Gilgo Beach murder victim identified nearly three decades after she went missing

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Gilgo Beach murder victim ‘Jane Doe Seven’ has been identified as Karen Vergata, 27 years after she went missing.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney made the announcement Friday morning, alongside other members of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force.

Vergata's remains were identified thanks to genetic genealogy and a buccal swab from a relative.

According to detectives, Vergata went missing around February 14, 1996, when she was working as an escort. Vergata lived in Midtown at the time she went missing, but there was no missing person complaint filed for her.

According to Tierney, on April 20, 1996, female remains consisting of legs and feet were found a mile west of Davis Park Beach. Then, nearly 15 years later on April 11, 2011, additional remains consisting of a skull was found on Tobay Beach in Nassau County. The skull was found following the discovery of Jessica Taylor and ‘Peaches’ on Jones Beach.