🏘️ Killing Grounds: The Gilgo Beach Murders (2026) - Season 1 Episode 1
The investigation begins. In Episode 1, detectives uncover the first remains on Gilgo Beach, sparking a complex manhunt that will span over a decade. What clues were missed... and who was watching?
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• Discovery of the first victim: the case that started it all
• Early investigative missteps and overlooked evidence
• Families demand answers: the human cost of cold cases
• Forensic breakthroughs that reignited hope
• Signature true-crime tension: methodical pacing + haunting revelations
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: True Crime Documentary / Investigative Serial
• Original Network: [Streaming Platform] | Production: 2026
• Season: 1 | Episode: 1 | Runtime: ~45-60 min
• Setting: Gilgo Beach, Long Island, USA | Language: English
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to true crime podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts for deeper case analysis.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "What clue broke the case open? 👇" Turn on notifications 🔔 for Episode 2!
#ShowTVMovies #KillingGrounds #GilgoBeach #TrueCrime #Documentary2026 #S01E01 #ColdCase #Investigation #MurderMystery #CrimeDocs
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "Killing Grounds: The Gilgo Beach Murders" belong to the respective producers and networks. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
The investigation begins. In Episode 1, detectives uncover the first remains on Gilgo Beach, sparking a complex manhunt that will span over a decade. What clues were missed... and who was watching?
🔹 Episode Highlights:
• Discovery of the first victim: the case that started it all
• Early investigative missteps and overlooked evidence
• Families demand answers: the human cost of cold cases
• Forensic breakthroughs that reignited hope
• Signature true-crime tension: methodical pacing + haunting revelations
🔹 Series Info:
• Format: True Crime Documentary / Investigative Serial
• Original Network: [Streaming Platform] | Production: 2026
• Season: 1 | Episode: 1 | Runtime: ~45-60 min
• Setting: Gilgo Beach, Long Island, USA | Language: English
🎧 Prefer audio? Listen to true crime podcasts on Spotify, Apple Podcasts for deeper case analysis.
👉 Enjoying the series? Hit LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and comment: "What clue broke the case open? 👇" Turn on notifications 🔔 for Episode 2!
#ShowTVMovies #KillingGrounds #GilgoBeach #TrueCrime #Documentary2026 #S01E01 #ColdCase #Investigation #MurderMystery #CrimeDocs
⚠️ Copyright Disclaimer: This video is shared for promotional, review, and informational purposes only. All rights to "Killing Grounds: The Gilgo Beach Murders" belong to the respective producers and networks. This upload complies with Fair Use guidelines (Section 107, U.S. Copyright Act). No copyright infringement intended.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:04If you want to understand Picasso, you have to study his art.
00:11If you want to understand a serial killer, you study the crime.
00:15Four unidentified bodies.
00:17Long Island police literally stumbled onto the crime scene.
00:21What was going on out in Long Island?
00:24Ten sets of remains have been discovered.
00:26It was this burial ground for all these people.
00:29They were laying out in the open.
00:31Why weren't they noticed?
00:33The killer has apparently targeted prostitutes.
00:36The police didn't investigate because there were sex workers.
00:39That's fucking infuriating.
00:41They kept the FBI out of this investigation.
00:44Was this a cover-up?
00:46What are they hiding?
00:48We realized that we needed to act.
00:51DNA evidence was obtained.
00:54We identified the suspect.
00:56Get him within your sights.
00:58Yes, but don't blow the investigation.
01:02He was keeping very close tabs on law enforcement.
01:05His internet searches contained torture porn, rape.
01:09I sized him up totally wrong.
01:12This is the house that police have been swarming.
01:15This guy was hunting victims for sport.
01:18These women were tortured.
01:20This was beyond your worst nightmare.
01:22We're talking about a cold case that extends back 30 years.
01:25How many bodies are we going to see here?
01:28Catch this guy for us.
01:30Please.
01:44Long Island is an actual island about 30 miles east of greater Manhattan.
01:52Long Island is a true melting pot of people from all walks of life.
01:56A lot of firefighters, teachers, cops.
02:01Upper middle class to working class, safe.
02:04Here and there you'd hear something, you know, but not too bad.
02:08We have the Baldwin brothers, the actors, they're from this town.
02:13So is Jerry Seinfeld.
02:15A lot of people are from Massapequa.
02:18Long Island seems like a place where nothing goes wrong.
