Saraa murdered her mother and is now in jail. "Suddenly, you no longer had to walk down the street; you could just work out of your home," he said. Our editors handpick the products that we feature. We tried to get Sarra help many times since she was diagnosed with schizophrenia in early 2014 and she would get better and then her condition would get worse., Laster says she genuinely liked Sarra. burst into flames, killing all 230 passengers on board in 1996. Lynn Barthelemy's 24-year-old daughter, Melissa, had been missing for a year-and-a-half when the bodies were discovered. Megan was just 22 when she was murdered, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter. Shannan wasnt among these victims, but the search for her had led to the realization that a serial killer was at work in the area. "Some call him a storyteller and an exaggerator. Mari Gilbert was an American activist and advocate for her late daughter, Shannan Gilbert, a 23-year-old aspiring author working as an escort who may have been murdered by the Long Island serial killer. Sherre said. FacebookShannan Gilbert in a Facebook photo. "She just says 'they're trying to kill me,'" he replied. 7: A baby girl; possibly Jane Doe's, Victim No. The medical examiner couldn't determine cause of death, but investigators don't think she's the 11th victim of the Long Island Serial Killer. "Perhaps someone knows something. Seriously, a person gets a lot of phone calls," he said. "She's disoriented; she's in a frenzy," Varrona explained. "I'm satisfied in my belief and understanding of what occurred.". She was pursuing that. The truth is all these women are victims.. "What would she tell you when you would say you were worried about it?" No one would give her a job," said Cann. Lost Girls, a new Netflix movie helmed by Gene Coombs and Henry Williams had mistaken the politician for a drug dealer who had ripped them off. "And they said, 'She's a hooker. As Brewer is heard trying to get her to leave his house, Varrone says, "He either approaches her or touches her and you hear her scream out.". Former Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone believes Shannan actually died by accident -- after running into the thick marsh and getting lost. Mari Gilbert MAUREEN BRAINARD-BARNES: Disappeared July 9, 2007. Reed Birney as Dr. Peter Hackett in 'Lost Girls'. "It absolutely makes no sense that she's found where she is, except that someone else put her there or killed her there," said Gilbert family attorney John Ray. But Hackett would face criticism after he allegedly embellished his role in the investigation, Vice reports. 52-year-old Mari Gilbert became a murder victim advocate after her Craigslist-escort He said the cause of death could not be determined, but the autopsy showed some findings consistent with strangulation. They don't want to hear anything. Sarra Elizabeth Gilbert, 27, is being charged in the crime. "I was in the bathroom shaving. In that car was Michael Pak, Shannan's driver - the second man police wanted to talk to. In February, she drowned her pit bull in her bathtub and was arrested, he says, and that case is still pending.. Howeverin an update of the case in January, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart called her cause of death "inconclusive.". Mari also may have had temporary custody of Sarras son, Daily Freeman reported. (The) last time I talked to him, it was seven years ago at least, and he was saying that he was basically unemployable, Kolker told. Mari Gilbert, Mother Of Murdered Sex Worker, Found Stabbed A year and a half of questions & no answers, clues or hints. Why weren't they screaming that and clamoring that?" He was sort of the local big shot in Oak Beach, Robert Kolker, the author of Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery toldOxygen.comof Hackett. It was hard to breathe," said Cann. There is not an iota of evidence in any of this litigation.. Even the family's attorney, Steven Cohen, couldn't get police to take notice. "I believe my sister needs a voice needs her pride back needs the respect she had before this all happened," said Melissa Cann. "No," she exclaimed. Sarra Giberts sister, Shannan Maria Gilbert went missing on Long Island on May 1, 2010. Sarra heard voices that urged her to perform violent acts, New York Daily News reported. But before her body was found, multiple other womens bodies were found on Ocean Parkway between Gilgo and Oak Beach and authorities began to suspect a serial killer had been at work in the area. And she didnt just make a lot of noise; the experience of fighting on behalf of her daughter Shannan transformed Mari, too.. Lost Girls: Who Were The Victims Of The Long Island Serial "The area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," a police officer said at a press conference. She wanted to be a singer, an actress. Their stories are bizarre and confusing, starting with Joseph Brewer's - the john. At the time, Maureen was a desperate, single mother of two. With Shannan Gilbert's disappearance and the discovery of four other bodies, all escorts, attention focused on a profession that has always operated in the shadows. WSHU | Words cant even describe the amount of pain and heartache I feel everyday for you & mom. She needed to get some money. Colletti said it was then that he noticed an Asian man in his 30s driving a black SUV. Brewer insists he never harmed Shannan. Mari Gilberts body was discovered in her daughter Sarras apartment in the Catskills. Mental illness drove Sarra Gilbert to kill her mother, Mari Gilbert five years after Sarras sister was found dead near a suspected serial killers mass grave in Long Island, New York Maris lawyer and others close to the family allege to PEOPLE. In December 2011, a year-and-a-half after Shannan Gilbert vanished, police finally found the first sign of the missing 23-year-old in the marsh by Oak Beach not far from where she was last seen. ", Police have said that they do not consider Hackett a suspect in the killings,according to, We allege that Dr. Peter Hackett has told others that he encountered Shannan knocking on his door on May 1, that he let her into his home and that he administered narcotics, Ray said outside the courthouse after filing the suit according to, . "I contacted them," he said. Councilor Matt Garcia was shot dead in a suburban driveway as he chatted with a friend in Fairfield City, California. Israel Nieves was so jealous of James Rodriguez. She didn't know it then, but the mysterious events of the next few hours would forever link her to four young women - whose bodies were found wrapped in burlap -- and spark one of the largest murder investigations in Long Island history. Dr. Michael M. Baden conducted the autopsy and said she might have been murdered. It is not clear if she has retained an attorney or if she has entered a plea to her charges. They learned that Shannan and her driver had left New York City shortly after midnight on May 1, 2010, and headed to a gated community in Oak Beach. When she has moments of lucidity, I know shell be devastated by what she has done., Laster called it one tragedy on top of another., This is a family that needed a lot of help. Meserve says. She was loyal, and I believe her illness overtook her., Sarra belongs in a facility where she can get treatment, not a prison, Meserve says. On January 15, she wrote a hopeful note that DNA testing might help find her sisters killer. Asked if he thought Shannan was afraid of the man in the SUV, Colletti. We may earn commission from the links on this page. And he's gonna make a mistake. Yesterday was the second most devastating day of my life, according to the post. When her mom died, Sherre wrote about it on Facebook the next day, sharing that Sarra had battled mental illness for more than two years. According to police, she appears to have entered the marsh right behind where Peter Hacketts house is, and her belongings were found right near his house in the marsh and then her body was found a long distance away, Kolker toldOxygen.com. When you give look let me not get into it," he said. "The story of these women is the story about a part of America where people have few options and where some people make desperate or risky decisions," said journalist Bob Kolker, who has written a new book about the Long Island cases, called "Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery." For more stories like this, sign up for our newsletter. Mari Gilbert was murdered by one of her daughter, Sarra Gilbert, in July of 2016five years after the events of Lost Girls. This was the second tragic incident to hit the family in six years. Sherre, Sarras sister, spoke about Sarra after her sentencing and said they tried to get Sarrah help, but she would get better for a short period of time and then get worse again, People reported. And more questions about a curious character who put himself right in the middle of the mystery. They arrested Sarra later that day and charged her with criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree murder. Gilbert was stabbed to death by her 27-year-old daughter Sarra in Sarra's apartment building on Warren Street in Ellenville, New York, on July 23, 2016. [4] Her daughter suffered from schizophrenia, with one report claiming that she "had voices in her head telling her to carry out the crime." "She sounds not very coherent, not very rational.". She wants people to know that her sister, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, may have worked as an escort, but she was much more than that. So far, there has been no arrest, but since our last "48 Hours" broadcast, there are new developments in the case. They were traveling together, coordinating. Attorney Ray tells PEOPLE that since 2014, Sarra has been hospitalized in at least two facilities in upstate New York. She