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NANCY GRACE

At Least Three More Bodies Found on Long Island Beach

Aired April 4, 2011 - 20:00:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD DORMER, SUFFOLK COUNTY POLICE DEPT.: We`ve found human remains, three human remains so far in the area between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach. The forensic people are on site. They obviously have to do their work. The medical examiner is here, and the identification section and the homicide detectives, again, along with the homicide bureau from the district attorney`s office. We`re not going to get into any questions about the remains, how they were founded, where they were found. It`s too early in the investigation for to do that, and so I would ask that you...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. An off-duty cop walking his dog stumbles on a woman`s dead body on a remote beach, that beach turned burial ground when three more sets of female remains found.

Bombshell tonight. In the last hours, investigators unearth four, possibly five more bodies on that same strip of beach, bringing the tally to eight female bodies, the number likely climbing tonight. Are dozens more murdered women dumped like trash on the same strip of beach, waiting to be uncovered?

We are live at the beach turned burial ground. Rupa Mikkilineni live at the scene. Rupa, what`s happening?

RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Right. Nancy, today we learned that investigators and police came out here at 9:00 o`clock in the morning -- and I`m right here in the area where they found three new bodies. That`s right, three new bodies, more bodies found in addition to the five bodies we`d already learned were discovered since last December. Now, four bodies, as we know, were discovered last December in this area, just four miles up in this road, in this beach community right here.

I`m here at Oak Beach, and I`m right in front of the area where the young lady, 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert, was, in fact, reported missing. And when she was reported missing, people have been searching for her since then. And in the process of searching for her, they discovered last December by accident those four bodies. And then further searches for Shannan Gilbert led us to the fifth body being found just a mile down the road right here, Nancy. That`s right. And now today, just another mile- and-a-half down the road, we found three new bodies today.

GRACE: Joining me live at the scene, Rupa Mikkilineni and Rita Cosby, investigative journalist and author of "Quiet Hero." Rupa, you have been on the scene from the very beginning. What I don`t understand and what a lot of victims` families are asking tonight is -- last week, you and I were there on the scene live. I don`t understand why they`re just finding the bodies. We`re looking at nine -- probably nine dead women, with the tally rising. Take a look at this, eight sets of female bodies found on a secluded beach. Rupa, why?

MIKKILINENI: Well, here`s why, Nancy. Last December, this area was full with snow. The winter weather prevented a tremendous amount of searching. So they came out here again now that the snow is gone. But of course, it`s before the summer weather, when the greenery starts to grow out and things become difficult again. So they`ve been out here searching.

And what happened last week was that a police vehicle was driving by this Ocean Parkway highway, and something caught his eye. And so then he went to investigate further and found this fifth body, which now has not been identified and we still don`t know if it`s female or male, but it was found last week. Now -- now what`s happened is they stopped the searching as of last Thursday due to weather conditions, and then they came back out here today, first thing in the morning, Nancy, 9:00 AM. And within a couple of hours, they found three more bodies.

GRACE: And now back to the presser.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORMER: We`ve found human remains, three human remains so far in the area between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach. The forensic people are on site. They obviously have to do their work. The medical examiner is here, and the identification section and the homicide detectives, again, along with the homicide bureau from the district attorney`s office.

We`re not going to get into any questions about the remains, how they were found, where they were found. It`s too early in the investigation for to do that. And so I would ask that you just bear with us, be happy with this update that we`re giving you right now.

The investigation is going to move forward over the next hours and into tomorrow and into days and weeks. Certainly, the medical examiner...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are going back to the scene. We`ll take you back into that presser in just one moment. Rita Cosby, what more can you tell me?

RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Well, I can tell you, Nancy, I`ve been talking to law enforcement my whole way out here, and they say that they definitely do believe that they have a serial killer on their hands. They also are telling me that they believe it is someone who knows the area because I drove right by the location where they`re searching...

GRACE: Rita!

COSBY: ... as we speak. It`s just a few miles...

GRACE: Rita! Rita! Rita!

COSBY: ... from here, and right from the road...

GRACE: Rita! Rita! Stop! Stop!

COSBY: Go ahead, Nancy.

GRACE: When I say, What more do you know, I don`t need you to tell me we`ve got a serial killer. There are nine dead bodies, Rita. And from what we know of the victims that have been identified so far -- they haven`t even all been identified yet. Am I right or wrong? So far, they all are...

