listen to the elected district attorney of suffolk county. in august of 2022, approximately six months after we formed this gilgo task force, dna profile suitable for genealogical testing identified karen vergata. we were able to identify ms. vergata presumptively as fire island jane doe. thereafter in october of 2022 using a bucal swab from a relative of karen vergata we were able to definitively identify her. reporter: the district attorney does not implicate rex heuermann with the identity of this victim. they will work this part of the case just like they did with the gilgo four, but what s interesting is the charges that rex heuermann is facing, the
take a listen to the district attorney of suffolk county. in august of 2022 approximately six months after we formed this gilgo task force, a dna profile suitable for genia logical comparison was developed from remains of karen vergata. in september of 2022 the fbi was able via a genetic genology review to identify her as fire island jane doe. thereafter in october of 2022, using a buccal swab from a relative of karen vergata, we were able to definitively identify her. reporter: the district attorney is not implicating rex heuermann at all in this investigation. he says that they will continue to work this case, just like they did the gilgo four case. but it is interesting because what rex heuermann is charged with, the modus operandi of
go from 2011 to 2022. that is when the task force basically was born to look into these unsolved homicides in long island. listen to the elected district attorney of suffolk county. in august of 2022 approximately six months after we formed this task force, a dna profile was developed from the remains of karen vergata. in september of 2022 the fbi was able via a genetic review to identify her presumptively as fire island jane doe. in october of 2022, using a swab from a relative, we were able to definitively identify her. reporter: the district attorney does not imply case rex heuermann at all with this
suspect? so what they need from rex heuermann is dna. a surveillance team is sent to midtown manhattan. the area where he works. and they re basically watching the building. he comes out and he goes to a pizza place. and they see him go through three slices of pizza and he takes the box and shoves it into a green trash can. so that was a treasure-trove of dna in there with that pizza box. so from a chain of custody s standpoint, they ve seen him eating, carrying it, discard it and they pull that box out. able to test it with his dna to match the dna at the crime scenes? one hair matched the dna profile of that of the defendant, rex heuermann. just one month after these lab results, police had enough evidence to make the arrest. local tv cameras captured him in custody. rex, did you do it?
fire island jane doe. today we are here to announce that s part of the gilgo task force re-examination of all the evidence in the case, we are able to identify her as karen vergata who was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance, and i believe we have a picture of miss vergata. i think it is important that we remember and honor not only miss vergata, but all the victims on gilgo beach. she went missing at approximately february 14th, 1996. at the time she lived on west 45th street in manhattan and believed to be working as an escort at the time of her disappearance. there was no missing persons complaint filed at the time of that disappearance. in august of 2022, approximately six months after we formed this gilgo task force, dna profile suitable for genealogical