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Inside the Chilling 911 Call That Revealed the Long Island Serial Killer | Oz True Crime
Dr. Oz
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6/13/2024
Shannan Gilbert's 911 call didn't save her life but it led to the discovery of a serial killer who buried the remains of his victim in Gilgo Beach.
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00:00
Coming up next, it was a chilling 911 call.
00:03
Shannon Gilbert reportedly claiming,
00:06
they're trying to kill me.
00:07
How the search for her revealed the possible burial ground
00:10
of a serial killer.
00:12
Then, could your phone save lives?
00:14
This is one of those ways where you can locate
00:16
and see your loved ones,
00:18
the cutting edge apps that protect you and your family.
00:20
You can do these check-ins when they arrive
00:23
at different places,
00:24
so you know that they actually made it there.
00:26
Coming up next.
00:29
(dramatic music)
00:32
I became a doctor to help people heal.
00:42
Now I'm using the same science and medicine
00:46
to take on true crime.
00:48
It's straight out of a horror film.
00:54
The deep quiet of an early morning
00:56
in an idyllic beach side community
00:58
was suddenly shattered by piercing screams.
01:01
Shannon Gilbert reportedly ran through the small community
01:05
of Oak Beach, Long Island,
01:06
as she pounded on neighbors' doors
01:08
and made a panicked call to 911,
01:10
claiming that they're trying to kill me.
01:14
It was the last time anyone heard from her,
01:17
but the search for Shannon revealed what police now believe
01:20
could be the burial grounds of a serial killer.
01:23
It's the largest murder investigation
01:26
in Long Island's history,
01:28
and it's been cold for almost a decade.
01:30
But recently, critical new information was released
01:33
in the grisly killings of multiple young escorts.
01:37
In May, authorities were able to identify
01:39
another alleged Jane Doe victim
01:41
of the elusive serial killer
01:43
through new DNA testing techniques.
01:45
Police released photos last January
01:48
of a belt found on one of the crime scenes
01:50
with the initials WH or HM,
01:53
which may have been handled by the killer.
01:56
It all started when 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert
01:59
vanished after visiting a client
02:01
in the gated community of Oak Beach on May 1st of 2010.
02:06
During the search for Shannon,
02:07
four bodies were found wrapped in burlap
02:09
along Ocean Parkway near Gilgal Beach.
02:12
All were Craigslist escorts in their 20s, just like Shannon,
02:16
but there was no sign of her.
02:18
In the months that followed Shannon's disappearance,
02:22
up to 10 victims were found,
02:24
their body parts strewn over a 50-mile stretch.
02:27
Finally, on December 13th of 2011,
02:32
Shannon's skeleton was discovered,
02:34
several miles from the other human remains.
02:37
After years of legal battles,
02:39
police were recently ordered to turn over
02:42
all of the 911 recordings linked to Shannon's disappearance
02:46
to the family's lawyer,
02:47
who cited them as key evidence in her case.
02:51
To date, the horrific murders have never been solved.
02:54
Not a single suspect has ever been charged.
02:57
Despite Shannon being the impetus of the investigation
03:03
into a suspected serial killer,
03:04
law enforcement has resisted,
03:07
saying her death is related to the other victims,
03:09
leaving Shannon's family fighting for answers to this day.
03:13
Joining us now is Shannon Gilbert's sister, Cherie.
03:16
Cherie, law enforcement did not think your sister's death
03:18
was related to this killer,
03:20
but you think it's possible, why is that?
03:22
- I think it's a possibility just because,
03:27
you know, she was found there, and that's a coincidence.
03:31
She was considered, you know, an escort,
03:34
along with the other women that were found there,
03:36
and she was meeting a John that night.
03:38
So there's a lot of coincidences to me
03:41
that would make me think that she was definitely a victim
03:45
of the Long Island serial killer.
03:47
- Why do you feel law enforcement
03:49
are still reluctant to consider
03:50
and connect your sister's death to the other victims?
03:53
- I think they're reluctant because I think
03:57
it's going to show that they really failed my sister,
04:00
and they really screwed up the investigation
04:02
from the beginning.
04:03
- What specifically was bothering you
04:06
about how they managed it?
04:07
- The fact that my sister made a 23-minute 911 call,
04:12
you know, running through the community,
04:14
knocking on doors, you know, screaming in fear for her life,
04:18
and I just think if she was just maybe a lawyer
04:23
or a lawyer's daughter or a doctor or somebody else,
04:28
you know, I think that they would have taken
04:29
that more serious, but I felt like she was being ignored
04:32
from the very beginning because of what she was doing.
04:35
- You went to extraordinary steps.
04:37
You had another review of the autopsy with Dr. Biden.
04:40
- Yes.
04:43
We had another autopsy conducted by Dr. Biden
04:45
because we didn't feel that
04:47
the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office
04:50
was being very truthful in the autopsy
04:53
that they had conducted of my sister.
04:55
I think that they were missing critical information,
04:58
and they were just so quick to rule her death,
05:01
you know, accidental from the very beginning.
05:04
So I think that we definitely needed answers,
05:07
and Dr. Biden was willing to do that.
05:09
So we went to him for the answers.
05:12
- So the investigation into the Gilgol Beach murders
05:14
began with Shannon.
05:16
So, you know, it's hard for you as a family,
05:19
I would gather, you know,
05:20
police continue to discover more and more victims
05:23
that were not Shannon.
05:25
What was that like?
05:26
- It was heartbreaking.
05:29
We got a phone call from one of the detectives
05:31
who told us, my mom and myself,
05:33
that they were 99% sure the first victim
05:37
that they found was Shannon.
05:39
And we knew immediately whether or not
05:41
that was gonna be my sister
05:42
because of the metal plate in her jaw.
05:45
So we knew whether or not that was gonna be her.
05:48
So it just kind of felt like
05:50
they were telling us these things,
05:51
and it was kind of like pulling at our heartstrings.
05:54
You know, it was very emotional for us.
05:55
It was very traumatic.
05:57
- And that wasn't your sister, so.
06:00
- It wasn't my sister, no.
06:02
- How did it feel after your sister was finally found?
06:04
- I mean, it felt like there was relief,
06:09
but there was also sadness
06:11
because it was the end for us.
06:14
It was the end of a long search to find her.
06:19
You know, we knew it was gonna either end up
06:21
that she was found by some miracle alive,
06:25
or she was gonna be found deceased.
06:28
But we wanted the opportunity,
06:29
if she wasn't gonna be found alive,
06:31
to at least be able to bring her home and bury her.
06:33
- So Cherie, it's been 10 years
06:36
since the first bodies were found near Giggle Beach.
06:38
Do you have a message for whoever is responsible for this?
06:42
- A lot of lives have been lost.
06:46
A lot of families have been broken from this.
06:48
Just turn yourself in, just do the right thing.
06:51
You know, give us the closure that we really deserve,
06:53
and don't hurt anybody else.
06:55
That's just all I really want.
06:56
We all just want justice for our loved ones.
06:59
- Yeah, I'm worried people are still being hurt.
07:01
That's the natural history of people like this.
07:04
- Exactly.
07:05
- Thank you for joining me.
07:06
Up next, the Gilbert-
07:07
- Thank you for having me.
07:08
- The Gilbert family attorney reveals the importance
07:11
of our frantic early morning 911 call.
07:13
Those details are next.
07:15
You've been talking about the case of Shannon Gilbert,
07:24
whose disappearance led to the discovery
07:26
of the remains of at least 10 more victims
07:29
around Giggle Beach in Long Island.
07:31
Law enforcement believe those 10 deaths
07:34
might be the work of a serial killer.
07:36
Their cases have never been solved.
07:38
The Gilbert family attorney, John Ray, joins us now.
07:41
Thank you for being here.
07:43
- Thank you.
07:43
- What do we know factually actually happened?
07:46
- The facts we know are that Shannon went on a tryst
07:52
with a John in Oak Beach, Long Island on May 1st, 2010.
07:57
She went to Joe Brewer's home.
08:00
He was the John.
08:01
She was driven there by a man named Michael Pack
08:03
and left there for several hours.
08:07
She signed up for more time and left and came back.
08:12
And then about 4.54 a.m., she called 911
08:18
for a 23-minute call, claiming, as we know
08:22
from public revelation by the police,
08:25
that they said, or that she said on the phone,
08:28
"They're trying to kill me."
08:31
And she bolted from the home, knocked on doors,
08:34
neighbors' doors, a fellow named Coletti
08:37
and another person named Brennan, Mrs. Brennan,
08:40
and then ran from their homes and never seen again
08:45
until her bones are found in December of 2011.
08:48
- And the two homes that she ran to,
08:50
those folks also called 911?
08:53
- Yeah, Coletti called 911, and when Brennan went to call,
08:58
she looked up and Shannon was gone.
09:00
So those are the facts.
09:01
I mean, there are many other facts.
09:04
I have the 911 tapes that the police were ordered
09:07
to give me.
09:08
- Let's talk about that for a second,
09:09
'cause earlier this year, the police who had not turned over
09:11
these 911 tapes were ordered to turn them over.
09:14
These are the 911 calls we're talking about now
09:16
the night that Shannon disappeared,
09:18
and they were given to the Gilbert family attorney.
09:20
John, that's you.
09:21
So I know you can't discuss the details
09:23
of the tapes themselves, but you've heard these calls.
09:26
- I have.
09:27
- How critical are they to this case,
09:29
and should they have been released earlier?
09:31
- These tapes are critical to this case
09:33
and very likely the other cases as well.
09:37
If the public could hear them,
09:39
the public would be outraged, the public would be shocked.
09:42
The police have written a letter to the public
09:48
published in the newspaper, and to me personally,
09:51
where they detailed what they said was on the tape.
09:54
I can talk about that.
09:55
When the police said that Shannon was calm at all times,
09:59
that the people around her, the men that were there
10:01
were calm at all times, that she was never
10:05
about to be murdered, and that otherwise
10:09
everything was peaceful, the police were willfully lying
10:13
about every one of those things.
10:16
They are absolutely false, and they published this.
10:19
This is their template for what really happened
10:22
to Shannon Gilbert that night, and none of it is true.
10:26
- What would be the motivation about, for example,
10:28
declaring someone as calm if these calls
10:31
that you've heard reveal that she's not?
10:34
- There's a narrative, a false narrative
10:36
that's being spun that originated with the police,
10:39
and that is that Shannon Gilbert had used drugs
10:42
of some kind, was crazed, and of course went irrationally
10:46
calling 911, irrationally fleeing,
10:49
and irrationally managing to put herself
10:51
into a marsh that's almost impossible to get into
10:55
with all of the bushes that were there,
10:57
and managed to somehow kill herself there.
11:00
That's the narrative that's spun.
11:02
It's absurd on its face when you think about it.
11:05
She's found in the marsh face up, laying on a bush.
11:10
Her clothing is found about a quarter of a mile away,
11:13
and the police theory was the clothing came off
11:16
in the bramble bushes as she ran.
11:19
I mean, you can't, I mean, I was about to say
11:22
you can't make it up.
11:23
Well, they did make it up, and that's how Shannon was found.
11:28
She was a sex worker found amongst, in the same area,
11:32
in the same kind of marsh, in the same place in Long Island
11:35
where there are nine other sex workers found, all dead,
11:40
and all of them murdered, and yet the police are saying
11:45
this is a mere coincidence, and Shannon Gilbert
11:48
died of natural causes.
11:49
That's absurd, and there's not a scintilla of evidence
11:53
that she died of natural causes, not one.
11:55
So in May, police unexpectedly revealed
11:57
they had identified one victim.
11:59
Jane Doe number six was her original name,
12:01
but she's really Valerie Mack.
12:03
They used genealogy techniques, the genetic techniques
12:05
we've talked about in this show frequently.
12:07
Actually working with the same people
12:08
we've had on this show.
12:09
How hopeful are you, John, that these techniques
12:11
are gonna be valuable in providing
12:13
additional answers in this case?
12:14
I have very little hope that these techniques
12:16
will be of any value after this,
12:19
because the police commissioner has already announced
12:22
that the DNA on the other remains of things,
12:25
whatever they are that they have,
12:27
has been deteriorated, has declined,
12:30
and yeah, they were able to identify one person,
12:34
but they show you a belt, or the initials on a belt.
12:39
Can I just show the belt for everybody?
12:41
Yeah, sure.
12:42
So this is the actual little bit of information
12:44
that's been released from the police.
12:45
These are, there's a belt with embossed letters on it.
12:50
It's either HM or WH, you see them there,
12:53
and they may have been handled by the killer,
12:55
according to the police.
12:57
How groundbreaking is that?
12:58
It wasn't groundbreaking at all.
13:00
It was a pap that was thrown to the public
13:03
by the police department, and I say that
13:05
because when they showed the initials,
13:08
they never showed the belt.
13:09
They never described the belt.
13:11
They wouldn't tell us whether it was a male
13:13
or a female belt, whether it was upside down
13:14
or right side up, and when, you know,
13:17
most belts are made for right-handers,
13:18
so you can kind of figure that out.
13:21
We don't know the size of the items themselves,
13:25
and they never produced the belt.
13:27
So there's a real, I have a real suspicion
13:29
that they don't have it anymore,
13:30
and they have only photographs,
13:32
which is what they released.
13:33
If they do have it, they haven't been able
13:35
to produce any DNA testing on it.
13:38
After all these years, they've had it for nine years,
13:41
and now they suddenly reveal it.
13:43
I have the rigidity of the police department
13:46
in refusing to cooperate with the public
13:50
and to get to the heart of the case
13:52
when they have found nobody.
13:54
They have no suspects, and they are now,
13:56
as we speak, resisting my attempt
14:00
to take those 911 calls and reveal those calls
14:04
to the public, because as the commissioner herself said,
14:07
the police commissioner, the public
14:09
is the best source of information.
14:11
So I have the tapes, I want to release them.
14:14
There's a court order that I can't.
14:17
I've asked the court to relieve me of that restriction,
14:21
and the police department, as we speak,
14:23
the same police department that says,
14:25
we're going to the public with these initials on a belt,
14:29
refuse to allow the tapes to be released.
14:33
- We reached out to the Suffolk County Police Department
14:35
for comment on these allegations,
14:37
but did not hear back in time for this taping.
14:39
We'll be right back.
14:40
(upbeat music)
14:42
Thank you for watching.
14:43
Don't forget to subscribe and turn on notifications
14:45
so you never miss out on new videos to live the good life.
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