OAN Staff Abril Elfi
1:25 PM – Monday, September 16, 2024
Long Island investigators have released a new sketch in hopes to identify a victim of the Gilgo Beach murders.
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On Monday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney showed a victim they refer to as “Asian Doe” who was a biological male of Asian descent, between the ages of 17 and 23 who was found wearing women’s clothing. He is asking the public to help in identifying who they were.
“Because the victim was wearing exclusively women’s clothing at the time of death, it is possible that they identified as a woman or were known by others as being a woman.”
Tierney continued stating that investigators believe the victim died in 2006 or earlier from blunt force trauma, though their remains weren’t discovered until April 4th, 2011.
“This victim suffered a violent death,” he said.
Tierney said the victim, who investigators believe stood around 5 feet, 6 inches tall, was dressed in a blue, ribbed short-sleeve shirt, women’s pants, and a bra.
A forensic artist examined the victim’s skull and created images of what the victim might have looked like with short and long hair.
Authorities used genetic genealogy to determine that the victim was most likely of South Chinese, specifically Hahn Chinese, descent.
“This person had a name. This person had a family. This person had friends,” Tierney said. “We’re reaching out to anyone who might have known this individual to help us with that identification.”
The death of the victim adds to a list of killings that went unsolved for years, with at least 11 sets of human remains found in the Gilgo Beach area.
Tierney’s office has brought charges against former New York architect Rex Heuermann in the deaths of six women spanning three decades.
The alleged killer has been charged with three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The former architect has been in custody since July 13th, 2023.
Court records stated that when investigators began a thorough examination of the case’s evidence in 2022, they were directed to Heuermann as a potential suspect.
The suspect allegedly used several prepaid, anonymous burner phones to communicate with each victim, and the prosecutors said that FBI analysts were able to compare the cell site data of the victims’ cellphones with each other.
In addition, according to court records, a hair strand that was discovered on burlap had been wrapped around one victim’s body, and it was found to match Heuermann’s DNA based on a sample taken from crusts in a pizza box that he had thrown away.
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