Silent Victim Sunday

“She was loved. She had dreams. She wasn’t just a headline.”

On May 1, 2010, Shannan Gilbert, a 23-year-old aspiring singer and sex worker from New Jersey, vanished after a frantic 911 call in Oak Beach, Long Island.

She screamed, “They’re trying to kill me,” before running into the darkness — never to be seen alive again.

What followed wasn’t just a search for her; it was the unearthing of one of America’s most chilling mysteries: the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) case.

But amid all the sensationalism, Shannan’s story got lost.

The Night She Vanished

• Shannan was working as an escort and had gone to a client’s house in Oak Beach.

• After the appointment, she became panicked and disoriented.

• She called 911, repeating that someone was after her — a call that lasted 23 minutes.

• She knocked on neighbors’ doors, begging for help, but fled before they could intervene.

Police didn’t find her that night. In fact, it took 19 months before her remains were discovered in a marsh.

More Than Her Job

Media outlets focused on her being an escort, labeling her "just another sex worker victim," ignoring her humanity.

• Shannan was a daughter, a sister, and an aspiring singer who struggled with bipolar disorder.

• She supported her family financially.

• She was deeply loved and desperately missed.

Her mother, Mari Gilbert, fought fiercely to change the narrative — to remind the world that Shannan was not disposable.

Was It LISK?

• Police initially said Shannan’s death was accidental — that she drowned in the marsh.

• Her family believed she was murdered, possibly by the same killer who left other victims along Gilgo Beach.

• To this day, her official cause of death remains "undetermined," though many believe she was an early LISK victim or that her case is closely linked.

Silent But Not Forgotten

Shannan’s mother, Mari, became a fearless advocate for all missing and murdered women until her own tragic death in 2016 (she was killed by another daughter during a mental health crisis).

Mari’s fight gave Shannan a louder voice than she had in life — and reminded the world that every victim deserves to be seen as a whole person.

Final Thought

Silent Victim Sunday is about reclaiming humanity in the true crime world.

Shannan Gilbert wasn’t just "an escort found dead."
She was a dreamer, a fighter, a daughter, and a life unjustly cut short.

Let’s keep her story alive — not as a footnote to a serial killer, but as a life worth remembering.

Follow Killer Thoughts and Twisted Plots every Sunday for stories that center the lost voices.