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Friday, August 11, 2023
Vol. 11, No. 32
LIVING 50+
ROSLYN SCHOOLS RANKED SANDS LAS VEGAS, WELLNESS CENTER PARTNER AMONG BEST IN NATION
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Jane Doe No. 7 ID’d as North Shore native Karen Vergata disappeared in 1996, DA declines to comment on suspects BY C A M E RY N O A K ES Nearly three decades after her disappearance, the FBI has identified Gilgo Beach victim “Fire Island Jane Doe” as former Glen Head resident Karen Vergata, the Suffolk County district attorney announced at a press briefing Friday. The investigation was conducted by Gilgo Task Force, a multi-agency task force responsible for investigating the Gilgo Beach murders. “Today we are here to announce that as part of the Gilgo Task Force reexamination of all the evidence in the case, we were able to identify ‘Fire Island Jane Doe’ as Karen Vergata,” DA Raymond Tierney said. In August 2022, Tierney said DNA that could be used for genealogical comparison was developed from Vergata’s remains. In September, the FBI identified Vergata through a genetic genealogy review. In October, a cheek swab from a relative of Vergata definitively identified the “Fire Island Jane Doe” as Vergata. Tierney said there are no charges at this time for the murder of Vergata, whose partial remains were found on Fire Island in 1996 and at Tobay Beach in 2011.
While the investigation to identify Vergata was conducted by the Gilgo Task Force, the DA did not say if Rex Heuermann, the Massapequa Park resident and Manhattan architect charged with the murders of three of the four women whose bodies were found at Gilgo Beach, is suspected of her death. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to first and second-degree murder charges in the killings of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Lynn Costello. He is considered a prime suspect in the death of Brainard-Barnes, according to police. Newsday reported that a source familiar with the task force told them that investigators have not been able to link Vergata’s suspected killing to Heuermann, 59. “We are going to continue to work this particular case, as we did the Gilgo Four investigation,” Tierney said. The DA said the confidential investigation is ongoing. He would not provide any comment on whether there are any suspects at the time. Vergata went missing around Feb. 14, 1996 at the age of 34. At the time she was living on West 45th Street in Manhattan and Tierney said officials believe she was working as an escort. Continued on Page 34
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NORTH SHORE SCHOOL DISTRICT
More than 130 students grades kindergarten through eighth participate in the North Shore School District T.E.N.S. Sumer Program. See story on page 40.
County delays Elderfields landmark: F. Hill mayor BY C A M E RY N O A K ES The Village of Flower Hill Board of Trustees continued its public hearing Monday evening to designate Elderfields Preserve as a village landmark while expressing frustration with repeated roadblocks from Nassau County. The Elderfields Preserve, located in Flower Hill, is a four-acre parkland with a main house that includes the original 17th-century home on the property, one of the oldest struc-
tures on Long Island, according to the county parks department. The county acquired the property in 1996 from Henry de V. Williams. The Art Guild of Port Washington currently occupies a space in the building for art studios, classes and shows. Flower Hill Mayor Randall Rosenbaum said the village is seeking to designate it as a landmark because the village wants to preserve the historical sites throughout the village.
Nassau County attorney Kevin Walsh told the board Monday that the bureau chief has to approve the language presented in the covenant for the village’s landmark proposal. The mayor said that the county has provided excuses every month that have delayed the village’s landmark designation of the preserve, which has been a point of discussion for the village since March. “What’s the excuse that’s going to happen next month from the Continued on Page 11