02:22But behind closed doors, it's not always as it appears to be.
02:33The Long Island serial killer, one of the most prolific, unsolved serial killer cases in modern U.S. history.
02:45I was in the FBI 11 years.
02:50I've always looked at the victims in this case and thought, that could have been my niece.
02:55That could have been my best friend.
02:57That could have been my cousin.
02:58That could have been my sister.
03:01How would I want that murder to be investigated?
03:06During the height of this investigation, certain circles within law enforcement were dismissive.
03:13All victims deserve to have equal protection under law.
03:17And you don't not investigate something because someone is involved with sex work.
03:24They all have names.
03:26They all have families.
03:27They all have people that miss them.
03:30I think a lot of people are inclined to look away.
03:34But this impacts every member of society.
03:37Don't look away from it.
03:40The problems with this case go back to the beginning of it.
03:45And this case really starts with missing women.
03:48The search is on this morning for a missing woman.
03:50A young mother from Scarborough had been missing since last June.
03:53A 23-year-old woman missing since May 2010.
03:57She vanished without a trace.
03:58She visited New York and hasn't been seen since.
04:02Every year, hundreds of women and girls go missing in New York and on Long Island.
04:08It's a desperate search for a missing woman who hasn't been seen now for almost a week.
04:13Aladon reporter Kristen Thorne with the latest.
04:16Sade Marie Kuhnla spent 17 years working as a public defender.
04:20My name is Kristen Thorne.
04:22I was a reporter for 13 years with ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York.
04:29Police are now in this area of Freeport that they have searched before.
04:33I investigate cold case disappearances.
04:35The female jogger, 30 years old.
04:37Her family called police when she didn't return home.
04:40If you're a juvenile in this country and you disappear, there is a lot to help find you.
04:45If you're 65 and older, we have something called a silver alert.
04:49So there's an alert that goes out.
04:51But if you're in that 18 to 64 range and you disappear, good luck.
04:59Law enforcement is overloaded with cases.
05:03So a missing woman is not always going to make it to the top of the pile.
05:10When Melissa first went missing, my favorite shows were like CSI, Criminal Minds.
05:16What is the chance of this happening to us?
05:19I mean, we're just normal, laid-back family, close-knit.
05:25I mean, how could this happen to us?
05:29Melissa was pretty shy.
05:31But she loved people.
05:32She loved her family.
05:35She would like to put twist ties in Grandma's hair, pretend that she was putting rollers in there.
05:43Melissa's plan was to move to New York City and open her own salon.
05:49She always told me, I want to get my career going.
05:53I want to enjoy life a little bit.
05:56She was working hard, and she deserved the whole world.
06:00And then she went missing.
06:04Before Megan went missing, I was seeing her every day.
06:08She was a problem child.
06:10If you came onto her face-to-face, one of you two are going down, and it's not going to
06:16be her.
06:18But she was kind.
06:20If you needed anything, she wouldn't hesitate at least to give it to you.
06:23She would give the last penny in her pocket.
06:27Have you ever gone roller skating?
06:29And you wear white and how it changes the color.
06:34She would just get out on that floor and do whatever she wanted.
06:38She was a free girl.
06:41Megan was on temporary aid for needy families.
06:45They were only given her $400 a month for her and Liliana.
06:51She tried getting jobs, but it didn't work out.
06:56I found out that Megan was placing ads on Craigslist through her brother's ex-girlfriend.
07:02She's like, yeah, on the escort section.
07:05I'm like, what?
07:06I'm like, no way.
07:08I just went through like 300 pages of photos of females, and Megan is in there.
07:17We had no clue.
07:20Craigslist was a place for a lot of things in 2010, including personal services as well as sexual services.
07:29And in many ways, it was safer, because women could screen their clients and then decide if they wanted to
07:36meet with them.
07:37We all tried talking to Megan, trying to get her out of it.
07:40But she needed money, so she could stay where she was living.
07:48The last time anybody saw Megan was 2010.
07:52She took a bus down to New York to work.
07:57She disappeared into thin air.
08:02I called Suffolk County Police Department.
08:04They searched the hotel.
08:07And as far as I know of, that's the only time they looked for her.
08:13We contacted the 43rd Precinct, said, you know, my daughter lives in the Bronx.
08:19We haven't heard from her.
08:21And she's like, ma'am, is she mentally retarded?