COSBY: No, you are absolutely right.

GRACE: They are petite women. They`re all about 5 feet tall. They`re all about 100 pounds, sandy brown to blond hair. They`re all white. They all look alike. We have a serial killer that is stalking local and tourists alike. Back to you, Rita. Go ahead.

COSBY: No, you`re absolutely right, Nancy. And it`s very scary. In this community, I can tell you, people are worried. And the area where they are searching right now, Nancy, is very thick brush. What they`re going (ph) is they`re looking on the highway. They said that the bodies that they have located, the remains -- because remember, they are remains, not actually bodies. These are very decomposed bodies, very decomposed remains.

What they are finding -- they`re about 25 and 30 yards off the highway, in very thick brush. I was going right back the brush. It`s very difficult to see. But they say that they be here through the night, and they are looking for many more bodies, they are telling me as we speak.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Straight out to Barbara in New York. Hi, Barbara.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, earth angel! How are you this evening? This is such a...

GRACE: I`m good. I`m good. But you know what I keep thinking about, Barbara? I think about these mothers. I interviewed one last week. Joining us tonight is Lynn Barthelemy, the mother of Melissa Barthelemy, one of the victims. And I`m thinking about raising my little girl, Lucy. And you raise them their whole life. You love them. You give them 200 percent, all your love, your time, your energy. And then they end up on a beach like this, along with a bunch of other women they`ve never known.

God only knows how long they`ve been lying out there. A lot of these remains are now just skeletal. And what I`m finding very interesting, very disturbing about all of these remains is that there are no pocketbooks. There are no bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings. There`s no ID, cell phones, shoes, clothing, headbands, barrettes, nothing left on these bodies.

Whoever`s doing this is doing everything he can to conceal the identify of these victims. He`s removing every trace of identification because we all know by now watching "CSI," you can get one piece of clothing, one shirt, you can determine where it was made, where it was manufactured, what store it was sent to by batch. This guy knows what he`s doing.

These are jut five of the faces we now believe, eight to nine bodies as of tonight, with that tally rising.

Back out to Rupa Mikkilineni on the scene from the get-go. Rupa, several of the other bodies were found swathed in burlap, like fishermen`s burlap that they -- that they put oysters, that they put all types of fish in for market. Are these bodies also shrouded in burlap?

MIKKILINENI: Nancy, this is a great question, and police are being so tight-lipped currently about these new bodies that were discovered today. As you recall, in December, they were quite forthright, once they identified those bodies, about the details of how those bodies were found, where they were found, the location.

And I want to show you an example of a burlap bag, one of the burlap bags that the bodies were shrouded in last December. This is an example. And as you can see from the size, it`s the kind of bag I -- somebody of my size can fit into, about 100 pounds, 5-foot-5. All these young ladies were exactly this size, Nancy, and fit into a bag of this size.

GRACE: We are live there at Cedar Beach, Oak Beach, and we are bringing you the very latest. We have search teams out there right now. Since we reported on the story last week, asking why more of the beach had not been searched, tonight four more bodies, possibly a fifth, bringing the tally up to eight or nine dead women.

Back to Barbara in New York. What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Nancy, I was wondering why, initially, when they found the bodies in December, they didn`t do more searching, number one. And number two, it sounds like this man is very -- whoever is responsible -- very comfortable in that location, just like the Green River killer was. So why haven`t they -- why don`t they stake out that area? Because I think there -- he might even continue killing and continue bringing more bodies back there. So I`m very disturbed. I mean, I`m all for law enforcement and all, but something`s lacking here.

GRACE: To Rupa Mikkilineni. How much of the beach have they cordoned off? We understand they stopped traffic today and they`ve cordoned out a large swathe of the beach.

MIKKILINENI: That`s right. Nancy, about a 10-mile stretch of the parkway, this highway, was cordoned off so that incoming traffic could not pass by. Now, we know approximately seven, seven-and-a-half-mile square mile area has been cordoned off, generally speaking. And this makes sense, Nancy, because if you think about where the original bodies were found in December, that was four miles this direction. And now we`re standing at Oak Beach, four miles -- so it`s between a four to five-mile area.

