MURDER FOUND: The family last heard from Karen Vergata (34) in 1996. Photo: John Minchillo / AP / NTB
She has been known as “Jane Doe No. 7” in the Gilgo Beach serial murder case. On Friday, she was identified as 34-year-old Karen Vergata.
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Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierny says so at a press conference on Friday, writes news agency AP.
The serial murders on New York’s Long Island – where ten people were found dead near the beach – have been a mystery in the US for 13 years. The case has been dubbed “The serial murders in Gilgo Beach” in the American media.
One of the unknown victims in the case was named “Jane Doe No. 7”. The first remains of this victim were found on Fire Island just off Long Island in 1996. In 2011, more remains of the same person were found near Gilgo Beach, 20 miles away.
Now the police state that the woman, who has been missing since 1996, was called Karen Vergata and was 34 years old.
DO A SEARCH: The remains of ten women were found near Gilgo Beach in Los Angeles. Photo: Kevin P Coughlin / AP / NTB
According to court documents in the case from 2015, where the family applied to have Vergata formally declared dead, they last heard from her on Valentine’s Day in 1996. Then she allegedly called her father to wish him happy birthday.
The identification comes after police last year set up a task force to investigate the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders.
In mid-July, Rex Heuermann (59) was arrested in the middle of the street in Manhattan, suspected and charged with killing three of the women, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello. He is also suspected of a fourth murder. Heuermann denies criminal guilt.
According to AP, it is unclear whether the murder of Vergata is connected to the ongoing case against Heuermann.
As part of the investigation into the Long Island murders, police developed a DNA profile on one of the unknown victims, the woman who had been named “Jane Doe No. 7”. The FBI is said to have managed to arrive at the woman’s identity by using a technology that combines DNA analysis with genealogical research. The method is used around the world to solve criminal cases.
The Long Island case first came to light after 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert disappeared on May 1, 2010. She herself had called 911 and said she was in danger while at work as an Oak Beach prostitute.
In the search for Gilbert, police found the remains of ten other people – eight of them women. A year and a half later, Gilbert was found dead about five kilometers from the place where these ten were found.
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Published: 05.08.23 at 03:10
Updated: 05.08.23 at 03:47
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2023-08-05 01:10:16
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