Megan Waterman: Murder on Gilgo Beach, Part Two
This is the second in a two part series. Click here for part one.
Megan Waterman’s funeral
Megan’s family got together to plan the funeral. They decided to have her cremated, and on January 30th, they had a visitation for friends and relatives at Jones, Rich, and Hutchins Funeral Home in Portland in the afternoon. A memorial service followed that was led by a reverend. He eulogized her, saying, “Megan was a natural leader who loved to be in charge. She was always up for an adventure, and would stick up for those she loved even if it put herself in danger. You couldn’t tell Megan anything was a bad idea—we all remember the way she liked to jazz people up. Megan was strong-willed. Her friends loved to follow her in her adventures and escapades.” Her daughter, Lily, who was five years old, was at the service.
2011: The Long Island Serial Killer
In late March in Long Island, all remaining snow had melted, and the brambles and sandy soil were once again revealed. Suffolk County Police led the largest search to date. There were 150 officers on loan from the New York State Police, the state park police, neighboring Nassau County Police, and a busload of recruits. They found another female body, bringing the total to five.
Police continued into early April, continuously fighting ticks and poison ivy, and on April 4th, they found three more sets of remains. One of them was connected to other remains found years prior in a distant part of Long Island. Another was a small Asian man who was dressed in what appeared to be women’s clothing. Another was a child—no bigger than a toddler—wrapped in a blanket. That brought the body count to eight.
On April 11th, after expanding the search over the county border into Nassau County, they discovered two more bodies. One was just a skull, and the other was a partial skeleton. This was the 10th and final body that was discovered by police on Ocean Parkway in the spring of 2011. The police were stunned to discover so many bodies. They were unsure whether or not they were all the responsibility of one killer, or if there were multiple people using the area as a dumping ground. The four victims all found in close proximity to one another that included Megan Waterman were quickly believed to be the responsibility of one person.
By the end of 2011, only 5 of the victims had been identified—the four women all found in December—and Jessica Taylor, whose torso had been previously found in another part of Long Island. The case was huge. Richard Dormer, Suffolk County Police Commissioner, told the Associated Press, “It’s the biggest investigation I’ve ever been involved in” after a 20+ year career with the Suffolk Police. A $25,000 reward was offered by the Suffolk County Police Department, and 1,200 tips had been received.
Little new information was learned about the case for the following 7 years. If they were making any progress, it was invisible to the public. What was visible was a federal corruption investigation into the top brass of the Suffolk Police.
Suffolk County corruption
James Burke spent his entire career with the Suffolk Police. He rose through the ranks to become the chief of police in 2012. He was shepherded through the ranks, in no small part, due to the support of Thomas Spota, an attorney who began his career as a prosecutor in Suffolk County, and later served for 15 years as the District Attorney of Suffolk County.
The same year that James Burke became chief, a man named Christopher Loeb broke into his SUV, a GMC Yukon, on December 14th. It’s not clear if Christopher knew the vehicle belonged to the chief, or if it was just coincidence. Soon thereafter, he was arrested at his mother’s home on a variety of parole violations. Police searched the residence and found some stolen merchandise and Chief Burke’s duffel bag. The bag contained his gun belt, several magazines of ammunition, a box of cigars, a humidor, a small bag of toiletries, and clothing, but most importantly—sex toys, and pornographic videos. Cops hauled him into the station and shackled him to an eye bolt on the floor of an interrogation room. Chief Burke, “barged into the room, punched him, and shook his head violently,” even threatening him with a ‘hot shot’ of heroin—in other words, a fatal dose. Christopher taunted the chief, calling him names inspired by the nature of the porn he had found in his bag. The chief then, went, “out of control,” screaming at and beating Christopher until one of the detectives present said, “Boss, that’s enough, that’s enough.”
