Jane Doe No. 7 ID’d as North Shore native

Karen Vergata disappeared in 1996, DA declines to comment on suspects

BY CAMERYN OAKES

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

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.