The investigation continues Tuesday after Suffolk County police said they discovered three additional decomposed bodies Monday on a remote beach on eastern Jones Beach Island near where they found unidentified human remains three days prior.
The westbound lanes of Ocean Parkway were closed Monday evening while investigators were on the scene on the bay side of the barrier island in Gilgo Beach, about a mile west of where police made a similar find over the weekend.
Teams of investigators searched throughout the tall grass with flashlights and shovels in hand in the midst of frigid winds and light snow. Nearly 40 emergency vehicles lined the highway, including a crime scene investigation trailer. Investigators were digging just yards away from the road in the sand.
The area where the bodies were found is a stretch of desolate parkway distanced from residential homes and public beaches where there are no streetlights. Investigators gathered close to the grassy areas at 8:30 p.m. and used spotlights to continue searching the area after sundown.
The first discovery of human remains was made at 2:45 p.m. Saturday in nearby Oak Beach when Canine Section Officer John Mallia and his dog, Blue, were searching along the parkway. They found skeletal remains between Cedar Beach and Gilgo Beach.
The officer and his dog made the original discovery while they were searching the area in response to a missing-person report made in May after 24-year-old Shonnan Gilbert of Jersey City, N.J., believed to be a prostitute who advertised on Craigslist, vanished. The woman was last heard from when she was driven to Long Island by a man to meet a client on Fire Island, another barrier island just east of Oak Beach, according to a police spokesman.
Police found the three additional unidentified bodies while searching the scene for evidence related to the original incident. The bodies were each about 500 feet apart from each other and had been there for at least one month, police said.
The medical examiner is working to identify the remains in each case while the investigation is continuing. No identifications have been made at this time.
Homicide Squad detectives ask anyone with information to contact them at 631-852-6392 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS. All Calls will remain confidential.
With Jaclyn Gallucci
