The Long Island police commissioner who bungled the investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killer led a double life that allegedly included smoking crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes.
Attorney John Ray, who represents two families of victims whose bodies were found along the beach between 1996 and 2011, said disgraced Suffolk County police chief James Burke had a 'real devotion for advancing prostitution in his own backyard'.
'He was investigating sex workers like a robber investigates robbers,' Ray said.
For the past 12 years, Ray has been helping get answers for the families of two women whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach - 27-year-old Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor, 20.
Last week, architect Rex Heuermann was arrested and charged with three unrelated murders - those of Melissa Bathelemy, 24; Amber Costello, 27; and Megan Waterman, 22. He is also the prime suspect in 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes' murder.
The former Long Island police commissioner James Burke who bungled the investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killer led a double life that allegedly included smoking crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes
Attorney John Ray, who represents two families of victims whose bodies were found along the beach, said disgraced Suffolk County police chief James Burke's had a 'real devotion for advancing prostitution in his own backyard'
Ray represents the families of victims Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor whose bodies were found along the beach. Their murders remain unsolved
A 911 call made by Gilbert before she vanished in 2010 and the subsequent search for her led to police uncovering the remains of the serial killer's victims - all of whom were found intact and wrapped in burlap sacks. In all, 11 bodies were found along that stretch of coast.
But for years, the investigation into their deaths stalled, with Burke shutting down work on Gilbert's case by labelling her death accidental, even though she had a wound in her neck consistent with a drill.
'When Burke became police chief it was jarring when he closed down the case. It was a real eye-opener,' said Ray.
Before Burke became Suffolk County's top cop, he had been involved in a series of scandals involving prostitutes and drugs, including a tryst in his police car with one of them. An internal police investigation found that Burke left at least one of the women in his patrol car alone with his service weapon resting on the back seat.
Burke had a longstanding relationship with at least two sex workers, according to Ray. He met Lowrita Rickenbacker while patrolling the infamous Albany Ave in Wyandanch. The other was Heather Malone, who ran a prostitution ring out of her hair salon in St. James, going back to the early 1990s.
The dense marsh that surrounds Gilgo Beach where the bodies were found
DailyMail.com has attempted to contact both Rickenbacker and Malone.
Rickenbacker had a rap sheet totaling 42 felonies and misdemeanors. Ray represented her on an assault charge in exchange for information about Burke. She told him that the pair would often have trysts at his home in Ronkonkoma, smoke crack together and he'd indulge in his fetish for cross dressing.
An anonymous source also told DailyMail.com that Rickenbacker became pregnant during one of these trysts, and they now have an adult child together.
Burke's other lover, Malone, would often accompany Burke on work events.
Ray first learned about Malone when he met Guy Malone, the jilted spouse. It was years later, after the couple had gone through a contentious divorce. Guy had accused his ex of adultery.
Ryan said Heather Malone would carry a beeper around so the pair could communicate. Those calls were eventually traced back to Burke. It is unclear if the pair are still in touch, but Ray told DailyMail.com that she was never charged for any wrongdoing.
Ray alleged that on two occasions Burke was seen dressed in women's clothing - specifically women's under garments during a sex romp at a hotel in Wading River with a sex worker from Oregon. He was spotted again in women's clothing when a private investigator that Ray works with saw him driving in his car. When he got wind that the investigator was trailing him he reportedly hit the gas.
'Here is the chief of police ... Just before he becomes the chief of police, living with one woman who has a beeper that is running a prostitution ring and goes with another woman to his home in Ronkonkoma and cross-dressing as a woman and smoking crack with a sex worker girlfriend,' Ray said.
'And this was done several times. That's the head of the police department of this great county.'
Burke pictured in 2015 outside an FBI office in New York after he was arrested and charged for beating a thief who took a bag of porn and sex toys from his cop car then trying to cover up the attack
James Burke, the disgraced former head of Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of hampering the Gilgo Beach serial killer probe by booting the FBI off the case in its early stages
Despite Burke's double life, he continued to rise through the ranks at the police department. He has also been described by colleagues as a 'psychopath' who was always 'horny' and thought he was 'untouchable'.
In 2011, he was appointed by his longtime mentor, then Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota, as the chief of Suffolk County Police Department.
Spota had successfully helped Burke avoid legal trouble regularly during their decades-long friendship. He later served five years in prison for obstruction of justice for trying to cover up for Burke.
Before Burke was appointed chief of police he was the chief of detective for Thomas Spota's office. He said Burke served as a de facto head of detectives for the whole county.
Burke battered Christopher Loeb (pictured), who stole a bag from the police chief's car which contained porn and sex toys
Just a year into his promotion to the highest-ranking uniformed police official in Suffolk County, Burke was accused of battering a man identified as Christopher Loeb during an interrogation after he stole a bag from the officer's police car which contained porn and sex toys. The bag also contained cigars and prescription for Viagra.
After the assault, Burke relied on Spota and personal friend Christopher McPartland, who was then former Chief of Investigations and Chief of the Government Corruption Bureau of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, to ensure that the detectives and officers who had witnessed Loeb's beating would keep quiet.
After a two-year probe by the FBI that also included at least 10 police officers, who came forward about the cover-up, Burke was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and violating Loeb's civil rights. In 2016, he was sentenced to 46 months behind bars.
Burke's cohorts - Spota and McPartland - were convicted in 2021 of obstructing a federal civil rights investigation and were each sentenced to five years in prison, according to the Eastern District, US Attorney's Office.
Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Authorities on Long Island are vowing to continue investigating the Gilgo Beach murders
Suspect Rex Heuermann, arrested on July 13 and charged with the murder of three women
On Friday, cops descended on suspect Rex Heuermann's home in Massepequa Park
For the last 12 years, Ray has been trying to get answers and closure for the families of Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor.
Gilbert was a sex worker from Jersey City who vanished on May 1, 2010. During the search for the young woman, the cops discovered the 'Gilgo Four' - four women who were all sex workers and whose bodies were wrapped in burlap.
In May 2022, Ray released the 911 tape of Gilbert screaming for help and running from what appears to be her killer to DailyMail.com.
Gilbert's body was found more than a year later, December 2011, in a marsh in Oak Beach. The cops deemed her death as 'accidental' but Ray disputed those claims.
Taylor was dismembered. Her torso was found in the woods out in Manorville, Long Island and the rest of her body parts along Ocean Parkway.
Gilbert's remains were found eight years later in a marsh in Oak Beach.
John Ray (far right) is pictured at Rex Heuermann's hearing with Jasmine Robinson (far left)
Days after Gilbert's remains were discovered, Ray accused Burke of a grotesque mishandling of the case and disputed his claims that she died as a result of an accident.
Due to the severity and scale of the murders, the FBI also joined the investigation. But soon after, Burke removed the bureau from the case. He allegedly blocked their role because he knew they were also investigating his attack on Loeb and the subsequent cover-up, a source told the New York Post in 2015.
Ray said one of Burke's first moves as police commissioner was to shut down the investigation into Gilbert's murder.
'Burke comes in as the chief of police and the first thing he does is shut down the investigation on the theory that the cadaver dogs that were being used to sniff in the marsh didn't like the winter and didn't like to do this work in the winter,' said Ray.
‘Of course, it turns out that there was only one cadaver dog being used and the police had put out a photograph of all these dogs going through the woods. Only one of them was a cadaver dog, the rest of them were props,’ he said.
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