The Night Of ...

As news and events happen, it becomes important to reference those events here in the blog. The podcast is coming this month (most likely around Valentine’s Day), which is going to be interesting, but it comes with a few caveats. Also, an interview with a fascinating theorist about what happened at Gilgo Beach the night(s) the girls were murdered will be coming, too.

Anyways, let’s talk about what happened the other day on Ocean Parkway. Now, if you were in the area, you know that this was more than just a car accident. I tried to update as the news unfolded on our Twitter account, but the information I was receiving was pretty contrary. Eventually, the car accident story was what’s become the generally accepted narrative of events. This is fine. That established, I had contacts telling me there were police choppers in the area, as well as search teams combing the brush. Now, a simple car accident, on the surface, doesn’t seem to require a search team and choppers, but I’m not a police officer, so, my threat analysis skills may be low.

That said, something was happening by Ocean Parkway that resulted in the entire stretch of road being closed, surrounded by police and search crews, and swarmed by choppers. Take that for what you will.

The night Shannan Gilbert “disappeared” is a strange one. She was meeting a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home near Oak Beach/Gilgo Beach, when something scared her enough to make her think she was going to die that night. Shannan had been abusing drugs with Brewer that night, and had a history of mental illness (connected to her family), so it stands to reason that, perhaps during a drug-induced daze, she mistook Brewer’s advances for threats and ran off into the night.

There’s an image of Shannan, hiding under neighbor Gus Colletti’s boat in his yard while Michael Pak, Shannan’s driver, as well as Brewer, searched for her. A strung-out, terrified woman, hiding under a boat, waiting for salvation of some kind after pounding on Colletti’s door, desperate for aid. To put yourself in her position sends a shiver up your spine.

At some point after that, Shannan vanished. The police would eventually arrive (hours later, citing that they couldn’t trace where Shannan was, due to her incoherence and inability to tell them) after Shannan made a 23+ minute phone call to 9-1-1. The contents of that phone call remain under wraps, even though they were supposed to be released in November.

The last night of Shannan Gilbert remains a mystery. Many chalk her death up to “death by misadventure,” while others still believe her to be a victim of the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK). It was during the search for her body that the bodies of the other girls were found. Some believe she was chased into the marsh where her remains were eventually discovered, while others believe she was hallucinating when, during her phone call to the police she stated that “they” were trying to kill her.

Then who is the “they?” Brewer and Pak? Brewer was eliminated as a suspect early on in the investigation. Same with Pak. Who else was at Brewer’s? Is it the red herring, Dr. Peter Hackett? I use the term “red herring” loosely, as I believe Hackett to be the ultimate smokescreen to pull attention from where everyone should be looking. Hackett the fame-hound, who fakes heart attacks to avoid questioning and cries about his pacemaker being affected by cameras and cell phones.

Maybe Shannan was luckier than the other girls? Maybe her making that phone call stopped LISK from continuing? Possible, one supposes, but not likely. Bodies with similar M.O.s continue to pop up in Suffolk and Nassau counties.

Whatever happened to Shannan that night was horrific, and resulted in the death of a very disturbed young woman trying to make a living. From that horrific night came the discovery of multiple bodies.

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