GRACE: OK. To Sophia Hall, reporter, WCBS at 880. Sophia, how do we know that one of these bodies is Shannan Gilbert?

SOPHIA HALL, WCBS NEWSRADIO 880: OK, Shannan Gilbert, if you recall - - she was running Oak Beach. She was screaming. And that`s the last time she was seen, and that was May 1st of 2010. Shannan Gilbert actually has a metal rod in her jaw. That`s why the bodies have been found -- she hasn`t been identified...

GRACE: OK, hold on.

HALL: ... because they can`t find the metal rod.

GRACE: Sophia Hall with us from WCBS 880. I`m just hearing in my ear our desk is trying to confirm right now that they have found another body while we`re on the air.

Rupa Mikkilineni, what do you know? Are you hearing anything there at the scene?

MIKKILINENI: Nancy, we had heard earlier this afternoon rumors that a fourth body, in addition to the three found this morning, was found in this area. We are looking for confirmation on whether this fourth body is, indeed, human remains.

GRACE: Everyone, we are live on the scene there at Oak Beach and Cedar Beach, off of prestigious Long Island, where now the tally has risen to nine dead women. Bodies have just been thrown along the side of the beach, possibly from a car, many of the bodies in clusters, several of them together, this pristine beach now turned burial ground, the beach cordoned off as the search at this hour continues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORMER: We`re going to resume the search tomorrow. We`re going to continue to search tomorrow. We are continuing to search at Oak Beach as we speak, with the recruits, 25 recruit officers are down there now, checking that area. We haven`t given up on the search for Shannan Gilbert, just in case the remains that we discovered today are not hers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORMER: We`ve found human remains, three human remains so far, in the area between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach.

MIKKILINENI: I`ve got a burlap sack here. It`s a pretty large sack, which absolutely can house somebody of my size. If you see me standing inside this, it comes to about my waist. But it`d be so easy to shove a body in here and wrap a body into a burlap sack.

DORMER: It`s still a crime scene. Nobody is allowed in there. We`ll have officers out here guarding the crime scene.

GRACE: A burial ground for a serial killer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officers are in the bucket using binoculars, looking in the terrain for more victims and clues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They found more human remains in the marsh and wooded area of Oak Beach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This area pitch-black. So it is so easy for someone to pull over in a car, pull out a body from a trunk and dump it.

DORMER: The investigation is going to move forward over the next hours and into tomorrow and into days and weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her daughter actually just turned 4 last September. The thing that we have told my granddaughter was that her mummy is an angel in heaven taking care of God`s children. She cried. It`s very hard for her daughter. She has (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) .

GRACE: As we go to air tonight, we are waiting to confirm the discovery of a ninth female body. We are taking your calls live. But first to Heather Walsh-Haney, forensic anthropologist, Florida Gulf Coast University. Heather, thank you for being with us.

HEATHER WALSH-HANEY, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST: Thank you, Nancy.

GRACE: Heather, a lot has been said, such as they don`t know if they`re women or men. BS! You can look at a woman`s body -- and I`m just a lawyer, I`m just a JD, all right, and I know that you can determine not only by the skull, by the pelvis, but even by the teeth. There`s so many ways to look at a male versus a female body. It doesn`t matter, the race or the age. You can tell it`s a woman`s body. How?

WALSH-HANEY: Absolutely. What we can focus on are obstetric changes, those changes related to childbirth. They mark the skeleton. They mark the skull. They mark the pelvis. And then we can look at overall size differences in the bones. Males are bigger than females. They`re more muscular. Women are smaller. Our bones are slighter. Those differences are clear in bone.

GRACE: What I have found so fascinating in one of your prior explanations, Heather, is how you describe the difference in the teeth, where you can determine not only is it a woman by the teeth, but also is it a white female of European descent. Explain.

WALSH-HANEY: Absolutely. When we`re looking at the teeth, we can look at the teeth in our upper jaw, your first molar. On the tongue side of that moral, whites, or Europeans, tend to have an extra cusp there. It`s called a cusp of Carabelli. It`s a wonderful trait when we get it. It helps really build that profile for race or ancestry.

GRACE: We are getting calls and e-mails in. I want to go straight out to Rita Cosby, investigative journalist and author joining us there, along with Rupa Mikkilineni. Here is one question from Joe in Miami. The road lane next to the beach going in what direction? What direction is that...

