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Police have refused to release the recording for years.
By Sarah Gangraw — Written on Nov 04, 2018
A judge ruled Monday that police must release the 911 tapes made by Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance led to the discovery of multiple bodies, including her own, and an ongoing search for a Long Island Serial Killer.
New York Supreme Court Justice Sanford Neil Berland ordered Suffolk County police to turn over the recordings and transcripts of the emergency calls made by the 24-year-old Craigslist escort the night she went missing in May of 2010, Newsday reports. The ruling requires the department to release the tapes to the attorneys for Gilbert's estate within 20 days.
The county police appealed the order in March, claiming the recordings were part of an ongoing homicide investigation, but Berland said the department "fail(ed) to provide even the slightest intimation of how or why affording plaintiffs access to the 911 calls made by Shannan and others over a brief, three-day period would compromise any aspect of their protracted investigation."
The 23-minute 911 call made by Gilbert will hopefully shed light on her whereabouts in her last moments, said John Ray, the lawyer for Gilbert’s estate. Pix11 reported that in the recording, she can reportedly be heard screaming "They're going to kill me!" It is not clear to whom she was referring.
Gilbert's remains were found buried under thick brush on the beach on Dec. 13, 2011, one of ten bodies uncovered on Gilgo Beach by police while searching for the missing woman.
The bodies, mostly belonging to female prostitutes, are believed to have been dumped by a murderer dubbed the Long Island Serial Killer, who has not been identified or caught. It is believed he may have killed up to 17 people.
Ray believes the Suffolk County Police Department is hiding something critical to Gilbert's case. He and Gilbert's family are convinced that Dr. Peter Hackett, possibly the last person to see the sex worker alive, and former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who is behind bars on an unrelated charge, may be involved in her disappearance.
"We hope to find out who was with her before she disappeared," Ray told Newsweek.
According to Ray, police "quashed this entire investigation" after Burke's promotion to chief of police and "stonewalled" the investigation from then on.
The cause of Gilbert's death has not officially been determined, but Michael Baden, a forensic pathologist hired by Gilbert’s family to conduct an independent autopsy, concluded there was bodily injury “consistent with homicidal strangulation," according to PIX11.
Ray has been close to Gilbert's case for years and is determined to find out the truth about her death.
"We have waited three years for this result. Several judges have had the case," Ray said in a statement Thursday, according to NBC 4 New York. "We have been relentless in our pursuit of the murderers. We will continue to drive forward in pursuit of everyone involved in the murders."
Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.