February 28,2011
news 3
Serial killer preys upon prostitutes,
leaves their remains buried at beach
BYANNAKANODE
News Editor
Though serial killing is a
rare occurrence, according to
the article "Four prostitues,
one killer" in "News &
Record" on January 30, the FBI
claims less than one percent of
murders taking place annu
ally are a result of serial
killers. Fiowever, police offic
ers in Long Island, New York
fear they are currently deal
ing with such a person after
investigating the deaths of
four prostitutes.
Melissa Barthelemy,
Maureen Brainard-Barnes,
Megan Waterman, and Amber
Lynn Costello all offered their
services on the website
Craigslist or others like it, as
call girls. These women hailed
from four different states: New
York, Connecticut, Maine, and
North Carolina. At the time
they were classified as missing,
however, they all lived some
where in the state of New York.
Their bodies were found in
mid- December of 2010 on Gilgo
Beach in Long Island during a
search for a missing Jersey City
female. Police only recently re
leased information about the
discovery of the victims.
Barnes, a 25-year-old, was
the first of the four women to
disappear. She visited New York
I ^
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New York prostitutes remain in constant danger from a possible serial killer. He
already claimed the lives of the three women pictured above: (left-right) Maureen
Brainard-Barnes, Amher Lynn Costello, and Megan Waterman. Costello, originally
lived in North Carolina but moved up to North Babylon, New York. Internet graphic
City on July 9, 2007 after leav
ing her home in Norwich, Con
necticut, supposedly making
the trip to see a client as she
planned to return to Connecti
cut the next day. She was one of
two of the prostitutes who had
a child, now motherless.
According to AOL News, the
24-year-old second victim,
Barthelemy, was last seen on
July 12,2009, at which time she
was living in the Bronx, She
was training to be a hairstyl
ist, but family attorney Steven
Cohen explained to "News &
Record" that she "was behind
on rent from time to time."
Barthelemy's mother was un
aware of her daughter's actual
career; she believed her to be
an exotic dancer.
"I had spoken to her a few
times and told her I wasn't too
happy about it. But I told her
to be careful. She said, 'Mom,
I'm never alone. I always have
a friend, and it's just dancing,"'
said Lynn Barthelemy to
"News & Record."
Amanda, Melissa Bar
thelemy's 16-year-old sister,
received six disturbing phone
calls between July 16 and
August 29, 2009. Authorities
and the Barthelemy family
suspected the caller to be the
same person who killed Mel
issa since at one point the
caller said, "Do you know
what your sister is doing?
She's a whore."
Waterman was last seen in
June of 2010 in Hauppauge,
New York. A 22-year-old
mother of a four-year-old, she
traveled to New York on Me
morial Day weekend with a
21-year-old man named
Akeem Cruz, who was said to
have been Waterman's boy
friend and is currently serv
ing 20 months in a Maine
prison due to drug trafficking.
Costello was last seen on
September 2,2010, making her
the most recently sighted vic
tim. Originally from Wilm
ington, North Carolina,
Costello was married to a 41-
year-old man named Michael
W. Wilhem, who said he di
vorced her due to heroin use.
"I just don't put up with
that," said Wilhelm to "News
& Record." "I told her to hit
the road."
After her marriage ended,
Costello moved to North
Babylon, New York, several
miles north of where her body
was found.
Police were unsure at first
whether or not these murders
were indeed a case of serial kill
ing, but after noting so many
similarities, they decided they
were. The bodies were brought
to Gilgo Beach as- skeletons,
buried in burlap bags, and
strewn 500 yards apart.
"Both District Attorney TTio-
mas Spota and myself have de
termined that this has all the
marks of a serial killer," said
Suffolk Coimty Police Commis
sioner Richard Dormer to
"Metro." "Four bodies of
women all engaged in the same
occupation, bodies dumped in
the same area, same age range
and all missing women."
Dormer and Spota do not,
however, believe these murders
are connected in any way to
similar murders that occurred
in 2006 in Atlantic City. Four
missing Craigslist prostitutes
were discovered, but the mur
derer was never apprehended.
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