Fast forward the tape to Saturday, December 11th; at 2:45 PM a police officer, John Mallia, who was still searching the beach for Shannon Gilbert, stumbles upon skeletal remains. Don’t know yet whether it’s Shannon Gilbert. Mallia says: “I was just trying to pick spots and I happened to get lucky.”
Like I said, could use a good map; maybe I’ll look at a Google map. Still early, but other clues. Two victims wrapped in burlap sacks. Guest on Nancy Grace last night said fishermen in area use a lot of burlap to bundle clams and other seafood. Good clue, says criminal profiler, Pat Brown. Saying the killer likely from this area. Bodies weren’t buried. Probably dumped close to the road from a vehicle.
Perpetrator deposited bodies over past two years, or maybe just the last 18 months. None have been positively identified yet. Could take months? The question is, is one Shannon Gilbert? Good clues exist for this 24-year-old prostitute from Jersey City. On May 1st she was to meet a client that she met on Craigslist on Fire Island.
Shannon’s pimp drove her ‘there’ to meet the client; both have been interviewed by the police. Don’t know it for a fact, but don’t think these are the right guys. Pimp’s not gonna be the killer. What about client? Cops checking him out, you can count on that. I suspect they’ve eliminated him. Who was chasin’ Shannon on May 1st? That’s our man!
Well, I don’t need to tell you this, but we got a serial killer on our hands. Suffolk County Commissioner Richard Dormer has said as much. “We’re looking at that-that we could have a serial killer.” Similarities to a case in New Jersey, where four bodies were dumped in a drainage ditch in an area near Atlantic City. This unsolved case was 4 years back.
This current case reminds me of the Green River Killer Case; this is one I find hard to confront, as awful as it is. MSNBC had a special on it on Sunday. Ironic! I watched a bit of it, but had to turn it off. This is the most horrible serial killer case ever in our history. Most chilling, is how ordinary Gary Ridgeway seems. He is small, unassuming, chameleon-like-this is why it’s so scary.
Want to forget, but can’t. The New York beach killer shows a similar disregard for women, and dumps their bodies on the side of the road like trash. Cops had a strong case against Ridgeway early on, but couldn’t make an arrest. Never have understood this hesitation? New York case has some promising leads. Last night Nancy Grace broke the identity of another possible woman who’s gone missing. A Maine woman, Megan Waterman, was last seen on June 6th in a hotel in Hauppauge, N.Y. Her mother, Lorraine Elga, who Nancy interviewed last night, says she was last seen at 1:30 AM on that night. I believe it was her boyfriend who last saw her.
A malaise came over me until late yesterday afternoon, when I saw on CNN’s web site this story about four bodies being discovered on a remote beach roadside. This woke me up. I had finally forgotten about the Green River serial killer. Through the years I’ve toughened myself to these types of cases. So many on record. How could Gary Ridgeway have even been born? And now it’s back! Better catch ’em while ya can.
