Megan was just 22 when she was murdered, leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter. Last year, Ray and two colleagues put the police theory to the test. "When Amanda answered the phone, you know, she was so excited," Barthelemy said. And I would be amazed as to why wasn't that brought to our attention? They said Sarra had tormented and belittled Mari for years. Mari Gilbert felt that Shannans disappearance wasnt being treated with urgency, and that her daughter was being dismissed because she was a sex worker. Our editors handpick the products that we feature. Shannan ran towards the home of another Oak Beach resident, Barbara Brennan. Shortly after Gilberts body was discovered, Hackett put his Oak Beach house on the market in 2012 and moved away from the area. Gilbert worked a variety of jobs, including serving as a retail manager, teaching assistant, and Walmart employee, but continued to face personal struggles. 2013 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. She has two other daughters. By. "My husband and my brother got on their motorcycles and actually took Maureen's picture with them and drove down to Manhattan walked around the whole area asking people if they'd ever seen her," she recalled. PEOPLE has not been able to reach the Gilbert family for comment. "They didn't wanna hear anything," she said. Dylan Eason and Isaiah Churchwell were convicted of murdering Cynthia William "Patrick" Alexander remains in prison for murder. Moriarty asked Sarra. I think this guy got into her head somehow.". Saraa murdered her mother and is now in jail. "I knew that it was a possibility but I really just wanted to keep hope," said Sherre. It was schizophrenia, attorney John Ray, tells PEOPLE. Two neighbors signed affidavits -- one stating the doctor had given him "a prescription injectable steroid" and another claiming that Hackett "provided prescriptions for Oak Beach residents.". November, he filed a wrongful death suit against Dr Hackett. According to Mari Gilberts obituary, Mari had four grandsons when she died and she was engaged to Elroy J. Shulterbrandt. Hacketts attorney, James ORouke, has denied Hackett had anything to do with Shannans death and called the allegations against him contained in the lawsuit categorically false., The tragedy of this young womans death is only compounded by the prosecution in this civil litigation, he toldFox News. That was never reported to us," said Verrone. Police say Maris body was discovered in her daughters home in Ellenville on Saturday. "Sarra is, from all the evidence, clearly not responsible for what shes done," Newsday quoted Ray saying in 2016. Even the family's attorney, Steven Cohen, couldn't get police to take notice. And we're gonna catch him," said Berthelemy. "You have no question about that?" Moriarty asked. It was Michael Pak, Shannan's driver. "Shes what we call criminally insane. In the prosecutors view, the killing of Mari Gilbert was a crime of passion, quite likely drug-fueled, against a mother whom Sarra resented for years. Moriarty asked. Sarra had a long history of mental illness. Barthelemy also contacted the NYPD to file a missing persons report, but she was in for a rude awakening. This was how the police first learned of the existence of the infamous Long Island Serial Killer. Shannan also reportedly didnt get along with her mothers abusive boyfriend, further straining their relationship. While the calls he made to Shannan's family may be strange, they're not out of character. You dont go back to where you started Its like a nuclear bomb went off.. A year & a half of anger, tears & sleepless nights. One of her four daughters, Shannan, tragically died and her death is still being investigated. It was hard to breathe," said Cann. The tragedies and illness are often intertwined, says Dottie Laster, a private investigator and missing-persons specialist who helped the Gilbert family search for Mari Gilberts older daughter, Shannan. Police found the 24-year-olds body more than a year later on December 13, 2011, in a marsh at Oak Beach, according to Oxygen. Did you ever see her? In 2016, Mari Gilbert was found dead in her daughter Sarra Gilberts apartment in Ellenville, CBS New York reported. Dr. PeterHackettbecame linked to the case of Shannan Gilbert after he called her mother, Mari Gilbert, after Shannan'sdisappearance. Sherre, Sarras sister, spoke about Sarra after her sentencing and said they tried to get Sarrah help, but she would get better for a short period of time and then get worse again, People reported. He said the cause of death could not be determined, but the autopsy showed some findings consistent with strangulation. These are all the jobs she called and applied for call center, data entry and the list goes on and on," Cann said, showing off a list. Moriarty asked Schaller. She's based (and born and raised) in Brooklyn, New York. From Netflix's Lost Girls. But her third daughter, Sarra, suffered from severe mental illness. Sadly, the film's real-life