08:24Is she on any type of psych meds?
08:27No, no, no.
08:28Well, then she's not missing.
08:30She's where she wants to be.
08:33It was so discouraging.
08:36They're just not doing their job.
08:41For years, these families knew that their loved ones were missing.
08:47And no matter how many times they went to the police department to try to get them to take this
08:52seriously, they didn't.
08:57Melissa was last seen leaving her apartment in the Bronx on July 12th.
09:01Her family is looking for help.
09:03If anybody has seen my daughter, please contact us.
09:07What do you think happened to your daughter?
09:10I don't know if somebody grabbed her while she was walking to the store or what.
09:13But I know she is definitely missing.
09:17With a lot of missing persons, it's not always clear to the family or friends where exactly their loved one
09:25disappeared.
09:26But with Shannon Gilbert, it's a completely different story.
09:33When I heard my sister was missing, I knew something sinister happened.
09:41Shannon was doing this for a few years to pay her college tuition.
09:48She was so smart and talented.
09:51And she was so realistic, so relatable.
09:54I could tell her anything.
09:56Her voice was very beautiful.
10:00We had this thing, Sunday fun day, every weekend we all got together.
10:06So much fun, so much laughter, food.
10:08It was the best times.
10:13We all thought we were the Spice Girls.
10:16Our favorite girl band was the Spice Girls.
10:21She loved music.
10:22She loved it.
10:27You know how you're so scared to tell your mom things?
10:30With Shannon, it's like having your mom and your sister.
10:35It was great.
10:39One day, her boyfriend notified my mother that she went to see a client and was never seen after that.
10:50I met Shannon Gilbert working for this escort agency.
10:54I got a job as a driver.
10:58May 1st, Shannon texted me.
11:00She said, can you pick me up at 32nd and Broadway?
11:04She will take the path to train there from New Jersey.
11:06So I said, yeah, sure.
11:08Somebody spoke to her about coming out to Long Island.
11:13It was a long drive.
11:15About an hour from the city.
11:19We got there around like 1 a.m.
11:23When they went up to the house, I took a nap.
11:27And around 5 a.m., the guy came out to my car and said that she won't leave.
11:33I said, what?
11:35I went into this house.
11:36I said, what's wrong?
11:38And she said, they're trying to kill me.
11:40So I said, who's trying to kill you?
11:42She just got up right up and ran.
11:45She went across the car, toward thickets, bushes.
11:54I called her and texted her.
11:55She didn't pick up.
12:07Within 24 hours, my mother reported her missing.
12:13We were told that this was just a case of a runaway.
12:19That's not something my sister would do.
12:23This is not like her.
12:25This is not who she is.
12:26This is just not her character.
12:29We all knew something happened.
12:34The crazy thing is, Shannon's driver could pinpoint exactly where she went missing.
12:43And yet, that area remained largely untouched by law enforcement.
12:51Then, in December of 2010, seven months after Shannon disappeared, total fluke, an officer
13:01for the Suffolk County Police Department decided, you know, I'm going to go take my canine to
13:05go practice down at Gilgo Beach.
13:09I'm going to go out to Gilgo.
13:10I'm going to look for that Shannon Gilbert woman.
13:13Look what happened.
13:18We're following some breaking news right now.
13:20A body has been found in Oak Beach.
13:22Authorities made the find as they investigated a missing persons report, looking for a 24-year-old
13:27woman from Jersey City.
13:29On May 1st of this year, Shannon Gilbert, a 23-year-old female, went missing.
13:36We had no leads as to where she went.
13:40In a continuation of that investigation, the missing persons unit responded to the area
13:47where this young lady went missing with his dog, Blue.
13:51Here's Blue.
13:53Blue's a cadaver dog.
13:56We started our search.
13:58He started sampling the air, and he started indicating to a spot off the shoulder of the
14:04parkway.
14:05At that point, I saw the skeletal remains of a body.
14:20One night, we're sitting on the couch watching Nancy Grace, and all of a sudden, they discovered
14:28a body in Long Island.
14:30They said that they had found a female, approximately 24 to 26 years old, 4 foot 9.
14:42We just started crying.
14:44We knew it was her.
14:56I mean, it's just, it's unbelievable.
14:59It was so close to the road.
15:02How could nobody see this?
15:10Two days later, Suffolk County contacted me to tell me that they found three more bodies.
