Teeth Found in Latest N.Y. Search for Beach Remains

April 4, 2011: Police aided by a man in a fire department bucket ladder search in the brush near Oak Beach, N.Y. Three sets of human remains were found Monday, bringing to eight the total number of bodies found in the area since December. (AP)

WANTAGH, N.Y. – Police on Friday discovered two teeth not far from where a human skull was located earlier this month in a dense section of underbrush along a New York highway where 10 sets of human remains have been found since December.

Police suspect a serial killer could be responsible for some of the victims dumped by the roadway near Jones Beach State Park, but they have neither identified a suspect nor linked all the remains to the same culprit.

Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, a Nassau County police spokesman, said it appeared likely the teeth found Friday came from the skull, but a medical examiner's evaluation would confirm that suspicion.

He said police returned to the area after speaking with forensic experts who suggested additional evidence may still be hidden along the 15 miles of thick underbrush that borders Ocean Parkway, a roadway on a sparsely populated barrier island leading to the popular state park.

The FBI has assisted in the search by providing aircraft equipped with high-tech photographic equipment to scan the dense thicket for possible additional victims. Smith said Friday that an evaluation of the images had yet to be completed, but said police would return to the highway if the images determine any additional areas require searching.

Authorities looking for a missing New Jersey prostitute last seen in the area a year ago uncovered the first of 10 sets of remains in December. Four bodies were later identified as women in their 20s, who all worked as prostitutes, booking clients online. Authorities said they suspected because all the women shared similar lifestyles, they may have been targeted by the same killer. No suspects have been identified.

In late March and earlier this month, an additional six sets of remains, including the skull, were located several miles from where the first bodies were found.

The missing New Jersey woman, however, has not been found.