Who died at the hands of? The police described the suspect as a "demon walking between us", and the disappeared Xia Nan | police | demon

Author: Niu Zhiyuan

A news story is being broadcasted on the TV screen: "In December 2010, the police found four female bodies on a beach on Long Island. After investigation, it was found that some of them went missing in 2007, while others went missing in the past three months."

The murderer is lurking among the crowd, and a terrifying atmosphere is enveloping Long Island.

Mary's daughter, Shanan Gilbert, has been missing for several months, but the police seem to believe it was a simple case of a young girl running away from home, without any connection to the body found on the beach, dismissing Mary's anxious emotions. One of the reasons why the police are doing this is that Xia Nan is a sex worker.

However, in the following period of time, near the disappearance of Xia Nan, the police discovered several female corpses in succession

The above story is based on the American movie "Missing Girl" and is adapted from a real event. The protagonist's prototype is Shanan Gilbert, the victim of the 2010 Long Island serial murders, which took place on Long Island, New York.

She disappeared

At the time of the incident, Xia Nan was 24 years old and had a history of hereditary mental illness. Due to poverty in her family, she chose to become a "call girl".

On April 30, 2010, Xia Nan received a "business" order. Mike, the driver who took her to the client's house, recalled after the incident that around 4:30am to 5:00am, Xia Nan suddenly shouted and called the police at the client's house. In the 23 minute recorded call released by the police, Xia Nan repeatedly said that someone was chasing her, but she was unable to tell the police her specific location.

Mike recalled seeing Xia Nan suddenly scream and rush out of the house, frantically knocking on the doors of nearby residents. Afterwards, Xia Nan disappeared like a human evaporation.

In December 2010, while searching for Xia Nan, the police accidentally discovered a female body along the coastal highway located on Long Island. As the search deepened, the police discovered three more bodies, which were abandoned in bushes near the main road. They are petite in stature, with green or light brown pupils, all of which are stuffed into burlap bags after being strangled. Because the body was found on Gilgo Beach on the south coast of Long Island, these four victims are known as the "Gilgo Beach Four".

Five months later, the police discovered six more bodies nearby. The coastal expressway was once regarded by locals as a "graveyard".

However, Xia Nan still couldn't find it.

On December 13, 2011, after more than a year of disappearance, Xia Nan's mobile phone and other personal belongings were found in a place mixed with sand, soil, and swamps. Xia Nan has finally been found. The police informed the family that Xia Nan's death was an accident, as she got lost in the bushes and fell into a swamp, dying from hypothermia or drowning.

But Xia Nan's mother Mary insists that her daughter did not die in an accident, but in murder.

·Screenshots from the movie "Missing Girl".

In the movie "Missing Girl", due to the fact that the victims are mostly sex workers, their identities are exposed and they face wave after wave of public condemnation, and the path to finding the truth is full of twists and turns. In real life, in July 2016, Xia Nan's mother Mary was stabbed to death by her younger daughter who had a mental illness.

Whether in the film world or the real world, Mary has fallen on the path of finding the truth about her daughter Shanan's death.

·From 2010 to 2011, the police discovered more than ten bodies along the Long Island Coastal Expressway.

"Cradle of serial killers"

From 2010 to 2011, the police searched for the remains of 11 victims, including Xia Nan, on and near Long Island Highway Avenue Beach. Comparing the time of death of these bodies, it was found that the perpetrator committed the crime spanning 15 years.

In the early stages of the investigation, the then police chief Domo realized that this could be a serial homicide case. Most experts believe that these 11 homicides involve at least 2 perpetrators, but the possibility of the same perpetrator committing the crime cannot be ruled out.

The terrifying term "serial killer" is associated with Long Island.

In fact, before this case occurred, there had already been two serial murders on Long Island: Greener Joe Rifkin killed 17 prostitutes between 1989 and 1993; Postman Robert Schulman beat and dismembered five prostitutes between 1991 and 1996.

After the appearance of the Long Island serial murders, some even referred to Long Island as the "cradle of serial killers".

·The police are searching for the missing Xia Nan.

According to data, Long Island is located in the southeastern part of New York State and is part of the metropolitan area of New York, making it one of the most densely populated areas in the United States. In 2011, Scott Burn, a scholar at Dull University in New Jersey, stated that Long Island has a high population density, and proportionally, the number of crimes should be higher than in sparsely populated remote areas, making it easier for serial killers to choose victims in densely populated areas.

It is worth noting that in recent years, a considerable portion of the victims of the serial killings on Long Island have been sex workers. At the same time, the United States has attracted attention to serial murders such as the "Red Headed Killer" and "Letter Rape", and the victims are also sex workers. According to relevant data, although the overall number of serial killers in the United States has decreased since the 1990s, the proportion of prostitutes becoming victims in the country has increased from 34% to 89%.

