Unsolved Murders That Will Make You Think

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What an interesting case that has gone under the radar for what seems like an eternity at this point. This killer may be the modern day Zodiac Killer. I am talking about the case of the Long Island Serial Killer.

Brief Background:

The Long Island Serial Killer, also referred to as the "Craigslist Ripper," is an unidentified serial killer who has killed between 10-16 people between the early 90's and early 2010's. Of the victims, most of them were prostitutes, and the bodies were found on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. Almost all of the bodies were found along Ocean Parkway in the town of Gilgo residing in Suffolk County.

The first four victims were discovered in December of 2010, and the second set of victims was discovered in April of 2011. In November of 2011, NYPD stated that all ten victims were related and most likely killed by the same person, and that is when the manhunt that would eventually turn cold case started.

Police Investigation:

Late May 2010, Suffolk County deputies were searching for the body of escort Shannon Gilbert who had gone missing earlier that month. The initial search came up negative, but the deputies continued to make their search area wider and wider. Finally, in December of that year, the Suffolk County deputies caught a break when a K9 officer discovered a mostly decomposed body wrapped in a burlap sack. This body however, was not the body of Shannon Gilbert. This body belonged to another former escort by the name of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. The discovery of her body prompted police to send out more in search teams as they had now discovered a body of a woman who had been missing since June of 2007, and still had a missing woman that they were looking for.

The expanded search led to the discovery of three more bodies that were along the side of the road all in close proximity to each other. The Suffolk County police conducting investigations into all the bodies found, and while investing in early April of 2011, the police discovered four more bodies and the partial remains of another two bodies. At first the police thought that the second two bodies were not related to the first four bodies because the second set of bodies found had been chopped into pieces with an axe. The only connection for all eight full bodies were the fact that they were all discovered in burlap sacks.

In September of 2011, one of the bodies was matched to set of legs that had been found back in 1996 on Fire Island. The legs belonged to twenty two year old Megan Waterman. Finally in November of 2011, police were able to give a press conference and claimed that this was now a serial killer investigation. They announced that based off of all the forensic evidence that had been collected, the police were looking for someone who was from Long Island. This person would have been noticeably different when they were committing the murders as they most likely would have started drinking and acting very unusual and shady.

While searching for anymore potential victims, in December of 2011, the police had finally recovered the body of Shannon Gilbert. Her body was found in a marsh half a mile away from the location where she was reported missing. After a brief investigation, police determined that while she was running she tripped and fell into the marsh and accidentally drowned.

At this point the case had gone cold as there was no more evidence that was found, but this is also where the story takes quite an interesting turn.

December 10th, 2015, the F.B.I. had officially joined the investigation as the new Chief of Police had invited them to help. Many people had questioned why the former Chief did not allow the F.B.I. to join the investigation earlier and that will be discussed in just a moment.

In 2017, the F.B.I. and NYPD had made a break in the investigation. John Bittrolff had just been charged for the murder of two prostitutes between 1993 and 1994. But his DNA had been partially matched after the police had found a belt that did not belong to any of the victims. They conducted several interviews with Bittrolff, but there was no solid evidence that could link him to the crimes, and he has not been charged for the murders.

At this time the F.B.I. released another profile of the suspect. The F.B.I. said the suspect would be in his mid 20's to mid 40's. They may have worked in an industrial factory (based off the burlap sacks). And the suspect may have some law enforcement techniques.

Potential Suspects:

The first person of interest is none other than the former Chief of Police James Burke. Based off of testaments given by a former escort who had seen Burke many times in his personal life, Burke quickly became a person of interest.

The former escort claimed that Burke had connections with all of the murdered girls and had seen him engage with them at parties he had hosted. She recounts that he often asked them to perform rough sexual acts on him and could not finish without some form of pain being felt. The escort also stated that she had watched him engage with one of the deceased females as he grabbed her by her hair and threw her to the ground at one of his parties.

Burke is a main suspect because of his extreme sexual acts and his addiction to sex. He had stepped down as Chief of Police after a man had stolen a duffel bag full of pornography from his vehicle and Burke proceeded to assault the man to the point where he had to be hospitalized. Burke would be sentenced to 40 months in prison and three years of probation for his acts.

The second person of interest is John Bittrolff. As stated above, Bittrolff was arrested and convicted for murdering two prostitutes in the early 90's. The reason that he is suspected of being the serial killer is due to the similarities between his victims and the ones that the police found. It was noted that he was a very avid hunter and the victims that had been dismembered with the axe, were chopped by somebody that had experience in skinning animals. He also only lived three miles from the crime scene, and his phone records show that he had many phone calls from one of the victims the night that she went missing.

The third and final suspect is Joseph Brewer. Brewer was a suspect because he was one of the last people to see Shannon Gilbert alive as he was her client the night that she died. He claimed that when Gilbert arrived at his door she started acting strange saying that people were after her and she took off running through his neighborhood. Brewer however, was cleared after her body had been found and a search warrant was executed at his residence.

At this time, there has been no more leads in the investigation and the case remains cold. The two main suspects in the case both have a lot going against them and it really could be either one. Who do you think did it?