Police: Speculation 'Unfair' in Gilgo Bodies Investigation

Published media reports claiming a person of interest is under police scrutiny in the Gilgo serial killer bodies investigation, and could be a law enforcement official, is pure speculation, according to Nassau police.

Nassau and New York State police are looking for additional bodies along the beach area on Ocean Parkway in Nassau today using a variety of equipment and police teams, including fire truck ladders for aerial searching.

“We are working together and we are going to be as systematic and careful as we can and we’re not going to be done until we’re assured there are no bodies,” said Nassau police Det. Lt. Kevin Smithm Commanding Officer of the Public Information Office.

“To make such speculation [about developments]  is unfair."

Police are also considering searching Guggenheim Pond as part of today’s effort, noting the 40-acre bird sanctuary may warrant investigation.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano will be holding a 2 p.m. press conference near the search area to discuss the on-going investigation.

Ocean Parkway is closed in both directions until 5 p.m. today, from Robert Moses Causeway to Wantagh Parkway, as multiple law enforcement agencies expand into Nassau County the search for bodies related to the Gilgo beach serial killer investigation.

The four-mile search effort includes 50 New York State troopers, 50 state park police and 50 Nassau County officers from various units, including the mounted division, emergency services and the canine search division. Nassau police told Patch this morning it has not yet determined how long the search effort will take.

The latest parkway search comes on the heels of an intensive one-week search conducted by Suffolk County Police that covered an area from Robert Moses Causeway and the Nassau County line. During that effort four more sets of human remains were discovered about a mile east of where four young women’s bodies were found in December 2010.

The Suffolk portion of the investigation began on Dec. 11, 2010, with the missing persons case of Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old New Jersey woman last seen in Oak Beach on May 1, 2010. Gilbert has not been among the eight bodies discovered so far in the 124-day investigation.

Suffolk police believe the victims are the work of a serial killer, and published reports have claimed the killings may be related to the murders of escorts in the Atlantic City area several years ago.

The first four women found in Gilgo Beach were killed elsewhere and dumped in the thick underbrush along Ocean Parkway at various times over a span of several years, according to police. The first four found were young, white females who police said worked as Craigslist escorts. The last four sets of remains have yet to be identified.