This is the first in a two part series. Click here for part two.

Megan Waterman’s childhood

Megan Waterman was born into a chaotic world on January 18th, 1988. As an infant, she lived with her mother and father under the same roof, but they weren’t romantic partners, they were each other’s exes. In fact, her father, Greg, had his new girlfriend living there, too. And their “home” was the Days Inn in Westbrook, Maine, just outside of Portland, where they rented by the week. Lorraine already had a boy, Greg Jr, Megan’s older brother, and was 21 when she gave birth to Megan.

Lorraine thought back on her relationship with Megan’s father—she remembered him as an abuser; he remembered that the violence went both ways. Lorraine knew she was drinking a lot of coffee brandy—a Maine favorite—during that time. When she was eight months pregnant with Megan, they broke up and Greg Sr. moved out. But not long after giving birth, he showed up with his new girlfriend, Karen, and an offer—give us a place to crash and we’ll help with the kids. Lorraine slept in the bedroom of the motel with Megan and Greg Jr., while Greg Sr. and Karen slept on the living room floor.

Lorraine’s mother, Muriel, began to hear stories that the kids weren’t being well cared for. Incidents of inattention—like allowing Greg to toddle near an open oven with heat pouring out, or to eat cereal off the floor, were floating around the family’s orbit. But perhaps more serious were the allegations of neglect and recklessness. That is when Muriel started to insert herself into the situation, calling CPS and telling them to look into it. Lorraine’s sisters acted in concert with Muriel, feeding the state information. Lorraine kept avoiding the social workers, slipping away on days when they were scheduled to do a home visit.

Around this time, she took Megan to the hospital for respiratory distress. Apparently, the medical team felt uncomfortable with the situation and alerted CPS, which immediately triggered them to remove the children from Lorraine and Greg Sr’s care. Megan and Greg Jr. were placed in emergency foster care. Muriel applied for custody.

Lorraine was suspicious of Muriel’s intentions. Muriel had benefitted from a federal welfare subsidy for more than 20 years, and her youngest child was turning 18, leaving no dependents left to claim, jeopardizing her government support. She suspected that her interest in Megan and Greg Jr. was financially motivated. This crack in the family grew to be a fissure that would estrange them all the way to Megan’s sudden death, 20 years later.

The state must have found that Muriel was the best place for the kiddos and they were transferred permanently from the foster family to her care, and she raised them to adulthood.

Megan growing up

Megan and Greg grew up with their nana, Muriel, as their primary mother figure, and her husband, Doug, as their primary father figure. Their home was a townhouse-style condo for low-income families in the thick of downtown Portland. As they grew older, they became independent, rebellious, and fearless.

Greg and Megan were only separated by one year and four months, and they were one another’s full siblings. Though they would often fight, Megan was ferociously loyal to Greg. Greg later said, “It was just us growing up, so we grew real close to one another. From [skating at] Happy Wheels, to watching Full House and Saved by the Bell before school, we did most everything together. A real funny thing... she got me to play Ken when we were growing up. She never got me to be Barbie, but I got suckered into being Ken.”

Megan went to school at Reiche Elementary until fifth grade. In second grade she was diagnosed with ADHD—which is characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention. Some of the typical symptoms are running around or climbing in situations when it’s inappropriate, excessive talking, difficulty waiting for a turn, interrupting or intruding on others. Other symptoms include difficulty organizing tasks or activities, lack of follow-through, and struggling to listen even when spoken to directly.

Her aunt Elizabeth said that Megan would frequently pull pranks. She said, “One time Megan pushed a teacher in the pool at Reiche. I think she just wanted to make the kids laugh; she was always very funny.”

Muriel later said that what she remembered most about Megan was “her vivacious nature—she was just so much fun to be with and be around. It was like she just sparkled. She was very strong-willed, and you always knew where you stoon with Megan—she never went behind your back. I think that’s why she had so many friends, and why so many people cared about her—because they knew exactly where they stood.”

A major move—Portland to Scarborough

As Megan was getting ready to enter high school, Muriel and Doug moved the family from downtown Portland to a trailer park in Scarborough, Maine called Crystal Park Estates. Megan also lost the companionship of her brother—Greg no longer lived with the family, moving between other relatives and group homes before, eventually, living on his own.

When she started school as an 8th grader at Scarborough Middle School, the difference in wealth was apparent. Kids were walking around with cell phones and designer duds. Megan’s family was living paycheck to paycheck. Megan struggled academically and when she started at Scarborough High the following year, she was put in, “The Basement,” a portion of the school for alternative education.

Megan got caught shoplifting on several occasions from Walmart and became known to the Scarborough Police. She ended up being sent to the Maine Youth Center in South Portland from time to time—jail for kids. It was comprised of a dozen cottages with tight living quarters and strict rules.

Doug Weed, an officer with the Scarborough PD, often was the one to arrest her. He remembered his first encounter with Megan was in October 2002, when another young Scarborough girl made allegations against her of stalking. In 2004, a Crystal Park neighbor filed for a restraining order against Megan.

