Twenty-four-year-old Melissa Barthelemy had her cosmetology license and moved to the Bronx with the dream of one day opening her own salon. Last seen in July 2009, her remains were found in December 2010.
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North Carolina native Amber Lynn Costello was the second victim found along Ocean Parkway. Remembered by her childhood pastor as a generous spirit who loved Christmas, Costello was found in December 2010 after having been last seen leaving her home that September.
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Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a single mother of two, was last seen in 2007 before meeting a Craigslist client. Three years later, her remains were found just steps away from Barthelemy’s in the brush off Ocean Parkway.
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Megan Waterman’s remains were found on December 13, 2010. A single mom from Maine who stood at 5-foot-5, she is the tallest of the so-called “Gilgo Four.”
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Shannan Gilbert disappeared on May 1, 2010 after visiting the home of a Craigslist client. Although her case sparked the initial investigation that led to the discovery of the first four bodies, Gilbert’s remains were not found until December 2011.
Suffolk County Police
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The partial remains of 20-year-old Jessica Taylor were found in March 2011 during the police’s search for Shannon Gilbert. Parts of her body were previously found in Manorville in 2003.
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Known as Jane Doe #6 until 2020, authorities used DNA testing to identify 24-year-old Valerie Mack, a Philadelphia native who was last seen in 2000. Orphaned at a young age, Mack was living with a boyfriend at the time of her disappearance.
Suffolk County Police
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An unidentified female toddler was found just paces away from Mack’s body in April 2011. It is believed that the child was female and about 2 years old.
Reuters
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The remains of an unidentified Asian male were found in April 2011. The young adult man was found less than half a mile from where Waterman’s body was discovered months before.
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Police linked the incomplete skeletal remains believed to be linked to the unidentified toddler to the partial remains of “Peaches,” an African American woman whose torso was found in Rockville Centre in 1997. The woman is identifiable only by the peach tattoo on her left breast.
AP
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The set of remains found on April 11, 2011 were linked by DNA to a partial discovery in April 1996 on Blue Point Beach. “Fire Island Doe” is believed to have been a young white female with several distinctive scars.
AP
