Bodies Found in L.I. Dunes Identified

The three remaining women of four whose bodies were found scattered over a desolate quarter-mile of grassy dunes on Long Island last month had worked as prostitutes, and the police said Monday that a serial killer was probably responsible for their deaths.

All four women whose bodies were found in the dunes — one was identified last week — had advertised for clients through Craigslist and other online services, and were in their 20s, the Suffolk County Police commissioner, Richard Dormer, said in a telephone interview after a news conference with the county district attorney, Thomas Spota.

Suffolk County Police Department, via Associated Press

The three remaining women whose bodies were found scattered near Gilgo Beach, N.Y., were identified as, from top, Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Amber Lynn Costello.

The Suffolk police gave the identities of the three women as Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, Conn., 25; Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who had been living in the Bronx but was originally from the Buffalo area; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, who was last seen in North Babylon on Long Island.

“Certainly, it has all the hallmarks of a serial killer,” Mr. Dormer said. “Because of the four bodies all found in the same location, they were all connected through the Internet, and the escort, prostitution thing.”

He said that investigators had not yet made any arrests. He declined to comment about whether they were searching for any suspects. “That’s part of the investigation,” he said. “We have made significant progress, and we do have leads.”

A police dog scouring the bluffs and dunes near Gilgo Beach, N.Y., in a training exercise found the skeletal remains of one body on Dec. 11, and the remains of the other three bodies were found on Dec. 13. “They were dumped at different times — that’s apparent,” Mr. Dormer said.

The police identified the first of the four bodies last week: that of Megan Waterman, 22, from Scarborough, Maine, who had advertised as an escort on Craigslist and had disappeared last spring.

To identify the other three, medical examiners in Suffolk County worked with forensic anthropologists from the New York City medical examiner’s office, which, a spokeswoman said, has the largest DNA lab in the country.

Ms. Brainard-Barnes had been missing since July 9, 2007. In a statement released on Monday, Norwich police said she had gone to New York City that day and was expected to return to Norwich the next day but did not.

The Suffolk County police said that Ms. Barthelemy disappeared from the Bronx on July 12, 2009, and that Ms. Costello was last seen on Sept. 2, 2010. Continue ►