Expert: Taunting Calls To Victim's Family Could Be L.I. Serial Killer's Undoing
CEDAR BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The FBI spent Friday searching near Ocean Parkway on Long Island for more bones and clues leading to a possible serial killer.
The Bureau was called in to examine more closely by ground and to coordinate an air search using sophisticated high resolution imaging over locations where 10 sets of remains have been found.
"These flyovers may be able to identify skeletal remains that we have not located," Suffolk County Police Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone told CBS 2's Jennifer McLogan on Friday.
Scuba divers gathering possible evidence will now move to the inlet at Oak Beach, closer to where Shannan Gilbert disappeared almost a year ago, and where the bodies of four prostitutes also working as Craigslist escorts were unearthed. The family of one, Melissa Barthelemy, received seven taunting cell calls last summer.
Her mother now believes the calls came from the killer.
"I just know that he's a very sick individual and he needs to be caught as soon as possible," Lynn Barthelemy said.
Criminal experts said that could be the serial killer's first stumble.
"With those phone calls they have a pretty good idea of what they are looking for, who they are looking for," former Nassau County prosecutor Bruce Barket told McLogan.
More clues could come from the laptop of Akeem Cruz. He's not a suspect but was seen with Megan Waterman, one of the four escorts murdered.
Forensic scientists are now determining the sex and age of the latest six sets of remains and just how long the bones went undetected. East Meadow serial killer Joel Rifkin told CBS 2's Mary Calvi from prison all of his 17 victims were found. Hicksville serial killer Robert Shulman, who murdered and dismembered five prostitutes, died in prison in 2006
Investigators said they will make public forensic analysis on all remains immediately upon completion. Police said a bone, believed to be that of an animal, was found near the Oak Beach dock earlier Friday afternoon.
The FBI will return to the scene on Monday.
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