Gilgo Beach Vigil Saturday for Serial Killer Victim

A vigil in remembrance of Megan Waterman, one of four young women found dead on Gilgo Beach late last December, will be held Saturday at the barrier beach site.

“I set this up as a way to say my final goodbye to my daughter,” Lorraine Ela told Patch in a phone interview Friday. 

Waterman was reported missing by family last June.

“I haven’t completely said goodbye yet,” Ela said, noting the trip to Gilgo Beach will be her first. She was unable to attend a similar event held by other families earlier this spring because of short notice.

Waterman, a 22-year-old Maine resident, was last seen leaving the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge on June 6, 2010. Since the discovery of her body, local police have found eight sets of human remains along the barrier beach area between Robert Moses Causeway and the Wantagh Parkway.

Four sets of female remains, including Waterman's, have been called the work of a serial killer by police. The four young women were prostitutes who used the online classified site Craigslist for business, according to the Suffolk District Attorney's office.

Saturday’s vigil will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Waterman said she hopes the event will help also keep attention on the ongoing investigation.

New York State Troopers, along with members of the Suffolk County Police Department's homicide task force, spent three hours this past Tuesday morning, June 7, reviewing specific sites near Captree Island. Aerial photographs of the barrier beach area taken using high definition cameras in April prompted the latest search. Suffolk Police said this week there are no new developments in the investigation.

It was a Suffolk County Police canine unit search on December 11, 2010, tied to the missing Shannon Gilbert investigation, that led police to Megan Waterman’s remains. Gilbert was last seen May 1, 2010, leaving the community of Oak Beach and her whereabouts remain unknown.

“I hope to have 50 people or more attend,” Ela said. “After this visit going out there will be a lot easier.”