The Long Island case, told by those who lived it.
LISK: Long Island Serial Killer mixes narration with interview tape to rebuild the Long Island serial killer case and the working lives of the women connected to it. Next to re-released episodes titled with first names, season three has titles such as 'S3: New Victims Tied to Rex Heuermann'.
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LISK: Long Island Serial Killer is a true-crime series about the Long Island murders, and its feed offers two very different kinds of listening. The first is documentary. Episodes marked as re-releases are titled with first names, including 'Re-release: Amber', 'Re-release: Melissa', 'Re-release: Maureen and Megan' and 'Re-release: Shannan - Part 2', and they cut between a narrator and the people who were there. The second is analytical. Season three episodes such as 'S3: New Evidence Raises Questions' and 'S3: New Victims Tied to Rex Heuermann' sound more like people thinking out loud over case material. The documentary episodes keep the women's circumstances up front. A friend named Sarah remembers Maureen deciding to stay behind in New York to make up money, breaking her own rule about working alone, with eviction court waiting on Tuesday. Another account lists the precautions of in-call work: a bedroom set deep in the house, a particular song used as a distress signal, and security hidden in the back. A woman named Kritzia describes being punched and forced into a car on 9th Avenue in Manhattan, then taken to a New Jersey hotel to be sold. The narration protects her. When she admits she followed a stranger to his car, it points out that she was 15 and it was broad daylight. The investigation gets the same close attention. The Shannan material opens with a recap of earlier events. Later in the episode, retired Suffolk County Chief of Detectives Dominic Verone says Dr. Peter Hackett clearly inserted himself into the case, and an account recalls Hackett taking notes like a police officer and suggesting he had connections to the Suffolk County Police Department. Season three is built on doubt. One speaker walks through a murder trial where the jury deadlocked several times and a juror said a medical examiner's sperm-density testimony swayed them. Elsewhere, voices working through a document say the timeline everyone thought they knew has been blown apart, while arguing, citing the FBI, that a pattern still holds. Several episodes open with a content advisory. They close with a pointer to the National Human Trafficking Hotline or a statement that every suspect discussed is presumed innocent. The closing credits name Chris Moss, Jonathan Beal and Shannon McGarvey among those who recorded the series, credit editing and music to Blake Maples, and list Mopac Audio. A good place to start is the re-released material, which puts voices to the names before the season three analysis turns to the evidence.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants the Long Island serial killer case told through the women involved and the people who knew them, and who can handle frank accounts of sex work, trafficking and violence.
What sets it apart: It puts documentary episodes, built on first-hand memories of individual women's lives, next to season three analysis that openly questions forensic testimony and the accepted case timeline.
The LISK (Long Island Serial Killer) investigation began in May 2010 with the disappearance of sex worker Shannan Gilbert. In the following months, Suffolk County Police uncovered human remains from nine more murders, including those of the "Gilgo 4", all sex workers whose bodies were disposed of similarly. After years of virtually no new developments, Suffolk County Police arrested Rex Heuermann in connection with the murder of at least 3 victims. DNA evidence, cellphone records and witness accounts of a Chevrolet Avalanche truck all led to police zeroing in on Heuermann. As prosecutors prepare for the upcoming trial, details and accounts of Heuermann's life and behavior continue to be unco…
Maureen's unanswered call makes you listen for the person behind every case detail.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A 1993 discovery shifts the case timeline and brings old forensic evidence back into focus.
The update to the Long Island Serial Killer case centers on the Bell document and a discovery that moves the timeline back to 1993, when Sandra Castillo's remains were found in a wooded area in Southampton.
A tense account of safety routines, dangerous clients, and authority figures who crossed the threshold.
Amber's in-call work frames the house as a safety system built from routine and improvisation: hidden security, coded phrases, selected songs, and a bedroom kept out of sight if a client turned dangerous.
A missed call, a Penn Station plea for help, and a disappearance shaped by ordinary choices.
Maureen's choice to remain in New York sits at the center of a disappearance built from ordinary decisions that only look ominous later. Once the others leave, she breaks her own rule about not working alone, then calls with a message that ends, "This is the end." Later, from…
Shannon's case and Kritzia's account make a stark episode about disbelief, vulnerability, and harm.
A missing woman, a body found along Ocean Parkway, and a police response shaped by disbelief give this episode its grim weight. Shannon's work as a prostitute is treated as part of why urgency seemed to lag, while a caller says he reached out to her sister and cousin before…
Podcast discovery from the Sherpa Chalet.
Witchy banter with glorious detours.
Female crime, told with grave attention.
Chris and Shannon McGarvey break down a bail document that adds Jessica Taylor and Sandra Castillo to the Rex Heuermann case.
LISK: Long Island Serial Killer focuses on Amber Costello's September 2010 disappearance, the $1,500 call that drew her out, and the discovery of her remains in December 2010 near Gilgo Beach.
Robert Kolker, journalist and author of Lost Girls and Unsolved American Mystery, frames the Long Island serial killer case around Maureen Brainerd-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Shannon Gilbert.
LISK: Long Island Serial Killer focuses on Melissa Bartholomew’s life in Buffalo, her move to New York City, and the secret sex-work world she entered with Johnny and Kritzia Lugo.
LISK: Long Island Serial Killer revisits Shannon Gilbert’s May 2010 disappearance after a 23-minute 911 call from Oak Beach.
On May 1, 2010, 24-year-old escort Shannon Gilbert ran from a house in Oak Beach and called 911, saying men were trying to kill her.
Kat recounts how her father’s sudden death left her mother raising six children in Canada.
Mary Murphy of PIX11 reports that Rex Heuermann’s wife attended his November 15 hearing amid reports of a $1 million Peacock documentary deal.
Veteran PIX11 reporter Mary Murphy describes the unprecedented October 18 press conference at attorney John Ray's Miller Place office, where Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison stood beside him.
Commissioner Rodney Harrison tells host Chris Moss how he assembled a dedicated Gilgo Beach task force at the Suffolk County police academy after taking office at the end of December 2021.
Mary Murphy of Pix 11 News describes the September 27 pretrial hearing for Rex Heuermann at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, where DA Ray Tierney turned over 5,000 pages of discovery, many of them grand jury materials.
This episode discusses the Long Island Serial Killer case, including the arrest of Rex Heuermann and the discovery of multiple victims.
This episode is a trailer for another true crime podcast, Dark Valley, about the Connecticut River Valley serial killer.
A bonus episode of LISK featuring an interview with radio host Frank McKay discussing Suffolk County corruption and the unsolved serial killer case.
This episode discusses the Long Island Serial Killer case, including the arrest of Rex Heuermann and a bizarre Ouija board story from another podcast.