LibGuides: Book Club is My Alibi: Discussion Guide: Lost Girls by Robert Kolker

About the Author

Robert Kolker is the author of Hidden Valley Road, an instant #1 New York Times best-seller and selection of Oprah's Book Club that was named a Top Ten Book of the Year by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Slate; one of the year’s best by NPR, the Boston Globe, the New York Post, and Amazon; the #1 book of the year by People; and one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2020.

His previous work includes Lost Girls, also a New York Times best-seller and New York Times Notable Book, and one of Slate’s best nonfiction books of the quarter century. He is a National Magazine Award finalist whose journalism has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Wired, O, the Oprah Magazine, the Marshall Project, Bloomberg Businessweek, and New York magazine.

Source: http://robertkolker.com/

The Victims

Learn more about the victims - Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation - Suffolk County PD

RECENT UPDATES:

October 1, 2023. New York Times. The Gilgo Beach Suspect May Have Hunted Them. Now They’re Key Witnesses Investigators are talking to women behind bars who worked as escorts and had encounters with the suspect, Rex Heuermann. They had been ignored for years.

September 9, 2023. ABC 20/20 S45E36Long Island Serial Killer - The dramatic twists and turns in the more than decade long investigation into the Gilgo Beach murders. TV-PG | 09.09.23 | 01:20:13 | CC

July 14, 2023. Suspect Arrested. A suspect was arrested on July 13, 2023. Rex Heuermann has been charged with murder in connection with three of the victims. More updates will follow.

Locations and Dates

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Also..

"Locations and dates of remains' discoveries on Long Island". Google Maps

Book to Movie -- Lost Girls (2020) Official Netflix Trailer

Book Summary

Lost Girls by Robert Kolker
Robert Kolker delivers a haunting and humanizing account of the true-life search for a serial killer still at large on Long Island, in a compelling tale of unsolved murder and Internet prostitution.

One late spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert, after running through the oceanfront community of Oak Beach screaming for her life, went missing. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to the twenty-four-year-old: she was a Craigslist prostitute who had been fleeing a scene—of what, no one could be sure. The Suffolk County Police, too, seemed to have paid little attention—until seven months later, when an unexpected discovery in a bramble alongside a nearby highway turned up four bodies, all evenly spaced, all wrapped in burlap. But none of them Shannan's.

There was Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen at Penn Station in Manhattan three years earlier, and Melissa Barthelemy, last seen in the Bronx in 2009. There was Megan Waterman, last seen leaving a hotel in Hauppauge, Long Island, just a month after Shannan's disappearance in 2010, and Amber Lynn Costello, last seen leaving a house in West Babylon a few months later that same year. Like Shannan, all four women were petite and in their twenties, they all came from out of town to work as escorts, and they all advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage.

In a triumph of reporting—and in a riveting narrative—Robert Kolker presents the first detailed look at the shadow world of escorts in the Internet age, where making a living is easier than ever and the dangers remain all too real. He has talked exhaustively with the friends and family of each woman to reveal the three-dimensional truths about their lives, the struggling towns they came from, and the dreams they chased. And he has gained unique access to the Oak Beach neighborhood that has found itself the focus of national media scrutiny—where the police have flailed, the body count has risen, and the neighbors have begun pointing fingers at one another. There, in a remote community, out of sight of the beaches and marinas scattered along the South Shore barrier islands, the women's stories come together in death and dark mystery. Lost Girls is a portrait not just of five women, but of unsolved murder in an idyllic part of America, of the underside of the Internet, and of the secrets we keep without admitting to ourselves that we keep them.

Book Discussion Questions

What are the forces that drove the victims into the profession they pursued?
Discuss the numerous theories put forth by law enforcement officials, the community, and even some of the suspects. Which, if any of them, do you find credible?
Why do you think it took so long to solve this case? What can we learn from it?
What are the pros and cons of releasing evidence to the public?
Considering the evidence in Shannon Gilbert's case (911 call, location, driver) and Dr. Hackett, do you think Shannon could be connected to LISK?

Selected Articles & Wikipedia

A selection of online pieces by Robert Kolker about the victims, the investigation, and the issues surrounding the case.

A Serial Killer in Common
New York Magazine, June 6, 2011
Five prostitutes disappear. Bodies turn up on a beach. Now the families of the victims have formed a kind of sisterhood. They ask: Who murdered my daughter? Who was my sister—really?

The New Prostitutes
New York Times Op-Ed, June 29, 2013
“In the two years I’ve spent learning about the lives of all five women, I have found that they all defied expectations….”

