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A skull that was found in 2011 near Gilgo Beach on Long Island has been identified as that of a 34-year-old woman who went missing in 1996, the authorities said on Friday.
The death of the woman, Karen Vergata, has not been linked to Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who last month pleaded not guilty to killing three women whose bodies were found along the beach. Mr. Heuermann, 59, is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman. Authorities on Friday did not name a suspect in Ms. Vergata’s death.
The skull of Ms. Vergata, who investigators said had worked as an escort, was discovered on Tobay Beach around the same time that investigators discovered the remains of 11 other people along the stretch of the South Shore that includes nearby Gilgo Beach.
Other remains belonging to Ms. Vergata had been found in Davis Park on Fire Island in April 1996. For years, she was known as “Fire Island Jane Doe” as the police worked to identify her.
In August 2022, about six months after a task force was formed to solve the Gilgo Beach killings, officials developed a DNA profile from the remains. A month later, the F.B.I., using genetic genealogy, made a presumptive identification. The agency confirmed the remains belonged to Ms. Vergata in October, after comparing her DNA to genetic material from a relative who provided a sample.
Raymond A. Tierney, Suffolk County’s district attorney, said on Friday that “the necessary notifications” had been made to Ms. Vergata’s family. No missing persons report was filed when she disappeared.
“There are no charges at this time,” Mr. Tierney said. “We’re going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation.”
He declined to take questions about the development. Mr. Tierney did not say how Ms. Vergata died, but said she had been working as an escort at the time of her disappearance. Officials displayed an undated picture of Ms. Vergata that showed her dark hair in two ponytails tied with red ribbons.
The killings near Gilgo Beach have drawn international attention and throngs of tourists and curious onlookers to Mr. Heuermann’s ramshackle house in Massapequa Park, where neighbors said they long avoided the architect, who rarely greeted them and kept his home in disarray, a stark contrast to the well-manicured houses around it.
Prosecutors in court this week turned over evidence to Mr. Heuermann’s lawyers, including the autopsy reports of Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; and Megan Waterman, 22. Mr. Heuermann was charged last month with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in their deaths.
He is the prime suspect in the death of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who went missing in July 2007.
Like Ms. Vergata, Ms. Costello, Ms. Waterman, Ms. Barthelemy and Ms. Brainard-Barnes all worked as escorts, and their bodies were found close together.
Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
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