Law enforcement on Long Island announced Friday that they have identified another victim in the infamous Gilgo Beach murders. The victim, previously known as “Jane Doe 7” or “Fire Island Jane Doe,” was identified as Karen Vergata.
Prosecutors said that body parts belonging to Vergata were discovered in two different locations years apart: In April of 1996, her legs and feet were found on Fire Island, and her skull was found in 2011 near Tobay Beach. The latter discovery was made around the same time that nine other bodies were found in the remote stretch of beach.
A month later she was definitively identified using a swab from the inside of a relative's cheek, confirming her identity. Her family members were then contacted. Investigators announced Friday that after nearly three decades, the victim known as ‘Fire Island Jane Doe’ was identified as 34-year-old Karen Vergata, a presumed sex worker who went missing on Feb. 14, 1996.. They now want a DNA sample directly from the 59-year-old architect. Tierney would not answer questions regarding if Heuermann may have been involved in the death of Vergata.
DNA played a key role in Heuermann's arrest. Prosecutors have said hair found at the crime scene matches DNA from a pizza box the suspect threw into a trash can in Manhattan. All of the women Heuermann is accused of killing were sex workers whose remains were discovered near each other. Investigators say they cracked the case with the help of sophisticated cell phone location data analysis, DNA evidence and an old tip about a vehicle seen parked outside the home of one of the victims.
Robert Macedonio, an attorney for Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, said the home was essentially “destroyed” along the way, with investigators cutting through the bathtub, ripping up floors, and leaving cat litter strewn around the house.
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