First Lost, Then Murdered
Slate book excerpt, July 09, 2013
Melissa moved to New York to cut hair. Then she became an escort. Then she was gone.

Two Lost Daughters
New York Magazine online, March 13, 2020
Mari Gilbert’s life, transformed by the death of one daughter, was ended by another.

The Gilgo Beach Murders Were a Cold Case. Then a New Police Chief Arrived.
New York Times, Sept. 25, 2020
After a decade of little movement in a series of killings on Long Island, a new sense of urgency.

The Gilgo Beach Victims Were Always More Than Escorts
New York Times, July 15, 2023
The families of the Gilgo Beach victims have been in a peculiar position: Caught in a spotlight that wildly distorted the reality about people they loved. (Published the day after the arrest of Rex Heuermann.)

Why Did It Take So Long to Catch the Long Island Serial Killer?
Rolling Stone Q&A, July 17, 2023
Robert Kolker, author of the book Lost Girls on the LISK murders following arrest of suspect Rex Heuermann, says police had "contempt" for the victims

Podcast Recommendations

Unraveled: Long Island Serial Killer (LISK)

Against a backdrop of police corruption, sexual misconduct and cover ups at the highest levels of the Suffolk County Police Department, co-hosts Alexis Linkletter (The First Degree) and Billy Jensen (The Murder Squad) investigate the investigation itself to expose the untold story of the Long Island Serial Killer, in the seven-part true crime podcast series Unraveled: Long Island Serial Killer.

Crime Junkie: Serial Killer LISK

When a young escort goes missing after an outcall on Long Island in 2010, no one bothers to search for her. No one except a single detective and his dog. While looking, he stumbles upon the burial ground of a serial killer… or… killers? What unfolds is one of America’s greatest unsolved mysteries. The story was set into motion when a young woman named Shannan Gilbert went missing after an outcall to Oak Beach in Long Island.

Crime Junkie CAPTURED: Gilgo Beach Killer

The update episode you all have been waiting for! On July 13th, 2023, Suffolk County ended the search for their Gilgo Murder suspect and has charged 59-year-old, Rex Heuermann, with murder in connection with three of the victims.

LISK Podcast

Inspired by the New York Times bestselling book Lost Girls by Robert Kolker and brought to you by Mopac Audio, a subsidiary of the leading, independent Austin-based production company Megalomedia, the ‘LISK: Long Island Serial Killer’ features rare interviews, new leads, and incisive analysis from host Chris Mass and team. Mass is a writer and producer whose team has spent the last four years researching and investigating the LISK case.

Book Recommendations about Cold Cases, Marginalized Victims, DNA, and Serial Killers

Searching for Savanna by Mona Gable
An investigation into the disappearance of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind when she was eight months pregnant highlights the shocking epidemic of violence against Native American women in America and the societal ramifications of government inaction
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold
For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time—but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.
Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid
Along northern Canada’s Highway 16, a yellow billboard reads GIRLS, DON’T HITCHHIKE. KILLER ON THE LOOSE. The highway is a 450-mile stretch of dirt and asphalt, surrounded by rugged wilderness and snowy mountain peaks. It is known as the Highway of Tears. It is here that countless women and girls—most of them Indigenous—have vanished since 1969. Highway of Tears explores the true story of what has happened along this troubled road. Journalist Jessica McDiarmid reassembles the lives of the victims—who they were, where they came from, who loved them, and what led them to the highway—and takes us into their families’ determined fight for the truth.
Trailed: one woman's quest to solve the Shenandoah murders by Kathryn Miles
On the 20th anniversary of the murder, a journalist starts looking into the lives of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams, who were killed while backpacking in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park, revealing evidence of cover-ups and incompetence that possibly led to the apprehension of the wrong suspect.
The Forever Witness by Edward Humes
After 30 years, Detective Jim Scharf and CeCe Moore solve the murder of a teenage couple with the help of genetic genealogy, which brings up questions of consent and privacy despite the fact we have the tools to catch the many killers responsible for approximately 250,000 murders in the U.S.
I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara; Gillian Flynn (Introduction by); Patton Oswalt (Afterword by)
An account of the unsolved Golden State Killer case, written by the late author of the TrueCrimeDiary.com website traces the rapes and murders of dozens of victims and the author's determined efforts to help identify the killer and bring him to justice.
Serial Killers by Richard Estep
This chilling book looks at the horrifying stories of forty malevolent killers and hundreds of innocent victims, including such notorious homicidal maniacs as John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Jeffery Dahmer, but it also looks at lesser-known and overlooked murderers.