Despite there being no verdict on the cause of death for the women, the New York Post took a stab at naming a perpetrator anyway: The “Long Island Craigslist Killer,” for the website where Gilbert and another prostitute who went missing on LI this year allegedly met men. Tests have yet to determine if the remains include the second woman, Megan Waterman, 22, of Maine.
On Nancy Grace’s CNN call-in news show, the southern-prosecutor-turned TV show host thrice repeated this question: “Who is the madman, who is the serial killer preying on women, locals and tourists alike?”
She offered this unattributed detail: “They have reason to believe that at least one of them is a tourist.” A Suffolk police spokeswoman denied the assertion.
The talking heads were lined up to give their expert opinions. Reports that some of the bodies were found wrapped in burlap led them to believe whoever dumped the remains could be either a landscaper or a fisherman—the only two professions that apparently have access to the rare commodity of burlap sacks.
“Sadly, it is not really the women who drive the popular interest,” wrote Michael Daly of the Daily News. “It is just the chance they were victims of a mythic specter, the subject of countless books and movies – a serial killer.”
CAR 411, WHERE ARE YOU?
Reporters elbowed one another for the story and challenged the police commissioner with a level of brutality eclipsed only by the heartless dumping of the remains.
“We are at a loss to do our jobs,” Kieran Crowley, a Post crime reporter, said to Dormer, complaining at a news conference the week of the discoveries that Newsday had been getting all the access.
“Props to Newsday colleagues on beach murders story who prompted Post reporter to complain to SCPD that we’re getting preferential treatment,” Reid Epstein, a Newsday reporter, posted on Twitter. “The mere idea of which would make anyone who has studied the Newsday-SCPD relationship laugh for days.”
While Newsday may have its own issues with SCPD, it’s not the first time a news outlet has complained about access to Suffolk County police since the department’s Public Information Office was civilianized with mostly ex-journalists.
“No one is in charge and there’s no policy and, as a result, public information is not getting out in a timely manner,” says one LI reporter who asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “It’s not a priority.”
Dormer tells the Press, “People have to understand that this is not a television show where this is going to be solved in a half hour.”