Police described him as
"A demon walking among us".
Author: Niu Zhiyuan
Editor: Chen Jiali
A news item was playing on television: "In December 2010, police found four female bodies on a beach on Long Island. It has been confirmed that some of them disappeared in 2007 and some in the last three months. ”
The killer is lurking in the crowd, and an atmosphere of terror hangs over Long Island.
Mary's daughter, Shannan Gilbert, has been missing for months, but police appear to think it was a simple case of a young girl running away from home, not linked to the body found on the beach, and dismissive Mary's anxious mood. One of the reasons the police did this was that Xia Nan was a sex worker.
However, in the following period, near the place where Xia Nan disappeared, the police found several female corpses one after another...
The above story comes from the American movie "Missing Girl", adapted from real events, the protagonist is based on the victim of the 2010 Long Island serial murder case in the United States, Xiannan Gilbert, and the crime occurred in Long Island, New York, USA.
She disappeared
At the time of the crime, Xia Nan was 24 years old and had a history of hereditary psychiatric illness. Because of her family's poverty, she chose to become a "call girl".
On April 30, 2010, Xia Nan received a "business" order. Mike, the driver who sent her to the customer's house, recalled after the case that from about 4:30 to 5 a.m., Xia Nan suddenly shouted at the customer's house and called the police. In a 23-minute recording of the call released by the police, Mr. Xia repeatedly said that someone was chasing her, but could not tell the police her exact location.
Mike recalled that he later saw Xia Nan suddenly screaming and rushing out of the house, frantically knocking on the doors of nearby residents. After that, Xia Nan disappeared like a human evaporation.
In December 2010, while searching for Xia Nan, police accidentally found the body of a woman along the coastal highway on Long Island. As the search deepened, the police found three more bodies, which were abandoned in the bushes near the main road road. They are petite and have green or hazel pupils, which have been strangled and put into sacks. Because the body was found at Gilgo Beach, located on the south shore of Long Island, the four victims were known as the "Gilgo Beach Four."
Five months later, police found six more bodies nearby. The coastal highway was once considered a "cemetery" by locals.
However, Xia Nan still did not find it.
On December 13, 2011, more than a year after Xia Nan's disappearance, her mobile phone and other belongings were found in a mix of sand, mud and swamps. Xia Nan was finally found. Police informed the family that Xia Nan's death was an accident and that "she got lost in the bushes, fell into a swamp and died of hypothermia or drowning".
But Shanan's mother, Mary, insisted that her daughter had not died by accident, but by murder.
A still from the movie "Missing Girl".
In the movie "Missing Girls", because most of the victims are sex workers, their identities have been exposed and they have endured waves of public condemnation, and the road to finding the truth has twists and turns. In real life, in July 2016, Xia Nan's mother, Mary, was stabbed to death with a knife by her young daughter who had a psychotic attack.
Whether it is the movie world or the real world, Mary is "down" on the way to find the truth for the death of her daughter Xia Nan.
Between 2010 and 2011, police found more than a dozen bodies along the Long Island Coast Highway.
"Cradle of serial killers"
From 2010 to 2011, police found the remains of 11 victims, including Xia Nan, in and around Long Island Highway Boulevard Beach, and compared with the time of death of these bodies, the murderer found that the murderer committed the crime over 15 years.
Early in the investigation, the then police chief Thomas realized that it might be a serial murder case. Most experts believe that the 11 murders involved at least two murderers, but the possibility of the same murderer cannot be ruled out.
The terrifying word "serial killer" is associated with Long Island.
In fact, before this case, there had been two serial homicides on Long Island: Green Chemical Joe Rifkin killed 17 prostitutes between 1989 and 1993; Postman Robert Shulman beat five prostitutes to death and mutilated them between 1991 and 1996.
After the Long Island serial homicide case appeared, some people even referred to Long Island as the "cradle of serial killers".
Police are looking for the missing Xia Nan.
According to the data, Long Island is located in the southeast of New York State, belongs to the New York metropolitan area, and is one of the most densely populated areas in the United States. In 2011, Scott Byrne, a scholar at Dürr University in New Jersey, said that Long Island is more densely populated, proportionately more crime should occur than in sparsely populated remote areas, and serial killers are more likely to select victims in densely populated areas.
It is worth noting that in recent years in the serial killings on Long Island, a significant proportion of the victims have been sex workers. At the same time, the serial murder cases such as "red-haired killers" and "alphabet rape murders" that have attracted attention in the United States are also sex workers. Relevant data show that after the 90s, although the overall number of serial killers in the United States has decreased, the proportion of prostitutes in the United States has increased from 34% to 89%.
