Gilgo Beach

Long Island Serial Killer Investigation Expands to Alabama

The developments in the investigation come five months after police released new information on the "Gilgo Four," the four women in their 20s who were found dead, wrapped in burlap sacks, along a remote stretch of Long Island highway -- within a quarter of a mile from one another -- near the now notorious beach in 2010

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The FBI is expanding its search for answers in the murders of two people whose bodies were found at Gilgo Beach — a search that now will extend all the way to Alabama.

The Mobile Police Department says the agency is looking for family members of Elijah "Lige" Howell Howard, who died in 1967.

The police department believes his relatives may be able to help identify a Jane Doe who has only been known as "Peaches," due to the peach tattoo on her chest, as well as her toddler. The bodies of the mother and child were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010.

The developments in the investigation come five months after police released new information about a group they dubbed the "Gilgo Four," the four women in their 20s who were found dead, wrapped in burlap sacks, along a remote stretch of Long Island highway -- within a quarter of a mile from one another -- near the now notorious beach in 2010.

The so-called "Gilgo Four" -- Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costella -- were discovered during the search for Shannan Gilbert, an escort, like the others, from Jersey City who vanished after meeting a client on nearby Oak Beach that spring. Her remains were found in a swampy marsh not far from away in 2011, 19 months after she disappeared.

Gilbert's cause of death has been disputed, as detectives have long said she was not a victim of a possible serial, as the case is believed to be with the other four victims. Gilbert's sister, Sherre Gilbert, vehemently disagrees with that assessment.

But the Gilgo Four, officials say, were all murdered, possibly the work of a serial killer. No arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified. Here are the latest details on the Gilgo Four as provided by Suffolk County in May.

The unidentified Long Island serial killer, also known as the Gilgo Beach killer, is believed to have murdered 10 to 16 people on Long Island over the course of two decades. For True Crime Tuesday, NBCLX welcomed Chris Mass, the host of the new podcast "LISK," which is shining a spotlight on the victims' stories in a six-part series.
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