Police Arrest Suspect in Connection to the Long Island Serial Killer

Suffolk County Police arrested a man in Massapequa, New York in connection with the strings of murders attributed to the long-unsolved Long Island Serial Killer (LISK), a case that long perplexed authorities and became the focus of countless true crime offerings.

While Suffolk County Police didn’t comment on the arrest, pending a court hearing Friday, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Ray Tierney told Newsday, “I can confirm there has been a significant development in the Gilgo beach case — and that there will be a court proceeding today in Riverhead.”

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement to Rolling Stone that “Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr., as well as representatives from the New York State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation will hold a [4 p.m. EST] press conference to announce a significant development in the investigation by the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force.”

At least 10 bodies were recovered from the desolate stretch of Gilgo Beach along Long Island’s southern coast beginning in Dec. 2010, but the investigation has largely focused on the four women since dubbed “The Gilgo Four,” as the similarities between their murders suggest they were all killed by the same person. 

The remains of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, all four of whom were sex workers who advertised their services online at the time of their death, were each found wrapped in burlap in close proximity to one another.

“We’re happy to see that they’re finally active, the police, in accomplishing something. Let’s wait and see what it all leads to,” John Ray, the attorney for the families of Jessica Taylor and Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance in the Gilgo Beach area ultimately resulted in the discovery of the other bodies, told the Associated Press; Gilbert herself is not believed to be a LISK victim. 

The arrest comes over a year after Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison publicly shared “previously unreleased information” regarding the case. “We believe now is the right time to disseminate this previously unreleased information in hopes of eliciting tips from the public and providing greater transparency about the victims,” Harrison said in April 2022.

In recent years, there have been significant developments in the investigation, although none have brought police closer to catching the killer: In Jan. 2020, Suffolk police released photos of a portion of a belt found at the crime scene that investigators believe belonged to the suspect. Four months later, the remains of a “Jane Doe” recovered at the Gilgo site were identified as Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old woman who went missing in 2000. Suffolk police also launched a then-new website, gilgonews.com, as a catchall for information pertaining to the case.

The arrest also comes a day after police in Suffolk County uncovered human remains off the Southern State Parkway in West Islip, at a spot almost directly north of the Gilgo Beach site. It remains unclear if those remains are connected to the LISK case.

This is a developing story.