"Vanishing Shanan", "Sex Worker", "Gilgo Beach Four", "Serial Killer"... As the investigation progressed, the facts of the case became more and more confusing.
Incompetent police chief
In order to solve the case, the local police once raised the reward amount from $5,000 (about 36,000 yuan) to $25,000, breaking the record for the highest reward ever offered in the local area. As of September 22, 2011, the police had received more than 1,200 leads from the public.
The investigation is not small, but why has the murderer not been found for 13 years?
It all starts with an incompetent police chief.
In 2012, James Burke succeeded Domer as police chief of Suffolk County, where the crime occurred, but Burke's character was controversial.
One day, a thief pried open Burke's car and stole confiscated drugs from his car, as well as a duffel bag containing various sex toys and indecent video DVDs. When the FBI began investigating the incident, Burke unilaterally terminated his cooperation with the FBI on the Long Island serial homicide and other major cases.
With the help of the FBI, the detection of serial homicides on Long Island has slowed down.
Burke even told the public that "don't worry too much about serial killers." In his view, this person kills specific groups of people, such as sex workers, and ordinary people will not be affected.
In 2016, an FBI investigation found that Burke had repeatedly assaulted suspects and had engaged in prostitution and even abused sex workers. What is even more incredible is that the police chief actually sat in this position through the back door. In February of that year, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in prison for violating civil rights and obstructing justice.
On January 16, 2020, the new police commissioner, Geraldine Hart, reopened the investigation and released a photograph of a belt found on Ocean Avenue in Gilgo Beach, with the letters "HM" or "WH" embossed with the letters "HM" or "WH" (depending on the direction of the belt). Police believe the belt belongs to the perpetrator.
The investigation of the Long Island serial homicide case ushered in a turning point.
In February 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney formed a special investigation team. Soon, the investigation team found that a man had appeared at the home of Amber Lynn Costello, one of the victims, and after an argument with the victim, he was driving away in a Chevrolet truck. The man, Rex Hojoman, had a Chevrolet truck of the same type at the time of the crime.
Police arrested Hojoman at the scene.
Through technical comparison, the police found that the hair DNA extracted from the bag where the body was wrapped matched the DNA on the pizza that Hojoman discarded. In July 2023, police in New York, USA, arrested Hojoman. He was charged with carrying 3 of the Long Island serial homicides and was listed as the prime suspect in the 4th murder, and police did not rule out his involvement in other murders.
Although the mystery of Xia Nan's death has not yet been solved, at least, the Long Island serial murder case has finally ushered in the dawn of detection.
Police accused Hojoman of killing three women.
"The Devil Walking Among Us"
Hojoman, 59, doesn't look like a "serial killer" at all.
Born and raised on Long Island, he graduated from the New York Institute of Technology with a degree in architecture, and is a senior architect for a Fifth Avenue firm in Manhattan. His family life was prosperous and happy, married and had two children.
On July 14, 2023, Hollywood star Baldwin tweeted that he and Hojoman were high school classmates, expressing "real disbelief" for Hojoman's alleged criminal conduct: "He is an ordinary man, quiet and family-minded man. A colleague who has worked with Hoyoman for about 30 years called him "a 'quality man' who is good at dealing with."
Another of Hojoman's high school classmates said: "He was silent, gloomy, a loner and extremely intelligent. Hojoman's neighbour Devilliers said: "He was always quiet and never disturbed anyone. ”
But to some neighbors, the house where Hojoman lives is a bit out of place with his surroundings. On Halloween, there are even parents who remind their children not to go near the house. "His house is a garbage dump." A neighbor of Hojoman commented.
Hojoman, 59.
In an interview with a YouTube blogger, Hojoman said he was a helpful person. However, police described him as "a demon walking among us".
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney revealed that Hojoman had searched the internet for material on child sexual abuse. In addition, he registered a special online account and searched for information related to the "Long Island Gilgo Beach Serial Murders" several times after the establishment of the special investigation team. According to CNN, investigators found nearly 300 guns, including revolvers and semi-automatic rifles, in the basement of Hojoman's home.
Hojoman and the location where the body was found.
On July 14, Hojoman appeared in court and was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder. In court, Hojoman pleaded not guilty. He claimed: "I didn't do it. The prosecution filed for life imprisonment for his alleged conduct as "extremely depraved." If convicted, he faces multiple life sentences without parole.
The dawn has arrived, but the road to investigation has not yet come to an end. While Hojoman does not rule out links to other murders, it is difficult to draw conclusions based on the current evidence.
There may be other murderers other than Hojoman, maybe at this moment, just like Hojoman in the past, hiding in the crowd as an ordinary person.
Director system: Lv Hong
Producer: Zhang Jiankui
Editor-in-chief: Xu Chenjing
Editor: Ling Yun
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