15:22Oak Beach tonight, looking more like a gruesome cemetery, the remains of three more people
15:28were found stuffed in these brushes.
15:33Typically, when you have a homicide, it's one person with a particular set of circumstances.
15:40When we realized, the reporters, the media, that there were four bodies that seemed to be
15:47killed in a consistent way, all buried in the same area, it was just unbelievable.
15:55I had never seen anything like it in all my years of reporting.
16:00And we knew that we had a huge story on our hands.
16:07The media dubbed them the Gilgo Four.
16:12The Gilgo Four were found along Ocean Parkway.
16:16They were spaced equally apart.
16:18And three of the four victims were found to have been wrapped using a specific type of burlap,
16:24typically used by duck hunters.
16:26They were disposed of in a very distinct and similar manner.
16:30It wasn't a burial site.
16:31It was where their bodies were strategically disposed of.
16:38Unless you've been there, it's hard to explain.
16:42Ocean Parkway is a desolate highway.
16:46There's no streetlights.
16:48It's completely dark.
16:50You can have considerable time if you're trying to commit a crime like disposing of a body.
16:58I've personally pulled over and timed it.
17:01At nighttime, you might not see headlights for 30 seconds,
17:05or you could not see headlights for eight minutes.
17:09There are no housing structures nearby.
17:13There's no businesses.
17:15He walked maybe 25 paces, dumped the body, got in his vehicle, and left.
17:22The investigators found heirs that did not belong to the victims.
17:27And it did not match any profile within law enforcement DNA databases.
17:32They belonged to an unidentified male of Caucasian descent.
17:40The totality of the evidence linked the Gilgo Four together very cleanly and clearly and logically from an investigative standpoint.
17:49Shannon Gilbert is the suspected sex worker whose disappearance police were investigating when they stumbled on four bodies.
17:56But Gilbert was not among them.
17:58She remains missing.
17:59Suffolk County police find themselves now on the trail of a possible serial killer.
18:04One of the things that stood out to me was that all of the victims were petite in nature.
18:10He has this distinct type.
18:12I think he was picking those victims because they were small in stature and easier to control because of their
18:19size.
18:20Tonight, Suffolk County sheriffs say they think one of the bodies could be that of 22-year-old Megan Waterman
18:25from Scarborough.
18:27When you're done, take it out and we'll just put it back away.
18:29Okay.
18:30Scarborough police asked Lorraine Hila for a swab sample to see if her DNA will match one of the bodies.
18:38Probably a month after, Detective Hagan shows up at my house to tell me that it was Megan.
18:49I was pretty much like, okay, what is my next step?
18:52What do I do?
18:54And he was like, well, I'm really sorry about your loss.
18:58He's like, here's my card.
19:00Here's this gentleman's card.
19:01And they left.
19:03They turned around and walked away.
19:09Yeah.
19:10Yeah.
19:16Good afternoon.
19:18We are here today to announce that all four women whose remains were discovered in Gilgal Beach last month have
19:26been positively identified.
19:27The victims are Megan Waterman of Scarborough, Maine, Melissa Bartholome of the Bronx, Maureen Brainard Barnes of Norwich, Connecticut, and
19:47Amber Lynn Costello of North Babylon.
20:00I still like it out there.
20:04Fishing, what I've been doing for a long time, man, it's something different.
20:10Especially after all that shit happened.
20:14Yeah, but it was funny.
20:17She was, like, ridiculous, you know what I mean?
20:19I mean, like, four foot ten, you know, a hundred pounds, just like a little firecracker, you know what I
20:25mean?
20:26She was just like any other 20-something-year-old girl.
20:30Talked about getting married, you know, talked about, you know, holding down a real job.
20:36She loved animals, man.
20:38It was her thing.
20:38She wanted to be a veterinarian.
20:41She was looking into schools and stuff.
20:46Amber would have done something.
20:49She had a really good moral compass, but the second her sister came around, it just, you know, the compass
20:55started spinning.
20:58It was her sister that got her into all that shit.
21:01They were doing calls together.
21:04These guys that were coming for this kind of stuff, man, you'd be surprised how many of them are, like,
21:11cops, lawyers.
21:12I'd swear to shit, 90% of the people were married men.
21:18The first week of September, 2010, she's like, I got a call, you know, the guy wants to possibly do
21:2524 hours.
21:28And then she disappeared.
