Karen Vergata: Gilgo Beach murders police identify body found in 1996

Authorities investigating a suspected serial killer have identified remains found on a New York beach as belonging to a woman who vanished in 1996.

Police named the missing person once dubbed Jane Doe Seven as Karen Vergata. She was 34 when she disappeared.

Investigators have not yet linked her to the prime suspect in the deaths of four other women whose bodies were discovered in the area.

Eleven sets of human remains were found on Gilgo Beach between 2010-11.

There were nine women, a man and a toddler.

At a news conference on Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the Gilgo Beach investigators were able to positively identify Ms Vergata with the help of the FBI in October 2022.

Authorities did not publicly disclose Ms Vergata's identification at the time as the confidential investigation into the murders was ongoing.

Ms Vergata's partial remains were first discovered on New York's Fire Island in 1996. DNA analysis matched those remains with other bones found near Gilgo Beach - about 15 miles (24km) away - in 2011.

No-one reported Ms Vergata missing after she vanished on Valentine's Day 1996. She had lived in Manhattan and is believed to have been working as a prostitute at the time of her disappearance.

A Long Island architect, Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested and charged last month over the deaths of three women: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27.

All three were found dead in 2010 near a fourth victim, 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Police have said Mr Heuermann is the main suspect in her death, too.

The victims, all sex workers, were dubbed the Gilgo Beach Four.

Mr Tierney did not suggest that Mr Heuermann was involved in Ms Vergata's death.

"It is important to note that there are no charges at this time," he said.

The case against Mr Heuermann partially stems from DNA evidence matched to a sample from pizza he discarded in a Manhattan rubbish bin in January 2023, according to authorities.

Investigators are seeking another DNA sample - a cheek swab - to see if he can be linked to the other unsolved deaths.