A skull that was found in 2011 near Gilgo Beach on Long Island has been identified as that of a 34-year-old woman who went missing in 1996, the authorities said on Friday.
The death of the woman, Karen Vergata, has not been linked to Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who last month pleaded not guilty to killing three women whose bodies were found along the beach.
The skull of Ms. Vergata, who investigators said had worked as an escort, was discovered on Tobay Beach around the same time that investigators discovered the remains of 11 other people along the stretch of the South Shore that includes nearby Gilgo Beach.
Other remains belonging to Ms. Vergata had been found in Davis Park on Fire Island in April 1996.
For years, she was known as “Fire Island Jane Doe” as the police worked to identify her.
Persons:
Karen Vergata, Rex Heuermann, Heuermann, Vergata, Jane Doe ”
Organizations:
Authorities
Locations:
Gilgo Beach, Long, Tobay, Shore, Gilgo, Davis