Possible Victim Of The Long Island Serial Killer Identified After 20 Years

The Long Island serial killer, who is believed to have killed twenty, targeted mostly sex workers. One of the possible victims has been identified by the Suffolk County Police Department. Valerie Mack was a former Jane Doe that disappeared in 2000. Mack was working as an escort in Philadelphia at the time of her disappearance, as Rolling Stone details:

a website created by the SCPD to track updates in the case, Mack’s partial remains were found in November 2000 in a wooded area in Manorville, New York (it’s believed her remains had been dumped there a few months prior in September). Eleven years later, in April 2011, additional remains belonging to Mack were found much further away on Ocean Parkway, near Oak Beach. That location, however, is not far from Gilgo Beach, where the remains of several other victims had been found.

Mack was identified using genetic genealogy, reportedly a first of its kind for a police investigation in New York State. SCPD Commissioner Geraldine Hart said in a video statement that the process allowed investigators to establish a genealogy profile of the victim, which provided new leads to pursue. Hart said investigators followed the trail to New Jersey, where they spoke with potential relatives who provided additional DNA samples, which were then used to narrow down and confirm Mack’s identity.