”The Bodies on the Beach”
Long Island Serial Killer New York — 2010 to Present.

It began with one missing woman.

Shannan Gilbert was a 24 year old female that dialed 911 from the Oak Beach home she was staying at on May 1st, 2010 around 3:00AM. Screaming that someone was chasing her down and trying to kill her, dispatch stayed on the line with her as she ran through the neighborhood in pitch black darkness, pounding on strangers doors and begging them for help.

Eventually she ran out of the neighborhood.

The police were brought to Oak Beach to search for Shannan Gilbert. They never found her. But what they did find was something much bigger and much more sinister than one missing woman.

—

Authorities walking through the brush off Ocean Parkway“>Ocean Parkway — a street that runs parallel to the beach on a barrier island south of Long Island — started finding bodies.

Not just one. Not two. They found TEN sets of human remains between December of 2010 and April of 2011 along that one stretch of road and the surrounding areas. Nearly all of them were wrapped up in burlap. Nearly all of them had been dumped there for years. But all of them had been deliberately placed in secluded areas off the highway — by someone who knew the area intimately and knew where these bodies could be avoided by law enforcement.

The victims ranged, over the course of the investigation. Some were men, some were young women. Many of them advertised themselves as escorts on Craigslist. They were people. They had names and families. They were all lost, and people had been searching for them for years with no leads.

Melissa Barthelemy. Megan Waterman. Amber Lynn Costello. Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Four women that were found together in burlap bags washed up on Gilgo Beach. Another victim. Then another few – spread out across the  Long island in various locations some of which have still gone unidentified today.

One body found was that of a toddler. One was an adult man wearing womens clothing. The killer had been using this area as his dumping ground for years.

—

**The Phone Calls of the Long Island Serial Killer

It wasn’t the bodies that truly made this case creepy. It was the phone calls.

A month after Melissa Barthelemy went missing, her younger sister Amanda began receiving phone calls from her sister’s phone. They continued for months. A male voice, cool and collected, spoke to Amanda, taunting her with stories and information about her sister, letting her know that he knew what happened to Melissa and where she was. He sounded like he was enjoying every second of it.

These calls were all made from pay phones. In Manhattan. Midtown. Times Square. Broadway. A killer that roamed New York City with ease, someone who knew the city inside and out. Someone who looked like anybody else, and nobody would think twice to see them making a call at a busy Manhattan street corner.

The calls stopped.

—

**The Investigation**

News spread. The case was everywhere. The Suffolk County Police Department led the investigation with the FBI stepping in to assist. Thousands of tips rolled in over the next few years. The Long  island was searched from top to bottom. What developed was a profile of a killer that was organized, methodical and knew exactly how law enforcement worked.

One Suffolk County Police Commissioner, James Burke, previously came under investigation for his involvement in the case. Burke was never charged for the murders, but went to prison years later for beating a suspect in police custody and lying to cover it up. Many investigators felt that his involvement with the Suffolk County police department at such a high rank tainted the investigation early on when it mattered most.

If that’s true is still unknown.

Shannan Gilbert — whose disappearance had launched the entire investigation — was discovered in December 2011. She had not been murdered, the medical examiner’s office ruled, but had drowned in a nearby marsh. Her death was accidental. Her family did not agree.

—

**The Arrest — Sort Of**

In January 2023 — thirteen years after the bodies were first found — police announced they had arrested Rex Heuermann, then a 59 year old architect living in Massapequa Park, Long Island. He worked at a small architectural firm in Midtown Manhattan and had been a person of interest for years.

Mr. Heuermann was charged with four murders — those of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the four victims found together near Gilgo Beach. He was later charged with a fourth.

DNA, burner phone records, and hairs found on the victims tied him to their murders. He worked in Manhattan and was familiar with the pay phones used to make the taunting calls to police. He grew up on Long Island and knew every road, every marsh, and hidden strip of beach along the barrier island like the back of his hand.

Mr. Heuermann pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin later this year.

If he killed all of these people — including the remaining unidentified victims, the toddler girl, the man wearing women’s clothing — has not been determined. Investigators do not believe all of the victims have been discovered.

The case is still open. Sort of. But not entirely.

—

Ten sets of human remains found on Ocean Parkway with women’s clothing stuffed in their mouths is a far cry from one missing girl who was last seen speaking to her killer on the phone. Along the way, the Long Island Serial Killer killed dozens of suspects and witnesses, unearthed countless false- and dead-ends, took a coast guard detective hostage at gunpoint, and dredged up the worst Suffolk County had to offer.

The Ocean Parkway murders are not just about 10 women buried on Long Island. They’re about who those women were, why they went missing, and how they ended up there.

Jeanine Hoeft, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Megan Patrice McCafferty, Tiffany Scarlatio, Kaylene Johnson, Megan Abrams, Sahar Noufal, Tamara Headley, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Natalee Helajian, Shannan Gilbert… they all have stories. Stories we may never know.

Let’s tell their story, together.

—

Shannan Gilbert dialed 911 on May night in 2010, stumbling down a dark street screaming that someone was trying to kill her. Her death eventually led to the discovery of 10 sets of human remains along a two mile stretch of Ocean Parkway that a serial killer had used as his own personal dumpster for years.

But these aren’t just numbers. These were people.

—

Long Island Serial Killer · Active estimated 1990s to 2010
10 victims found · Ocean Parkway, Long Island, New York
Rex Heuermann · Arrested January 2023 · Trial pending
Case not yet solved · Some victims remain unidentified

If you want to read more like this, click here: Golden State Killer California Caught after 40 years