Police Hunting Long Island Serial Killer Fear They'll Find More Bodies
HEMLOCK COVE, N.Y. April 14, 2011— -- Investigators hunting a serial killer are confident that they could find additional bodies as they escalate their search along a stretch of New York beaches where at least nine bodies have been discovered so far.
"We want to catch this guy," said State Police Capt. Louis Weber, part of task force of police and FBI agents. "The legwork is over, but the brain work is just starting."
The gut feeling that there are more bodies hidden along the shores of Long Island has police going to extraordinary lengths to scour the area for remains. The lone road through the area was expected to be closed down for several hours today as an FBI plane with sophisticated cameras and sonar is scheduled to join the search.
Police divers returned to Hemlock Cove for a second day, a body of water near where some of the bodies have been found. Police sources told ABC News that they are searching the cove in the belief that storms that lash the barrier island may have washed evidence, or bodies, into the water.
Searchers on foot are still combing the thick scrub and a WABC chopper today spotted officials taking a large black bag and several canvas bags from the brush and putting them in the back of a truck. Whatever was in the bags had been found in the brush.
Investigative sources also tell ABC News that they are increasingly convinced that they are finding the victims of a serial killer and a second killer.
Four of the bodies have been identified as prostitutes who advertised on Craigslist. Those bodies were all found wrapped in burlap and are believed to be the victims of a serial killer who is preying on prostitutes. Those bodies were spaced about 500 feet apart.
Another woman who advertised on Craigslist, Shannan Gilbert, is missing and was last seen in the area screaming for help.
Four other bodies, three adults and a toddler, were found farther away and were not wrapped in burlap. Police believe those bodies have been on the beach longer than the slain prostitutes. Investigators do not believe they are connected to whoever is killing prostitutes.
Another set of remains and a skull may be the corpse of a ninth victim or from two more victims.
