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Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison on Thursday, May 5, announced the release of information on victims Maureen Brainard Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello, also known as the "Gilgo Four.”
The four women were located within a quarter-mile of one another near Gilgo Beach in December 2010.
All of the new information, along with info on all the victims, has been added to the department's newly redesigned website www.gilgonews.com.
Here's a quick look at four of the women who have several things in common including they were all sex workers and usually worked out of hotel rooms after advertising on Craigslist and Backpage, police said.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes: Brainard-Barnes was 25 years old when she went missing and was living in Norwich, Connecticut.
Her routine was to travel to Manhattan for a few days to work as an escort and then return home to Connecticut.
Brainard-Barnes was last heard from on July 9, 2007, at 11:43 p.m. when she called a friend in Connecticut.
She was reported missing to the Norwich Police Department on July 14, 2007.
Her body was found on Dec. 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach, during the search for Shannan Gilbert, who had gone missing from Oak Beach.
She is believed to be the first victim of the four women.
Melissa Barthelemy: Barthelemy was last seen at her residence, in the Unionport section of the Bronx on July 12, 2009.
On July 12, 2009, the night she was last seen, Barthelemy told a friend she was going to see a man and would be back in the morning.
Barthelemy’s mother reported her missing to the NYPD on July 18, 2009.
After Barthelemy was reported missing, her younger sister received a series of taunting phone calls from someone using Barthelemy’s phone. These calls are believed to have come from the killer and were made from the area near the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 8th Avenue, and also near Penn Station.
On Dec. 11, 2010, Barthelemy’s body was found on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach.
Although she was the first victim found, she is believed to be the second of the "Gilgo Four" to be killed.
Megan Waterman: Waterman was 22 years old when she was last seen on June 6, 2010. Waterman, a resident of Scarborough, Maine, was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine, possibly with her pimp.
She was reported missing to the Scarborough Maine Police Department on June 8, 2010.
Her body was found on Dec.13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach.
She is believed to be the third victim.
Amber Lynn Costello: Costello was 27 years old and lived in West Babylon when she was last seen by acquaintances.
Costello, a heroin addict, was last seen leaving her residence on foot on Sept. 2, 2010, to meet a client who was picking her up at her house. She was never reported missing.
Her remains were found on Dec. 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach.
She is believed to be the fourth victim.
Suffolk County Crime Stoppers has recently announced the reward leading to an arrest has increased from $25,000 to $50,000.
Tips can be submitted through www.gilgonews.com or 1-800-220-TIPS.
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