How Did Mari Gilbert Die? Inside the Murder of Shannan’s Mom After Long Island Serial Killer Connection
The Gilbert family is front and center in Netflix’s new docuseries, Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer. After Mari Gilbert pushed authorities to investigate the disappearance of her daughter Shannan Gilbert in 2010, the search led officials to the bodies of several homicide victims in Long Island.
Shannan’s remains weren’t located until December 2011, and investigators do not believe she was the victim of a serial killer. Years later, Shannan’s mother faced her own gruesome fate. Mari was murdered by her daughter Sarra on July 23, 2016. Sarra stabbed her mother to death and was charged with second-degree murder and fourth-degree possession of a weapon.
After fatally stabbing Mari 227 times, Sarra, who is schizophrenic, bludgeoned her mother with a fire extinguisher. Another one of Mari’s daughters, Sherre, addressed Sarra’s mental illness struggles in a Facebook post after Mari’s death.
“So as a lot of you may know, my mother passed away yesterday. She was murdered by my sister, Sarra who was battling a mental illness for 2 1/2 years,” Sherre shared. “My sister Stevie and I are incredibly devastated beyond words as our mother was the backbone of the family.”
Netflix
Sarra was convicted of her crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison. She is currently serving her 25-year sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women.
Mari died seven years before a man, Rex Heuermann, the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer, was arrested for the murders of seven woman. He is currently being held at Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County, New York, while awaiting his trial. Heuermann has pled not guilty to the charges against him.
Although investigators concluded that Shannan’s death was due to drowning and not connected to those of the Long Island serial killer’s victims, Mari fought that belief before her own death. “I believe Mari would still be campaigning to have Shannan’s death ruled a homicide, and she would not be convinced that Shannan’s death was disconnected from the others,” a reporter who was interviewed for Gone Girls theorized.
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, Streaming Now, Netflix
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