Lost Girls Summary

In Robert Kolker’s Lost Girls a large portion of the story relies on Kolker’s attention to detail. Because of the nature of murder investigations, Kolker must be careful in his interpretation of police reports. One of the major details Kolker must not overlook is the timeline of the murder investigation. Although the first victims were discovered in December of 2010 some of the victims, such as Maureen Brainard-Barnes were reported missing as early as 2007. Ever since the discovery of the first bodies there have been many other victims found throughout the years. The last body that was discovered, assumed to be a victim of the Long Island Serial Killer was found in 2013. This means that Kolker must evaluate a timeline that stretches seven years.
When evaluating Kolker’s timeline it becomes apparent that he concentrates on two main points in the Long Island timeline. These two main points are December 2010 and late March to early April of 2011. These two time frames are the most important because they are the dates in which most of the bodies were discovered, four bodies in December and three bodies in March/April. But, …show more content…
In a press release from the Suffolk County Police Department, they issue a statement that the first body that was found belonged to Shannan Gilbert, this contradicts Kolker’s statement that the first body that was discovered was Melissa Barthelemy. Many news articles also state that Shannan Gilbert’s remains were not found among the four bodies discovered in December, in fact, the police department’s press release seems to be the only one that says Gilbert’s body was found in this first batch. Even though there is this contradiction to Kolker’s story, many other media outlets and news articles confirm Kolker’s storyline. Because of the abundance of supporting evidence and the single contradiction toward Kolker’s timeline, it is safe to say that his storyline is accurate and