21:31Of course, you know, it fucks you up.
21:42All of those women were engaged in prostitution and solicited business over the internet.
21:48And these homicides appear to us to be directly related to that business.
21:56Maureen was fearless, brave is an understatement.
22:02She was always like that.
22:06I met Maureen when we were working as telemarketers.
22:10She was in a cubicle across from me and we just clicked.
22:15Maureen was the most lively person, you know.
22:18And she always had something funny to say.
22:21She knew when to have fun and she knew when to work her ass off.
22:26She was a single mom and she was trying hard.
22:32When she was fired, I think maybe two or three weeks after me, she needed to make that money real
22:37quick.
22:38And she said, hey, Sarah, you like to fuck random people?
22:42Why don't you get paid for it?
22:46First, what we would do is we'd type in manhattan.craigslist.org.
22:50We'd go to erotic services.
22:52And then it would make you put in the title.
22:55Like, hi, I'm Lacey.
22:56I'm 100% independent.
22:59You're a rent-a-girlfriend.
23:02Everybody seems to think that it's going to be like pretty woman and you have to dress like her, okay?
23:06No, you have to dress like her after she meets Richard Gere.
23:10It's more about companionship than it is about the sex.
23:15One of the most important things she always told me, she said, follow your instincts.
23:21If it doesn't feel right, don't do it.
23:28When Maury went missing, we were staying in midtown Manhattan.
23:34But I left, I went back to Connecticut.
23:41Later on that night, I kept calling her phone, calling her phone, calling her phone.
23:50We would work in pairs to keep us safe.
23:54But she had eviction court the next day.
23:58She had less than 24 hours to get some fucking kind of money up so that they didn't lose their
24:05frigging house.
24:10And that's why she went alone.
24:12She wouldn't have done it any other time.
24:18I have really bad survivor's guilt because I really feel like she would be alive had I stayed.
24:25I know that for a fact.
24:30Melissa was in New York for probably two and a half years.
24:34And I didn't find out what she was doing until they found her body and they found out that they
24:40were sex workers.
25:04Here on Oak Beach, they don't seem overly concerned since the killer has apparently targeted properly.
25:11I think that it was very comforting when we found out that he was targeting a specific group of women
25:16from a specific website
25:17so that it made it something that was removed from us.
25:21In the beginning, the media wasn't very nice.
25:23They called our girls prostitutes and whores.
25:27Bodies of four young prostitutes in December.
25:29Another Craigslist prostitute.
25:31An online escort.
25:32Prostitutes who advertised their services on Craigslist.
25:35People would see something on TV and basically they would say that
25:40they deserved it.
25:42There was some of the attitude that, well, they put themselves in that position.
25:46And that was obvious from public statements that some of the most senior people investigating this murder were saying.
25:53Their deaths are a direct result of their business as prostitutes.
25:59We're easy targets because we are considered bottom of the barrel.
26:03Nobody gives a shit about us.
26:05We cannot report crimes to cops because it's not legal.
26:12Today, sex work has become more destigmatized.
26:16With sites like OnlyFans becoming mainstream, it's become a more accepted line of work.
26:24But in 2010, that wasn't the case.
26:29At one point, one of the senior investigators made a comment to a reporter about the victims being greedy and
26:37wanting money.
26:38When I read that, I remember getting sick to my stomach because I just thought to myself, what have you
26:46done to find this guy?
26:47And what are you doing telling a reporter that this victim was greedy and that's why she was involved in
26:54that type of work?
26:55It's utter fucking bullshit.
27:01Any more questions?
27:02One more.
27:03One more, please.
27:04Don't be scared.
27:05Oh, no, I don't think, no.
27:07I don't want anybody to think that we have a Jack the Ripper running around Suffolk County with blood dripping
27:13from a knife.
27:14It's not that type of situation.
27:16And so I would say to people, go about your business.
27:21Suffolk County is one of the safest counties anywhere in the United States.
27:27Just three months after the Gilgo 4 are discovered, another bombshell drops.
27:35I get a call.
27:36More bodies have been found in Gilgo.
27:38We need you guys to go out there.
27:41And so we leave New York City to go out to Long Island.
27:47Police vehicle was driving by this Ocean Parkway Highway and something caught his eye.
27:53Last time they were here was actually back in January, just a couple weeks after Suffolk police found the remains
28:00of four women.
28:01The winter weather prevented searching, so they came out here again.
28:05Officers discovered what appeared to be another human remain.
28:08It was discovered also on the north side of Ocean Parkway.
28:14Helicopters, cadaver dogs, machetes, the macabre search for fresh evidence in Shannon Gilbert's disappearance continue today in a case that
28:21only grows grislier with each gruesome discovery.
28:24Police found a human skull yesterday.
28:27This time by divers, they are being examined tonight by medical experts.
28:34Over the course of a few weeks, police found partial skeletal remains several miles east of where the Gilgo 4
28:42were found.
28:43Investigators unearthed four, more bodies on that same strip of beach.
28:48One more body, that's right.
28:49The body count just keeps on rising, and the grisly mystery just deepens.
28:54Ocean Parkway is a mass burial ground.
28:57I mean, this is, like, crazy.
29:02It's just a little bit unsettling that, you know, you never know what could be down the street.
29:07It's very scary, and it makes it much more creepy to come here by yourself.
29:11I keep a cell phone in one pocket, and when I have to take a shotgun, I'm out of here.
29:19At that time, the fever pitch from the public interest, the public outcry, and the media got really, really high.
29:27Because you have a crime scene with at least ten bodies, and Shannon Gilbert has not been found.
29:34So far, police have already discovered the remains of ten people.
29:38They made it very clear that they do not know if these remains are connected to the four other women
29:44that you saw there.
29:46So still a lot of mystery around this.
29:48Police are holding this news conference at 11 o'clock this morning.
29:51We're live at Gilgo Beach.
29:52Kristen Thorne, CBS 2 News.
29:57Where's Bob?
29:58Pull it through.
30:01You all set?
30:05Today, we're going to discuss some details regarding the remains discovered by the Suffolk County Police Department.
30:13And what is now very clear is that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard
30:20human remains for some period of time.
30:25Displayed on the maps are the locations where the remains were found.
30:30Six other victims.
30:34Five were female.
30:36One was male.
30:38And one of them is a toddler.
30:41Four of the six were dismembered.
30:46Typically, perpetrators dismember victims in order to frustrate and confuse investigators.
30:53Because, presumptively, if law enforcement knew who that person was, they would be able to fairly easily link the victim
30:59back to the perpetrator.
31:02So the crime scene itself is two and a half miles long.
31:06It spans two different jurisdictions.
31:09That's huge.
31:10So, investigating the Gilgo Four, that's where they honed in.
31:15Because, quite frankly, that was the easiest and most logical path for investigators to follow.
31:21Well, I will not term it as a serial killer.
31:24There are no similarities.
31:26I want to emphasize this.
31:28There are no similarities at all.
31:39The difference between the way the Gilgo Four were found and the other bodies beg the question, was this the
31:48work of one individual or was there more than one serial killer on Long Island?
31:57The public should realize that this investigation is not an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds that is going to
32:06be solved in a one-hour period.
32:10The investigation most likely is going to take a very long period of time.
32:18On numerous occasions, I asked the police what was going on with the case.
32:24And they said, just believe me, we're really working on it.
32:27It's the only thing that we're working on.
32:30We'll never stop working.
32:33That's basically all they told us.
32:40A few months later, the coroner told me that Melissa's body wasn't whole.
32:47They found another part of her body, her arm.
32:50I said, well, how could you have missed that?
32:54They had told me that maybe a crab or some type of animal had dragged off a part of her
33:01body and they had missed it.
33:04They asked me what I wanted to do with it.
33:07And I said, well, what do you mean, what do I want to do with it?
33:11I want to put her whole body together.
33:15I mean, it's just, it's unbelievable.
33:19I really wasn't good with the stress that was going on in my life at that time.
33:25I wanted to find the other families.
33:31I didn't know about Lynn until she started looking for me on Facebook.
33:36I set up the group so we could contact each other and keep in touch.
33:42We'd shoot a message and then we just talked quite a bit.
33:47The special bond, we know we can talk to each other because we know what each other is feeling.
33:56Lynn became my best friend, my sister.
33:59She wanted me to go spend a week at her house, so I took a week's vacation.
34:08Yeah, our friendship will never end.
34:12Then we were just one big cat, somewhat happy family.
34:27We want just a little bit of closure.
34:30Not all of us have been to the sites.
34:35It's tough.
34:36It's taken just about everything I have to be here.
34:41This was supposed to be a final goodbye to all the girls,
34:44but with Shannon Gilbert still missing,
34:46family members say they will continue to return to this site as long as it takes.
34:51My name is Mary Gilbert.
34:53My daughter is Shannon.
34:54She is out there.
34:56She is missing.
34:57And our family and our friends,
35:01we're going to find her,
35:03and we're going to find out who hurt Shannon and all the others.
35:09In this situation,
35:11I think you just kind of listen to what your heart tells you,
35:15and my mother definitely knew that Shannon wasn't with us anymore.
35:23It was tough, but it only made her stronger.
35:28There's a part of me that did not want to move forward,
35:32but we needed answers.
35:41I'm hoping that the more the people see this,
35:45the more the people hear this,
35:46that they're going to know we're not going to forget.
35:48Regardless how long it takes,
35:50if it takes the rest of our lives,
35:51we're going to find where my daughter is,
35:52and we're going to find out who it is to the other girls.
35:58When we went to see the sites,
36:01we were pulled on the side of the road,
36:03and the police basically told us that we had to leave.
36:08A detective from Suffolk County told us
36:11that he did not want us talking to the media
36:14because the media was trouble,
36:17and they always get everything twisted.
36:39Early on, the families were stonewalled by law enforcement.
36:44These cases were not moving as fast as they should have been.
36:49The families needed to find a way
36:52to get law enforcement to listen to them.
36:57And for Shannon's family, that resulted in finding John Ray.
37:03You can say what you want about John Ray,
37:05but he is a good lawyer.
37:07Do you want to sit? Yeah.
37:10Come up closer?
37:11A tiny bit.
37:12Yeah.
37:14It's an amazing room.
37:16I mean, I didn't need a set designer, babe.
37:20I'm a lawyer.
37:21I've been a lawyer since 1983.
37:25I work seven days a week.
37:28I do everything.
37:29I litigate.
37:30I'm not afraid of the big firms or the government
37:34as a renegade against the system.
37:39Mary Gilbert contacted me through Steve Barcelo,
37:43photographer slash reporter for the New York Daily News.
37:46He said, look, can you help me with this lady
37:48that's involved in that Long Island serial killer case?
37:52She had no money, you know,
37:54but what was wrong here
37:57was that the police didn't do anything.
38:01So I was asked to step in.
38:04And that's what I did.
38:09Step up here next to me so you can be close.
38:13The media comes when I call a press conference as a rule
38:15because they know me.
38:16Whenever you're ready, tell me and we'll get cranky.
38:19That was my value.
38:21Are we on?
38:22Okay.
38:24We're here today at the site of these terrible crimes
38:28because the Suffolk County Police Department
38:31is grossly derelict in its duty.
38:36The commissioner of police in Suffolk County
38:39has acted like the Pink Panther.
38:43I called him Inspector Clouseau.
38:46And I brought a big board that we had made up,
38:49you know, some facts and figures.
38:51They may investigate serial killings
38:53in violation of the laws of a state.
38:56I guess I went, you know, using my, I don't know,
39:00Irish talents and that highly insulted them.
39:03We say, step up to the plate, do your job.
39:06If it doesn't happen,
39:07we will launch a lawsuit for that to occur.
39:10I think the police department got annoyed with him.
39:14John Ray fought the Suffolk County Police Department.
39:18And that's when they finally resumed looking for Shannon.
39:26Tonight, Suffolk County Police confirmed
39:28that they were again searching for any evidence
39:29of missing New Jersey woman Shannon Gilbert.
39:34Today, during the search,
39:37they found a cell phone,
39:39which they believe may belong to Shannon Gilbert.
39:43It's looking like the missing New Jersey prostitute
39:46is buried in the boggy marsh
39:48her jeans and pocketbook discovered yesterday.
39:51A year and a half after Shannon disappeared,
39:55her body was finally found,
39:57less than a mile from where she disappeared
40:00and several miles east of where the Gilgo 4 were found.
40:04The body was found approximately one quarter mile north east
40:10of where her personal belongings were located.
40:16When Shannon was found,
40:19our world just stopped.
40:23As much as we tried to pick up the pieces,
40:26it was impossible.
40:28It absolutely broke our family.
40:38I feel robbed of my youth because I was so stuck on the tragedy.
40:45I wasn't able to move forward and focus on a career
40:49when I was in a very dark place
40:53for a very long time.
40:57It's a sick, horrible, sick world that we live in.
41:02What's running through your mind?
41:04It's evil.
41:07This place is evil.
41:11Why weren't the reeds cut down a year ago?
41:13Why didn't you bring in all this equipment a year ago?
41:16Well, it wasn't...
41:17We didn't think it was necessary.
41:18And also, that area was full of water.
41:22Investigators weren't able to go through the search.
41:24How could Shannon Wilbur walk a half mile?
41:26It was very tough.
41:27When you get a chance to look at that area,
41:30you will wonder how anybody could walk through that area.
41:37There's no way anybody would have wandered into the marsh.
41:40That is a lie.
41:42Then you have her clothing.
41:44How did her jeans come off?
41:45A third of a mile away from where her body is found,
41:48with her pocketbook.
41:49The commissioner of police said,
41:51well, there are bramble bushes running through the marsh.
41:54They pulled her jeans off.
41:55It's absurd.
41:58Investigators believe Gilbert got tangled in brush
42:00and drowned in the marshy area,
42:01that she was not murdered
42:03by what cops believe is the serial killer
42:05that dumped the 10 other sets of remains at Gilgo Beach.
42:08They even claimed she drowned.
42:11Are you serious?
42:15Shannon was found face up
42:17in very shallow water,
42:19only inches deep.
42:21She couldn't have drowned.
42:24And so then when that was discovered,
42:26the police immediately changed their story
42:28and said a different reason that she died.
42:31She died of natural causes.
42:34What natural causes?
42:35They didn't say.
42:37I mean, it was ridiculous.
42:38Do you believe there was an accident at this point?
42:41No.
42:42No.
42:43I can't accept that she died of natural causes.
42:47There's no way.
42:48Especially when other women had been found in the same exact spot.
42:54All of the same age, all into sex work.
42:58There's a pattern.
43:00Anybody with a brain can see that there's a pattern going on.
43:06And then a few days after Shannon was found,
43:11a new police chief came in, James Burke.
43:14It's going to be a very good time to be a Suffolk County citizen,
43:16and it's going to be a very bad time to be a criminal in Suffolk County.
43:21And the case was shut down.
43:23You couldn't get anywhere.
43:24You couldn't talk to the police.
43:25You couldn't get anything from them.
43:29Burke, with the help of the district attorney at the time,
43:32told Nassau County Police Department to step out of the case.
43:35New York State Police were told to step down.
43:39They also told the FBI to step down and get out of the case.
43:43It's a local case.
43:44It's a case that is led by Suffolk County Police Department.
43:47The FBI can assist, but the FBI assists at the behest of the local agency.
43:52There has to be a federal crime attached to it
43:54for the FBI to take over the investigation.
43:58When I was told that Suffolk County wouldn't let the FBI in on this,
44:03I thought it's too much for them to handle for themselves.
44:06They need more people in there.
44:08Why won't they let them in to help?
44:11You don't tell the FBI no.
44:15You probably should be bringing in the agencies
44:19from anywhere that is willing to assist.
44:24Suffolk County Police Department's hierarchy
44:26wanted to put to bed the entire saga of all these dead bodies.
44:32We know she called 911.
44:36What we heard was someone who seemed disoriented, confused.
44:41She did not seem rational.
44:44She didn't act appropriately,
44:46and she ran off aimlessly into this marshy area.
44:52We know for sure that Shannon Gilbert called 911,
44:57and then she disappears,
45:00allegedly never to be seen again by anyone.
45:04What was on the 911 tape?
45:10The police refused to give it to me.
45:13For me to find out what was on that tape,
45:17I had to sue the police department.
45:20The detective sergeant who was in charge,
45:23he said,
45:25John Ray will get that tape over my dead body.
45:29No, I don't think so.
45:32After years of litigation,
45:34I won.
45:35We got the tape.
45:37Hello, you dialed into the 911 system.
45:39How can I assist you?
45:40There's somebody asking me.
45:42I'm sorry?
45:43No, stop, no.
45:45How can you hear that 911 call
45:48and not send out your entire police department
45:52to look for this person?
45:53She was being hunted.
45:54Will this reveal something about the killer?
46:00Move down, please.
46:02Move down, please.
46:52Move down, please.
46:54Move down, please.
46:56Move down, please.
46:58Move down, please.
46:59Move down, please.
47:00Move down, please.
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