The stories about the incident circled around the office, but eventually came to the attention of the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in May of 2013; they opened an investigation. For two years, Chief Burke was able to stymie the FBI’s investigation through intimidation and control, but by 2015, federal agents gained the cooperation and testimony of at least 10 officers. In October of 2015, Chief Burke resigned. In December 2015, he was charged, arrested and was held without bail. By November of 2016, he had pled guilty and was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison. US Attorney Robert Capers said, “He abused his authority by brazenly assaulting a handcuffed prisoner; he pressured subordinates to lie to cover up his criminal acts; and he attempted to thwart the investigation into his conduct. With today’s sentence, [Chief] Burke learned that no one is above the law, and that the consequences for such egregious behavior are severe.” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said that Chief Burke “not only threatened to undermine the integrity of a federal investigation, but also the reputation of all the Suffolk County police officers who value the laws they are sworn to uphold.”
But Chief Burke wasn’t the only one caught up in the conspiracy. His pal, District Attorney Thomas Spota, was indicted in October of 2017, after which he immediately resigned. In December of 2019, Spota was convicted of conspiracy and so was ADA Christopher McPartland, who, ironically, was Suffolk County’s top anti-corruption prosecutor. Newsday, one of the biggest journalism outlets in Long Island, has tracked the case carefully for years, and the fallout continues to this day.
Many wondered how the corruption of Suffolk’s top brass impacted the investigation into the Long Island Serial Killer. The only thing known for sure is that the FBI, at some point in the first couple years of the investigation, was kicked out of the investigative team—under the direction of Thomas Spota.
2020: New LISK details released
On January 16th, 2020, the new Suffolk County Police Commissioner—Geraldine Hart—called a press conference.
She revealed, for the first time since the investigation began, a specific detail about the case. She explained that there was a black leather belt used on one of the victims. She did not reveal how the belt was used or on which victim, but she did reveal that it was painted with two letters and published photographs of it. On one side of the belt was finished black leather. On the other side was a rougher unfinished leather with two painted white letters—quite small, perhaps a quarter-inch tall—that read “HM.” Or, less likely, if you were to invert them, “WH.” She asked for the public’s help in identifying the owner of the belt.
An attorney representing one of the victims’ family shot back, “They had this belt for nine years. Why are they releasing it now? It's nothing but publicity pablum.”
2022, reinvigorated, key breakthrough
On February 23, 2022, the new commissioner, Rodney Harrison, announced the formation of a multi-agency task force. It included the FBI, the New York State Police, and multiple Suffolk County agencies. And it was this task force that solved the case.
In March of 2022, they started looking for the owner of a Chevrolet Avalanche—an odd-looking pickup truck with an extended cab and a very short bed. The reason that they were searching for the owner goes back to the abduction and murder of one of the other victims—Amber Costello.
Around 11:30PM on the evening of September 1st, 2010, Amber, who was doing sex work and had advertised on Craigslist, was contacted by a client. It was three months after Megan’s disappearance. Some sort of arrangement was made, and the client arrived at her place. After he entered the home and made payment, a man, who was in cahoots with Amber, appeared and confronted the client, saying that he was Amber’s boyfriend, and to get the hell out. The client complied, but later contacted her over text, saying, “That was not nice... So do I [get a] a credit for next time?”
The next night, the same client contacted Amber again, and around 11:17PM, she left her home. She was never seen alive again.
It turned out that the so-called boyfriend had gotten a good look at the client and the vehicle he drove. He described him as white, male, in his mid-40s, with dark bushy hair. He was quite tall—6’4” to 6’6”—and a big guy. The witness called him an “ogre.” He wore distinctive big oval 1970s type eyeglasses. But most importantly, he drove a dark-colored Chevrolet Avalanche. They were even able to narrow to a particular body style—a “first-generation,” Avalanche.
The task force, in 2022, set about trying to find the owner of that Avalanche, and though the police have not explained that process in detail, I believe that they did some records searching with New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles. They probably looked for people that lived in Long Island, were in their 40s, were tall, required glasses to drive, and had a dark-colored first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche registered in their name. One of the names on that short list was Rex Andrew Heuermann. He had a dark green Avalanche, and he met the physical description to a T.
