Suffolk’s new top cop Rodney Harrison vows department ‘will not rest’ until Gilgo Beach murders solved
disappeared after she left a client’s house in 2010New Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison pledged that the department “will not rest” until the book is closed on the Gilgo Beach murders.
The killer or killers remain on the loose more than a decade after authorities unearthed the remains of 11 people on Long Island.
“We will not rest until we bring those accountable to justice,” Harrison told reporters on Friday.
Harrison, a former chief with NYPD, visited the Long Island beach on Friday with homicide detectives and former officers who worked on the case.
“There’s a commitment, a relentless pursuit to identify the individuals and bring them to justice,” Harrison said. “That’s for the family members to hear, to let them know that we will not rest, and we will make sure we do everything we have to do to hold them accountable.
“Just from what I’ve seen so far, there’s some great leads that are putting us in a great place to solve this case,” he added. “We’re getting there, but still some work needs to be done to get across the finish line.”
New Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has pledged to solve the decade-old Gilgo Beach murder case
The case has been the subject of much public scrutiny while continuing to confound local cops. The new commissioner says he’d like to “bring a set of fresh eyes” to the unsolved murders using his experience with NYPD.
Police first stumbled upon the remains while searching for sex worker Shannon Gilbert, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 2010. Gilbert, 24, had left a client’s house on foot in Oak Beach and called 911 for help but was never seen alive again.
Months after her disappearance, a cop and his cadaver-sniffing dog were searching for Gilbert’s body in the thicket along Ocean Parkway but found the remains of another woman. In the days that followed, three more sets of remains were found.
By spring 2011, the number had climbed to 10 — eight women, a man and a toddler.
Divers search Hemlock Cove in Babylon, New York, in 2011. The victims are believed to have been killed by one or more serial killers who targeted prostitutes. Authorities have previously said the slayings were the work of at least three killers, with the area around Gilgo Beach having “been used to discard human remains for some period of time.”
Harrison said Friday he could not confirm how many suspects were involved.
“I put my money on the Suffolk County investigators, and I’m very confident with my brief interview of what’s been done so far, I like our chances,” he said.
Gilbert’s family attorney, John Ray, told CBS 2 that he is convinced that she was murdered. He’s petitioned law enforcement to release the call she made the night before she went missing.
“They are a key to the further investigation. I think the public will also be a little outraged and shocked about what they hear,” Ray said.
Harrison said he would release the recordings as long as it does not interfere with his investigation.
Several of the human remains found have yet to be identified by authorities. Valerie Mack, 24, an escort from Philadelphia who went missing in 2000, was the last to be identified in May 2020.
Valerie Mack went missing in 2000 and her remains weren’t identified until 2020Last year, officials released images of a belt tied to one of the victims, believed to have been handled by a possible suspect. The image shows the letters “HM” or “WH” embossed on the tip of the worn leather belt, posted on the department’s GilgoNews.com website, which was launched in January 2020 to accept anonymous tips and provide updates on the ongoing probe.
The killings inspired a 2013 book about the case and subsequent Netflix film, “Lost Girls,” that began streaming in March 2020.
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