Doug took a special interest in Megan, and he felt like he could get through to her. He knew that her father wasn’t in the picture, and he tried to provide some guidance and fatherly advice. He would cut her a break now and then out of compassion, and she soon realized how much he cared. He would sometimes give her rides home rather than take her to the station.

Despite his influence, when Megan was 17, she decided to drop out of high school.

Life after school, Megan gets pregnant

The lines of communication with Doug Weed remained open, though, and Megan would often call, leaving long voicemails—sometimes to rant about something, other times because of serious things going on in her life. Doug felt like his conversations with Megan helped to ground her and calm her. He was an authority figure in her life that was consistently looking out for her, and it helped her feel secure.

When Megan became pregnant at 17 in the fall of 2005, she called Doug Weed, and told him. The baby’s father was nearly twice her age, in his early 30s, and they had met at a club in Portland. She was scared. Doug Weed told her it was a blessing—he was a father of five, and they had given his life greater meaning and purpose.

A judge in juvenile court ordered Megan to live at a home for young unwed mothers called St. Andre’s. There were multiple locations in the state of these types of homes, and they were generally run by nuns or other religious leaders. The idea was to get Megan off of drugs and alcohol and give her a chance to stay in a safe environment for the duration of the pregnancy. Megan saw how many of the babies were taken from tearful mothers and it triggered her own trauma of being taken by the state from Lorraine as a child. Muriel tried to console her and assure her that every mom’s situation was different, but Megan—for the first time in her life—was terrified. She was thinking of her future child. She couldn’t let that happen to her.

Liliana is born

At 18 years old, Megan gave birth to healthy girl in the summer of 2006, who she named Liliana. Her daughter changed her priorities and her personality. A peace washed over her. Liliana brought a clarity to her life that 18 years of hard living had not accomplished. People who remembered her temper and violence were awed by this transformation. Her brother, Greg, said, “Megan loved her daughter. Liliana was everything to her.” She took her daughter to the park. They went swimming together. Megan danced with her—it was easy for her to tap into her natural silliness. They’d read together. They’d make snow angels. They were inseparable.

She qualified for a government subsidy of $400 a month to help support Lily, but she had to figure out a way to survive. She was working at a sandwich shop to make ends meet. Megan continued to occasionally get into trouble—in October of 2008, she was arrested in Scarborough for theft. She was back into drinking and drugs, and her aunt Elizabeth believes that is likely where she met Robert Blake—he, too, was in the drug subculture in Portland. He told her if she wanted to make some real money, start doing sex work. She decided to give it a try. The money was good.

A new man, a new job

Soon thereafter, she met Robert’s friend and protégé, Akeem Cruz. Akeem, “swept her off her feet.” He was a tough guy from Brooklyn. He started managing her sex work, becoming her pimp. He told Megan that he loved her and that he loved Liliana, too. They started dreaming of living together—buying a house with the money she was making. But along with Akeem’s love came his abuse. Liliana later recalled, “I can remember him hitting her and just crying. He was very powerful, or at least he wanted to appear that way.” Aunt Elizabeth remembered getting a frantic call from Megan one night after she discovered a gun that he had hidden underneath Liliana’s mattress. He was a dangerous guy and Megan was a part of a dangerous world. Akeem started taking her to New York for sex work where the money was better, and he had the women—Megan included—hide cocaine in their body cavities, for some extra money.

In May of 2010, Akeem and three other men were arrested in South Portland, Maine—two of the men were from Brooklyn and one was from Portland. Police charged Akeem with aggravated drug trafficking.

The fatal final trip to Long Island

Akeem was out on bail, and in the early summer of 2010, he made his final trip to Long Island with Megan, a trip from which she would never return.

Memorial Day was on Monday, May 31st, of 2010, and the day afterward—Tuesday, June 1st—Akeem and Megan took a bus from Portland to New York City. Megan checked into a room at the Holiday Inn Express, a hotel on Long Island in a city called Hauppauge. Akeem was staying with his family—also nearby in Long Island—while Megan was doing sex work out of her hotel room.

After a few busy days, on Friday, June 4th, Megan called her friend Nicci with some news. She told Nicci that Akeem wanted to have a child with her, and—as part of this increased commitment and shared vision of the future—he no longer needed her to do sex work. Nicci later said, “I never heard her as happy as she was that day.”

During the day on Saturday, June 5th, Megan spoke on the phone with her mom, Lorraine. When later reflecting on her conversation with Megan on Saturday, Lorraine couldn’t think of anything out of the ordinary. According to her, “She sounded like normal Megan.” At 8:00PM, the hotel security camera captured Akeem and Megan leaving the hotel together. At 8:30PM, Megan returned to the hotel alone. At 9:50PM, Megan called her grandmother, Muriel, and spoke to her daughter, Lily. According to her aunt Elizabeth, Megan called her grandmother again around midnight. According to phone records, Akeem called Megan at 1:15AM and perhaps again at 1:30AM. It was also reported that Megan spoke to Akeem, and she told him that she was going out for a little while and would call him later. If so, it might be this call around 1:30AM. She grabbed her cell phone and left on foot, leaving the rest of her belongings in the room. Security video footage shows Megan leaving the hotel alone at 1:30AM. An unnamed law enforcement source said that Megan had arranged a meetup with a John without telling Akeem and was headed to meet him at his car. An unnamed witness spotted Megan outside, walking toward a convenience store, and that was the last sighting of Megan Waterman.