Over the following 16 months, police looked deeply into Rex’s life, and each stone that they overturned further fueled their suspicions that he was the Long Island Serial Killer.
Investigation into Rex Heuermann
Rex Heuermann was married to an Icelandic woman named Asa and they had a daughter together. Asa had a son from a previous marriage. The four of them spent many years in a small red house in suburban Long Island in the city of Massapequa Park. He lived in the center of a densely-developed grid of streets with single-family homes as far as the eye could see. He was 40 miles from Midtown Manhattan, not far from a stop on the Long Island Rail Road.
He had a business in Manhattan called RH Consultants & Associates, which he established in 1994. He was a registered architect, and had an intimate knowledge of building codes. He would often consult on major building projects as a local expert, helping clients like Target, Nike, and American Airlines, navigate local building codes. He had office space in Midtown near 5th Ave. and West 36th St. He had people working for him.
He appeared to have a successful middle-class lifestyle.
Between March 2022 and July 2023, police executed over 300 search warrants and subpoenas looking into every aspect of Rex’s life.
They got his financial records and discovered a regular payment for a premium version of Tinder. They got Tinder’s records associated with that payment method which led to the discovery of an email address and a name. The name was Andrew Roberts, which he abbreviated “Andy,” and he used the email address springfieldman9@aol.com. They got records from AOL, which revealed that he had created the email account back in January of 2011 with the name “John Springfield” and a burner cell phone that we’ll refer to as Burner Cell #5. And to remove any doubt that it was Rex using the account, there were selfies that were discovered that were sent from the email account. Police discovered an email that was sent to the AOL account in February of 2021 with the image of a sex worker. The sender’s email was hunter1903a3@gmail.com, which we’ll call the Hunter Gmail Account. The police then sought records from Google and it turned out that the IP address that was used to create the Hunter Gmail Account matched the IP address of Rex’s home in Massapequa Park. The Hunter Gmail Account had a new phone number, too, which we’ll refer to as Burner Cell #6. The name used was, again, “Andy Roberts.” Police sent Google the burner cell numbers and asked if there were any other accounts which were linked to them, which revealed yet a third email address—thawk080672@gmail.com—which was registered with the name “Thomas Hawk.” We’ll refer to it as the Hawk Gmail Account.
With the communication records from the two burner phones, and the three email accounts, they were able to piece together a profile of Rex Heuermann.
He was logged into the Hawk Gmail Account when he conducted thousands of Google searches which included many that were related to pornography. He searched many times for sexual depictions of young girls (using terms like 10-year-old, age 12, 13-year-old, preteen, little school girl). He sought out violence against women (searching for rape, bruised face, hog-tied torture) and suffering, with terms like “crying,” and “depressed.” He also seemed interested in power dynamics and helplessness. Some of the most egregious combined multiple elements, and they’re pretty graphic.
The Hawk Gmail Account also showed 200+ searches for things related to the Long Island Serial Killer investigation.
But this was all recent stuff. Law enforcement had to try and retrieve records that were 12-13 years old and link him to the killings. Many of the records that they might want—like the location records of Rex’s primary cell phone—were long gone, purged by the cell phone carriers. Plus, Burner Cells 5 and 6 hadn’t been used in the commission of the crimes. The burner cell phones that were used in the killings were all different. We’ll refer to them as Burner Cells 1, 2, 3, and 4.
