Long Island serial killer: police search for more remains

On Wednesday, police divers searched for possible remains in a cove on the north side of the Ocean Parkway, where police found the first four sets of remains in December.

At least some of the remains were dumped just feet from the highway; others were found 90 feet or more into the underbrush. A further six sets of remains have been found in recent weeks, including two on Monday.

Only four sets of remains have been identified. They belonged to women working as prostitutes, leading authorities to check on a similar 2006 case in Atlantic City where four prostitutes were slain.

The four remains that were found and identified “indicated that whoever was targeting these individuals was doing it because of their business”.

Whoever was targeting these individuals was doing it because of their business. That’s why we don’t have somebody running around with blood dripping from a knife. Richard Dormer, Sufflk County Police

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Dormer explained to a press conference: “That’s why I said we don’t have somebody running around Suffolk County with blood dripping from a knife.”

They were of women in their 20s who worked as escorts, booking clients on the internet. The remaining six also were found on the north side of the highway within several miles of each other. Detectives said it appears some had been dead for a long time.

Police Commissioner Dormer said investigators were not ruling out the possibility that more than one person is responsible for leaving the remains along the highway, which features long stretches with no street lights.

“The indication is that the bodies have been dumped there some time ago,” he said. He believed high-resolution technology should be able to provide a detailed representation of the area and help identify any skeletal remains.

Police happened upon the first set of four remains while searching for a missing New Jersey prostitute last seen in a nearby community nearly a year ago. She has not yet been found.

Detectives suspect a serial killer may be responsible for some of the deaths on Long Island.