Authorities have identified the remains of another victim in the Gilgo Beach murders investigation as Karen Vergata, who disappeared in 1996.
Vergata was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance on approximately 14 February 1996, said Ray Tierney, Suffolk county district attorney.
Speaking at a press conference, Tierney said Vergata was living in Midtown Manhattan went she went missing, and was believed to be working as an escort.
Vergata’s legs and feet were found on Fire Island on 20 April 1996. Almost 15 years later, on 11 April 2011, her skull was found 20 miles away, close to Gilgo Beach.
The two sets of remains were linked by DNA in 2011, but the identity of Vergata – who was known as Jane Doe 7 during the investigation – was a mystery until last year.
Tierney said the FBI conducted a “genetic genealogy review” using Vergata’s DNA in September 2022, and later used DNA from a relative to definitively identify her. He said authorities waited to reveal Vergata’s identity while they informed her family.
“It’s important that we remember and honor not only Miss Vergata, but all the victims on Gilgo Beach,” Tierney said.
He added: “We are going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation. We’re going to have no comment on what if any suspects we’ve developed at this time.”
The development comes as prosecutors are seeking a DNA swab from Rex Heuermann, the New York architect who has been charged with murder over the 2010 killings of Malissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
CNN reported that the Suffolk county district attorney has submitted a court request to obtain a swab of DNA from Heuermann, who is also the main suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007.
Brainard-Barnes’ remains were found in the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway, on Long Island, as the other women, across a bay from the town where Heuermann grew up and lived for decades in his childhood home
Eleven sets of human remains were found in 2010 and 2011 along an isolated stretch of remote Gilgo Beach on a barrier island on the wild Atlantic coast about 40 miles east of New York City.
On Tuesday, prosecutors said they had begun providing Heuermann’s lawyer with reams of evidence, including autopsy findings, DNA reports and crime scene photos.
At a court hearing prosecutors said they have handed over at least eight terabytes of material – equivalent to about 2,500 pages of records, along with about 100 hours of surveillance video recorded outside Heuermann’s home and office prior to his 13 July arrest.
