'Some Peace For Our Karen': Fire Island Community Leaders Relieved After Guilty Plea In 30-Year-Old Cold Case

FIRE ISLAND, NY — When Karen Vergata’s partial remains were found along Fire Island in 1996, unceremoniously disposed of like garbage, she left an everlasting impression on the community.

It was a violent act that led her to that peaceful stretch of beach where the bay washes up on the shore, and it has haunted those closest to it.

Part of her mysterious end was unraveled in 2011 when her skull was discovered buried on Tobay Beach, close to the burial ground associated with the Gilgo Beach investigation, which was sparked by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a young woman who worked in the sex trade.

Eleven sets of remains were found, including those of a toddler, and a man dressed in women’s clothes, who remains unidentified. The toddler and her mother, whose remains were also unearthed at Gilgo, are believed to have been killed in a separate incident, unrelated to the case.

The former partner of the woman, Tanya Jackson, has been charged in connection with her death and that of her daughter, Tatiana Dykes.

Vergata’s identity was confirmed in 2022, and publicly released in 2023.

For some, she was just the poor woman found on the beach.

Her murderer, Rex Heuermann, admitted on Wednesday that he murdered her sometime in April 1996 by strangling her and then dismembering her body, so that her remains could be discarded at various locations.

It’s brought some sense of justice to the community that has adopted her as one of their own this past 30 years, as they shepherded hope that she would know peace and that her family would have some closure.

“Our Karen will at least have some peace,” Davis Park Association President Jayne Robinson said.

For 27 years, Vergata was referred to by varying names like “Davis Park Jane Doe” and “Fire Island Jane Doe.”

“She’s kind of ours in a way,” Robinson said, making reference to where she was found.

Vergata, a Glen Head native, was 34 years old and living in Manhattan at the time she met up with Heuermann.

She reportedly had two sons, who were living with her father at the time she disappeared.

The last time he heard from her was Valentine’s Day, according to a report in Newsday.

Robinson said she feels terrible for Vergata’s family, because it is “trauma all around.”

She hopes that there will be some comfort to know that Heuermann is going to be punished for what he did.

In his actions, he “defiled” a beautiful day and the island itself, Robinson added.

Robinson, who has had a house on the island since 1992, could not think of any other crime associated with it.

The island is quiet, with much of it devoid of commercial properties.

There’s a section with homes, then a desolate section of wilderness.

While there are some party spots, it’s a laid-back community where people go to relax with their friends and families.

Until April 1996, it wasn’t the place one would associate with someone’s murder, let alone its connection to multiple as part of serial killer investigation.

A Community 'Traumatized'

In the community of Davis Park, the notion that there was a killer on the loose, was “traumatizing,” Robinson said.

“To have the remains found just to the west of our community was, you know, I think was very traumatic for people,” she said.

The scenario led to a lot of speculation, which posed more questions.“Who could be? What could be? How did they get there? He must have had a boat,” she said. “There's so many remote spots along the coast there. People thought. Is this a neighbor? Is this someone we know? Or, who is this crazy person?”

Robinson said she feels bad for the Ragona brothers, who made the discovery.

One of the theories explored in the community was that the killer had a boat.

The Fire Island Ferry stops between Thanksgiving and March. While this happened in April, after the ferry restarted for the spring, no one could imagine the killer taking the ferry, so the theory remained that a boat was involved.

“I think it was always people assumed that he had his own boat, and had come over, probably under cover of darkness, and disposed of her remains,” Robinson said.

“We all use the beach, coming and walking along the bay,” she said. “We have a lot of erosion on the bay side, so sometimes there's not much beach. But kids could have been playing along there, or walking.”

Unlike the oceanfront side, water’s always been shallow in the area where the discovery was made.“I can't imagine how terrible it would have been to find that bag and to think about that poor young woman,” she said.

A Terrible Crime Unfolds

Vergata's legs and feet were found about a mile west of Davis Park Beach in April 1996, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney previously said.

They were found by two brothers, Robert Ragona of Valley Stream, and Andrew Ragona of Danbury, CT.

After Heuermann's arrest in 2023, Andrew Ragona, an oral surgeon who was then 86, told Patch he made the shocking discovery while searching for driftwood to repair the deck on his beach house in Blue Point.

The pair were about halfway down between Blue Point Beach and Davis Park on the bay side of the wilderness area, when they found a black plastic garbage bag partly submerged in water.

They could see that the bag had what they believed looked like a ham or a roast sticking out of it, and it was clean cut, with no blood, Ragona recalled.

They took a stick and poked it open, and as soon as it tore open, a toe with red painted nail polish became visible."I said, 'Oh boy,' and [Robert] got a little green," Ragona recalled of his brother's reaction.

They knew they had to call the police, but they had to secure the bag first.

“We took this piece of wood and put it through the string and brought it onto the shore, and then went back to the house and called the police,” Ragona said.

At the time of his interview, he didn't think that the first police officer who arrived believed him. After the two walked the officer down the beach, he immediately got on the phone.

“Shortly after that, I think the entire police force in Suffolk County was on the beach,” Ragona said.

Ragona previously told Patch that he hoped the authorities had her killer.

Recent attempts to reach Ragona were unsuccessful.

A Surprise Plea

In addition to Vergata’s murder, Heuermann admitted to killing seven other women, including Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber-Lynn Costello, and Melissa Barthelemy, who are known as the Gilgo Four, for being the first discovered.

He also admitted to killing Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor.

The first victim he admitted to killing is Sandra Costillo, who was found out in the Hamptons, in the sleepy hamlet of North Sea in 1993.

It wasn’t as much of a detailed admission, as some hoped, but nonetheless, he made his confession to the judge before a packed courtroom.

His monotone voice answered “yes” and the word strangulation, one after the other.

In the investigation’s timeline, Vergata is Heuermann’s second victim, coming three years after Costilla.

Most of the women are believed by the authorities to have engaged in sex work.

Praise For the Investigation, After ‘Unimaginable Pain’

Suffolk Legis. Dominick Thorne, deputy chair of the county’s Public Safety Committee, said he can’t fathom the length of the investigation, saying he is proud of DA Tierney, who oversaw the case himself, “for bringing this man to justice and giving closure to the families that have been waiting so long for final answers and have some time for closure.”

“The unimaginable pain and suffering they must have gone through all of the years, waiting for a final answer is heartbreaking, and I'm very happy that they finally can have closure.”

The geography of the investigation from North Sea to Gilgo Beach has struck Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, whose village includes Davis Park.

“If you go back to when the original bodies were found, going on for over 30 years, and to have it settled, and have it done in the manner that it is, I think, is good for the entire Long Island community,” he said.

Pontieri offered credit to the court justice overseeing Heuermann’s case, Judge Tim Mazzei, for his guidance.

Mazzei, a former prosecutor from Blue Point who served as the Brookhaven Town councilman representing Fire Island and is very well-known in the community, was “the right person for the job,” said Pontieri, who is a friend.

Moving Forward, After ‘A Hideous Killer’

Robinson said she plans to mention the possibility of adding a memorial for Vergata in the association’s memorial garden.

Despite the horrible discovery, and the pain associated with it, Robinson thinks the community can move forward from it now that there are some answers to their questions.

“I think people have been very interested in the story and interested in the way [Heuermann] was tracked down, and they got the right person,” she said, adding that with his plea, “people will breathe a sigh of relief.”

Thorne agreed.

“The one thing I know about all the residents of Suffolk County, whether it's Davis Park or the mainland, is that they're incredibly good people that are extremely resilient and we will always return to normalcy now that this hideous killer has been brought to justice.”

Heuermann is due in court for sentencing on June 17.