Suffolk police release new details about first 4 Gilgo victims

The Suffolk County Police Department on Thursday released new details about the first four Gilgo Beach victims discovered nearly 12 years ago, the latest in a series of public information releases intended to help solve the mystery of who killed 10 people and dumped their bodies along Ocean Parkway.

The remains of Gilgo Beach homicide victims Maureen Brainard Barnes, 25, of Norwich, Connecticut; Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of the Bronx; Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, of West Babylon, also known as the "Gilgo Four,” were located within a quarter mile of one another near Gilgo Beach in December 2010. The other victims, many of them sex workers, were found the following year.

“As the Homicide Squad continues its tireless work on this investigation, we believe now is the right time to disseminate this previously unreleased information in hopes of eliciting tips from the public and providing greater transparency about the victims,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner RodneyK. Harrison said in a statement Thursday. “Through our recent partnership with Crime Stoppers increasing the reward in this case to $50,000, our hope is that the public will review this information and come forward with any additional tips about the victims or a potential suspect or suspects.”

Harrison, who became police commissioner in late December and said the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation was a top priority, has moved to release more information in the cold case that had been initially hobbled in the past by law-enforcement infighting and corruption. Last month, the police department released a video of Waterman in a Hauppauge hotel just before she disappeared almost 12 years ago. Harrison recently announced a task force involving the FBI, Suffolk County sheriff and other law enforcement agencies to assist with the probe.

Harrison has also said he is considering the release of 911 calls in the case of Shannan Gilbert, another sex worker whose 2010 disappearance led to the discovery of the Gilgo Beach victims.

"It is a favorable development in this saga but it is a cat and mouse approach, dropping little hints in dribs and drabs,” John Ray, the attorney for Gilbert’s estate said Thursday. "Let's have a comprehensive expose of what they know."

Family members of the victims did not respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.

The information released Thursday included basics about the victims' backgrounds, when and where they were last seen alive and personal details such as tattoos.

Brainard Barnes, believed to be the first of the Gilgo victims, had advertised her services on various websites as “Juliana” or “Marie,” according to the newly released information from investigators.

She was last heard from on July 9, 2007 at 11:43 p.m. when she called a friend in Connecticut. She had said she was going to meet a customer.

Barthelemy was the first victim found by authorities, but she is believed to be the second of the "Gilgo Four" to be killed, police said Thursday.

She went by “Chloe” and “VerySexyChloe,” while advertising as a sex worker on various websites, police said. She was last seen at her Bronx apartment on July 12, 2009, when she told a friend she was going to see a man and would be back in the morning, police said. Her cellphone records show she traveled from the Bronx to Manhattan. Her body was found Dec. 11, 2010 on the north side of Ocean Parkway.

Waterman, whose last known image was recently released by police via a hotel lobby video, advertised herself as “Lexxy and Sexy Lexi,” was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine, possibly with her pimp, police said.

Waterman left the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge at 1:30 a.m. on June 6, 2010 to meet a client. Her body was found Dec. 13, 2010 on the north side of Ocean Parkway. She is believed to be the third victim.

Costello was a heroin addict and advertised on Craigslist and Backpage using the names “Carolina” and “Mia” to support her and her roommates’ heroin addiction. Costello had tattoos of “Kaos” on her neck, a butterfly on her lower back and the word “Margeret”  on her leg.

Costello was last seen leaving her house on Sept. 2, 2010 to meet a client who was picking her up at her house.

In the early days of the investigation, police released few details. Then-Police Commissioner Richard Dormer and former Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota feuded publicly over their theories of the case, with Dormer saying the killings were likely committed by a single person, while Spota said evidence pointed to at least three killers. And the investigation suffered under the leadership of former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke, who shut down the department’s partnerships with the FBI.

Former Suffolk Police Commissioner Timothy Sini re-engaged the FBI in the investigation when he took the helm of the department in late 2015.

In early 2020, then-Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart, who previously headed the Long Island office of the FBI, took a new approach, setting up the gilgonews.com website and releasing the image of a belt buckle in an attempt to reinvigorate the investigation.

Under Hart’s leadership, authorities used genetic genealogy to confirm the identity of one of the unidentified victims as Valerie Mack, whose remains were discovered in 2000 and 2001 in two locations, a major breakthrough in the investigation.

Three other sets of remains, including that of a toddler, a woman believed to be the child’s mother, and an Asian man remain unidentified. Investigators have said that those remains contain degraded DNA, making the use of genetic genealogy more difficult.