Fire Island Jane Doe Identified as Karen Vergata

Karen in a yearbook picture from North Shore High School (c. 1979) 

A Jane Doe originally from 1996 known as either Fire Island Jane Doe or Jane Doe #7 was identified on August 4, 2023 as Karen Ann Vergata.

Karen was born Karen Ann Vergata in Roslyn, Long Island, New York on November 4, 1961 to Dominic and Virginia Vergata. Karen had one brother, Victor J. Vergata. Karen was a 1979 graduate of North Shore High School in Glen Head, New York. She was remembered by classmate Eugene Koebler as “artistic” for being the only female (and peer in general) to wear floppy hats in school. Eugene also noted Vergata’s love of wearing jewelry and fringe. They were both in a remedial mathematics class “Math for Daily Living”, taught by Mr. Grahm, in which Karen made a lasting impression on Koebler when she coaxed Mr. Grahm into allowing her and another student to retrieve a bag of ice from the cafeteria for a “math experiment”. When Karen and the other peer returned, Karen used the ice to assist in piercing her ear four times. “She had four new earrings by the end of class” Eugene noted. Vergata was also often drawing in this class, frequently turning to Koebler for his opinion on her artwork. Eugene and Karen lost contact after graduation. Oddly Koebler was unknowingly looking at a composite of Karen as an avid follower of the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation. “It (the murders) happened where I was from” said Koebler.

On April 20, 1996, after last having contact with her father Dominic on his birthday (February 14th), Vergata’s severed legs and feet were found wrapped in garbage bags by two brothers as they searched for driftwood on Davis Park in Fire Island, New York. With no missing person report filed for Karen, as she was infrequent with her familial contact, no link was made with Vergata to the limbs found at Davis Park. However Dominic did volunteer his DNA for comparison to any Jane Doe who could be his daughter, but it’s unknown why an earlier connection was never made. On April 4, 2011 Karen’s skull and a few teeth were found on Tobay Beach by an FBI agent as they combed the beach looking for human remains, originally in the search for missing woman Shannan Gilbert. By DNA comparison the skull and teeth were linked to the severed legs and feet found in 1996. Vergata (then still unidentified) was officially linked to the Long Island serial killer.

It is believed that sometime after high school Karen got involved with prostitution as a means to support potential substance abuse issues; although this has not been confirmed. Most of the other victims of the Long Island serial killer were prostitutes or used prostitution as a means to supplement their income, as was with first of the Gilgo Four victims, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was a remote telemarketer, writer, and stay-at-home mother of two children. Melissa Barthelemy, the second of the Gilgo Four, was a licensed cosmetologist and barber who previously worked at a barbershop and Super Cuts as a stylist, with aspirations of owning her own hair salon. Final Gilgo Four victim Amber Costello worked as a choir singer and daycare instructor for two separate churches and had a goal of becoming a librarian. Third Gilgo Four victim Megan Waterman was using escorting as a means to be a stay-at-home mother to one daughter Lily, now her mother’s advocate. 

Karen Vergata was identified in October 2022 via genetic genealogy. Her family was notified that month, but the identification was kept secret from the public until August 4, 2023 as the then newly formed Gilgo Beach Task Force didn’t want to alarm suspect Rex Heuermann that the then publicly perceived “uninterested” police force was actually surveilling Rex as their main suspect in the murders of: Ms. Barthelemy, Ms. Waterman, and Ms. Costello. Rex was officially charged with their murders in July 2023 and is a person of interest in the murder of Ms. Brainard-Barnes. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty. It is believed by many that Rex is responsible for Karen’s murder, as well as the other victims found near Vergata, however this has not been confirmed.