Authorities in South Carolina are investigating whether the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer is responsible for the disappearance of a woman who went missing in 2017.
The 59-year-old suspect, who is not being named by The Daily Wire, remained unidentified for more than a decade but was arrested on July 13 for the murder of three women whose bodies were found on Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York, in 2010.
The last time her friends and family saw Julia Ann Bean alive was on May 31, 2017. Her daughter didn’t report her missing until November 18 of that same year, but the case remains unsolved. After the Gilgo Beach suspect was arrested, however, a woman claiming to be Bean’s friend came forward with “third hand” information, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) said, according to ABC News. This new information was shared with the FBI as South Carolina law enforcement continues to investigate Bean’s disappearance.
The SCSO also said in the statement that Bean’s daughter Cameron told investigators that she remembered seeing her mother with someone who could have been the Gilgo Beach suspect.
“Investigators have been pouring over the information they have recently received to determine if there is any evidence linking Bean with [the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect]. Yet there are no confirmed facts that confirm or deny the possibility of a connection,” the sheriff’s office said in its statement, according to ABC.
The Gilgo Beach suspect owned four vacant lots in Chester County, South Carolina, just 90 minutes from Sumter County.
Police investigating the Gilgo Beach serial killings are operating on the theory that the suspect committed the murders in his own home, a source told CNN.
The theory is based on the fact that the suspect’s family was out of town during the murders, suggesting he may have lured the victims to his home, a source involved in the investigation told CNN.
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Killing them at his own home would have allowed him to control the environment while having easy access to the materials found along with the victims at Gilgo Beach on Long Island, such as tape and burlap bags.
Four bodies were found within days of each other. The body of Melissa Barthelemy was found on December 11, 2010, during a police training exercise with a K9, according to a bail application obtained by the Daily Beast. Two days later, police searched the area and discovered the bodies of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. So far, the suspect has not been charged for Brainard-Barnes’ death but is the prime suspect.
If convicted, he faces multiple life sentences without parole.