They were able to get his billing records on his primary cell phone that went back to 2007, and with those came some general location data. They compared that location data to the data gleaned from the victims’ phones and from burner cells 1 thru 4. For example, Melissa Barthelemy vanished on July 11th, 2009. Cell tower records showed that the burner phone used by the killer traveled from Midtown Manhattan to Massapequa. Billing records from Rex’s primary cell showed that it, too, traveled from Manhattan to Massapequa. Six days later, the killer used Melissa’s phone to make taunting calls to her family. One of those calls was at 12:40PM and it was placed in Midtown Manhattan. An hour later, at 1:45PM, billing records indicated that Rex’s primary cell was used to make a call from Midtown. A month after that, Rex went to Iceland for 9 days (August 10th thru 18th, 2009). All activity on Melissa’s phone and on the burner cell ceased. On August 19th, the day after he returned, activity the cells resumed. At 7:23PM, Melissa’s cell was used again to make taunting calls to her family. It pinged in Midtown Manhattan, and sure enough, Rex’s primary cell was also used to make calls from Manhattan at 7:16PM and 7:28PM.
Police compared every known location of the killer based upon victim phone records and the location records of Burner Cells 1 thru 4, and in no instance was Rex’s primary cell in a different location.
Investigators wanted to know if his wife was aware of what was going on, and they soon discovered that all of the killings had taken place when she was out of town. Asa was in Iceland for a month and ten days when Melissa was killed. She was in Maryland for five days when Megan was killed. And she was in New Jersey for eight days when Amber was killed. Though it was no guarantee of what she knew or didn’t know, it did give her an ironclad alibi. They were unable to confirm her location through cell phone records for the earliest victim in 2007—Maureen Brainard-Barnes—because those records had been destroyed.
DNA evidence - Link to Asa
Maureen’s remains were bound with 3 leather belts, and a hair was recovered from one of the buckles. Megan was bound with duct tape, and two hairs were recovered from the tape near her head. Amber was bound with duct tape and a hair was recovered from the tape that was near her head. These four hairs were all similar—they were all from a white female, and they did not match any of the victims’ hair. None of the hairs were suitable for the best type of testing—nuclear DNA testing. But in July 2022, detectives sent them out for mitochondrial DNA testing by an outside laboratory. Mitochondrial DNA testing can be helpful for establishing someone is part of a very small group of people, or even a family, but cannot be used to determine a unique match beyond a shadow of a doubt.
The lab came back and said that all four hairs belonged to the same group—called a haplogroup—named K1c2. They confirmed that none of the victims’ hair belonged to this group.
In July of 2022, a detective took 11 bottles from a trash bin that was left out for collection in front of Rex’s home. They took swabs from the discarded bottles and sent the swabs to the same lab. They generated full DNA profiles based upon the bottles, and they determined that one of the profiles belonged to haplogroup K1c2—the same as the hairs. The lab concluded that they “belonged to the same individual or someone closely related.”
Investigators wanted to confirm the results with a lab specialized in mitochondrial analysis. In June of 2023, they sent the hairs and the bottles to another lab. They performed the same comparison and concluded that they both belonged to a very rare group of individuals that represent only .02% of the North American population. In other words, 1 out of 5,000 people belong to this very rare group, and 4,999 out of 5,000 people could be ruled out as matches. The bottle is believed to be Asa’s DNA. Investigators believed that her hair was transferred to the victims through Rex’s actions.
DNA evidence - Link to Rex
But they weren’t done.
Investigators recovered one single hair from “the bottom of the burlap” used to wrap Megan’s body. They determined it was a white male hair. It was unsuitable for nuclear DNA testing, like the others. They had sent it in for mitochondrial testing back in July 2020 and the lab determined it was part of haplogroup V7a.
In January 2023, detectives recovered a used pizza box that Rex had discarded in a garbage can in Midtown Manhattan. It had some leftover pieces of crust remaining, and from that food debris, they were able to get Rex’s full DNA profile.
In April 2023, a detective recovered the white male hair from the first lab and delivered it to the second lab, which, again, specialized in mitochondrial analysis. They ran their tests and determined that Rex and the unknown male hair from Megan both belonged to a very exclusive group comprising just .04% of the population. In other words, only 1 out of 2,500 people in North America belong to this group, meaning that 99.96%, or 2,499 out of 2,500 people, can be excluded. But not Rex.
