Police Find Lip Gloss in 4th Day of Searching for Shannan Gilbert's Remains

Police say the missing woman could have fallen into a drainage ditch in the marsh.

Police investigating the disappearance of a New Jersey sex worker along an isolated stretch of Long Island beachfront found lip gloss Friday in an area near where her purse was also found this week.

Suffolk County police did not find anything else in their fourth day of searching. On Wednesday, authorities discovered Shannan Gilbert's jeans, shoes, purse, ID and possibly her phone in the swamp.

Gilbert went missing in May 2010 after meeting a client in a nearby gated community.

Police said earlier this week they believed she likely drowned in the marshy muddy tidal waters, and now say it is possible she could have fallen into one of the drainage ditches, as deep as 15 feet, that cut across the marsh land.

Most of those ditches are not visible because they are covered with brush, but in some cases searchers have fallen into the ditches as they comb the area.

Police were looking for Gilbert last December when they began finding human remains in the underbrush along Ocean Parkway. Some 10 sets of human remains were eventually recovered in the area, but not Gilbert's.

Officials at first suspected several serial killers in the bodies found near the beach, but have recently said one person is responsible for all 10 deaths. No suspects have been named.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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