heroine never got the justice she wanted for Shannan's death. In December of 2010, then-Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer downplayed it, but there was little doubt about what his department was confronting. "But, in retrospect, people thought there were signs. "We went to all the houses around the area to, like, knock on their doors and just say, 'Hey listen, did you see my sister?'" Sarra was ultimately charged and convicted of murdering her mother. In 2016, just months after an independent autopsy raised more questions about Shannans death, Mari Gilbert was found dead in her daughter Sarra Gilberts apartment in Ellenville, CBS New York reported at the time. 8: An Asian man dressed in women's clothes, Victims 9 and 10: A female skull and a bag of female bones. After the third call, police asked Verizon to tap Amanda's phone. "He's an individual who likes to get involved," Varrone said of Dr. Hackett. Ellenville police arrested Gilbert at the scene and said they recovered a 15-inch kitchen knife they believe was used in the attack. That sense of confidence may have driven the caller to reach out to Amanda one last time on Aug. 26, 2009, with a chilling message. Hackett, who police have said is not a suspect, initially denied ever making the call, but later admitted to calling the Gilbert family after phone records showed he had placed two different calls in the days that followed her disappearance. "Exactly," Schaller agreed, "like a lion smells a dying gazelle.". ", "I reached over and grabbed that phone, dialed 911," Colletti continued. When Hackett who is portrayed in the film by Reed Birney called Mari just a few days later, she claimed the doctor told her he had interacted with Shannan the night she died. Varrone says that the investigation into Shannan's death remains open and is confident that the days of the elusive serial killer haunting the beaches of Long Island are numbered. Nobody dreamed that the daughter was going to kill her mother, he says. He says her fears were imagined. Mari also may have had temporary custody of Sarras son, Daily Freeman reported. On Thursday, Suffolk County police Colletti said it was then that he noticed an Asian man in his 30s driving a black SUV. By then, she had been missing for eight days. No one wants to know you. "48 Hours" has since recently obtained phone records from Shannon's mother that confirm Hackett actually did make a call to Mari Gilbert exactly when she said he did on May 3. When she has moments of lucidity, I know shell be devastated by what she has done., Laster called it one tragedy on top of another., This is a family that needed a lot of help. Meserve says. She was murdered by her daughter Sarra Elizabeth Gilbert in Ellenville, New York. When your loved one is missing, the torture is too much for family members. I feel like if the right things were done maybe these girls would still be alive to this day," she said. She also beat her with a fire extinguisher and sprayed her with foam from the extinguisher. "She didn't turn to Craigslist [because] she wanted to she turned to Craigslist because she felt like there was no way out. Dr. Hackett has steadfastly denied ever seeing Shannan to the press. So we did go back and sort of apply some of that hindsight to the storytelling. "She pretty much thought that, you know, it would never happen to her," she replied. In a 14-page There is not an iota of evidence in any of this litigation.. Serial Killer Indicted in 1989 Murder of Author's Daughter, Va. Melissa Cann simply wishes police had worked harder to find Maureen. She grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but moved with her three eldest daughters, Shannan, Sherre, and Sarra, to upstate New York to escape their heroin-addicted father. It is not clear if she has retained an attorney or if she has entered a plea to her charges. KINGSTON, N.Y. Convicted murderer Sarra Gilbert has lost an appeal of her 25 years to life sentence for the brutal stabbing of her mother in 2016. However, the presiding judge said that she would never walk free again if he had any say in the matter. It doesn't make any sense.". No one would give her a job," said Cann. Her mother, Mari, and sister, Sherre, were desperately trying to hold onto hope. "There's something so sad that Amber lived 27 years, disappears, and nobody reports her missing," remarked Moriarty. Mari says during that phone call on May 3, Dr. Hackett told her that Shannan had left his house with her driver and that he was worried about her. Mari Gilbert, mother of Shannan Gilbert, was killed in upstate Ulster County. She wants people to know that her sister, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, may have worked as an escort, but she was much more than that. 