Jane Doe ID’d as N. Shore native

BY CAMERYN OAKES

Nearly three decades after her disappearance, the FBI has identifed Gilgo Beach victim “Fire Island Jane Doe” as former Glen Head resident Karen Vergata, the Sufolk County district attorney announced at a press briefng 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 re-examination 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 identifed Vergata through a genetic genealogy review. In October, a cheek swab from a relative of Vergata defnitively identifed 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 frst 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 confdential 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 ofcials believe she was working as an escort.

Newsday reported that Vergata’s stepsister, Brenda Breen. said Vergata was raised in Glen Head and attended North Shore High School. Vergata was born in Roslyn, according to court documents.

The newspaper said Vergata underwent struggles as an adult and was incarcerated multiple times. She lost custody of her two sons, according to court documents.

Her father, Dominic Vergata, last heard from his daughter on Feb. 14, 1996 when she called him from prison on his birthday. He had said she seemed “very troubled,” according to Newsday.

Tierney said no missing person complaint was fled at the time of her disappearance. Newsday reported her father attempted to report Vergata as missing, but his request was denied by the NYPD since she was an adult.

Newsday reported that Dominic Vergata hired a private investigator and submitted DNA to the investigator to aid in fnding his daughter. Nothing resulted until 27 years after her disappearance when the FBI was able to extract DNA and identify the Jane Doe.

Dominic Vergata died in December before his daughter’s remains were identifed.

Breen told Newsday that “it’s nice to have closure.”