what to know
- Long Island police announced Friday that they have identified another victim in the infamous Gilgo Beach murders.
- The announcement comes at a time when prosecutors are working to strengthen their case using the DNA of suspect Rex Heuerman. Now they want a DNA sample directly from the 59-year-old architect.
- Investigators requested a cheek swab from the man accused of killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared for a span of 14 months before their bodies were discovered.
NEW YORK — Long Island police announced Friday that they have identified another victim in the infamous Gilgo Beach murders.
The victim, formerly known as “Jane Doe #7” or “Fire Island Jane Doe,” was identified as Karen Vergata, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference Friday morning. Vergata was 34 years old when she disappeared in 1996.
Vergata initially disappeared on February 14, 1996, Tierney said, adding that she was living on West 45th Street in Manhattan at the time of her disappearance. She is believed to have been a sex worker. No missing person report was filed when she disappeared.
“In August 2022, approximately six months after we formed this Gilgo task force, a DNA profile suitable for genealogical comparison was developed from Karen Vergata’s remains,” Tierney said. “In September 2022, the FBI was able, through a genetic pedigree review, to identify Ms. Vergata as allegedly ‘Fire Island Jane Doe.'”
A month later, he was definitively identified by swabbing the inside of the cheek of a relative, which confirmed his identity. She then contacted her relatives.
The announcement came as prosecutors are working to strengthen their case using the DNA of Gilgo Beach shooting suspect Rex Heuerman. Now they want a DNA sample directly from the 59-year-old architect.
Investigators requested a cheek swab from the man accused of killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared for a span of 14 months before their bodies were discovered.
Prosecutors say Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007. Her remains were found on the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway as the other women, at across a bay from the town where Heuermann grew up and lived for decades in his childhood home.
According to a motion filed by the district attorney’s office, the sample would “provide further relevant evidence of the defendant’s identity as the perpetrator of the crime.”
Her husband, an architect from New York, was arrested for being considered a feared serial killer. This was said by his wife. Alfredo Acosta updates us.
DNA played a key role in Heuermann’s arrest. Prosecutors have said hair found at the crime scene matches DNA from a pizza box the suspect tossed into a trash can in Manhattan.
He pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance and was ordered held without the possibility of bail. His attorney said Heuermann denied committing the crimes.
“The press has convicted my client without seeing a shred of evidence,” Michael Brown told reporters after the hearing, suggesting that prosecutors “might very well have the wrong guy.”
Heuermann is due back in court on September 27.
All of the women Heuermann is accused of killing were sex workers whose remains were discovered near each other. Investigators say they cracked the case with the help of sophisticated analysis of cell phone location data, DNA evidence and an old tip about a vehicle seen parked in front of the home of one of the victims.
Investigators spent nearly two weeks going through Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home, across a bay from where the remains were found, turning up yet more evidence that will eventually be turned over to his attorney.
The search included excavating the yard, dismantling a porch and greenhouse, and removing many contents from the house for testing.
Robert Macedonio, a lawyer for Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, said the home was essentially “destroyed” en route, with investigators cutting into the bathtub, breaking floors and leaving kitty litter strewn around the home.
Ellerup filed for divorce after her husband was arrested. She and her two adult children, who also live at the home, returned last week after jumping between relatives’ houses and a rental car, where they were forced to spend several nights, according to the lawyer.
“These people are also innocent victims in this,” Macedonio added. “They are the unknown victims because nobody cares about them.”
A lawyer for the adult children, Vess Mitev, said his clients were considering legal action against the police for the “deplorable and crude handling of the investigation”.