(CROSSTALK)

COSBY: Yes, Nancy, it`s going in a west direction. We`re east now. And in fact, we`re near the location where Shannan Gilbert was last seen. Remember, she went to visit a client, then she ran over to another house screaming. The location is within a three to four-mile area westerly.

GRACE: We are on the scene right now. We are waiting for confirmation of the discovery of a ninth body. You are seeing a sketch of Cedar and Oak Beach. The ninth body, we are hearing, has just been found on the same secluded beach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: It`s an isolated and beautiful beachside. How many more will be uncovered?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Another set of skeletal remains.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The killer didn`t go very far from the side of this road to dump this body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If there are any more bodies out there, we want to find them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKKILINENI: I`m holding a burlap bag in my hand right now. And look at me compared to the sack. I could fit in easily.

DORMER: We`ve found human remains, three human remains so far.

GRACE: How many more will turn up in the same quarter-mile stretch of sand? How many more will be uncovered?

DORMER: The medical examiner is going to be looking at the possibility that Shannan Gilbert is one of the remains.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The search continues for her and anyone else that may have been dumped near the beach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoever it doing this, they need to be caught.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are taking your calls. Unleash the lawyers. Joining us tonight, famed attorney out of San Francisco Daniel Horowitz, defense attorney out of New York Doug Burns, prosecutor turned defense attorney.

First to you, Daniel Horowitz. Right now, we know that in this jurisdiction, they`re not going to have the death penalty. So long story short, he`s going get caught sooner or later. If he volunteers right now, would prosecutors cut a deal?

DANIEL HOROWITZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I think they will, Nancy, mostly because I don`t think it`s so certain that they will ever catch this person. I doubt there`s enough evidence that they`ve got now to even make a good search. So if this person comes forward, they`re saving a lot of lives.

GRACE: Yes, OK, what you`re saying really doesn`t make sense. There`s not a enough evidence to make a good search?

HOROWITZ: Burlap sacks...

GRACE: That doesn`t even make sense.

HOROWITZ: ... and a few -- and bodies? What do they have, Nancy?

GRACE: What do you mean, to make a good search? What good search? What are you talking about? What search?

HOROWITZ: I`m saying a search for the perpetrator. What do they have, burlap bags, decomposed bodies, and really, no evidence surrounding the disappearance.

GRACE: We don`t know that because if there is -- if there is still soft tissue, we may get DNA. Did you ever think of that? What about it, Doug Burns?

HOROWITZ: Oh -- you may get DNA.

GRACE: Are you Doug Burns? No! Go ahead, Burns.

DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, I mean, there is an incentive to have him step forward because it`s like -- it`s a serial killer scenario where everybody`s quaking in their books. So I think the point that`s being made is that while you`re right that there`s been a moratorium on the death penalty, this still should incentivize him to step forward.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Lakisha, Indiana. Hi, Lakisha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Miss Nancy. Thank you for taking my call.

GRACE: Thank you for calling in, dear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You`re welcome. I have two comments and two questions. My first question is, I was wanting to know if all these women were victimized due to Craigslist Web site? And...

GRACE: OK, hold on.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

GRACE: Hold on. Let me get the answer to that. Hold tight. Don`t lose Lakisha. What about it, Rupa Mikkilineni? What do we know? How is Craigslist involved? Didn`t they all -- weren`t they all active on Craigslist?

MIKKILINENI: The four women that were identified in December, whose bodies were found, Nancy, were active on Craigslist.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD DORMER, SUFFOLK CO. POLICE DEPT.: We`ve found human remains, three human remains so far in the area between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach. The forensic people are on site, and they obviously have to do their work. The medical examiner is here, and the identification section and the homicide detectives. Again, along with the homicide bureau from the district attorney`s office.

We`re not going to get into any questions about the remains, how they were found, where they were found. It`s too early in the investigation to do that. So I would ask that you just bear with us, be happy with this update we give you right now.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY GRACE, HOST: No, no, no. Not three bodies, try on nine dead women for size.

We are waiting confirmation on a ninth body found in just this one stretch of beach. We are live on the scene and taking your calls.

To Rupa Mikkilineni, how wide, how long is the stretch of the beach where the nine women have been found?