Rex Heuermann is arrested
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office was ready to indict. They took the case to a grand jury which rubber stamped the charges. On the morning of Friday, July 14th, 2023, Rex Heuermann was arrested near his office in Midtown Manhattan. He was cooperative. Detectives took him to Suffolk County Jail where he was processed. The county jail is in a complex of numerous criminal justice buildings, way out on Long Island. Within walking distance was the Suffolk County Court, where he was brought to appear before a judge at 2:00PM that same day. The judge read the counts: the District Attorney’s Office, representing the people of the state of New York, charged him with three counts of first-degree murder for the violent deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman. He pleaded not guilty.
At the same hearing the judge considered whether or not to grant him bail.
The prosecution argued, “Based on the serious, heinous nature of these offenses, and the strength of the people’s case, ... we believe that the only means to ensure the defendant’s return to court is to remand the defendant without bail.” Accompanying their request was a 32-page document outlining their case against Rex signed by the deputy chief of the DA’s office, Allen Bode. The judge agreed. He ordered that Rex be held without bail pending trial.
Revisiting Megan’s last night alive
The charging document revealed more details about Megan’s final moments of life.
Rex’s wife had left for Maryland on June 4th, and in her absence, Rex planned his next murder.
On Saturday, June 5th, the same day that Megan had checked into the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge, Rex activated a new burner cell. He found her Craigslist ad, and he contacted her on his new cell. The last communication on Megan’s cell was at 1:31AM, just as she was walking out the front door of the hotel, where she was caught on the security camera. That final call was with Rex’s burner phone. That was the final communication for the burner phone as well.
Megan’s phone remained on for a while. Police were able to track her cell from Hauppauge to Massapequa Park—where Rex lived. The final ping from her cell was at 3:11AM.
According to Megan’s aunt Elizabeth, her death certificate listed her cause of death as “asphyxiation.” The New York City Medical Examiner’s Office explained that generally meant strangulation or smothering.
Though it’s not clear if it was while she was alive or after she was dead, Rex used duct tape to bind her, and her body was placed in a burlap type material.
The state has not yet put forward a theory of how Rex killed Megan and disposed of her body, but I believe that he killed her at his home in Massapequa Park, and drove the short distance to Ocean Parkway, and under the cover of darkness, carried her body through the brambles and dumped it on the sandy soil. The police released precise coordinates of where her remains were recovered, and it was exactly 22 feet from the edge of pavement of Ocean Parkway. I believe Rex got back into his truck and went back to his normal routine, blending in, like he had for the 47 years of his life.
Today there is a bike path on the north side of Ocean Parkway. It’s new. Families ride on the fresh tar and admire the views of South Oyster Bay. Ocean breezes creates intricate patterns in the expanse of marsh grasses—its natural beauty a welcome respite from the concrete jungle. Bicycle tires may even ride over the exact spot where Megan’s body was found. Do visitors have any inkling of the horror that happened there? There is no shrine. There is no plaque. Has the grim history of this place been tarred over as well?
Media criticism
Manny Fernandez, of the New York Times, wrote, on April 8th, 2011, “Each disappearance drew little or no notice.” He reminds the reader almost every paragraph how little people cared, but he never quite says who these “people” are. He wrote,
“Living in the margins of society, often trading sex for money with anonymous clients in anonymous places, struggling with drug addiction and estrangement from their families, prostitutes have long been invisible—vulnerable prey for the sicked and the depraved. Few notice them when they are alive; fewer still when they are missing or found dead.”
After having spent so much time learning about Megan’s case, it is apparent to me that Megan’s family cared about her disappearance. They summoned public support and solicited coverage in the press. They enlisted the support of LostNMissing and held numerous vigils and rallies in both Portland and Long Island. Hundreds of people attended the rally in Portland—hundreds of people that cared. Perhaps Manny isn’t referring to the friends and family of Megan or the local press. Maybe Manny is referring to the “public at large.” But did Manny take a poll? How does he, a single reporter, presume to speak for the public? Perhaps Manny is referring to major outlets, like the one he works for—The New York Times. But nowhere in the article does he apologize on behalf of the Times for not covering the disappearances that New York’s backyard.
