Revisiting The Gilgo Beach Murder Case
The media was using headlines with derogatory language...I was able to get several media outlets to collaborate with me, my goal was to get the public to empathize with the victims and their families.
Note: I have worked on hundreds of human trafficking cases. Each one adds to my learning, hones my skills, and teaches me about love from so many perspectives. Each one forms and contributes to a part of me. These are my memories of the case. I am not mentioning names of the victims' family members to respect their privacy. All defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Gilgo Beach Murder case has taken a large part of my soul and improved it. I was called to help on this case in 2010. Megan Waterman was missing and the nonprofit AVAAZ asked me to help. I am forever grateful that they found me. I got into the case swiftly and determined that Megan was being prostituted by coercion. In my expert opinion, she was a trafficked victim. The events that occurred before she went missing were the same patterns that I see in most cases. It was so sad to me that I had not met her family sooner. If I could have helped, possibly she would still be here. However, fate did not allow it to be the way.
Finding Megan
When Megan’s body was located one of our teammates was there before the crime scene tape was up. We were on it; but unfortunately, what we had prayed would not be, led to this horrible outcome.
Our local team member fed us info when I learned the body was Megan’s, I called her family to prepare them. However, when Megan’s aunt said “Hello,” I knew she had been notified. That one word, that simple acknowledgement that she had answered my call and I felt the pain, the loss, the end of hope in her voice. There was nothing left, just that empty hollow vacancy that had been Megan now gone forever.
Shannan
The Watermans asked me to help Shannan’s family. So, I did. The media was using headlines with derogatory language about the victims. It was as if they deserved it. I was able to get several media outlets to collaborate with me and my goal was to get the public to help locate Shannan and to empathize with the victims rather than scoff and demean them.
CBS’s 48 Hours flew me to New York, and they followed me as I met the families for a vigil. We walked the path that Shannan had traveled that night. From when she entered the subdivision to the house where the man bought her for sex, to the long path she ran while calling 911 for help that never came. We stopped and gathered at the place at the last point of contact. Where months later, just yards away, her body was found. The feelings I felt were so empty, so harsh, so mean, so cruel. When I returned home, it took almost ten days to feel myself again. It was as if that darkness had followed me home. I could feel the moment it left. It was an invisible mud on my soul.
The German media Outlet Der Spiegel sent me back again. I continued to get attention on the victims as heroes, especially Shannan. Without her call for help, we would have never discovered the other women. The police search for her continued while I was there!
Sirens Blaring
This trip to Gilgo Beach was most eventful, the families had gathered to place flowers on the sites where authorities had discovered their loved ones. To our dismay, the local police were downright hostile. They moved the families along after just moments at their daughters’ site. Sirens blared as the local gendarmes ordered the procession to move. There was no reason for this.
At first, I wondered what the motivation was, maybe there was something I did not know. This thought was rapidly dismissed!
A True Gentleman
I saw the grandfather of one of the victims. He was crying. This tall man’s man, a man who looked as if he had worked hard for every dollar he ever earned. A grandfather who loved his granddaughter. Protector of his family whose most precious grandchild’s life was shattered. He was carrying a box along with her stepfather. They were both so distraught. The grandfather told me they had just buried her remains. But when they showed up to the vigil, the police gave them this box. It rattled a bit as he shook it to show me. It has a bone from her they forgot to give us. He cried! This over 6’1” gentleman standing next to me with this box “How can anyone be so mean?” All I could do was hold him and cry with him. There was no way to comfort such harshness.
Culture Change
The culture of the Law Enforcement around this case has changed dramatically. At the time the case began many systemic problems embraced the county and we could feel the corruption throughout the culture of the community. The procedures and tactics adopted by the legal establishment at that time demonstrate a perfect example of why corrupt officials must not be tolerated and allowed to govern. The consequences of this spread throughout to every segment of the community. The side effects of the corruption touch everyone who enters the county and erode public safety.
I am so grateful for Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who formed a multiagency task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach killings in 2022. He and DA Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney led the significant efforts of the detectives working the case.
They have treated the families and the late victims, to use Mr. Harrison’s own analogy, “the opposite of the way they were treated in the past.” He has demonstrated this with his total intention of making this case a top priority. Harrison has restored integrity and trust to his office. He gave those dedicated detectives the support, confidentiality, and resources they needed to be successful.
Blessed
I feel so blessed to meet each of these families. I was there at the worst moments of their lives, however as the District Attorney said in the press conference, they are the total opposite of the evil that brought them together.
When I received word from Megan’s aunt that there was an arrest (our local TV channel covered it). I was so relieved that I felt like I needed to sleep. It was such a large force that it drained me. I am not sure my words can fully describe the feelings. I will write more about the case as the court procedures unfold. The next court date is August 1.