Fifth Gilgo Beach victim identified as Karen Vergata, police say

Investigators have identified a fifth Gilgo Beach victim as Karen Vergata, police in Long Island announced Friday.

Until now, authorities had referred to the unidentified victim as Fire Island Jane Doe, authorities said at a morning news conference.

Vergata was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance in 1996, police said at the news conference. She had been living in Manhattan and was believed to be working as an escort when she went missing, police said.

Human remains authorities have now identified as Vergata’s were found separately on Long Island more than a decade ago, police said. Her legs were found near Davis Park and her skull was found on Tobay Beach, police said. The beaches are more than 20 miles apart.

The two sets of remains were linked by comparing DNA. Later, using a swab from the inside of a relative’s cheek, police identified the remains as Vergata’s.

No one has been charged in connection to her killing at this time, police said.

Police did not say whether Vergata has been linked to the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, who was arrested in New York last month and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of three women whose remains were found over a decade ago on Long Island. He has pleaded not guilty. Police say they connected him to the women’s remains using DNA evidence detectives matched between his left-over pizza crust and an item linked to one of the women’s remains.

Heuermann is charged in the killings of Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27. The bodies of the women, who authorities say were sex workers, were found wrapped in burlap on Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach.