Possible Victim: Fire Island Jane Doe, UP9098, found Davis Park Apr 1996 & Ocean Parkway Apr 2011 - Karen Vergata

[KellySleuth]

The same reason why Ridgway is the Green River Killer when only five of his victims were found in the river. They were found 'first', they were found together (Ridgway's five river victims were in two clusters, I think? There was certainly one cluster of three.) and it made the biggest noise in the media. Even though Ridgway had been killing for a while, the five in the river made people sit up, take notice, and realise they had a serial offender.

MOO

At the risk of belaboring the point, I find it confusing when the other victims are referred to as Gilgo victims when their remains were not discovered on Gilgo Beach nor is it known if they were killed by the same person who is being charged with those murders.

 

[fidgeypie]

So glad Karen has her name back, I hope they will continue to search for the rest of her remains. Reading back through the thread what a heart breaking story about her children and the accident.

 

[DS2021]

Gilgo Beach killings: Investigators have identified 'Fire Island Jane Doe' as Karen Vergata

Vergata, who lived on West 45th Street in Manhattan and was last seen Feb. 14, 1996, worked as an escort, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

www.newsday.com

 

[Insightful1]

Honored to share that Othram assisted the Suffolk County Police Department and the FBI in identifying 34-year-old Karen Vergata from Manhattan, NY. Karen is the earliest recorded victim of the Long Island Serial Killer, murdered in 1996.

After 26 years, Fire Island Jane Doe is Identified

Amazing !! Great work. I hope you are getting to work on Peaches and the toddler as well as the Asian male. This is huge. In the court documents of Rex Heuermann’s internet search history on page 18 #12. He searched “ Asian twinks tied up *advertiser censored* “ i think these 3 I mentioned above are more of his victims. I know some others do to. (attachment posted with permission from Tricia)

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A petition filed in court in 2017 reveals that the 34-year-old woman called her father Dominic Vergata on his birthday on 14 February 1996. She was never seen or heard from again.

Long Island officials announced on Friday that Vergata went missing that very same day on Valentine’s Day 1996.

At the time, she was living on West 45th St in Manhattan and is believed to have been working as an escort.

Police said that no missing persons report was filed at the time.

But, court records show that in July 2017 – more than two decades later – Dominic Vergata filed a petition to have his daughter officially declared dead so that he could obtain the unclaimed assets from her estate, including two life insurance policies.

The Surrogate’s Court in New York ruled that, based on Vergata’s whereabouts being unknown for so long, she was presumed dead on 14 February 1999 and her father was appointed temporary administrator of her estate.

Records show Dominic Vergata died in December 2022.

Gilgo Beach murders victim Karen Vergata’s final phone call revealed

A petition filed in court in 2017 reveals the 34-year-old woman called her father Dominic Vergata on his birthday on 14 February 1996

www.independent.co.uk

 

[sds71]

'Sweetest of People': Classmate Remembers Karen Vergata, Jane Doe 7

The North Shore High School alumnus recalled his friend as a "creative" and "empathetic" person.

patch.com

 

[FilerPro]

Miss Vergata went missing on February 14th 1996. A missing persons report was never filed.
Karen was 34 and had been working as an escort when she disappeared.
Authorities reported that segments of Vergata’s body, specifically her legs and feet, were unearthed in Davis Park, Fire Island, in 1996. Her skull was found close to Gilgo, at Tobay Beach,15 years later. Karen was officially identified through genetic genealogy after a suitable DNA profile was developed from her remains last August 2022. The
FBI then used that profile to identify Vergata in September 2022. Her identity was confirmed in October through a DNA sample from a relative.
“We were able to definitively identify her,” Tierney said at a news conference.
Officials declined to provide details about the cause of her death or any potential suspects. “It’s important to note there are no charges at this time,” Tierney said.
Karen Vergata was born and raised in Glen Head on Long Island. Karen's step sister Brenda Breen shared that Karen attended North Shore High School. After graduating, she struggled with life “issues” and consequently had little contact with her family shared a former classmate of Karen
Vergata was arrested more than a dozen times on drug possession, prostitution and loitering between 1991 and 1995.

Karen Vergara's
father, Dominic Vergata, said in court document he spoke to his daughter for the last time on his birthday in February 1996. She disappeared shortly thereafter. Mr. Vergata hired a private investigator to try to find Karen. He also gave authorities DNA samples but was never able to locate his daughter.
More than 20 years after she went missing, in 2017 Dominic Vergata successfully petitioned the court to have his daughter declared legally dead. He died in December 2022 at age 87.
Vergata’s partial remains were found in 1996 on Fire Island by two brothers searching for firewood. Additional remains were discovered near Jones Beach in 2011 and linked to her through DNA.
Vergata’s family assumed she was deceased after having no contact for two decades. “We wondered what happened to her,” Breen told reporters. “But she had a habit of just not being in contact.”

Vergata’s case has not been definitively linked to suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann.
Tierney said Vergata’s murder will be pursued vigorously despite the decades that have passed.

“We are going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation,” he stated. “We’re going to have no comment on what, if any, suspects we’ve developed at this time

 

[Baby baby Jane]

This story is heartbreaking on so many levels, including the fact that there was no one to report her missing. Interesting that the NYP refers to her as a Gilgo victim, when her remains were not found on Gilgo Beach.

I’ve been told in relation to a missing person (this was told to me by NYC LE circa 2000 when we wanted to report a person missing) that a person that has an outstanding warrant, or has been summoned to appear in court CANNOT be reported as a Missing Person. The assumption is that they are evading LE … So, since our MP had a recent misdemeanor arrest, we could not/never report him as an official Missing Person. It’s 20 yrs, still missing, declared deceased without ever having been able to make an official report of him Missing. So, that is possibly why Karen was not reported as Missing, NYC police possibly took same opinion about Karen - she not missing, she is avoiding LE. Hope this is no longer NYC LE policy.

 

[KellySleuth]

I’ve been told in relation to a missing person (this was told to me by NYC LE circa 2000 when we wanted to report a person missing) that a person that has an outstanding warrant, or has been summoned to appear in court CANNOT be reported as a Missing Person. The assumption is that they are evading LE … So, since our MP had a recent misdemeanor arrest, we could not/never report him as an official Missing Person. It’s 20 yrs, still missing, declared deceased without ever having been able to make an official report of him Missing. So, that is possibly why Karen was not reported as Missing, NYC police possibly took same opinion about Karen - she not missing, she is avoiding LE. Hope this is no longer NYC LE policy.

I’m so sorry for your experience. Yes, that could make sense in this case as well.

 

[SharD]

Some more about Karen here;

'Sweetest of People': Classmate Remembers Karen Vergata, Jane Doe 7

The North Shore High School alumnus recalled his friend as a "creative" and "empathetic" person.

patch.com

A sweet and gentle person.

 

[sds71]

Karen Vergata is home again.Her cremated remains are being been returned to her sons after almost 30 years amid a sprawling police investigation into a serial killer on Long Island.Vergata was identified in August as a Gilgo Beach victim with scientific techniques not available when she went missing in 1996.Gary Doherty, 35, and Eric Doherty, 33, said they are grateful for the chance to give their mother a dignified funeral.“It is just a relief we can finally have her back,” Eric Doherty, who was a barely past toddler age when Vergata disappeared, told Newsday.The woman who raised the brothers said they are finally getting answers and some closure.“They want to have their mother placed in a grave where they, too, can lie in rest with her,” said Diane Doherty, 80, who — along with her late husband, Edward — adopted the boys in 1994. The Dohertys raised Gary and Eric for many years in Nesconset.

Who was Gilgo Beach victim Karen Vergata?

Vergata's cremated remains are being returned to her sons after almost 30 years, amid a sprawling police investigation into a serial killer on Long Island.

www.newsday.com