Who was Shannan Gilbert and what happened to her? All about the Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer subject, explored
Shannan Gilbert was a 24-year-old woman who disappeared on May 1, 2010, after visiting a client in the gated community of Oak Beach on Long Island, New York. Just before she disappeared, she left a haunting call to 911, telling the operator that someone was chasing her at 5 AM that morning.
Gilbert was nowhere to be found when the police finally arrived at the location. However, her disappearance triggered a country-wide search, which led to the discovery of four bodies of young women like her: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Megan Waterman, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. What all these women, as well as Gilbert, had in common was that they worked as online escorts and went missing between 2007 and 2010.
This finally kickstarted an investigation that would lead to the arrest of the Long Island serial killer, Rex Heuermann, in 2023. This case is being explored in the three-part Netflix docuseries Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, which is now available on the streaming platform.
Who was Shannan Gilbert, and what had happened to her?
Shannan Gilbert was a 23-year-old escort in the Long Island area of New York, who went missing on May 1, 2010. The last thing she did before she disappeared was make a frantic call to 911.
The search for Gilbert proved vital as it led to the discovery of three other women like her, and all of them were victims of the Long Island Serial Killer.
On May 1, 2010, Shannan Gilbert went to Long Island with her driver, Michael Pak, to meet with Joseph Brewer. At some point after leaving his house, Gilbert attempted to ask for assistance from two neighbors and then made a final call to 911 before she was never heard from again.
The police believed that Gilbert would turn up again and attempted to comfort her mother, who staunchly fought for justice for her daughter. After months of pressure, the Suffolk County police finally began to search for Gilbert, and this led them to the bodies of four other women, who came to be known as the Gilgo Four.
Gilbert's body was finally discovered on December 13, 2011, and an autopsy suggested that her death was a case of homicide triggered by strangulation.
Shannan's murder remains an unfortunate accident
Even fifteen years after her death, Shannan Gilbert's case remains murky. The police always maintained that Gilbert somehow got lost in the inhospitable marshland and died accidentally.
At a 2022 press conference, Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said:
"Based on the evidence, the facts, and the totality of the circumstances, the prevailing opinion in Shannan's death, while tragic, was not murder and was most likely not criminal."
Even today, the Suffolk County Police Department maintains that Gilbert’s death was an unfortunate accident but assures the public that authorities will continue to evaluate and investigate any information that the public may have to help solve the case of Gilbert.
Shannan Gilbert’s mother, Mari, remained a vocal critic of law enforcement’s handling of her daughter’s case. She believed that Shannan’s death was a case of homicide and that the police were not looking into the matter with the utmost urgency. However, Mari passed away in July 2016 after sustaining heavy injuries from being stabbed more than 100 times by her other daughter, Sarra, who was diagnosed with mental health issues.
Catch Netflix's Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer for more about the murders.
