Lengthy Island authorities have recognized a Gilgo Seaside sufferer referred to as 'Fireplace Island Jane Doe' who went lacking in 1996

• Authorities have lastly recognized one of many 11 victims whose stays had been discovered close to Gilgo Seaside.
• Karen Vergata, 34, disappeared in 1996. Some stays had been discovered that yr on Fireplace Island, and her cranium was present in 2011.
• Authorities didn’t touch upon whether or not her loss of life was linked to Rex Heuermann, who’s charged in three different murders.

Lengthy Island authorities introduced Friday they’ve recognized the stays of a girl who has lengthy been recognized merely as “Fireplace Island Jane Doe” or “Jane Doe No. 7,” whose cranium was found close to Gilgo Seaside together with the stays of 11 different folks in 2011.

Karen Vergata, 34, disappeared round February 14, 1996, although she was by no means reported lacking, Suffolk County District Lawyer Raymond Tierney instructed reporters at a information convention. Elements of her stays had been first discovered on Fireplace Island in April 1996 earlier than her cranium was discovered almost 15 years later.

The information comes simply weeks after authorities arrested Gilgo Seaside homicide suspect Rex Heuermann, who has been charged with killing three girls who went lacking in 2009 and 2010. Heuermann has pleaded not responsible to all expenses.

Lengthy Island authorities didn’t hyperlink Heuermann to Vergata’s disappearance on Friday. Tierney mentioned nobody has been charged in reference to Vergata’s loss of life, and that authorities are nonetheless investigating the circumstances. Tierney didn’t determine how she died.

Tierney mentioned Vergata was believed to have been working as an escort when she disappeared, and lived in midtown Manhattan on the time. Authorities confirmed {a photograph} of Vergata together with her hair in two pigtails tied with lengthy pink ribbons.

In complete, 11 victims are related to the Gilgo Seaside killings. Heuermann has been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, and has been named the prime suspect within the homicide of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

However different killings stay unsolved, together with these of 4 intercourse staff: Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Shannan Gilbert, and Karen Vergata. The victims additionally embrace an unidentified Black girl referred to as “Peaches” as a result of her tattoo, her 2-year-old daughter, and an unidentified Asian man.

Tierney mentioned that simply months after Lengthy Island authorities convened a brand new job pressure to reinvestigate the Gilgo Seaside killings in 2022, they had been capable of develop a DNA profile appropriate for genealogical comparability from Vergata’s stays.

In the end, authorities used a DNA pattern from certainly one of Vergata’s family members to definitively determine her stays. Authorities then contacted her relations to inform them, Tierney mentioned.