SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. — Police in Suffolk County New York have identified another victim in the Gilgo Beach murders investigation.
The Associated Press reported that skeletal remains found in 1996 spread along the Long Island coastline have been connected to the Gilgo Beach murders.
She had been called “Jane Doe No. 7″ but has since been identified as Karen Vergata, 34, who had been living in Manhattan and disappeared around Feb. 14, 1996.
#Breaking Fire Island Jane Doe from #GilgoBeach serial killer investigation ID’d as Karen Vergata, who was 34 when she disappeared in 1996. Her legs were found near Davis Park several months later. Her skull was discovered near Ocean Parkway in spring of 2011 pic.twitter.com/weVjvXWrIU
— Mary Murphy (@MurphyPIX) August 4, 2023
Her partial remains were found on Fire Island that same year and more of her bones were found near Gilgo Beach in 2011.
In 2011, authorities compared the DNA of the first remains — her feet and legs — with those found 15 years later — her skull — and they matched, CNN reported.
No charges have been filed in this case, CNN reported.
Rex Heuermann was arrested in the deaths of three women whose remains were found near a coastal parkway near Gilgo Beach. He is suspected of killing a fourth woman and police continued the investigation into the deaths of six others whose remains were found in the same area, the AP reported.
He has been charged with first-degree murder for the 2009 death of Melissa Barthelemy and the 2010 deaths of Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, CNN reported.
Heuermann is the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance of Maureen Brainard-Barnes but has not been charged in the case which “is expected to be resolved soon,” according to court documents obtained by CNN.
The case against Heuermann started with a search for a missing woman more than a decade ago that led officials to discover 11 sets of remains. Ten of the sets of remains were believed to have died by homicide, CNN reported.
Heuermann denies the charges.
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