POLICE IN NEW York’s Long Island say they now believe ten people killed in the area were the victims of a single serial killer.

The authorities had previously suggested that two unconnected people could be behind the killings after bodies were first discovered along a stretch of beach last December.

Some of the ten bodies found in the area are understood to have died several years ago.

Suffolk County police have been appealing for the public’s assistance in identifying some of the victims of the Gilgo Beach killings and have released artist’s sketches of two of the victims and photographs of jewellery worn by the deceased.

Newsweek reports that Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that authorities are concerned that if the killer is not found, they will kill again. He added that although investigators are checking up on the hundreds of tip-offs they have received from the public, police are hoping that the killer made some mistake which could lead to their discovery:

We know that killers of this type always make a mistake, and our job is to find a mistake, and so that’s what our detectives are looking for – where this subject made a mistake. And that will certainly make this investigation move forward.

The bodies of eight women, a man and a young child were discovered over several months after police began investigating the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, 24, a sex worker who went missing in May 2010 after going to meet a client she knew through Craigslist.

She was last seen in the area the bodies were later discovered, but has not been located.

Five of the female victims have been identified as sex workers who sourced clients through the Craigslist listings site.

Dormer said that police believe the man and infant who were killed were also in some way connected to the sex trade, and that the killer is from Long Island.