cann, believed that
53:45
Speaker 1: Gilbert's death was accidental and unrelated to the serial killer.
53:50
Speaker 1: Even with the arrest and indictment of Rex Huerman in
53:53
Speaker 1: connection to the Gilgo Beach murders, Shannon Gilbert's death has
53:56
Speaker 1: not been officially linked to him. Huerman was initially charged
54:04
Speaker 1: in July 2023 with the murders of Melissa Bartholomew, Megan Waterman,
54:08
Speaker 1: and Amber Costello. Later, he was also charged in connection
54:13
Speaker 1: with the deaths of Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Castilla,
54:17
Speaker 1: and Valerie Mack. The official stance is that Gilbert's case
54:21
Speaker 1: remains a separate incident, with her death classified as an
54:24
Speaker 1: accidental drowning. Some family members expressed gratitude that the Gilgo
54:29
Speaker 1: Beach Task Force was able to provide them with a
54:32
Speaker 1: bit of closure. Gloria Allred, an attorney representing some of
54:37
Speaker 1: the families, emphasized that the victims were innocent women who
54:40
Speaker 1: were trying to support themselves and their families. However, for
54:44
Speaker 1: some family members, Hurman's apprehension and law enforcement's approach may
54:50
Speaker 1: have seemed too little, too late. As of the recording
54:56
Speaker 1: of this episode, Rex Huerman is in custody, held without bail,
55:00
Speaker 1: as he awaits trial for the Gilgo Beach murders. Thank you.