Funerals planned for women found at Gilgo

After the last of the four women found dead near Gilgo Beach were identified this week, their families began the final chapter of saying goodbye.

The funeral for Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of Buffalo, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Life Church in Elma, south of Buffalo.

The remains of North Babylon resident Amber Costello, 27, will be released to the Lindenhurst Funeral Home on Monday to prepare for funeral services next week, her sister Kimberly Overstreet said Friday.

The funeral for Megan Waterman, 22, is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at the Jones Rich and Hutchins Funeral Home in her hometown of Portland, Maine.

Arrangements for Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, of Norwich, Conn., were not available Friday.

Services for Costello will be held in both New York and her native North Carolina, Overstreet said. Her ashes will be buried next to her mother in North Carolina, Overstreet said.

Friends in Florida, where Costello lived for years, also want to organize a memorial, Overstreet said."She was a traveler," she said.

Overstreet said she is also working with the National Organization for Women to plan a candlelight vigil at Gilgo Beach to honor all four victims and highlight the plight of women at risk. Calls to NOW were not immediately returned.

Costello started working as a prostitute in her early 20s and would at times disappear for a while, Overstreet said. "There are times when you don't hear from these women," she said.

But when the four skeletons were discovered by cadaver dogs in December, Overstreet had a bad feeling and reached out to Suffolk police, she said.

A police spokesman said the family did contact investigators after the remains were found to report that they believed Costello to be one of the victims.

Overstreet's worst fears were confirmed in her heart when Christmas passed. Costello, who doted on Overstreet's two daughters, didn't turn up. "Right then I knew," Overstreet said.

With J.T. Madore