© The Associated Press/Seth WenigEmergency personnel, some dressed in suits to protect from poison ivy and ticks, search through the brush near Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y., Monday, April 11, 2011. Investigators searching for evidence of a serial killer are hitting the ground around New York's Jones Beach State Park. About 125 searchers, some with dogs and others on horseback, scoured the area Monday. The new search area is along Ocean Parkway in Nassau County. Officers in neighboring Suffolk County uncovered eight sets of human remains in recent months. A New Jersey woman who was the initial focus of the search is still missing.
The number of possible victims of a serial killer rose to 10 on Tuesday after authorities confirmed that two sets of remains found along a New York highway a day earlier are human.
Authorities have not definitively linked all the remains found in the past five months to the same suspect, but they have said four Craigslist escorts found in December were likely victims of a serial killer.
Police happened upon the first set of four remains while searching for a missing New Jersey prostitute last seen in a nearby community nearly a year ago. That woman has yet to be found.
Police searching late last month along Ocean Parkway discovered a fifth body, which prompted authorities to commence a widespread search involving dozens of officers, dogs, helicopters, mounted units and volunteer firefighters. That effort led to the discovery April 4 of three more sets of remains and two more on Monday near Jones Beach State Park.
Police investigating the deaths have kept many details of the killings to themselves, but the revelations have shaken some veteran officers.
