Sex worker claims disgraced ex-Police Chief James Burke linked to unsolved Gilgo Beach murders

OAK BEACH, N.Y. -- (WPIX) -- Suffolk County's disgraced former Police Chief James Burke, long suspected of keeping the FBI in the dark about the Gilgo Beach murders, faces a new accusation from a sex worker who says there's a link between him and the killings, an attorney for one of the slain victims said Thursday.

It's been six years since the killings began, with no suspect and no one in custody. Now, the attorney for the victim Shannan Gilbert family says there's a connection between Burke, prostitutes and Gilgo Beach.

“This is the first time that there has been an actual connection made between former chief police Burke, Oak Beach and prostitution. ... And that's why it is significant," attorney John Ray said at an afternoon press conference, alongside the sex worker.

The escort, who according to an affidavit has been in the profession for five years, discussed multiple times she said she partied with Burke in 2011 at an unknown Oak Beach home and engaged in "rough sex."

Numerous people, prostitutes, and drugs, including cocaine, were at the gatherings, she said.

PIX11 News has reached out to Suffolk County Police Department for a comment and is awaiting a reply.

Burke's attorney, John Meringolo, told PIX11 News, "These allegations do not warrant a comment."

When asked about the significance of the claims, Ray pointed to what he described as an unusual act for any officer.

“Under those circumstances, a high police official from Suffolk County goes and parties in Oak Beach itself with drugs and with prostitution. That suggests an arrogance and a certainty in his mind that he could pretty much do whatever he wanted with regard to that investigation ... That itself is pretty outrageous,” the lawyer said.

The Long Island escort gave a sworn statement previous to Thursday, and is willing to take a lie detector test, Ray said.

While the statements are not a "smoking gun" directly showing Burke is a killer, Ray described it as “very strong circumstantial evidence.”

The first body was found in December 2010. Police were looking for Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker, who has disappeared near Oak Beach after running from a client's home. Gilbert wouldn't be discovered until 2011, but a total of 10 bodies would be found in and around Gilgo Beach. And there may be other cases connected to what is believed to be the work of a serial killer.

As the years dragged on, Burke was accused of keeping the FBI out of the loop.

However, any link between Burke and the Gilgo Beach murders is unclear. Burke was recently sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for planning a cover-up after he beat up a man who stole sex toys and other items from his car.

Separately, the Associated Press reported Wednesday new DNA evidence has been discovered in the investigation.

A torso found inside a rubber bin back in 1997 was linked this week through a Justice Department database to a female victim whose body parts were found "many miles away" along a Long Island beach highway in 2011, according to the AP.

The woman's body parts were located along with that of her child.

This new link is the first development in the cold case in years, the AP reports.