New task force on case of human remains on Long Island beach

YAPHANK, N.Y. (AP) — A new interagency task force including investigators from the FBI, as well as state and local police departments, will try to solve the decade-old mystery of human remains found strewn along a New York beach highway, officials announced Tuesday.

The formation of the Gilgo Beach task force represents a renewed commitment to investigating the unsolved killings of mostly young women whose skeletal remains were found along a highway on Long Island, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.

“As I said on Day One as police commissioner, I believe this case is solvable and identifying the person or people responsible for these murders is a top priority,” Harrison, who took over the top job at the Suffolk County department last month, said in a news release.

The deaths of 11 people whose remains were found in 2010 and 2011 have long stumped investigators, who are not certain whether one serial killer is responsible or several killers. Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Several of the bodies were found near the town of Gilgo Beach.

“The families of the victims discovered in areas around Gilgo Beach deserve answers and to see their loved ones’ killer, or killers, face justice,” said Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the FBI in New York. “We will support this task force with the tools it needs to hopefully bring the investigation of these murders to a successful conclusion.”