New York police continue search for bodies near beach

Investigators have returned to an overgrown stretch of a New York barrier island to hunt for victims of a possible serial killer, a day after more human remains were found there.

Three sets of remains were found near Ocean Parkway, a road leading to a number of Long Island beaches.

Monday's discovery in brush near Gilgo Beach brought to eight the number of corpses found in the area since 2010.

Police in Suffolk County, New York, suspect a serial killer.

Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said those continuing the search on Tuesday included police academy cadets, volunteer firefighters with extended ladder trucks and dogs trained to hunt for bodies.

The terrain is marshy and contains a metre-high tangle of sea grass punctuated by scrubby pine trees.

DNA identification

The beach where the latest bodies were found by police on Monday is about 45 miles (70km) east of New York.

Four women working as prostitutes were found dead about a mile away in December, their bodies wrapped in heavy cloth; a body found last week has not been identified.

While police believe a serial killer may be responsible, officials have cautioned that they have yet conclusively to link the newest discoveries with the five bodies previously found.

It took investigators a month to identify the first group of remains using DNA and dental records as prostitutes who had arranged to meet clients through Craigslist and other websites, police have said.

Police on Tuesday said none of the remains discovered thus far were those of Shannan Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who was last seen in May at nearby Oak Beach.

Ms Gilbert had arranged to meet a client there that she had met through the classified advert website Craigslist. Her disappearance prompted the search that uncovered the first four bodies in December.