Maybe what Manny was really saying is that he didn’t care.
Neil Genzlinger, of the New York Times, wrote, in December of 2011,
“It's not just the crimes and the realization of the scope of them—10 bodies so far—that grab the attention. It’s the interviews with parents, siblings and boyfriends, many of whom seem jarringly resigned to the sex-trade business that sent most of the victims to their deaths.”
It wasn’t a local man that murdered the women—they were done in by their own choices. And just as shocking as the realization that there was an active serial killer in the community was the fact that the friends and family still loved and supported them. At least Neil owns his victim-blaming in straightforward language.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is the possibility that the police didn’t care. A sister of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, one of the victims, alerted the police right after her disappearance in 2007, but according to the Daily Telegraph, she said she was told, “Your sister ran away, and she doesn’t care about anyone.” The family of another victim, Shannan Gilbert, fought tooth and nail with the Suffolk Police to take her disappearance more seriously, which may have led to the discovery of all the bodies. But perhaps the most glaring issue is this: not one news article suggested the possible existence of a serial killer in Long Island prior to the discovery of the many bodies—despite the fact that there were numerous missing women in a short period of time in similar circumstance that might lead one to that possible conclusion.
After the discovery of the bodies, national attention turned to the families of the victims. And the families were forced to constantly address the fact that their loved one was a sex worker; constantly having to defend the value of their lives. Talk-show host Geraldo Rivera invited Megan’s aunt Elizabeth to come on, but she withdrew after he continually referred to Megan and the others as “hookers.” National outlets, like the New York Daily News, focused in on the salacious details, leading with headlines like, “No one notices a missing hooker... until it’s 2 missing hookers.” Some articles said nothing of the women’s lives but their sex work, and didn’t spare even one word of opprobrium for the killer. Instead of using their names in headlines, they gave them nicknames like “hooker” and “prostie.”
These women’s lives mattered. Period.
So let me be their voice for a moment. Pardon my crass language, but “Fuck you, Rex Heuermann. I hope you rot in jail.”
Remembering Megan
Though the family has waited for 13 years, it appears that they are finally getting the justice they deserve.
But nothing will fill the hole left by Megan’s death. They are left with only memories.
Megan’s mom, Lorraine, said “Megan was filled with wonderment and curiosity... and just a little bit of mischief.” Her best friend, Nicci, said, “Megan was a fan of show, Jersey Shore. She enjoyed the drama.” Allie, her half-sister, said, “In the summertime in Portland, we used to always sing ‘Waterfalls’ by TLC. We knew every word.” She remembers catching ladybugs and collecting mica—competing to find the biggest piece. She said, “Megan had a great personality. Everyone got along with her, and she got along with everybody. She was very outgoing.”
Liliana has few memories of her mother—she was so young when she died. Lorraine remembered breaking the news of her mother’s death to her: “We told her God needed a beautiful angel. So, he took mommy, and now she’s a beautiful angel.”
When I look through all the photos that we have found of Megan’s life, I am struck by her confidence. In one shot, when she was at a difficult age—about 14 years old—she stands with her hands on her hips, a summer tan on her arms, in a gray tank top, just in front of the wooden steps of her porch. She looks directly into the camera with a mischievous grin. She looks unstoppable.
Though she had her struggles, I wonder where her life would have led. When I think of Megan, I think of a life that was taken too soon.
This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, ‘Megan Waterman: Murder on Gilgo Beach, Part Two’. To hear Megan’s full story, find and listen to Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.
