Members of an Internet sex forum orchestrated a “revenge” plot against an escort from Long Island who was one of several people later murdered and dumped in a beach burial ground, the New York Daily News reports.
Members of longislanderotic.com were apparently outraged when one of their group claimed he paid Amber Lynn Costello $200 for sex, only to be robbed by men who barged into her West Babylon, L.I., home, according to the paper.
"Tell her we are all coming over there with baseball bats," threatened one member, a self-declared ex-con known as "Morrie."
That ominous threat, and more to follow, has opened a window on what probers say is a virtually unregulated sex network of johns, hookers and escort services.
According to the Daily News, investigators would not say if any of the online johns are suspects in the probe of a possible serial killer who dumped as many as 10 bodies along Gilgo Beach and Jones Beach. Still, law enforcement sources say the chilling online thread is the type of internet-based sex crime that attracted the FBI to the case.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_c...dumped_in.html
Members of an Internet sex forum hatched a "revenge" plot against a Long Island hooker who was later murdered and dumped in a serial killer's burial ground, the Daily News has learned.
Talk on longislanderotic.com shows members were outraged when one of their cronies claimed he had paid Amber Lynn Costello $200 for sex, only to be robbed by men who barged into her West Babylon home.
"Tell her we are all coming over there with baseball bats," threatened one member, a self-declared ex-con known as "Morrie."
That ominous threat, and more to follow, has opened a window on what probers say is a virtually unregulated sex network of johns, hookers and escort services.
"The Internet has really become a highway for criminality," said Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of law and police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "In terms of prostitution, it's moved a pretty public enterprise into the shadows more than ever, and made it more difficult for law enforcement to get a handle on it."
Investigators would not say if any of the online johns are suspects in the probe of a possible serial killer who dumped as many as 10 bodies along Gilgo Beach and Jones Beach. Still, law enforcement sources say the chilling online thread is the type of internet-based sex crime that attracted the FBI to the case.
The four victims found in December - Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman, in addition to Costello - were craigslist hookers. All had been strangled and stuffed in burlap sacks. The bodies of a woman, a man, a child and an adult whose gender hasn't been determined were found between March 29 and April 4. Two sets of unidentified remains were found on Monday.
Shannan Gilbert, 24, a New Jersey hooker who vanished on the beach in May, is still missing.
A message board member known as "Humiliatrix69" first raged on July 11, 2010, about getting "suckered" by Costello and company hours earlier.
Shortly after, a pal called "italyrider" asked for her address: "No one from this board needs to be involved. I have friends who can take care of this s---."
Humiliatrix69 posted Costello's address, a description of her home, and her phone number. Three days days later, Morrie chimed in: "A friend of ours told me today that 'You won't hear from those 2 girls anymore!'"
Costello, a twice-divorced drug addict, disappeared on Sept. 2, 2010. That was eight weeks after Humiliatrix69 aired his anger on the message board — and posted raunchy pictures of her from her sex ad on newyorkbackpage.com.
