A sex worker whose 2010 death was ruled a “tragic accident” was murdered in a manner similar to the “Gilgo Four,” a lawyer representing her family claimed.
Shannan Gilbert’s body was found in a swamp near Gilgo Beach, a year after police found the bodies of four other sex workers wrapped in burlap sacks in the sand.
Police have long claimed that 23-year-old Gilbert died from a drug-related drowning. But John Ray claims she was murdered by a serial killer who has not yet been identified.
He says a second autopsy on her body proves she was strangled, as was Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Architect Rex Heuermann, 59, has since been arrested in connection with the deaths of Melissa, Megan and Amber and is a prime suspect in Maureen’s case.
The attorney representing Shannan Gilbert’s family says she was strangled, much like the so-called Gilgo Four, whose bodies were found in burlap sacks on Gilgo Beach
Gilbert’s body was found in a nearby swamp area a year after the bodies of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, were discovered. Megan Waterman, 22; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27
However, Heuermann is not charged with Gilbert’s death – and Ray has never suggested that Heuermann might have killed her.
Ray said he had long-standing questions about the Suffolk County Police Department’s claim that Gilbert died from drug-related drowning.
“When the police claimed she walked into the swamp and managed to kill herself when I saw the autopsy report that found her lying openly in the bush and the police claimed she drowned, it made no sense,” Ray told the US Sun.
A second from Dr. Michael Baden’s autopsy revealed that Gilbert met a violent end and was strangled.
“When we looked at the bones, we could see that the very small, significant hyoid bone at the back of the neck was fractured along an edge,” Ray explained, adding the doctor also found a hole at the base of Shannan’s hyoid bone.
“Apparently something was drilled or pushed through this bone and we couldn’t determine what it was, but it was highly unusual.”
With questions on his mind about the police’s explanation for the drowning and what he described as a “fallback position,” in which local authorities also claimed she may have died from natural elements after becoming lost in the swamp, Ray said he decided to check out the swamp area himself.
“I don’t think Shannan ever entered the swamp,” he claimed, noting that he entered the swamp on the same day that Shannan disappeared under similar weather conditions a year earlier.
Ray entered the swamp at the same spot, which he says is difficult to avoid, “but you can get in.”
“There were easy escape routes on both sides of the swamp,” Ray continued.
“It would be absurd to say that someone got lost in the swamp and died because they couldn’t get out,” he said, explaining that when you walked in the swamp, the clay you walked on was damp and sometimes a little water came out, about to the toe of your boot.
“And that’s about it, it wasn’t deep at all,” Ray said.
“Even if she fell into the channels, they wouldn’t be deep,” he said. “They’re not even waist-high — they’d be up to the thighs of an average person.”
Architect Rex Heuermann, 59, has been arrested and charged in the deaths of Melissa, Megan and Amber and is a prime suspect in the Maureen case
The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 when she went missing (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy’s the same day
Shannan was last seen running from the home of customer Joseph Brewer on the day she disappeared, before running to a neighbor’s house to get help.
Neighbor Barbara Brennan then called the police at around 5:30 am on May 1, 2010, just minutes before dawn.
“So twilight would have been the condition, not total darkness,” Ray said. “So the police theory that she was lost in the dark and confused is absurd.”
“In fact, as we walked through the swamp, we could see our way into the homes that bordered Oak Beach, which lined the swamp on the south side.”
Former Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer also claimed that Shannan ran through the brambles, which ripped her jeans off.
“First of all, every girl who wears jeans — they’re not baggy jeans like they were in the hippie days — they’re skinny jeans that don’t come off because bushes of stickers pull them when you’re walking through the swamp,” Ray said, dismissing the notion.
“How do you get rid of them?” You have to undress them or someone will have to undress them for you.
“So then they argue, well he panicked and she panicked because she was on drugs and she was hallucinating and she got wet and took off her pants.
“That’s absurd too,” he said, noting that there was “no evidence” Gilbert was using drugs on the day of her disappearance.
In a previous interview, he also said that in photos of her body, Shannan was wearing a bra and the ribbon that secures the two cups was cut in half.
State police and crime lab teams continue to search Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park. A laboratory technician is pictured at home on Saturday
Soldiers said a “major excavation” is taking place at the home of New York architect Rex Heuermann. Pictured are state police investigators gathering evidence at the crime scene
Police are now investigating whether Heuermann may have been involved in other murders and are searching his property in Massapequa Park, Las Vegas and rural South Carolina.
On Sunday, police brought in cadaver dogs to search the grounds of his run-down Long Island home.
Aerial footage of the crime scene also showed groups of investigators in Heuermann’s backyard digging up dirt and bagging evidence.
The search came after a neighbor told local police he believed at least one woman had been killed in a soundproof room in Heuermann’s basement.
Robert Musto, 64, one of Heuermann’s longtime neighbors, told the New York Post, ‘He has a soundproof room in his basement.’ What do you think that was for?’
“This guy is a maniac,” added the retired Long Island Rail Road worker, claiming he had heard about the basement from police, who had searched the crime scene since Heuermann’s July 13 arrest.
“They say there’s evidence he killed at least one of the girls down there,” Musto said. “The police will find out all of this.” They said they’ll focus on the soundproof room in the basement, but they’ll look at everything.’
Police also said that “police are looking for evidence whether the victims were inside the house, nothing yet.”
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the murders.