RUPA MIKKILINENI, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: We`re talking about four miles approximately, Nancy, where we found eight bodies, possibly a ninth body, though that`s not been confirmed yet.

GRACE: OK.

MIKKILINENI: A four-mile stretch from the place where I`m at.

GRACE: So four miles. We believe nine bodies -- Rupa, were they buried?

MIKKILINENI: Nancy, they were not buried. They were laying along the beach in -- four of those bodies -- actually five of those bodies we know were in shrubby.

GRACE: So in shrubbery and lying on the beach. Are they close enough to the roadway, Rupa, to have been thrown from a car, yes, no?

MIKKILINENI: Yes.

GRACE: Was there any indication that they had been at any time in plastic bags or in anything at all other than a few of them wrapped in a burlap bags?

MIKKILINENI: Nancy, we don`t know. We`ve only heard about the burlap bags and them being -- without clothing.

GRACE: No clothing. OK, yes, no, how about shoes?

MIKKILINENI: I`m sorry, I didn`t hear you, Nancy.

GRACE: Shoes, shoes, shoes. Did they find shoes?

MIKKILINENI: We do not believe that any personal possessions were around the bodies. Just the bodies in a burlap sack.

GRACE: OK. Give me a yes or no, Rupa. So that includes shoes. Cell phones?

MIKKILINENI: Correct, yes.

GRACE: Pocketbooks?

MIKKILINENI: Nothing.

GRACE: Earrings, jewelry?

MIKKILINENI: Nothing, Nancy.

GRACE: Where is all the stuff that these women had with them?

To Pat Brown, criminal profiler. I guarantee you the serial killer is keeping trophies, mementos from his female victims.

PAT BROWN, CRIMINAL PROFILER, AUTHOR OF "THE PROFILER": Well, he might be, Nancy, because this guy is a sexual sadist. I can guarantee you that. He`s brought these women back to his home, he spent his time with them, and then he`d dumped their bodies. And I bet you he`s somewhere around Oak Beach because that`s where -- well, that`s where the screaming girl was, and that`s -- if he just drove from there, he`d be dumping those bodies on the way down the road.

GRACE: To Dr. N.G. Berrill, m.d., serial killer expert, forensic psychiatrist. The fact that he just throws the body, he doesn`t even really seem to take a lot of effort in hiding them. True, some were in brush, but notice the brush is closer to the road. For all I knew he just threw them into the brush.

He`s not burying them. He`s not trying to secret them anywhere. Nothing. He is so comfortable with this burial ground. Explain it, Doctor.

N.G. BERRILL, SERIAL KILLER EXPERT, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Well, you know, serial killers are often creatures of habit, and this guy is familiar with this part of the country, this beach area. And up until now he`s been pretty successful in as you say just throwing these bodies in burlap or whatever you into the brush. People don`t notice this stuff. You`ll never -- yes.

GRACE: To Rita Cosby, are all the women so far white?

RITA COSBY, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST, AUTHOR OF "QUIET HERO:: Yes, they are white, and a similar description. They all have brown hair, dark blond blonde hair is the description. The combination of two. About 100 pounds and petite. And of the four -- the other thing that`s interesting, Nancy, I think it`s very striking what I saw, the four that have been identified they went missing in the summer.

This is a summer resort. A lot of people have summer houses here. So it`s an interesting area. Just driving up it is very remote, very dark on that stretch of highway where those bodies were found.

GRACE: With me, Rita Cosby, investigative journalist.

Rita, you said four that we know of, and tonight we are awaiting confirmation to a ninth woman`s body. Four of them go missing in the summer. Do we know about the other five?

COSBY: No, we do not know yet. We know that the police are looking for identifications. We are told that they have not identified them yet, but of the four that they have ID`d, they all fit that description.

GRACE: Rita, how close -- you mention that a lot of people spend their summers here. How close are the houses? Any homes to these bodies?

COSBY: Very close. And in fact, the last -- Shannon Gilbert who, of course, sparked this whole investigation, this search. The house that she was last seen at is probably about a quarter of a mile at most from where I`m standing now.

She had visited a client there and then was seen frantically running to a neighbor`s house, where the other bodies are located. It`s probably within maybe a mile or two of the house at the most.

