Famed forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden is set to release what a source calls “disturbing” findings about the death of a prostitute who may have been the victim of a serial killer who murdered up to 11 people and dumped their bodies near a New York beach.
Shannan Gilbert, 24, called 911 from the home of a client near Gilgo Beach, Long Island in May 2010 and told an operator someone was trying to kill her. She then went missing, which sparked a search of the area.
In December 2010, a K-9 unit found the first of 10 bodies buried near Gilgo Beach -- eight women and one man, all prostitutes, and a female infant. Police came to believe a serial killer or killers was responsible for the deaths.
A year later, investigators found Gilbert’s body in a marshy area near the beach and the other bodies and not far from the client’s house. The client has been ruled out as a suspect by Suffolk County Police.
The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s official report said that Gilbert’s cause of death and manner of death were both “undetermined,” and police have said they don’t believe her death is linked to the other murders.
Dr. Baden, a former medical examiner for the City of New York, was hired by Gilbert’s family to conduct an independent review to determine her manner of death, and whether she died in the same manner as the other murdered escorts, who were all strangled.
The Gilbert family and their lawyer will present the results at a press conference at the offices of the Gilbert family’s lawyers on Long Island at 11:30 a.m. Friday.
Nobody has been charged in the deaths of Gilbert or any of the other 10 victims.
