A year after the first three of ten bodies were found on Gilgo State Beach in Long Island police say they have found the remains of a woman they believe to be Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker whose disappearance in May 2010 led to the grisly revelation of a serial killer working on the island. The latest body was found about a quarter mile from where Gilbert's belongings were previously found. Full confirmation of the body's identity will come with after a forensic examination.
Last week police found a bag in the underbrush in Oak Beach that contained a phone and identification connected to the Jersey City sex worker. Now Suffolk County police commissioner Richard Dormer says new skeletal remains were found at 9:14 a.m. this morning. In a conference today Dormer says the reason the police had not previously checked the area where the body was found was because "it appeared at first when they searched it that nobody could get in there. I'm sure some of you have been in the area and know what I'm talking about."
Dormer then reiterated that "it's very easy to miss the skeletal remains in that area. Once again, the media and the public should know that this is a very tough, brambled area. Difficult to traverse. You can't walk through that area. The K9 unit can't walk through that area."
Dormer says the police didn't cut down the reeds and brush in the area before because "we didn't think it was necessary. Also, the area was full of water. In fact, if you walk in that area now you will sink. That area has not been drained."
If there is any actual connection between Gilbert, who was last seen in a panic running from the home of a john, and the ten bodies that have been found nearby (five of which have not been identified), it has not yet been made public. And as for now the Suffolk police are sticking to their latest theory that they are unrelated. Per Dormer, "we're not changing our theory at this time. It appears that she was headed towards the parkway, towards the lighting on the causeway, and that lends to our theory that she was trying to get out of the area."
