The arrest of Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann for several of the Gilgo Beach murders has drawn attention back to the young women who were killed and left to rot on a remote stretch of marshland in Long Island.
Most of the victims fit a similar profile. They came from out of state, pursuing sex work that paid their rent and bills, some of them with ambitions to create new lives for themselves. They were short in stature and in their 20s. And later, their remains were found along the same beach, four wrapped in burlap.
Here’s a closer look at the women who were killed.
Investigators have doubted that Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old Craigslist prostitute was a victim of a crime, but it was her death that shown a spotlight on the killings.
She was living in Jersey City and traveling frequently to New York with her driver, Michael Pak. Originally from upstate New York, Gilbert was drawn to sex work to support her dreams as a singer.
She disappeared after pulling up to the Oak Beach, Long Island home of client, Joseph Brewer, for a regular call. She stayed inside for hours while her driver waited outside. Around 5 a.m., the client emerged from the house, asking Pak for help. Pak found Gilbert in a panic inside the house, clutching a phone.
Just over a year ago, Suffolk County police released the panicked 911 calls Gilbert made, fearing for her life, repeating “There’s somebody after me” to multiple operators as they tried to determine where she was.
“Can you trace where I am?” Gilbert asked operators on the calls, sounding at times confused and muddled.
Brewer, in the background, can be heard saying to Gilbert “The guy wants to talk to you.”
“No! Stop, no!” Gilbert shouts.
“Are you going to kill me?” she asks later in the call, speaking to her driver, Michael Pak.
Gilbert’s body was later found in a marshy area about a half-mile away and deemed “most likely noncriminal” by Suffolk County police, a finding disputed by Gilbert’s family.
The…
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