believed the voices in her head were caused by her mom. But he went on to say that "at no time did I suggest I had ever met her or render medical care of any sort to her.". And I yelled to him to stop. Her mother, Mari, and sister, Sherre, were desperately trying to hold onto hope. Lost Girls, a new Netflix movie helmed by Emmy-winning documentary director Liz Garbus, tells the true story of the deaths of Shannan Gilbert and several victims of the Gilgo Beach murders. It's like running through a corn field or a wheat field you just push push it outta your way," said Varrone. "It strikes me right away David predators prey on the weak," noted Moriarty. "I could hear the fear in his voice.". The problems go back a long time, when those girls were bounced around in foster homes and suffered abuse, including in their mothers home, Meserve says. Six more bodies would eventually be found. In addition, she was portrayed by Amy Ryan. Ryan tells OprahMag.com that she'd been familiar with the story of the Long Island Serial killer, as a native New Yorker who spent time at nearby Jones Beach growing up. The lawsuit alleged Hackett took Shannan into his home in the early morning hours on the day she disappeared and gave her drugs. Police say both Pak and Joseph Brewer passed polygraphs, and are not suspects. This content is imported from youTube. Ray asked. It was the call Sherre and her sister, Sarra, had been dreading ever since learning Shannan, diagnosed with a bipolar disorder and struggling with depression and mood swings, had turned to selling her services online as an escort. "But how would she lose her jeans as she's running?" "I walked out the front door with her," Schaller recalled. She has been "When I started the project, it was 2015. .css-ssumvd{display:block;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.0625rem;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.25;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-ssumvd:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-ssumvd{letter-spacing:0rem;margin-top:0.9375rem;}}Gayle King Interviews Angela Bassett, Gayle Says March Is a Good Month for TV Lovers, Sheryl Lee Ralphs Definition of True Love, What We Know About The Little Mermaid Remake, Oprah Congratulates Kimmel on 20 Years of His Show, Nikole Hannah-Jones on "The 1619 Project", Ta-Nehisi Coates on the Wakanda Forever Podcast, Oprah Is Acting in Tyler Perrys Next Netflix Film. And then you keep changing your story," said Moriarty. But soon after Maris death, daughter Sherre apparently posted on Facebook about the news, according to screenshots obtained by PEOPLE. Until we meet again my dear sister; sleep with mom & the Angels.. She called her mother and said come over. Hackett said in his response to 48 Hours that he had been at home sleeping with his wifethe night Shannan disappeared. After the third call, police asked Verizon to tap Amanda's phone. "He may have looked for her as he was driving out the gate but he certainly was nowhere to be found when officers responded and arrived.". She's not missing. ), Laster says families who have a loved one go missing are often traumatized long term and she says and it was especially so with the Gilberts. Pak told Colletti he was looking for Shannan. While the calls he made to Shannan's family may be strange, they're not out of character. You need to turn yourself in because you will be caught and you will be caught soon," said Ela. Attorney Ray says they were real. The afterword to Lost Girls briefly notes that Gilbert was stabbed to death by one of her daughters, Sarra. July 20, 2013 / 11:39 PM Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. She was sentenced to 25 years to life, which was the maximum sentence, Daily Freeman reported. reports. "It's a girl who clearly believes she's in harm's way.". Gilberts other daughters supported her effort to bring attention to their sisters murder, and often appeared alongside their mother at memorials and when she spoke to reporters. It took nearly a month for police to connect Shannan's desperate call to the missing persons report her family had filed in New Jersey, where Shannan lived. Gilbert family attorney John Ray told PIX11 that in the months leading up to Mari's horrific death, Sarra had drowned her pet puppy and threatened to kill her 8-year-old son. Stevie also said that her sister Sarra had tormented and belittled her mom for years, In Touch Weekly reported. All of a sudden, I heard screaming out here and banging on that door. She has been charged with second degree murder. " that Shannan was distressed. Gilbert, 27, who has been charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon and apologized for fatally "A lot of money for her," Moriarty noted. Twisted Sisters airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery. ", But Garbus didn't get to see her again. A week later, a quarter-of-a-mile away from her belongings, they