HAUPPAGUE, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – The Suffolk County task force investigating the Gilgo Beach serial killings revealed Friday the name of “Jane Doe No. 7,” whose identity has been unknown since her remains were found 27 years ago.
The victim, who was also known as "Fire Island Jane Doe," is Karen Vergata, 34, a woman who disappeared on Feb. 14, 1996, when she was living on West 45th Street in Manhattan, Suffolk County D.A. Ray Tierney said at a news conference in Hauppauge.
Like other victims in the Gilgo case, Vergata is believed to have been working as a sex worker at the time of her disappearance. No missing persons report was filed at the time.
Two months after her disappearance, her legs were found at Davis Park on Fire Island on April 20, 1996. Those remains were linked by DNA to a skull found at Tobay Beach, just west of Gilgo Beach, in 2011.
After its formation in 2022, the Gilgo Task Force developed a DNA profile of “Jane Doe No. 7” and then the FBI used genetic genealogy to presumptively identify her as Vergata in September 2022. She was positively identified in October after investigators obtained a swab of DNA from one of her relatives.
Tierney said no charges have been filed in connection with her killing and no potential suspects will be named as the investigation continues.
The decade-old Gilgo case has gained new urgency in recent weeks following last month’s arrest of Rex Heuermann, 59, a Manhattan architectural consultant from Massapequa Park.
Heuermann has been charged with the serial murders of three women—Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello—and he is the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. The women are known collectively as the “Gilgo Four.”
Heuermann pleaded not guilty and has maintained his innocence. He has not been charged in the death of Jane Doe No. 7.
The Gilgo Four were found along a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011. The remains or partial remains of six other people, including Jane Doe No. 7, were also found in the area around that time.
Tierney told Newsday on Thursday that he believes the FBI will be able to identify three more of the victims using genetic genealogy. They include a woman nicknamed “Peaches,” a toddler whose remains were found with hers, and a man found separately.
“We’re honing in on that, and I think we’ll have information on that — on some of the identifications shortly,” Tierney said. “Real shortly.”
Forensics were used in 2020 to positively identify another woman found in the area as Valerie Mack. Her torso was found in Manorville in 2000, while her head and hands were found near Gilgo Beach in 2011.
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