On March 13, 2020, Netflix released the movie Lost Girls, based on the true story of Shannan Gilbert’s disappearance and death, possibly at the hands of the Long Island Serial Killer. The film focuses primarily on Shannan Gilbert’s mother, Mari Gilbert, who is struggling to find out what happened to her daughter while continuing to raise her other children as a single mother.
Over the course of the investigation into Shannan’s 2010 disappearance and subsequent death, police discounted her and the myriad other missing sex workers in the area, due at least in part to their vocation. Investigators also appeared to place low priority on the Gilbert family’s reports that they received mysterious phone calls from a man claiming to have information on their missing family member – the man even questioned whether or not her demise was accidental.
One thing that never changed was Mari’s focus on finding justice for her daughter and the other women whose lives were cut short, even if this justice came too late to save them.
Shannan Gilbert Was Working As An Escort When She Disappeared On May 1, 2010
Shannan Gilbert was a 24-year-old woman living in Jersey City, NJ, who harbored aspirations of stardom as an actress. To support herself while following her dream, she worked as an escort.
While out with a client on May 1, 2010, Gilbert disappeared. Two days later, her boyfriend, who was reportedly her first driver through her original escort service, alerted her family that she was missing, and the search for her began. Once the Gilbert family filed a missing person report, they sought out Gilbert on their own, as well.
Gilbert Called 911 From Inside Her Client’s Home And Said, ‘They’re Trying To Kill Me’
Inside the home of her client, Gilbert called 911 at 4:51 am. On the CBS news show 48 Hours, former Suffolk County Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone recalls the contents of the 911 call:
She’s saying, “There’s someone after me; there’s someone after me.” It’s a girl who clearly believes… she’s in harm’s way.
Varrone also claims other voices were audible in the background of the call, those of Gilbert’s driver Michael Pak and her client Joseph Brewer. Gilbert screams out at one point, either unwilling or unable to provide the 911 operator with her location.
Varrone characterizes Gilbert’s overall demeanor as “not very coherent, not very rational” and theorizes she was under the influence of controlled substances.
Gilbert Escaped And Sought The Help Of Several Neighbors, But She Vanished Before Police ArrivedWith no assistance coming from police, since she couldn’t provide her location, Gilbert managed to flee the home of her client Brewer. She then knocked on the doors of several of Brewer’s neighbors looking for assistance.Gustav Coletti (sometimes spelled Colletti) was one of these neighbors; he claimed Gilbert knocked on his door at 5 am begging for help before hiding from an SUV. The driver told Coletti the girl was just running from a party. Coletti told police that the SUV driver, Pak, then chased the girl.Another neighbor, Barbara Brennan, also answered Gilbert’s panicked knocking, but Gilbert fled once again and had vanished by the time police arrived. Authorities assumed she had left with Pak.
Neither Gilbert’s Client Nor Her Driver Are Considered SuspectsPolice searched the home of Gilbert’s last client, Brewer, and he allegedly passed a lie detector test concerning her disappearance and his possible involvement. Police eliminated him as a suspect.Pak, Gilbert’s driver that night, who was also the man Coletti spoke with briefly, was also eliminated as a suspect after speaking with police.
Authorities Didn’t Connect Gilbert’s Phone Call To Her Family’s Missing Person Report For A Month
Although police responded to several emergency calls from Brewer’s neighborhood related to Gilbert’s disappearance, hers was not one of them. Since she was unable or unwilling to share her location, the call was transferred to New York State Police. Local police in Brewer’s town of Oak Beach responded to the calls from his neighbors.
This transferral from local police to state police muddled the case, and the New York State Police didn’t connect the Gilbert family’s missing person report to Gilbert’s disappearance for a month.
On May 3, 2010, A Man Called Gilbert’s Mother Claiming He Had Gilbert And Was Medicating Her, But He Later Changed His Story
Two days after Gilbert disappeared, a man named Dr. Peter Hackett contacted the missing woman’s mother, Mari Gilbert. Hackett lived in Brewer’s Oak Beach neighborhood and told Mari that he ran a halfway house of sorts, and Gilbert was there.
Phone records proved Hackett made the call, although he later denied doing so. He also denied running a halfway house where Gilbert was staying, as well as providing medications to Gilbert as he allegedly stated to Mari over the phone.
Mari later sued Hackett for the wrongful death of her daughter, but a judge dismissed her case in 2018.