'Lost Girls': What Happened To Dr. Peter Hackett? he replied. "And he said, 'Do you know what I did to your sister?' Its not clear what triggered Gilberts fear and a23-minute call she placed to 911has never been publicly released. "My sister had other dreams, you know. "I believe that he is between -- his late 20s and his late 30s," Cohen said. Schaller says the client enticed Amber with the promise of big money. Shannan was last seen running on the streetsof Oak Beach after leaving her client Joseph Brewers home. Moriarty asked Varrone. "He wanted to kill her.". She drowned her pet dog, and lost custody of her son, who entered her mothers care. He says the last time he saw Shannan, she was running out of his house toward his neighbor's. On May 1, she disappeared near Gilgo Beach after making a frantic phone call to police while seeing a customer. We tried to get Sarra help many times since she was diagnosed with schizophrenia in early 2014 and she would get better and then her condition would get worse., Laster says she genuinely liked Sarra. Its not clear what triggered Gilberts fear and a. has never been publicly released. In 2010, Sarras older sister, Shannan Gilbert, was working as a prostitute when she fled a clients home in Oak Beach, NY, and never returned home. When you give look let me not get into it," he said. "All I can say is he's sick. This content is imported from youTube. At this point, she had been missing for 10 months. "And they said, 'She's a hooker. Yelling, 'Help me, help me, help me. After graduating from beauty school, Melissa moved from her small hometown near Buffalo to New York City to work as a hairdresser. Twisted Sisters is investigating the terrifying case of the Gilbert family in New York state, where Sarra Gilbert brutally murdered her own mother, Mari Gilbert, in the most violent fashion. The calls didn't stop coming. Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife and son, Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed last month, doctor says, White supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes kicked out of CPAC, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Biden team readies new advisory panel ahead of expected reelection bid, At least 10 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, House Democrats unhappy with White House handling of D.C.'s new criminal code. According to NBC, Mari's 27-year-old daughter Sarra stabbed her more than 200 times and hit her with a fire extinguisher, resulting in Mari's death in 2016. Mari was alive and kicking. He nowreportedly lives in Florida. "I think she lived her life as if like she didn't even care about herself" said Schaller. The Gilberts say they immediately filed a missing persons report, but with no news, they drove 140 miles from their home in upstate New York to Oak Beach, Long Island, to look for Shannan themselves. By Aava Khanal December 19, 2021. She's not missing. ", "I was there when my mother received the phone call, so there's no way. There were eight in total, including one in which the likely killer spoke to Lynn. Former Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone believes Shannan actually died by accident -- after running into the thick marsh and getting lost. The mother of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance led to the discovery of 10 bodies at Gilgo Beach in Babylon, N.Y., in 2011, has been murdered, and a second daughter has been charged in her death. "I don't believe he said that. In mid July 2009, after several days with no word from Melissa, her mother panicked. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. She doesnt go to the page as frequently anymore, but still posts updates from time to time. Sarra was arrested at the scene with blood on her clothing. And she stabbed her to death.. It would be two days before Sherre learned her sister was missing when Shannan's worried boyfriend called to say she hadn't come home. Mari Gilbert was an American Activist who had a very tragic life. ", Police have said that they do not consider Hackett a suspect in the killings,according to, We allege that Dr. Peter Hackett has told others that he encountered Shannan knocking on his door on May 1, that he let her into his home and that he administered narcotics, Ray said outside the courthouse after filing the suit according to, . She called her mother and said come over. She testified that it wasnt mental illness that led Sarra to kill her mom, but drugs and long term hate, The Cut reported. Nieves pretended to be a woman and flirted online with Rodriguez; when the killer asked him on a date, he was waiting with a firearm. