SCREAMS HEARD AT NIGHT

Dawn Boyle

Many of you are aware of the Serial Killer(s) here on Long Island that have been littering our shores with people. So far there have been over 10 sets of remains recovered on the shoreline of our South Shore beaches, to be honest it is right in my own backyard. I have to admit a few times I have gotten freaked out about this, but nothing like what happened this past weekend.

Friday afternoon was stormy. We had strong gusty winds and torrential rains. Around 8:00 the rain subsided and we heading over to our boat. Last minute plans to sleep over for the weekend were in full swing. My daughters had a friend joining us. We waiting 'til the sky was clear and pink to push off. We arrived to very distant lightning up in the clouds and a rainbow that stretched clear across the bay. It was beautiful. We pulled in to our usual spot and said hello to a few of the diehards. These guys will ride out anything, and apparently that day it was wind gusts of 60mph. We settled in and joined our friends for a cocktail on the dock. It was about 11:00 when I was standing with two friends, talking about how we needed school to be over and how our children were fried from the year and how the boat basin was unusually empty, being Fathers Day weekend and we figured the nasty weather had kept many away, when we heard a blood curdling scream, followed by two other shrills.

It was screams unlike any other. The three of us instantly walked down the dock towards the other boats. The first two men we came across were inside their boats and didn't hear the scream, we continued to the private parking lot. Two other men jumped into their car to check the main parking lot, but with all the rain most of the parking lot was flooded out. They couldn't see anything. I returned to my boat to check on my family. Everyone was sleeping. I went back out to the small group that had now developed and learned they had called security. Approximately 40 minutes later a number of police vehicles arrived as did a thermal helicopter.

We were told we were not the only people who heard the screams from the police officers. That didn't really make me feel better. I questioned them as to why it took so long for them to arrive, apparently the Wantagh Bridge was out and they had to go all the way to the Meadowbrook. (For those of you not familiar with Long Island - the equivalent to about a 25 minute detour.) I pressed as to why there were no police officers patrolling Ocean Parkway with what has been going on in the area, they didn't really have an answer only said "Troopers have Ocean".

The police and helicopter searched til 1:30AM. Early the next morning, I ran into a female security guard. She had heard from other boaters about the incident. I found it strange that Nassau County PD didn't inform them of the details of the night. Shortly before noon the thermal helicopter returned for about an hour. We heard nothing else about the incident during the rest of the weekend.

I feel horrible for the people who's remains were found. I think it is horrible that there isn't anyone or any jurisdiction patrolling Ocean Parkway. I also think there should be video surveillance at the Pencil (Jones Beach Landmark) and Robert Moses State Park and Beach. Why aren't they doing more? I pray that what we all heard does not amount to anything. Those screams will live with me forever....it was that bad.

I pray for the victims and their families. These people were someone's relative or friend. They need to be honored and rememebered.

AS PER WIKIPEDIA

Bodies discovered in December 2010
Of the ten bodies or sets of remains found since late 2010, the four discovered in December 2010 have been identified as missing prostitutes who all advertised their services on Craigslist. They had all been strangled and their bodies wrapped in burlap sacks. All are believed to have been killed elsewhere.

Identified

• Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, of Norwich Connecticut, was a prostitute who advertised her services online. She was last seen on July 9, 2007, when she left Norwich for New York City. Her body was found in December 2010.

• Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of Erie County, New York, went missing on July 10, 2009. She had been living in the Bronx and working as an escort through Craigslist. On the night she went missing, she met with a client, deposited $900 in her bank account and attempted to call an old boyfriend, but did not get through. Beginning one week after her disappearance, and lasting for five weeks, her teenage sister, Amanda, received a series of "vulgar, mocking and insulting" calls from someone who may have been the killer, using her sister's cell phone.

• Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine, went missing on June 6, 2010, after placing advertisements on Craigslist as an escort; the day before she had told her 20-year-old boyfriend that she was going out and would call him later. At the time of her disappearance, she was staying at a motel in Hauppauge, NY, 15 miles northwest of Gilgo Beach. Her body was also recovered in December 2010.
• Amber Lynn Costello, 27, of North Babylon, New York, a town ten miles north of Gilgo Beach. She was a prostitute and a heroin user, and went missing on September 2, 2010. On the night she disappeared, she went to meet a stranger who had called her several times and offered her $1,500 for her services.

Remains discovered in March & April 2011

The four sets of remains discovered on March 29 and April 4 were all within two miles and to the east of those found in December. They included two women, a man, and a toddler. A skull and a partial set of remains were found on April 11 after the search expanded into Nassau County. They were found about one mile apart, approximately five miles west of those found in December.

 Identified

On May 9, 2011, it was reported that the remains of a skull, a pair of hands and a forearm found on March 29 belonged to a prostitute named Jessica Taylor, 20, whose dismembered body was found in 2003, 45 miles away in Manorville, New York. She had worked in Washington, D.C., and Manhattan.

 Unidentified
A head, right foot and hands found on April 4 belonged to an unidentified victim known as "Jane Doe No. 6," the rest of whose body was found on November 19, 2000, in the same part of Manorville where Jessica Taylor's remains were discovered. The dismembered remains of Jessica Taylor and Jane Doe No. 6 were both disposed of in a similar manner and in the same town, suggesting a link. Their deaths are dissimilar to those of the four women found in December 2010.
The two remaining sets of remains found in Suffolk County appear to be those of a young Asian male who died a violent death, and a female toddler, between 18 and 24 months, wrapped in a blanket and showing no visible signs of trauma. Their deaths do not appear to be linked to any of the others. There is speculation that the male body could be that of Stony Brook University student Yim Yeung "Jimmy" Tsui, 20, who disappeared in August 1998 near his home in New Hyde Park, Long Island. The two sets of remains found in Nassau County on April 11 have not yet been identified.

Remains discovered on May 22, 2011

On May 22, 2011, a headless, decomposed body of undetermined gender was discovered washed up on Amagansett Beach, about 100 miles east of the area where ten other sets of remains were found near Gilgo Beach. The next day, an autopsy revealed that the remains were those of a young male, 20-30, of slight build. Divers were not able to find the skull. The remains did not display any obvious signs of trauma and appeared to have been in the water for months.