"Disappearing Xia Nan", "sex workers", "Gilgo Beach four person group", "serial killers"... As the investigation progresses, the case becomes increasingly complex.

An incompetent police chief

In order to investigate this case, the local police raised the bounty amount from $5000 to $25000, breaking the record for the highest bounty in local history. As of September 22, 2011, the police have received over 1200 clues from the public.

The investigation is not very strong, but why hasn't the killer been found in 13 years?

All of this starts with an incompetent police chief.

In 2012, James Burke succeeded Domer as the police chief in Suffolk County, but Burke's character was controversial.

One day, a thief broke open Burke's car and stole confiscated drugs, as well as a luggage bag containing various sex toys and indecent video DVDs. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation began investigating this incident, Burke unilaterally terminated cooperation with the FBI in the Long Island serial murders and other major cases.

Due to the lack of assistance from the FBI, the investigation speed of the Long Island serial murder case has slowed down.

Burke even told the public that "there is no need to worry too much about serial killers.". In his view, this person kills specific groups of people, such as sex workers, and the general public will not be affected.

In 2016, the FBI found that Burke had beaten the suspect for many times, paid for prostitutes, and even abused sex workers. What's 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 judicial justice.

On January 16, 2020, newly appointed police chief Geraldine Hart resumed the investigation and released a photo of a belt found on Ocean Avenue in Gilgo Beach, with the letters "HM" or "WH" imprinted on the black leather on the belt. The police believe that this belt belongs to the perpetrator.

The investigation into the Long Island serial murder case has ushered in a turning point.

In February 2022, Ray Tierney, the local prosecutor of Suffolk County, established a special investigation team. Quickly, the investigation team discovered that a man had appeared at the home of one of the victims, Amber Lynn Costello, and after a dispute with the victim, drove away in a Chevrolet truck. The man's name is Rex Hoyoman, and at the time of the incident, he had a Chevrolet truck of the same model.

·The police arrested Hoyoman at the scene.

The police found through technical means that the hair DNA extracted from the bag that wrapped the body back then matched the DNA from the pizza discarded by Hoyoman. In July 2023, the New York police arrested Hoyoman. He was accused of carrying three of the Long Island serial murders and was listed as the main suspect in the fourth murder case, and the police do not rule out his involvement in other murder cases.

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 investigation.

·The police accused Hoyoman of killing three women.

"The devil walking among us"

At the age of 59, Hoyoman doesn't look like a serial killer at all.

He was born and raised on Long Island, graduated from the Department of Architecture at the New York Institute of Technology, and is a senior architect at a company on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, with some fame in the industry. His family life is prosperous and happy, married with two children.

On July 14, 2023, Hollywood actor Baldwin tweeted that he and Hoyoman were high school classmates and expressed "disbelief" about Hoyoman's alleged criminal behavior: "He is an ordinary, quiet, and family oriented man." A colleague who has worked with Hoyoman for about 30 years described him as "a high-quality man who is good at socializing.".

Another high school classmate of Hoyoman said, "He is quiet, gloomy, solitary, and has a very high IQ." Hoyoman's neighbor DeVilliers said, "He has always been very quiet and has never disturbed anyone."

But in the eyes of some neighbors, the house Hoyoman lived in was somewhat out of place with the surrounding environment. On Halloween, some parents even remind their children not to approach this house. "His house is a garbage dump," said a neighbor of Hoyoman.

·Hoyoman, who is currently 59 years old.

Hoyoman once stated in an interview with a YouTube blogger that he is a helpful person. However, the police described him as "a demon walking between us".

Ray Tierney, Suffolk County District Attorney, revealed that Hoyman had searched the Internet for child sexual abuse materials. In addition, he also registered a dedicated online account and searched multiple times for information related to the "Long Island Gilgo Beach serial murder case" 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 Hoyoman's house.

·Hoyoman and the location where the body was found.

On July 14th, Hoyoman appeared in court and was charged with three counts of first degree murder and three counts of second degree murder. In court, Hoyoman refused to plead guilty. He claimed, "I didn't do this." The prosecution, on the grounds that his alleged behavior was "extremely corrupt," requested a life imprisonment sentence for Hoyoman. If convicted, he will face multiple life sentences and cannot be released on parole.

The dawn has arrived, but the road of case investigation has not yet reached the end. Although Hoyoman does not rule out being related to other murder cases, based on the current evidence, it is still difficult to draw the following conclusion.

Perhaps there are other murderers besides Hoyoman, who may be hiding in the crowd like the former Hoyoman, as an ordinary person.