But again, these areas in the wintertime I`m told are quite desolate. In the summer I`m told they`re very active, full of people in the area. But at nighttime still very dark, very remote in the evening hours.

GRACE: As we go to air, the search by land, by air for now we know nine possible female bodies along one four-mile stretch of beach. Tonight that tally likely rising. Police cordoning off the beach, stopping traffic. As the search goes on even at this hour.

We are taking your calls. Out to Joanne in Canada.

Hi, Joanne. I`ve still go Lakisha. OK, back to Lakisha. What was your next question, Lakisha?

LAKISHA, CALLER FROM INDIANA: Yes. My next question is why hadn`t cops tracked the -- collect the e-mail from the women being on Craigslist?

GRACE: Good question.

Let`s go out to Sheryl McCollum, crime analyst, director of the Cold Case Squad, Pine Lake PD, author of "Cold Case.

Sheryl, that`s one of the ways they may try to put this thing back together.

SHERYL MCCOLLUM, CRIME ANALYST, DIR. OF COLD CASE SQUAD AT PINE LAKE P.D.: There`s no question. They`re working backwards right now, Nancy. This killer probably has more than one screen name. He`s working off more than one computer. But they are definitely working backwards, and they are desperate to find the primary crime scene. And we will be in double-digits very quickly.

GRACE: Sheryl, look at your monitor. Look at your monitor. You are seeing right there the workers as they are uncovering the evidence.

MCCOLLUM: Absolutely.

GRACE: Dead bodies by this point the bones have been scattered. You see yellow markers numbered, numbered for photo evidence. They`ll be taking photos and video.

You`re seeing a spot right there where one of the young women`s bodies were found out on this remote and desolate beach. How long have they been there? We don`t know. How recent were they murdered? We don`t know. Were they all murdered -- the bodies kept at another location then dumped here?

We know this. We believe the killer is keeping mementos from these young women. Maybe their driver`s license, their credit cards. Maybe their underwear, their shoes. We don`t know but none of these objects have been found at the scene.

What does that say to you, McCollum?

MCCOLLUM: Well, here`s the thing. I mean definitely he`s probably keeping something, but to me we know how long some of these women have been missing. So you`re looking at a two-year period of time possibly.

I`m telling you, we`re going to be in double digits, Nancy. This guy has been killing every eight weeks.

GRACE: Every eight weeks. With me right now, two special guests, Sherre Gilbert and Lynn Barthelemy. Sherre is Shannan Gilbert`s sister.

Sherre, thank you for being with us.

SHERRE GILBERT, SHANNAN GILBERT`S SISTER, WAS TOLD THAT REMAINS FOUND TODAY MAY BE HER MISSING SISTER: Thank you for having me, Nancy.

GRACE: Sherry joining us tonight out of Ellenville.

Sherry, what are police telling you in the last hours?

GILBERT: They haven`t really told us too much information. They called me this afternoon around 2:30 to tell me that they found three other bodies and the DNA testing will be done, you know, as soon as possible. So we`re just hoping and praying, you know, that it`s not her.

GRACE: Sherre, I noticed you paused. You`re hoping and praying. Do you want to know that this is her so you have finality of some sort, or are you hoping somewhere, somehow she`s still alive? Is it better not to know?

GILBERT: I think, you know, it`s a mixture of both, you know. You kind of want to know like she`s OK and she`s somewhere, but at the same time it`s not that I`ll ever receive closure. But I just feel like she needs to just provide and find something, you know?

GRACE: Is it true that she had a rod in her jaw?

GILBERT: She had a metal plate in her left jaw.

GRACE: So they may be using that for identification.

Also with me Lynn Barthelemy. This is the mother of Melissa Barthelemy.

Miss Barthelemy, thank you for being with us.

LYNN BARTHELEMY, MOTHER OF MELISSA BARTHELEMY, BODY FOUND DUMPED ON BEACH: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: What is your reaction to a possible ninth body being found on this stretch of beach?

BARTHELEMY: I`m sick to my stomach over this. It`s just like it`s happening all over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say they found more human remains dumped on this deserted stretch of Ocean Parkway.

MIKKILINENI: There are no streetlights here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The bones investigators say were found about one mile each of where the remains of four other women were discovered.

JEAN CASAREZ, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, "IN SESSION": Various forms of decomposition.