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Maybe she doesn't care about her kids'" Cann said, her eyes welling with tears. By 2011, as many as 10 human remains many of whom were believed to be sex workers had been discovered in the area, launching the still-unsolved search for what some have called the Long Island Serial Killer, according to the. Varrone says that while Dr. Hackett may be a busybody - "He exaggerates, that's how some people have described him" -- he is not a suspect in Shannan Gilbert's death or in any other. Mari Gilbert Killed: Daughter Sarra Had Schizophrenia, Attorney "At a certain point you just have to run with it.". She's a prostitute. She remains in prison today. "The world lost an awesome girl, a wonderful, wonderful mom, a friend" said Megan's mother, Lorraine Ela, who has a message for the killer: "I want to know why you took my daughter Why would you hurt a human being? Shannans body was found in a nearby marsh in 2011. But when Shannan's sisters went out to Oak Beach, they got a different story. The truth is all these women are victims.. And he's gonna make a mistake. She said she decided to keep the Facebook page going, despite her and her sister Stevies devastation, because of all the work and dedication her mom and their lawyer John Ray had put into Shannans case. Ten bodies, eight suffocated or strangled, and none of them Shannan Gilbert, the young woman whose disappearance launched the investigation. A year and a half of questions & no answers, clues or hints. A week later, a quarter-of-a-mile away from her belongings, they found Shannan's skeletal remains nearly intact, face down. However, the prosecution and members of Sarras family told a story of a devious, manipulative young woman who tried to excuse her drug addiction as a mental illness. Lawenforcement sources have said in the past that Shannan allegedly told the dispatcher theyre trying to kill me, during the call,Fox Newsreports. And she just kind of ignores that 'where are you' question and keeps saying 'someone's after me,'" Varonne explained. Every phone call, every message, every knock on the door, is a combination of hope and terror, she says. Sarra Elizabeth Gilbert, 27, is being charged in the crime. Mari had I'm like that's -- 'they're gonna eat you alive.' And maybe that little something that they know will lead to the solving of this case.". Maureen checked into a Super 8 hotel in Manhattan, and like the other young women, the 25-year-old seemed to vanish in the night. "We hear the conversation between the two of them and she's just staring at him and not acting rationally. "'Oh my God, Melissa's finally calling me.' A year & a half of hope, prayers & dreams.People say I have a tragic life because of my circumstances but one thing is for sure. Just weeks ago, "48 Hours" went to Dr. Hackett's house to try to get answers. On Dec. 13, 2010, Maureen's body was found alongside the others. In 2011, her body was found in a marshy area. "I said, 'Well, I called the police they are on their way to bring her back," Colletti said. "Certainly she could've succumbed to the elements after a while total fatigue and exhaustion.". The family never found closure, Laster says, as Shannans official cause of death remains undetermined and the Long Island serial killer remains at large. Her Sister Shannan Gilbert Died Mysteriously Shannan Maria Gilbert went missing on Long Island on May 1, 2010. Jurors didn't find Sarra and her attorney's claims and pleas for mercy compelling, with one unnamed juror telling the Daily Freeman, "We feel that she has mental illness but she was also aware of what she was doing." In fact, Dr. Hackett was known to provide medical treatment out of his home. And that happened for three days consecutively.". She believed her sister belonged in a place where she could be treated and not in a prison. Heres what you need to know about Mari Gilberts daughters. That he had treated Shannan and had medicated her," said Ray. Police believe the latest victims were also linked to the sex trade, but only one has ever been identified: Victim No. "We said that Maureen went to New York and she never came back. Gene Coombs and Henry Williams had mistaken the politician for a drug dealer who had ripped them off. According to NBC, Mari's 27-year-old daughter Sarra stabbed her more than 200 times and hit her with a fire extinguisher, resulting in Mari's death in 2016. Chief Varrone says the local police responding to Colletti's call knew nothing about Shannan's own 23-minute 911 call. Am I personally troubled by it? Actress Oona Laurence (far left) plays a young Sarra Gilbert in, The Real Mari Gilbert of Lost Girls, The True Story Behind "Lost Girls" on Netflix, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Shannan's missing persons case led police to discover ten sets of remains, now attributed to the, Mari Gilbert was murdered by one of her daughter, Sarra. Brewer insists he never harmed Shannan. But when Amber didn't call or come home, says Schaller, no one in her family even looked for her. Hackett said in his response to 48 Hours that he had been at home sleeping with his wifethe night Shannan disappeared. Her disappearance and Mari's efforts to find out what happened to her daughter are the focus of the new Netflix feature film "Lost Girls" starring Amy Ryan as the desperate mother who casts suspicion on Hackett (played by Reed Birney). ", Dr. Hackett later admitted in letters to "48 Hours" that he had called Shannan's mother, but he said it was later in the week and he did so at the request of friends who were searching for Shannan to be "supportive."