Police announce identity of Gilgo Beach victim almost 30 years after body found
Authorities have named of the GIlgo Beach victims as Karen Vergata, almost 30 years after her remains were first discovered.
District Attorney Raymond Tierney said she was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance. Karen disappeared on Valentine's Day in 1996.
She lived in Manhattan, with Mr Tierney saying she was "believed to be working as an escort" at that time and no missing persons report was filed.
He said: "In August of 2022, approximately six months after we formed this Gilgo taskforce, a DNA profile suitable for genealogical comparison was developed for Karen Vergata. In September 2022, the FBI was able, via a genetic genealogy review, to identify Ms Vergata presumptively as Fire Island Jane Doe.
"Thereafter, in October 2022, using a buccal swab from a relative of Karen Vergata, we were able to definitively identify her."
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
District Attorney Ray Tierney gives a press conference on the identity of the Gilgo Beach Jane Doe 7 (CBS News)There are no charges at this time, she disappeared in 1996 which was 27 years ago, with Mr Tierney saying: "We are going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation."
Mr Tierney said that the reason her identity was not released prior to today as that: "At or around the same time we were beginning our grand jury confidential investigation into what's become known as the Gilgo Four."
Ms Vergata, known as Jane Doe No 7, was first discovered on April 20, 1996. People walking along Blue Point Beach spotted the remains at Davis Park. The woman's legs were found wrapped in plastic at the park on Fire Island, she also became known as the Fire Island Jane Doe.
While they were unable to initially identify the victim, police did share details of what was discovered in the hopes someone may help to identify her. The Jane Doe had distinctive markings and scars on her legs, including surgical scars which indicate she may have had surgery on her left ankle.
15 years later, on April 11, 2011, her skull was found off Ocean Parkway during the search for the Gilgo Beach victims after the 'Gilgo Four' were discovered. Her skull was found after the discovery of Jessica Taylor and located close to the remains of another unidentified victim - known as Jane Doe 3, or Peaches due to her distinctive tattoo. Jane Doe Number 7's legs were linked to the skull discovered along Ocean Parkway.
Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. (AP)It comes as things ramp up in the case once again following the arrest of 59-year-old Long Island architect Rex Heuermann. Heuermann was arrested on July 13 outside his Manhattan office, and pleaded not guilty to the murders of Amber Lynn Costello, 27, from North Carolina, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, from New York State, and began Waterman, 22, from Maine.
He is also the prime suspect in the murder of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes. All four women were found in the brush alongside Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach wrapped in burlap. The women were all said to have been strangled, according to medical examiners, and were found a tenth of a mile apart from each other.
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