The call, police believe, was made by a sadistic serial killer who abducted and strangled Melissa Barthelemy, an aspiring hair stylist, sometime after she left her Bronx apartment on July 10, But not before extracting a secret from the year-old victim, who moved to New York from Buffalo in It was the first real clue about the twisted psyche of a predator who stalked and choked to death at least eight prostitutes in the last five years, and possibly murdered four others.
All died from strangulation, their corpses stashed before being dumped. A third cluster of four bodies discovered a few miles from Gilgo Beach last week has fueled speculation that a Long Island serial killer used the sandy south shore as his burial ground.
There are conflicting reports about a possible suspect. The killer always phoned in the evenings, spoke briefly and in a low voice β and only to Amanda. He calmly spewed taunts and allegations. He sent text messages. Did her murderer work in Midtown and commute from Long Island?
The girls were close, and their family wondered: Had the killer gotten a glimpse of Amanda, who twice came to stay with Melissa? But by then, police believe, Melissa was already dead. The stories of others would soon emerge.
He used a laptop to place ads for her services and accompanied her to the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge. While Waterman, 22, met johns, Cruz visited his family nearby.
