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Written by Lisa Neff
Oct 7, 2011
New York’s LGBT anti-violence project is offering assistance to investigators seeking to solve 10 deaths that may involve one or two serial killers stalking workers in the sex trade.
The New York City Anti-Violence Project announced in mid-September that their experts were reaching out to the Suffolk County, N.Y., Police Department after learning that at least one victim may have identified as transgender.
The police department, in an appeal to the public for information in the case, had released composite sketches of two unidentified individuals found dead near Gilgo Beach, Long Island.
The police described one victim, dead for 5-10 years, as an Asian male, age 17-23, wearing women’s clothing.
“Police are currently theorizing that this individual may have engaged in sex work at the time of death,” the NYCAVP stated, adding that the victim possibly was transgender. The release continued, “AVP is reaching out to the Suffolk County Police Department, local elected officials and community organizations on Long Island and throughout New York City.”
The other sketch was of a Caucasian woman authorities named “Jane Doe No. 6” and described as age 18-35. The woman’s torso was found in November 2000 in Manorville, Long Island. DNA testing linked a head, hands and right foot recovered in April on a beach 45 miles away.
Jane Doe No. 6 also may have worked in the sex trade, said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, who held a news conference two weeks ago to ask citizens with knowledge of the crimes to call a crime-stoppers hotline.
“There could be one, there could be more killers,” Dormer said. “We don’t know.”
Authorities have recovered the remains of 10 people, mostly along Ocean Parkway. Five of the victims remain unidentified, and five of the victims worked as prostitutes – four were last seen leaving to meet a client.
“The investigation hasn’t stalled,” Dormer emphasized to the press. “We’re making progress. It’s a slow, methodical process. This is not a television show where everything is solved in an hour.”
Investigators have identified other DNA links:
DNA links the body of a toddler found near the remains of Jane Doe No. 6 to the remains of another unidentified woman found in Nassau County in April.
DNA links a skull found in a dumping ground in April to two legs found in a plastic bag dumped on Fire Island in 1996.