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Richard Dormer, press conference on LISK, 2011 (photo credit: Press and Sun Bulletin)
This is the area where Shannan Gilbert’s body was discovered, in the wild marshy area behind the Oak Island Beach Association, December 2011 (photo credit: Google Maps)
Megan’s daughter, Liliana, gave her first public interview to the Portland Press Herald at 13 years old in January 2020
Suffolk County PD released images of a belt discovered with one of the LISK victims. It was emblazoned with these initials (either ‘WH’ or more likely ‘HM’) (photo credit: Suffolk County PD)
Rex Heuermann’s dark green Chevrolet Avalanche, parked outside of his home in Massapequa Park, NY (photo credit: Google Maps)
Discarded pizza box by Rex Heuermann (photo credit: Suffolk County PD)
SCPD isolated Rex Heuermann’s DNA from these pizza scraps (photo credit: Suffolk County PD)
Selfies discovered in one of Rex Heuermann’s many anonymous email accounts (photo credit: Suffolk County PD)
Rex Heuermann, adding minutes to a burner cell in May 2023 (photo credit: Suffolk County PD)
Rex Heuermann, website image from RH Associates, his architecture and consulting firm
Rex Heuermann, high school portrait, Long Island, NY
Rex Heuermann, booking photo (Suffolk County Sheriff's Office)
Megan Waterman
Sources For This Episode
Newspaper articles
Various articles from Bangor Daily News, Daily Mail, Daily News, National Post, New York Post, New York Times, Newsday, Portland Press Herald, Scarborough Leader, The Boston Globe, The Current, The Daily Mirror, The Scarborough Leader, Wall Street Journal, here.
Written by various authors including Al Baker, Alex Taylor, Alison Gendar, Andrew Strickler, Ann Kim, Annette Witheridge, Anthony DeStefano, Barry Paddock, Ben Chapman, Benedict Moore-Bridger, Brad Hunter, Bruce Golding, Chau Lam, Christine Pelisek, Dan Aceto, Daniel Bates, Denise Buffa, Dwight Garner, Emily Dooley, Eric Russell, Frank Eltman, Henrick Karoliszyn, Janon Fisher, John Lauinger, John Marzulli, John Richardson, Keith Falkiner, Kerry Burke , Kirsten Fleming, Larry Celona, Larry McShane, Laura Collins-Hughes, Leslie Bridgers, Liz Robbins, Lukas Alpert, Manny Fernandez, Matthew Chayes, Matthew Lysiak, Michael Daly, Michael Kelley, Michael O'Keeffe, Nate Schweber, Nathan Place, Neil Genzlinger, Noah Rosenberg, Patrik Jonsson, Paul Toohey, Peter Sheridan, Philip Marchand, Rich Schapiro, Robert Kolker, Rocco Parascandola, Samuel Goldsmith, Sean Gardiner, Sherryl Connelly, Simone Weichselbaum, Tania Lopez, TJ Pignataro, and Yamiche Alcindor.
Books
“Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery” by Robert Kolker (2013)
Online written sources
'Police Investigate Scarborough Woman's Disappearance' (WMTW News 8 Portland), 6/14/2010
'Police hunt for missing Maine mother' (Portland Press Herald), 6/17/2010, by Ann Kim
'Maine mother and escort missing for two weeks' (Boston 25 News), 6/17/2010
'Vigil held for missing woman, 22' (Portland Press Herald), 6/26/2010, by John Richardson
'Find Megan Waterman' (meganwaterman.com), 6/27/2010
'Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell' (CNN), 8/10/2010
'Megan Amelia Gove Waterman' (FindaGrave), 1/25/2011
'Megan Amelia Waterman' (Dignity Memorial), 5/1/2011
Official written sources
Bail application, drafted by Suffolk County DA’s office, 7/14/2023
Photos
Photos from meganwaterman.com, FindaGrave, and various newspaper articles. Map in cover photo from Lost Girls by Robert Kolker.
Credits
Vocal performance, audio editing, and research by Kristen Seavey
Writing, research and photo editing by Byron Willis
Research support by Brittany Healy
Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey