Arrest in Gilgo Beach murders case brings possible breakthrough in Long Island serial killer mystery

Police in New York have taken a person into custody in connection with the unsolved murders of at least 10 women whose bodies were found on Long Island’s Gilgo Beach more than a decade ago. Two law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News Friday morning that the Suffolk County Police Department had one suspect in custody in connection with the murders.

The possible breakthrough in the hunt for a suspect in what’s become known as “the Long Island serial killer” case came a little more than a year after police released audio of a 911 call made by Shannan Gilbert just before she vanished in 2010.

Investigators were searching for Gilbert when they found other remains on Gilgo Beach in December that year – women in their 20s whose remains had been wrapped in burlap sacks. Known as the Gilgo Four, they were later identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, abducted in 2007; Melissa Barthelemy in 2009; and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, who went missing in 2010. Six more sets of remains were found along Ocean Parkway the following spring. 

The Suffolk County Police Department released the full audio of Gilbert’s 911 call last year, as well as maps and other images showing what authorities believe happened on May 1, 2010, the night she disappeared.

The police said in 2022, however, that “based on the evidence, the facts, and the totality of the circumstances, the prevailing opinion of Shannan’s death, while tragic, was not murder and most likely not criminal.”

Investigators voiced hope then that releasing the 911 audio would lead to answers in the larger search for the Gilgo Beach killer, and officials announced a doubling of the reward for information on the murders to $50,000.

“We are making real progress,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said in May 2022. He said he hoped new information released to the public would bring new leads on the notorious crime spree that had stumped police for a dozen years.