Video: Police Identify ‘Fire Island Jane Doe’

Today, we are here to announce that as part of the Gilgo task force re-examination of all the evidence in the case, we were able to identify “Fire Island Jane Doe” as Karen Vergata, who was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance. Vergata went missing at approximately Feb. 14, 1996. At the time, she lived on West 45th Street in Manhattan, and was believed to be working as an escort at the time of her disappearance. There was no missing persons complaint filed at the time of that disappearance. In August of 2022, approximately six months after we formed this Gilgo task force, a DNA profile suitable for genealogical comparison was developed from the remains of Karen Vergata. In September of 2022, the F.B.I. was able to, was able, via a genetic genealogy review, to identify Ms. Vergata presumptively as “Fire Island Jane Doe.” Thereafter, in October of 2022, using a buccal swab from a relative of Karen Vergata, we were able to definitively identify her. It’s important to note that there are no charges at this time. Ms. Vergata’s disappearance was in 1996, which is 27 years ago. We are going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation. We’re going to have no comment on what, if any, suspects we developed at this time. This is a confidential investigation, so I’m not going to be taking any questions. But our investigation is continuing.