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Thursday, April 21, 2011

NYPD to search New York beach again for clues in mysterious deaths of at least eight people

Police will conduct a "limited" land search Friday near the Long Island bay, part of their continued search for clues in the mysterious deaths of at least eight people.

Investigators will be searching in an area of the Town of Oyster Bay for more human remains, said Lt. Kevin Smith, of the Nassau County Police Department.

Investigators, earlier this week, scraped the sea floor with metal detectors and long poles with mesh baskets during an underwater search for evidence in the possible serial killer case.

"It could be a piece of jewelry, it could be a piece of apparel, anything of interest," said Suffolk County Marine Deputy Inspector Harold Jantzen.

Thursday's search was in the same area where the bodies of four women were uncovered in December 2010.

The area, near private docks in the upscale Oak Beach area, is also where 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert -- the missing New Jersey woman whose disappearance prompted the initial search -- was last seen in May, 2010.

Police said Gilbert, like the other four women, was a prostitute who advertised on Internet sites such as Craigslist.

She was first reported missing after attending a private party at a home in the Oak Beach community.

A man who lives a few miles from where the remains were found said that a young woman who matched Gilbert's description and "looked like she was partying all night" came to his door at about 5 a.m. on May 1.

"She was screaming 'Help me, help me!' and said somebody was chasing her," said Oak Beach resident Gustav Coletti.

She then ran away when Coletti called 911, he said.

Gilbert has not been found, but it was her case that led to the grisly discovery of the bodies of four women, at least some of whom were wrapped in burlap and discarded in tangled bushes next to an oceanside Long Island highway.

At least four other bodies were later found nearby in March and April, though medical examiners have yet to identify them.

Two additional sets of remains -- including a human skull -- were discovered last week in bordering Nassau County, police said.

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