Police Claimed Gilbert’s Mother Never Reported The Man’s Call, But Phone Records Prove She Did
While speaking with CBS news program 48 Hours in 2013, former Suffolk County Detective Chief Varrone claimed the Gilbert family never reported Hackett’s odd phone call to police. Varrone further intimated that his officers didn’t learn the information until months later.
Research conducted by 48 Hours determined that the original missing person report filed by the Gilberts did, in fact, contain information concerning Hackett’s call on May 3. Since the family filed in New Jersey, Varrone and his officers didn’t receive the information in Suffolk County.
Mari And Her Family Advocated Tirelessly For Gilbert’s Case While Police Investigated
As the police worked to find Gilbert, her family hired lawyer John Ray as an advocate and continued to investigate on their own. They spoke out to media outlets to keep the story in the public eye and push for justice.
The family and their lawyer filed a wrongful death suit against Hackett when police declined to treat him as a suspect, and they had an independent autopsy performed to contradict the findings of the police department.
- In December 2010, Police Found Remains Of Four Online Escorts, But Not GilbertWhile searching for Gilbert’s presumed remains, detective John Mallia and his K9 uncovered four bodies belonging to escorts on a stretch of Ocean Parkway. All of them were wrapped in burlap and had perished from asphyxiation. Like Gilbert, they were all escorts who advertised their services on Craigslist.The Gilbert family concluded that these women and their attacker may have had connections to their missing daughter and sister.
Remains Of Several More Women Were Found Soon After, And Rumors Spread About A ‘Long Island Serial Killer’After the initial findings of four women’s remains on Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach, police went on to discover the remains of six more victims – including a child – while searching for Gilbert. This bred the theory that a serial killer used the area as a hunting ground for escorts, as half of the remains belonged to people associated with the sex industry. Dubbed the Long Island Serial Killer, the perpetrator is believed to be a man based on threatening calls one victim’s sister received from a mysterious male. His modus operandi appears to be asphyxiation, and he seems to be familiar with police procedures, but no real leads ever developed.
In December 2011, Police Found Gilbert’s Belongings And Skeletal Remains In A Marsh
After more than a year of searching, police found Gilbert’s remains in a marsh, along with her purse, cell phone, and other belongings. Investigators theorized she fled Oak Beach and Brewer’s residence, ran for nearly a mile, and encountered the marsh, where she became exhausted and succumbed to the elements.
Her remains were near Gilgo Beach, specifically Jones Beach Island, but police saw her death as accidental and unrelated to the suspected victims of the Long Island Serial Killer.
Police Brushed Off Missing Persons Reports For Many Of The Other Victims Due To Their Occupation
At the time the remains of four women were discovered in December 2010, victim Melissa Barthelemy had been missing since 2009. Some of the other victims remain unidentified, including a 2-year-old girl.
The additional eight victims included other escorts advertising for clients on Craiglist, leading to what many described as “diminished” efforts on the victims’ behalf from police.
Barthelemy’s family told 48 Hours they encountered many obstacles when reporting their daughter missing in 2009. One officer reportedly told them:
She’s a hooker. She’s a prostitute. She was – she’s an escort… We’re not going to assign a detective to this.
Police Brushed Off Missing Persons Reports For Many Of The Other Victims Due To Their Occupation
At the time the remains of four women were discovered in December 2010, victim Melissa Barthelemy had been missing since 2009. Some of the other victims remain unidentified, including a 2-year-old girl.
The additional eight victims included other escorts advertising for clients on Craiglist, leading to what many described as “diminished” efforts on the victims’ behalf from police.
Barthelemy’s family told 48 Hours they encountered many obstacles when reporting their daughter missing in 2009. One officer reportedly told them:
She’s a hooker. She’s a prostitute. She was – she’s an escort… We’re not going to assign a detective to this.
Gilbert’s Family Believe She Was Murdered, But The Police Chief Suspects Her Death May Have Been Accidental
The police department’s official theory for Gilbert’s death is that she traveled on foot for nearly a mile before reaching the marsh on Jones Beach Island. Police suggested she passed from accidental drowning.
The Gilberts and their lawyer, Ray, disputed those findings and hired Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner of New York City, to perform another autopsy in 2016. Baden concluded Gilbert’s demise possibly occurred due to strangulation – her hyoid bone was broken, which is common in cases of forceful asphyxiation.
Ray also enlisted some of his colleagues to test the police’s theory of Gilbert’s demise. They questioned her ability to arrive at Jones Beach Island while barefoot, considering the absence of cuts on her feet.
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