Case 354: The Gilgo Beach Serial Killings (Part 2/2)

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On the night of Thursday, December 13, 2012, 26-year-old Christopher Loeb left his mother's residence in Smithtown, Suffolk County and made his way to the neighbouring hamlet of St James. Christopher was someone who was well known to the county's police. He struggled with heroin addiction and was on probation for theft-related felony convictions. He'd begun committing thefts to support his substance use and continued to do so after his release. Christopher would drive around Long Island, then park somewhere and walk up to parked cars, jiggling their door handles in the hopes of finding them unlocked. Sometimes he found electronics, wallets or spare change that he could pocket. That was what he was doing that Thursday night. In the early hours of Friday morning, he attempted to open the door of a GMC Yukon. Upon gaining access to the vehicle, Christopher grabbed a canvas duffel bag he saw lying on the back seat. When he got back home, he took the bag down to the basement. Inside were a number of items. There was a box of cigars, a humidor, toiletries including lubricants, some sex toys and several pornographic DVDs. There was also a gun belt with two Glock 9mm magazines, handcuffs and a whistle. Later that same morning, Christopher's parole officer showed up unannounced to the Smithtown home where Christopher lived with his mother. He was promptly followed by several Suffolk County police officers. Seeing their vehicles from his upstairs bedroom window, Christopher bolted. He ran out the back door and made it about half a mile from his home to a wooded area. The police, in hot pursuit, chased Christopher down and roughly cuffed his hands behind his back before dragging him back to his house and placing him on the couch in the den. Other officers who'd remained at the property were undertaking a search. One of those present was Suffolk County's then Chief of Police, James Burke. The canvas bag that Christopher had stolen the night before was given to Burke before it had been processed according to normal evidentiary procedures. According to Christopher Loeb, after he was subsequently taken into custody, James Burke confronted him in an interrogation room that had no video cameras and demanded, You want to fucking steal from me?

When the remains of ten different people were recovered along Ocean Parkway in the spring of 2011, Suffolk County Police Department was facing a case of mammoth proportions. However, the victims' families were hopeful that it would be solved soon. The department was well funded and resourced with a homicide clearance rate of 74%, placing it well above the national average. But internal politics had been getting in the way of the investigation from the very start. It began with the then Police Chief Richard Dormer arguing publicly with District Attorney Thomas Spota over whether one killer was behind the murders or more. According to journalist Robert Kolker, author of the book Lost Girls, this was partly due to Dormer being affiliated with a political rival of Spota's. As Dormer was scheduled to retire at the end of 2011, Spota was eager for the next Police Chief to be someone he could more easily sway. And he already had someone in mind.

Thomas Spota first met James Burke more than 30 years earlier when Spota was prosecuting the April 1979 murder of a 13-year-old boy named Johnny Pius. Johnny had gone missing in Smithtown while riding his bicycle and was found the following morning dead in the grounds of a local elementary school. Stones had been forced down his throat, asphyxiating him. He had been beaten and stomped on and his face was marked with the imprint of a sneaker. The community was horrified by the brutal and senseless murder and the pressure was on to find the killer.

Detectives were hopeful of obtaining a confession quickly. At that time, the Suffolk County Police Department's homicide unit was renowned for having a confession rate of 97%, three or four times that of most homicide units in the United States. As author Robert Kolker explains, this extremely high figure is so improbable that it indicates coercion was being used to force confessions, the result of an unchecked police force. Because Suffolk County's police union was wealthy, it was able to donate large sums of money to political campaigns. This resulted in politicians being reluctant to challenge them, in turn allowing the department to get away with more than it should. The sneaker imprint on Johnny's face convinced detectives that Johnny had most likely been murdered by another teenager. They began speaking to local youths, hoping somebody might know something and name those responsible. Four teenage boys were soon implicated in the murder, with one confessing in the back of a police car. His confession featured some inconsistent elements however, and probably wouldn't be effective in a courtroom. Thomas Spoter began seeking out other adolescents who might be able to act as witnesses, and landed on then 16 year old James Burke, a juvenile delinquent involved in low level burglaries and drug dealing. Burke willingly provided a story against the suspects, which some have deemed very convenient, and became a star witness in the case. All four teenagers were convicted, though many held doubts about their guilt. And from that time on, Thomas Spoter became something of a mentor to James Burke.