Skeleton Found on Long Island Beach Identified as Megan Waterman, 22

Jan 19, 2011— -- The skeletons of one of four women, believed to have been murdered by a serial killer and whose remains were found on a Long Island beach, have been identified as belonging to a 22-year-old mother from Maine, police said.

Police identified one of the skeletons found along a secluded stretch of Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County, N.Y., as belonging to Megan Waterman, a young woman who was last seen at a nearby Holiday Inn with her boyfriend in June.

Police accidently found the bodies in December while looking for a missing woman. The remains were scattered across a quarter-mile stretch of marshy grasslands near a parkway and police immediately deduced that a serial killer was responsible.

Waterman's mother, Lorraine Ela, confirmed her daughter had been identified on a Facebook page dedicated to finding the missing woman.

"To let all know ... the remains found have been confirmed to be my daughter, Megan Waterman ... a very sad day," Ela wrote on the page about 30 minutes before Suffolk County police were scheduled to hold a news conference.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said the other three bodies would be identified in a "very short period of time."

Investigators from the New York City medical examiners' office were comparing the other remains to DNA samples and medical records collected from families who contacted police in December.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer told ABC News in December, "Four bodies found in the same location pretty much speaks for itself. It's more than a coincidence. We could have a serial killer."

Police have yet to identify the other three skeletons, or determine if any of the remains belong to Shonnan Gilbert, 24, a prostitute whose disappearance. prompted the initial search of the beach.