Gilbert Family Calls For Resignation of Detective In Gilgo Case

BABYLON, NY — A Suffolk County detective is being called upon to resign from the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation.

John Ray, attorney who represents the family of Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker whose disappearance led police find the remains other prostitutes, demanded for Detective Lieutenant Kevin Beyrer, commanding officer of police homicide section, to resign from the case.

The Gilbert family isalso launching an online petition for Attorney General Letitia James to appoint investigate the Suffolk County Police Department, he said.

"Suffolk County Police, led by Lieutenant Kevin Beyrer, continue to mislead the public as to Shannon Gilbert's death," said Ray. "They offer the absurd to refute the obvious, by bold preposterous claims made to seem plausible — just because they are uttered by men in uniform. "

In a 12 minute video released on Friday, Beyrer explains pieces of Shannan Gilbert's 911 call, which she made in 2010 on the night of her disappearance. The full 911 call was also released.

In the video, he states that police have ruled out Gilbert's death as a homicide.

"Shannon's death, while tragic, was not a murder and is most likely an accident," Beyrer stated in the video. "The official cause of Shannan's death is undetermined."

Beyrer also said that Gilbert's remains were found in 2011 in marshland. The reeds in the marsh can grow more than 12-feet tall and can disorient someone inside them, he said, causing them to lose a sense of direction.

"This official classification means there is insufficient or no evidence to determine or even to exclude an actual cause of death," Beyrer said in the video.

However, Ray stated that Dr. Michael Baden, a private pathologist hired by the Gilbert family, confirmed that Gilbert had a broken hyoid bone, which is a U-shaped bone in the neck which supports the tongue. The hyoid bones were snapped off, Ray said, and had a significant hole drilled or poked through the center. These findings are "consistent with homicidal strangulation," officials said.

"That is not police work," Ray said. "It's the opposite."

Sheree Gilbert, 34, Shannan Gilbert's sister, is also skeptical of the police's statements.

"I just don't believe that," said Sherre at the press conference via Zoom. "But I just feel like they never cared in the beginning. "

She also said that police did not reach out to her before releasing her sister's 911 tapes.

"It's disrespectful, because if you're going to release a 911 call with my sister's last words on there, why would you not let the family hear that," she said. "If they're ruling her (death) as accidental, why wasn't it released in the first place?"

Ray also stated that Beyrer, who was hired to be a set of "fresh eyes" for the case, actually has personal ties to the Oak Beach community.

"But it has lain dormant under the eyes-wide shut detective, Lieutenant Kevin Byron," said Ray. "I ask that Lieutenant Kevin Byron do the right thing here, resign step aside."

The Gilbert family is also calling on the Attorney General to do a thorough investigation of the Suffolk County police department.

More than ten years after the discovery of at least 11 human remains, no arrests have been made.

In a letter to Ray and Newsday dated January 2012, Homicide Detective Vincent Stephan stated that Gilbert was not speaking in danger and that her demeanor on the tape was "calm."

In the 911 tapes released on Friday, Gilbert expressed a distressed disposition and screamed multiple times.

"That set the narrative for the next 10 years. These assertions were utterly false," said Ray. "Why they had misled us have not been revealed. They need to be revealed. I plead with you to press in the public.

In recents months have police released evidence released more information on the four of the victims, as well as surveillance footage of victim Megan Waterman.

Mari Gilbert, Shannan's mother, was later murdered by another daughter.

A Netflix movie, "Lost Girls," was made about the case; the movie was filmed on the North Fork in 2018.

Suffolk County Crime Stoppers recently announced that the reward leading to an arrest in this case has been increased from $25,000 to $50,000. Tips can also be submitted through Gilgonews.com.

More information can be found about the Gilgo Beach victims and Shannan Gilbert here.
To view Dr. Baden's pathology report, click here.