Since discovery, cops mum on Gilgo bodies

One month has passed since police looking for a missing woman found four skeletons dumped off a Gilgo Beach road, and it's been almost as long since police have commented on the progress of the case.

After an initial flurry of news conferences and public statements, in which police said the remains of the four women may have been the work of a serial killer, officials have been closemouthed about any developments.

Since a Dec. 17 news conference by Deputy Insp. William Neubauer, the appointed point person for the case, he has declined requests to comment on where the investigation stands.

The department has also declined to respond to written questions, saying no new information is available.

Within days of the discovery of the first skeleton on Dec. 11, police had speculated that two of the remains would prove to be those of Shannan Gilbert, who disappeared from nearby Oak Beach on May 1, and Megan Waterman, last seen alive in Hauppauge on June 6.

But while police ruled Gilbert out early as one of the dead, the remains have not been identified.

Meanwhile, Waterman's family members say they have waited patiently for word from Suffolk police on whether she is one of the victims, even though they doubt that she is.

"It's just waiting and waiting," said Waterman's mother, Lorraine Ela of South Portland, Maine. If a DNA comparison excludes her, "it's still the roller coaster for us. Where is she, is she OK?"

Like Gilbert, Waterman, 22, worked as a prostitute and traveled to Long Island to meet clients she met on the Internet, police said. Police initially thought the similarity of the two disappearances linked the cases. But within a week, Gilbert, 24, was excluded through medical records.

The revelation threw open new questions about her disappearance and undermined the theory that Waterman was among the four. Waterman's mother and daughter have provided DNA samples to be compared with genetic material from the remains. The family has not been notified of DNA comparison results.

On Monday, Waterman's daughter, Liliana, 4, met with a therapist to talk about her mother's disappearance, said Waterman's aunt, Elizabeth Meserve of Portland, Maine.

"She saw a news broadcast . . . with the bodies and saw her mom's picture. She's starting to associate things . . . and asked about my son who passed away seven years ago, before she was born," she said. "I didn't know what to say to her."

On Jan. 29, the family is planning to celebrate Megan's 23rd birthday at a Portland roller skating rink - a favorite hangout for Megan as a teen. They will also ask for donations then to raise the family's reward offer, now at $2,500.

The Waterman and Gilbert families have forged a bond of sorts over their shared circumstances, said Sherre Gilbert, Shannan's sister.

"It's talking with someone who I know is actually going through what we are, and you know they mean what they say," she said.