GRACE: Wrapped in burlap bags.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The mystery deepens surrounding a possible serial killing spree.

DORMER: We found human remains. Three human remains so far.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Police say they found more human remains.

MIKKILINENI: We`re talking about a body count of eight bodies at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is unbelievable but we`re talking about eight people.

GRACE: How this guy can`t get caught I don`t know. He`s leaving tracks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it going to be more body found?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The methodical process of searching.

DORMER: We want to do this before the spring foliage grows in and makes it more difficult.

GRACE: He`s leaving a trail for police to find.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopefully, again, because obviously someone like that probably won`t stop.

DORMER: If there are any more bodies out there, we want to find there.

GRACE: How many more bodies are going to be discovered along this same stretch of sand, and why can`t cops stop it?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: For those of you just joining us, the tally now at eight, possibly nine dead bodies along this same stretch of beach, all white females in their early 20s, all about 5 feet tall, around 100 pounds, sandy brown to blonde hair. All of them startlingly similar.

We are taking your calls. To Dr. Vincent Dimaio, former chief medical examiner, Bexar County, forensic pathologist.

How long generally does it take to identify a body?

DR. VINCENT DIMAIO, M.D., FORMER CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER, BEXAR COUNTY, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: If they have dental records in the office, they could do it in less than an hour. If they have x-rays. If they have, like, metal plates, sometimes the plates have serial numbers on them, and you can check with the manufacturer.

DNA, they can do it in a few days, but usually it takes a couple of weeks. It just depends on how fast the lab wants to process it.

GRACE: With me, Dr. Vincent Dimaio out of Bexar County.

Dr. Dimaoi, would you be able -- will the medical examiner be able to look at the remains and determine when they were killed?

DIMAIO: No. Because the decomposition has been interfered by the winter. The bodies have been out in the snow. And so those bodies could have been out there, you know, several months, a year or two. The summer they would decompose faster. The winter it would slow down. It`s very variable.

GRACE: To Heather Walsh-Haney, forensic anthropologist, joining us from gulf -- Florida Gulf Coast University.

Heather, is there any way to determine the age on bones?

HEATHER WALSH-HANEY, FORENSIC ANTHROPOLOGIST, FLORIDA GULF COAST UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. The way that they can determine the age from the bones is to see if the growth plates, so to speak, are fused. After that, they can look at degenerative changes, those related to arthritis or wear and tear on all of the joint surfaces. We compare what we see on the skeletons with known standards to come up with the age.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Lori in Michigan.

Hi, Lori. Excuse me. Joanne in Canada. Hi, Joanne.

JOANNE, CALLER FROM CANADA: Hi, Nancy. How are you?

GRACE: I`m good, dear. What was the rest of your question?

JOANNE: I asked -- my question was -- part of it was answered. I was wondering how secluded this beach, like, was it from the road.

GRACE: Right.

JOANNE: And was it the same officer that found the bodies and had he been questioned?

GRACE: I don`t think it is the same officer. You`re right.

To Rupa Mikkilineni, I think the first body way back when was found by an off-duty cop walking his dog. What prompted this latest search, Rupa?

MIKKILINENI: I`m sorry, Nancy? What part?

GRACE: What prompted this latest search?

MIKKILINENI: Yes. The second -- what happened last week when they found a fifth body was actually just again accidental, Nancy. It was a police officer driving along this highway, along this beach area, something caught his eye, he pulled over, he happen to have his canine unit with him and he discovered the fifth body last week.

Now today this search was prompted -- it was a targeted search it seems today, Nancy. They really went to this area along the stretch of the beach between where the first set of bodies was found back in December and between Oak Beach where Shannan Gilbert first went missing from. And they targeted this area and started to search. And within a couple of hours they found these three bodies.

GRACE: We are taking your calls. To Nicole in Colorado. Hi, Nicole.

Lori in Michigan. Hi, Lori.

LORI, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Hi, Nancy. Thanks for taking my call.

Your caller before me just asked the question I was thinking exactly. I find it very odd that an off-duty police officer finds the first set of four bodies, and now a police officer driving by and looking at the terrain here, I don`t know how you could see a decomposed body that had been, first of all, under snow all winter. It had to be in very poor condition. What would make you see that, unless you`re going at a very slow, you know, speed?

