New LI Police Commissioner Will Release Gilgo 911 Tapes: Report

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — Long Island police will publicly release the 911 calls related to the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, whose case led to the discovery of 10 sets of remains in Gilgo Beach, as long as their disclosure doesn't interfere with the probe, according to a report in Newsday.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison made the announcement Friday that he has listened to the tapes, adding, "as long as it doesn’t impede the investigation, I will be sharing those audiotapes to the public. But I want to make sure it doesn’t hinder the investigation at all," the outlet reported.

The agency had previously denied the release of the Gilbert case's tapes with the argument that the release would hinder the 11-year-old investigation of the cold case. Gilbert disappeared in May 2010 after visiting a client for sex at his home in Oak Beach. Her remains were later found in December 2011.

Miller Place attorney John Ray, who represents the family of Gilbert, a New Jersey escort, has listened to the tapes and is suing for their public release.

"The tapes, if the public would know of them, would shock the public and probably upset the public," he told Patch in an interview last December. "It seems to me rather critical that the public know what's on the tape."

State Supreme Court Justice Sanford Berland denied Ray's request, instead ruling in favor of the police whose investigators want to keep the tapes confidential because of the "open, active investigation."

"I don't see where public disclosure … is warranted here, or what it would advance in terms of your prosecution of your client's claim, especially in the face of the police department taking the position that it could have a negative effect on their work," Berland wrote in his decision, Newsday reported.

During a canine search of the area for Gilbert on Dec. 11, 2010, a set of skeletal remains belonging to Melissa Barthelemy were discovered in an area near Gilgo Beach off of Ocean Parkway.

Two days after that, the remains of three other Craigslist escorts — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello — were located close to Barthelemy’s remains. All four of the women were reported missing between July 2007 and September 2010. A set of partial skeletal remains belonging to Jessica Taylor, another known escort, were found on March 29, 2011.

Taylor's partial remains were previously discovered on July 26, 2003, just off of Halsey Manor Road in Manorville.

Days after Taylor’s partial remains were found in 2011, three additional sets of remains were discovered on April 4, 2011. They included those of Valerie Mack, whose partial remains were discovered by hunters in a wooded area, like Taylor’s just off of Halsey Manor Road in Manorville, but about three years earlier on Nov. 19, 2000. The second set of skeletal remains was discovered near Mack's and were those of an unidentified little girl.

Mack’s remains were identified in 2020.

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Just west of Mack's remains and those of the toddler, was the skeletal remains of an unidentified Asian male. Two additional sets of skeletal remains were found about seven miles away from the discovery on April 4, and one set is believed to be the mother of the toddler found a week earlier, while the other set of partial remains was linked through DNA analysis to remains found in Davis Park on Fire Island in 1996.

Harrison has been briefed on the investigation and on Friday took a walkthrough of the site where the remains were found, pledging a new look at the case.

“I like to bring a fresh set of eyes from my experiences being an investigator in the NYPD, just to make sure that all of the investigative leads are/were being done appropriately,” he said at a news briefing following his tour with investigators.

Harrison said he also had the opportunity to speak to the former police commissioner, outgoing District Attorney Tim Sini, and former commissioner Geraldine Hart “regarding their thoughts on what needs to be done or what was done in the investigation.”

He thanked them for being able to “pick their brains” adding, “regarding what needs to be done going forward.”

Harrison said he is committed to Suffolk residents and the family members of the victims.

“We will not rest until we bring those accountable to justice,” he said. “I stated this when I was nominated as the commissioner for Suffolk County, that solving this surreal case is going to be very, very important.”

Suffolk Police have a website called GilgoNews.com featuring updates on the investigation. Tips can be submitted by clicking here.