News: Update For Jones Beach Discoveries
(Long Island, N.Y.) Today’s search for more evidence involving a serial killer dumping bodies along Long Island barrier beaches included a helicopter and divers. Yesterday’s discoveries of two separate remains have been confirmed as human, but it is still uncertain whether they belong to the same individual. If the remains are from different victims, the body count will reach ten as of search investigations beginning in the area in early December.
The helicopter involved in today’s search was from the Nassau County Police Department. Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano stated to reporters that the forty-acre stretch of land accessed in today’s search would be dangerous to investigators on foot. Instead of using ground searchers, the helicopters will be employed in searching vigorously and filming from above.
The area under scrutiny is located near Jones Beach. Members of Nassau County Police Department Tactical Field Services Station have stated in some reports that the helicopter staff will focus on areas difficult to access by foot. Suspicious locations will be pinpointed by using a GPS, so that ground searchers can canvass those areas later in the week. Police and authorities have stated that their investigation will move from ground searches to other venues; one area that will be searched is Guggenheim Pond, which is located inside a bird sanctuary.
Some reports have claimed that yesterday’s first set of remains was determined to be a human torso located five to six miles west of where remains were found in Suffolk County. Yesterday’s remains were wrapped in a plastic garbage bag, and it was easy to discern that the remains were human. Lab tests confirmed the initial deduction, and a second set of remains was found three hours later.
The first set of remains was found by a state trooper and cadaver-sniffing dog at roughly 11:20am. The location of the first set of remains was near Zach’s Bay at the State Park, which is about a mile and a half east of the Jones Beach tower. The second set, comprising only of a human skull, was found farther east, about a hundred feet from Ocean Parkway within a wildlife sanctuary.
Today’s search went eastward to Hemlock Cove, and no formal ground search was expected to occur. Since the involvement of Suffolk County Police Department divers, authorities have searched land, air, and sea for evidence in the case of a serial killer and any traces of missing person Shannan Gilbert. While divers assessed conditions in the shallow waters of the Great South Bay near Oak Island, the poor weather has kept police from canvassing the ground. The ground search may be postponed to Thursday.
State Police have claimed to be finished with their share of the search within the Jones Beach State Park. The remains found yesterday were located between Jones Beach and the Robert Moses Causeway, causing Ocean Parkway to be closed in both directions. Police and sanitation vehicles blocked traffic from entering, and also provided a mobile sign that advised drivers a beach search would keep roads closed all day.
Though nothing has been confirmed, some reports have stated that yesterday’s remains of a skull and vertebra appear to be female. Reports have also stated that one of the four remains found last week in Suffolk County belonged to that of a toddler. According to these reports, the child victim was no more than five years old, and the remains were found wrapped in a blanket near the remains of an adult. It’s uncertain whether these two sets of remains are linked, but none of the remains belong to that of Gilbert.