found Shannan's skeletal remains nearly intact, face down. In the upcoming Netflix film "Lost Girls," Mari Gilbert (played by Amy Ryan) becomes enraged after the police and the media only refer to her missing daughter Shannan Gilbert along with several dead women found along the southern shore of Long Island in demeaning ways. They spoke to a dozen witnesses and homeowners in the area trying to piece together a timeline. The film doesnt focus on the still-unknown killer or the official investigation into the killings, but on the grieving mothers and sisters turned victim advocates who pushed the police and media to take the murders of their loved ones seriously. An autopsy ruled Mari Gilberts death a homicide due to multiple stab wounds. Mari Gilberts children were all daughters. The Gilberts' attorney, John Ray, finds that hard to believe. Hackett the former head of the Suffolk County Emergency Medical Services had become an integral part of the private, secluded Oak Beach community by the time 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert, a Craigslist sex worker, disappeared in May 2010 after meeting a client in the community. The first was loosing Shannan. "My husband and my brother got on their motorcycles and actually took Maureen's picture with them and drove down to Manhattan walked around the whole area asking people if they'd ever seen her," she recalled. "We said that Maureen went to New York and she never came back. Details emerge in the slaying of Shannan Gilbert's Hackett had served as head for the Suffolk County Emergency Medical Services when theTWA Flight 800burst into flames, killing all 230 passengers on board in 1996. One, Sherre, ran a Facebook page dedicated to Shannans case. "It's possible," he replied. Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. "We hear the conversation between the two of them and she's just staring at him and not acting rationally. "I still don't want to believe it. Moriarty asked Schaller. "It's easy for a killer to go shopping," said Kolker. All this stuff about a rehab or something I don't have a rehab, I don't do rehab. "If he's lying about something so simple about calling me," Mari Gilbert said, "then what else is he lying about?". No one wants to know you. "She just disappeared into the night.". "He wanted to kill her.". Jurors didn't find Sarra and her attorney's claims and pleas for mercy compelling, with one unnamed juror telling the Daily Freeman, "We feel that she has mental illness but she was also aware of what she was doing." Did you ever see her? "They didn't wanna hear anything," she said. In March of 2011 -- three months after finding the bodies of Melissa, Amber, Megan and Maureen -- police start finding more bodies and more body parts along a once pristine beach playground; six new sets of human remains in all. "Do you think the person she went out with that night is the same person who killed her?" The Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. The tragedies and illness are often intertwined, says Dottie Laster, a private investigator and missing-persons specialist who helped the Gilbert family search for Mari Gilberts older daughter, Shannan. They were very much on the same page, as far as trying to find Shannan, Laster says. "I could see a car come and stopping, coming a little bit and stopping," he said. Dr. Charles Peter Hackett was once a big shot in his private Oak Beach neighborhoodbut after he called the mother of a missing escort, Hackett found himself linked to an unsolved Long Island murder mystery. "There's nothing I can add that the police don't already know," said Dr. C. Peter Hackett, an Oak Beach resident and retired emergency services doctor who curiously inserted himself in the middle of the mystery - by calling Shannan's mother on May 3, 2010, two days after Shannan went missing. Mari Gilberts deathwhich is revealed in an end-credits caption in Lost Girls came as a shock to all on July 23, 2016. The prosecution argued that Sarra killed her mother out of anger because Mari had Sarrah arrested after Sarra drowned her puppy. That was never reported to us," said Verrone. She was murdered by her daughter Sarra Elizabeth Gilbert in Ellenville, New York. But when Shannan's sisters went out to Oak Beach, they got a different story. Erin Moriarty asked. Her sisters body was found in a swamp. Now shes charged with We allege that Dr. Peter Hackett has told others that he encountered Shannan knocking on his door on May 1, that he let her into his home and that he administered narcotics, Ray said outside the courthouse after filing the suit according toThe Long Island Press. Mari Gilbert Mari died on July 23, 2016, in the apartment building the That he had treated Shannan and had medicated her," said Ray. Police have said that they do not consider Hackett a suspect in the killings,according toThe Long Island Press. By 2010, Shannan was an aspiring actor who lived in Jersey City and worked as an escort. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. But then how did her clothing end up so far from her body? Mari Cox Gilbert And I would be amazed as to why wasn't that brought to our attention? Chief Varrone says the local police responding to Colletti's call knew nothing about Shannan's own 23-minute 911 call. "You didn't think your mom could be mistaken? A year & a half of hope, prayers & dreams.People say I have a tragic life because of my circumstances but one thing is for sure. It would be two days before Sherre learned her sister was missing when Shannan's worried boyfriend called to say she hadn't come home. "There's no doubt in my mind" he replied. "The complaint operator's asking, 'Well, where are you?' Lawenforcement sources have said in the past that Shannan allegedly told the dispatcher theyre trying to kill me, during the call,Fox Newsreports. The Gilberts say they immediately filed a missing persons report, but with no news, they drove 140 miles from their home in upstate New York to Oak Beach, Long Island, to look for Shannan themselves. Sarra was arrested at the scene with blood on her clothing. Even though the cops assured us that they are going to continue.". Mental illness had affected both Mari, 52, and Sarra, 27, according to Elizabeth Meserve, aunt of Long Island serial killer victim Megan Waterman. She does not deserve to be forgotten.. They assumed she had already left the area with her driver, Michael Pak. She drowned her pet dog, and lost custody of her son, who entered her mothers care. "No one in the family said that Dr. Hackett called saying that he had seen Shannan?" What did you hear? But "48 Hours" did some more digging and found that Mari Gilbert did in fact report that strange phone call from Dr. Hackett just days after her daughter disappeared. Warning, because this gets graphic: As Sarra Gilbert later testified in court, on July 26, 2016, she stabbed Mari Gilbert with a kitchen knife 227 times in Mari's Ellenville, NY apartment. In 2010, Sarras older sister, Shannan Gilbert, was working as a prostitute when she fled a clients home in Oak Beach, NY, and never returned home. ", Garbus hopes that Lost Girls will inspire in others the same unrelenting dedication to finding the truth about how Shannan Gilbertand the rest of the women found near Gilgo Beachreally died. Mari Gilbert (Shannan Gilbert's Mother) Age "I knew that it was a possibility but I really just wanted to keep hope," said Sherre. Sherre Gilbert says her sister was desperately trying to make a better life for herself. According to Schaller, the man was persistent, repeatedly calling and cajoling Amber that day. "Immediately, I started to panic," she said. Shortly after Gilberts body was discovered, Hackett put his Oak Beach house on the market in 2012 and moved away from the area,Newsdayreports. On July 23, 2016, Sarra Gilbert traveled from Ellenville, NY, to her mothers home in Catskills, NY, and attacked Mari Gilbert. Sarra Gilbert is being held without bail at the Ulster County Jail. She also beat her with a fire extinguisher and sprayed her with foam from the extinguisher. What would kill a 23-year-old woman? The prosecution argued that Sarra had plotted the murder for months after Mari had had her arrested for drowning a family puppy in front of her young son. Last year, Ray and two colleagues put the police theory to the test. That neighbor, Gus Colletti, is the one who tried to help Shannan and noticed that black SUV following her. "'Oh my God, Melissa's finally calling me.' "Sexually explicit things as to what he had done to Melissa, sexually explicit things as to what he was going to do to Amanda.". The medical examiner ruled her death inconclusive. But Ryan found out what ultimately happened to Mari after she'd fallen in love with the Netflix film's screenplay, when a Google rabbit-hole informed her of the woman's awful fate. Mari Gilbert's daughters dealt with the tragedy of their sister Shannan in different ways. "So, when Mary says that Dr. Hackett called on May 3 and said that he'd seen Shannan and that he was running a home for wayward girls, do you believe that, do you believe what she's saying?" However, the prosecution and members of Sarras family told a story of a devious, manipulative young woman who tried to excuse her drug addiction as a mental illness. She wrote a heartfelt message about Shannan in 2019, saying: Its been 8yrs since you were found. "If she was going to stay the night she would have walked away with $1,500," he said. On Dec. 13, 2010, Maureen's body was found alongside the others. But Sarra's sister Stevie Smith disagreed regarding the motive, testifying that Sarra was jealous of her relationship with their mother and "I believe she would have killed me too.". "I've been led to believe by Amanda and by the data that I have that he is a white male.". He says her fears were imagined.