GRACE: Well, you know, one thing I learned from the top mom Casey Anthony trial when I learned a meter reader stumbled upon little Caylee`s body. Turned out he was out reading meters and had to use the bathroom and walked a little bit just not far off the road into some woods to urinate and finds the body.

We don`t know how he found this body or what caught his eye.

Do we, Rita Cosby? Do we know why this off-duty cop found the body, how it happened?

COSBY: No, we don`t. But we do know that they`ve been looking for Shannan Gilbert since she went missing. Remember she went missing in May of last year. So they had been on the lookout in this area, because she was last reported seen not too far away from where the body was found.

So officers have been constantly sort of scouring the area, driving again in that same location on the highway westerly looking to the right of the road. It`s a marshland really. It`s not really a beach area per se. It`s a marshland.

And the brush is very, very thick. But they`ve been targeting a specific area. So all cops have been alerted since the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert to look in this area.

GRACE: Rita Cosby, you`ve handled a ton of criminal cases as an investigative reporter. I can`t stress the importance of the fact that this killer is taking every single piece of possible identification from the victims. Everything. They`re not thrown out there in their clothes.

Everything is taken. Their jewelry is removed, their earrings, necklaces, everything is removed so as to stop an unusual.

COSBY: Yes, that is highly unusual, Nancy. You and I have covered a lot of cases together. This is very unusual. And very interesting that they`re going to such tremendous efforts not to be identified and you bet they probably are keeping, quote, "tokens.`

GRACE: Back to Lynn Barthelemy, mother of Melissa.

Miss Barthelemy, what are your thoughts at this hour as the search goes on?

BARTHELEMY: My thoughts at this hour, I`m sick to my stomach. And I mean, it took 17 months for them to find my daughter and it was because they were looking for somebody else`s daughter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: "Loveline," "Sober House," "Celebrity Rehab," addiction specialist Drew Pinsky tonight launching "DR. DREW."

Hi, Dr. Drew. Tell us what you have on the show coming up at the top of the hour.

DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN`S DR. DREW: Hey, Nancy, thank you is much. Let me say, Nancy, I have to -- I have to make a couple of comments about the story I`ve been listening to while I`m listening to your program. And I thank God you are doing these stories.

These guys that perpetrate these acts are just disgusting. I`ve had the unfortunate experience of treating patients who`ve been in the clutches of guys like this. And it`s as bad as you might imagine.

Thank you for inspiring your viewers to seek justice. Thank you for covering these stories that often go overlooked because they involve people that people don`t necessarily care about.

But this is somebody`s daughter we`re talking about in each of these cases. And I just want to say thank you. And I hope the way you inspire viewers to seek justice that we can inspire your viewers if they`ll stick around in our program to seek change.

We`re going to look at the stories behind the stories. We`re going to look at the -- sort of what makes people do what they do and hopefully by doing so help people understand how they can achieve change.

GRACE: Dr. Drew, we`ll all be watching in just a few moments when you launch your first show here on HLN. Who`s your first guest tonight or is it a secret?

DREW: It`s not a secret. We have Sammy Hagar coming up tonight. I`ll tell you the one thing I`m very proud of, we have the young lady -- I think it`s up tonight -- who is the Internet sensation who was handing up those placards -- holding up placard about bullying.

I have the exclusive interview with that actual young lady. And she is a lovely young 13-year-old. I think people will enjoy hearing about this story. An inspiration that comes out of the mouth of babes.

GRACE: We`re all going to be watching "DR. DREW" coming up next.

Thanks, Dr. Drew.

DREW: Thanks, Nancy.

GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant Christopher Van Der Horn, 37, Tacoma, killed Iraq. Awarded Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Army Commendation and Achievement.

A cop and court marshal back home. Loves soccer, boating. Leaves behind parents Bob and Nancy, sister, Sherry, brother, Craig. Widow Theresa. Sons Max and Liam.

Christopher Van Der Horn, American hero.

Thanks to our guest but especially to you. And a special good night from New York, Florida and California friends, Bill, Dee, Bill, Debbie, Tammy, Tara and Jeff. Going to visit police officer turned air marshal Bill Fitz Fitzgerald battling cancer. Here he is with his daughter, beautiful Morgan.

Fitz, please stay strong, friend. Please.

Everyone, we`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END