Real Crime Stories/Paranormal Hauntings

L.I.S.K.: The Long Island Serial Killer

The Long Island serial killer (also referred to as LISK, the Gilgo Beach Killer or the Craigslist Ripper) is an unidentified suspected serial killer who is believed to have murdered 10 to 16 people over a period of nearly 20 years, mostly women associated with prostitution, and left their bodies in areas on the South Shore of Long Island, New York.

The victims were found along the Ocean Parkway, near the remote beach towns of Gilgo and Oak Beach in Suffolk County, and the area of Jones Beach State Park in Nassau County. The remains of four victims were found in December 2010, while six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011. Police believe the latest sets of remains predate the four bodies found in December 2010.

On May 9, 2011, authorities surmised that two of the newest sets of remains might be the work of a second killer. On November 29, 2011, the police stated their belief that one person is responsible for all 10 deaths. They also had concluded that the case of Shannan Gilbert, an escort who went missing before the first sets of bodies were found, was not related. "It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Police investigation

In May 2010 Suffolk County Police were searching for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old woman from New Jersey, who was working as an escort and was reported missing on May 1 of that year. She was last seen in the Oak Beach area after she ran from a client's house, where her driver, Michael Pak was waiting outside.

In December 2010, a police officer and his dog, on a routine training exercise, discovered the first body: "the skeletal remains of a woman in a nearly disintegrated burlap sack." This discovery led to a search, and three more bodies were found two days later in the same area, on the north side of the Ocean Parkway. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said, "Four bodies found in the same location pretty much speaks for itself. It's more than a coincidence. We could have a serial killer."

A few months later, in late March and early April 2011, four more bodies were discovered in another area off the parkway, near Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach. Suffolk Police expanded the search area up to the Nassau County border, looking for more victims. On April 6, Detective Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said that his office will "further explore and investigate any criminal activity which may be in close proximity to the recently discovered human remains found in Suffolk." Smith also said that Nassau County Police would be coordinating with Suffolk County and New York State Police on the investigation.

Five days later, the search for more bodies began in Nassau County. An additional set of partial human remains was found, as well as a separate skull, bringing the potential total number of victims found since December to ten. On April 22, two human teeth were found about a foot from the skull. On June 16, 2011, Suffolk County police raised the reward from $5,000 to $25,000 (the largest offered in the county's history) for information leading to an arrest in the Long Island murders.

On September 20, police released composite sketches of two of the unidentified victims whose remains were found in March and April (an Asian male and Jane Doe No. 6), as well as photos of jewelry found on the remains of a female toddler and her mother, found on April 4 and 11, respectively. The toddler's mother was reported as one of the sets of remains found in Nassau County on April 11. Also on September 20, police revealed that the second set of remains found in Nassau County on April 11 matched two legs found in 1996 in a garbage bag that had washed up on Fire Island. As of September 22, 2011, the police had received over 1,200 tips via text, email and phone since the beginning of the investigation.