An aerial view of the area near Gilgo Beach and Ocean Parkway on Long Island where police have been conducting a prolonged search after finding ten sets of human remains on April 15, 2011 in Wantagh, New York. <strong>(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</strong> Articles about the recent discovery of bodies near a Long Island, New York beach as seen in April 6 issues of Newsday and the New York Daily News newspapers on April 7, 2011 in New York. <strong> (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images)</strong> An aerial view of the area near Gilgo Beach and Ocean Parkway on Long Island where police have been conducting a prolonged search after finding ten sets of human remains on April 15, 2011 in Wantagh, New York. <strong>(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</strong> A makeshift memorial for a victim in the Gilgo Beach murders stands along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, New Yorkon the afternoon of April 30, 2013. <strong>(Photo by Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)</strong> An evidence marker can be seen along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Babylon, New York, on May 9, 2011. It' s been five years since a Suffolk County police officer and his K-9 partner discovered human remains in the wooded area along the parkway between Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach. <strong>(Photo by Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)</strong> File: An aerial view of police cars near where a body was discovered in the area near Gilgo Beach and Ocean Parkway on Long Island on April 15, 2011 in Wantagh, New York. <strong>(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)</strong> BABYLON - The Gilgo Beach murders – the deaths of 11 people whose remains were found in 2010 and 2011 – have long stumped investigators.
Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Several of the bodies were found near the remote town of Gilgo Beach on the southern shore of Long Island.
Determining who killed them, and why, has vexed a slew of seasoned homicide detectives through several changes in police leadership. Last year, an interagency task force was formed with investigators from the FBI, as well as state and local police departments, aimed at solving the case.
Graphic via Suffolk County Police Dept. Graphic via Suffolk County Police Dept. The formation of the Gilgo Beach task force represented a renewed commitment to investigating the unsolved killings, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said at the time.
"We’re happy to see that they’re finally active, the police, in accomplishing something. Let’s wait and see what it all leads to," said John Ray, the attorney for the families of two victims, Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor.
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Gilgo Beach murders: Timeline of events
FOX 5 New York's Teresa Priolo looks at a timeline of events in the Gilgo Beach murders case, from the first victim's disappearance to Friday's arrest.
Months later, a police officer and his cadaver dog were looking for her body in the thicket along nearby Ocean Parkway when they happened upon the remains of a different woman. Within days, three other bodies were found, all within a short walk of one another.
By spring 2011, that number had climbed to 10 sets of human remains – those of eight women, one man, and one toddler. Some were later linked to dismembered body parts found elsewhere on Long Island, making for a puzzling crime scene that stretched from a park near the New York City limits to a resort community on Fire Island and out to far eastern Long Island.
A suspect has been taken into custody in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders. Investigators are currently searching a home in Massapequa Park.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.