By Dan Aceto and David Harry

Staff Writers

The   mother of a Scarborough woman who disappeared last June is holding out hope her daughter is not one of four bodies discovered in New York.  

“I’m hoping it’s not Megan and if it’s not, my heart goes out to all of the victims’ families,” said Lorraine Ela of South Portland.

Police discovered the bodies on Long Island where Megan Waterman, 22, was last seen June 6. She traveled there with her boyfriend and advertised as an escort on Craigslist.

Ela on Tuesday said her day had been  “hectic, rough and overwhelming” after learning about the bodies from Cynthia Caron of the Lost N’ Missing foundation, which has assisted in the search for Waterman.

Ela said she was “devastated” when she heard police mention the killings could possibly be the work of a serial killer. She said she stays in close contact with Scarborough Detective Don Blatchford and spoke with him three times Tuesday.

“When he hears stuff, he calls me and lets me know,” she said. “He’s not saying a whole lot. He doesn’t want to sit there and say ‘hey, it’s Megan’ if he’s not 100 percent sure it’s her.”

Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky said Tuesday the first body was discovered last Saturday afternoon in the Oak Beach area of Babylon as Officer John Mallia and his dog searched for evidence in the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24, of Jersey City, N.J.

Pelkofsky said Gilbert, like Waterman, was known to advertise as an escort on the website Craigslist and was last seen in the area May 1. Similarities between her disappearance and Waterman’s case prompted investigators to pursue the possibility one of the bodies might be Waterman’s, Pelkofsky said.

Three more bodies were found Monday when detectives returned to the scene, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said in a prepared statement. Police said the bodies were found on the northern side of the parkway in brushy terrain.

At a press conference Tuesday, Dormer said it was likely one person was responsible for leaving the bodies, which Pelkofsky said were found within 500 feet of each other.

“It’s an isolated area except for the parkway running through it,” Pelkofsky said.

Police confirmed Wednesday all four bodies are women. None of the bodies have been identified and Pelkofsky said the process could take weeks, especially if dental records do not provide matches. 

DNA testing would then be used, he said, and results would take at least four weeks. Pelkofsky said the department has a sample of Waterman’s DNA, retrieved during the investigation.

Waterman, who lived with her grandmother and daughter in Scarborough, last spoke with family members on June 5, according to police and Ela.

Blatchford said Waterman had gone to Long Island with her boyfriend, Akeem Cruz, who remains a person of interest in the missing person investigation.

Police said Cruz and Waterman went to New York in response to her ads as an escort on Craigslist, something Ela said the family knew and tried to stop.

Blatchford said Cruz has not been forthcoming about details of when he last saw Waterman. The two were staying at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppage, a town to the north and east of Oak Beach.

Cruz was convicted of a drug trafficking charge and violating conditions of release and is serving a 20-month sentence, said Tamara Getchell, communications coordinator for the Cumberland County District Attorney’s Office. 

Ela said while she has no immediate plans to go to New York, she would be available at a moment’s notice.
“If they said, ‘Hey we need you in New York,’ I’d be there within two days,” Ela said.

Aside from tattoos, she said Waterman could also be identified by jewelry she was known to wear: silver hoop earrings, a silver garnet ring and a silver “mother-daughter” necklace.

Ela said police have not taken any DNA from the family  and said identification could come from her daughter’s dental records.

Ela said the family remains hopeful Waterman will be found alive. 

“I just wish they could find her and bring her back home,” she said.