'They're Trying To Kill Me': Police Release 911 Gilgo Beach Calls

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — Suffolk Police have released three 911 calls made the night that Shannan Gilbert went missing near Oak Beach, in two videos released on Youtube, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison announced on Friday.

One video, which is roughly 23 minutes, contains the full duration of the 911 calls. In the other 12-minute video, Detective Lieutenant Kevin Beyrer, commanding officer of the Suffolk County Police Department's homicide section, explains "the circumstances surrounding" the calls.

During the early morning hours of May 1, 2010, Shannon Gilbert, a Craigslist sex worker and resident of Jersey City, New Jersey, traveled from Manhattan to meet client Joseph Brewer at his home at 8 The Fairway Drive, he said.

She was driven from Manhattan to Oak Beach by Michael Pak; neither had been to the area before or had met Brewer previously, police said.

Gilbert called 911 at about 4:51 a.m. as she was leaving Brewer's house, Beyrer said. Both Brewer and Pak can be heard on the tapes, telling Gilbert to leave the house.

"There's somebody after me," Gilbert repeatedly tells the 911 operator. "'They're trying to kill me."

Further into the call, clearly distressed, she tells someone in the house to "stop." She later screams.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked.

Gilbert is then heard running and knocking on the door of Gus Coletti's residence, located at 17 The Fairway Drive, police said. Her 911 call ends after Coletti lets her inside.

The second 911 call was made by Coletti at 5:22 a.m., Beyrer said. He tells the operator that a man is following a young girl in a car, and gives a description of Gilbert and the car, he added.

Gilbert later runs to the residence of Barbara Brennan, located at 43 The Banyon, police said. Brennan made the third 911 call, and told the operator that a woman had said she was in danger; Brennan did not open her door for Gilbert, police said.

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

"Shannon's death, while tragic, was not a murder and is most likely an accident," said Beyrer.

The official cause of Shannon's death is undetermined, he said.

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

The case, including the 911 calls, was also reviewed by Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of the FBI in its entirety, police said.

BAU’s opinion, based on their review of the case, the scene, the 911 calls and a psychiatrist’s review of the case is that Gilbert’s death is not consistent with Gilbert being the victim of a homicide, police said.

However, Dr. Michael Baden, a private pathologist hired by the Gilbert family confirmed that while there is "insufficient information to determine a definite cause of death," his autopsy findings are "consistent with homicidal strangulation," officials said.

No arrests have been made in the case, police said.

"There has been information received during the course of this investigation that other people might be involved in this incident," said Beyrer. "They have all been investigated, and there's no reason to believe at this time that anyone else is involved in this tragic series of events."

Attorney John Ray, who represents the Gilbert family, told Patch that its "absurd" for police to believe Gilbert's death was an accident.

"Compare the evidence with the audio tape, and no reasonable person could come to the conclusion that she died in some unknown accident," said Ray. "What you have is a prostitute who says that she's about to be killed several times, runs away with a blood curdling scream with a struggle, and is found dead in the mosh. And you don't think that's a murder?"

Ray also believes that Brewer and Pak knew they were being recorded.

"They're clearly aware that she's on 911 talking to the operator. Do you think they're gonna say anything that would inculcate them?" he said. "They're acting. This is a drama for them."

While the audio tapes are released more than ten years after Gilbert's death, Ray said it's "not too late" to have justice.

"We put great faith in the brilliance of the collective mind of the public," he said.

Gilbert's disappearance lead to the discoveries of the 10 sets of human remains.

Suffolk County Police recently released more information on four of the victims, as well as surveillance footage of victim Megan Waterman.

The search for Gilbert first led to the bodies of four other prostitutes, all of whom were strangled and stuffed in burlap bags. A total of 11 sets of human remains, including Gilbert's, were found along Ocean Parkway. Police have been searching for a serial killer ever since.

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.