Authorities identify another victim in Gilgo Beach investigation
Written by ABC Audio. All rights reserved. on August 4, 2023
(NEW YORK) — Suffolk County authorities have identified another victim in the decade-long Gilgo Beach investigation, which they are expected to reveal at a 10:30 a.m. news conference in Hauppauge, sources familiar with the case have told ABC News.
The authorities are expected to identify Jane Doe No. 7, whose remains were found on Fire Island in 1996, the sources said. They were later linked by DNA to other human remains found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in 2011.
Additionally, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told Newsday that authorities believe they will soon be able to identify the remains of three more unidentified victims in the larger Gilgo Beach investigation.
Tierney said the identifications would be made by the FBI using genetic genealogy, “among other things.”
The FBI used genetic genealogy to positively identify another of the 10 victims tied to Gilgo Beach — Valerie Mack — in 2020.
“We’re honing in on that, and I think we’ll have information on that — on some of the identifications shortly,” Tierney said.
Asked when, Tierney replied: “Real shortly.”
Those victims — a woman who investigators have nicknamed “Peaches” because of a tattoo she had, a toddler that was found with her and the remains of a man who was found separately — have remained unidentified.
Tierney also told Newsday that the previously revealed distinctive belt with the initials “WH” or “HM” was used to bound Gilgo Beach serial killing victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ remains. WH are the initials of Heuermann’s father.
Separately, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office submitted a court request to obtain a swab of DNA from Heuermann even though they already recovered DNA from him during their investigation via pizza crust but are looking for more samples.
Heuermann was charged with three of the Gilgo Beach murders and is a prime suspect in a fourth.
While he has not yet been charged in that fourth homicide, the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the document says, according to sources.
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