Megan Waterman is missing

At 11:00AM, Akeem called Muriel with concern. “Have you heard from Megan? Do you know where she is?” Muriel said, “She was supposed to be with you?” He said she was missing. He said that they had to wait 48 hours to get the police to listen.

The first news article about Megan appeared in The Current on June 17th, 11 days after she vanished. The Bangor Daily News ran an article the same day. They spelled out the suspicious circumstances of her disappearance and emphasized that Megan called her daughter 3 times a day when she was away—and that she hadn’t gotten a call since the 5th.

Non-profit LostNMissing gets involved

Megan’s family got help from a non-profit organization based out of Londonderry, New Hampshire called LostNMissing. The philanthropic group gave support and guidance to Megan’s family. They organized a vigil and sent press releases to local publications that ran the notice. At sundown on Friday, June 25th, nearly three weeks after Megan’s disappearance, friends, family, and supporters gathered in downtown Portland at Congress Square Park for a vigil.

The next morning—Saturday, June 26th—a team of volunteers gathered in Scarborough in the Walmart parking lot and distributed hundreds of flyers to businesses in the area.

2010, June - December

On July 2nd, Akeem made the news again—there was a bench warrant out for his arrest—he had skipped out on a court date the day prior (July 1st) to answer to the charge of driving without a license. In the same news brief, police ratcheted up pressure on him, saying that they considered him a “witness to Waterman’s disappearance.” Akeem did not appear to be cooperating with the investigation.

On August 10th, Akeem was arrested again for another serious drug offense. The Maine DEA busted him at a South Portland motel. They had a search warrant for his room and discovered 13 grams of crack cocaine worth approximately $1,300, packaged for sale, and $564 in cash. He was charged with drug trafficking and violating the bail conditions of his pending charges from his May drug bust. He was taken to Cumberland County Jail and held without bail.

A narrative had taken hold, proffered by the family and regurgitated by the press, that Akeem had seduced Megan and coerced her into doing sex work. But Robert Kolker wrote in his book, Lost Girls, that, even though Akeem was her pimp at the time of her disappearance, he was not the man who got her into it. That honor went to his mentor, Robert Blake. The family didn’t agree with Megan’s choice to do sex work, and they encouraged her to change. The pressure that Akeem applied to Megan to continue sex work put him on the outs with the family, and their narrative likely reflected their disdain for him. The press followed their lead, casting him as the villain.

In November of 2010, Akeem was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Dec, 2010: The Gilgo Beach Four

Shannan Gilbert, another young woman, disappeared just one month prior to Megan’s disappearance after a strange and intense 911 call. She, too was doing sex work in Long Island, about 20 miles from the Holiday Inn in Hauppage where Megan was last seen. Earlier in the year police searched the community where she was last seen—a gated development of single-family homes called Oak Island Beach Association. Police had been searching for months, and in December of 2010, Officer John Mallia and his German Shepherd scent dog, Blue, were in the area doing a training exercise. Officer Mallia and Blue were walking the shoulder of Ocean Parkway about 5 miles west of where Shannan was last seen. Blue picked up a scent and they ventured into the scrub brush north of the road about 30 feet when they came upon a burlap bag. It contained skeletal pieces of a human body. Two days later, on December 13th, 2010, Suffolk County PD found three more sets of remains within a few hundred feet. The nearest landmark to this desolate stretch of road was Gilgo Beach, but the searchers were a mile east of the nearest structure. The landscape on this barrier island was filled with poison ivy, low height shrubs, and marsh. It was a good place to hide a body.

Medical examiners quickly identified the remains as female and as belonging to petite young women. None of the remains had clothes or identification with them, and they had all been murdered. They were all bound with either tape or belts, and three had been wrapped in the same burlap-like material. Police immediately theorized that it was the work of the same killer. But their first order of business was to identify their four Jane Does.

Suffolk County PD had an open missing person report for Megan Waterman, and so, on December 14th, they contacted Lorraine and asked if she would be willing to provide a DNA sample.

Another potential victim—Maureen Brainard-Barnes—had disappeared from Long Island while doing sex work, and it was around this time that her sister, Missy, contacted Lorraine through Facebook. They began talking every day.

On December 16th, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer spoke to the press for the first time about the case, admitting that it was likely no coincidence that there were four bodies in the same area. He also announced that none of the bodies belonged to Shannan Gilbert (she had a titanium plate on her jawbone which would have been easily identifiable). The search continued up and down Ocean Parkway, along a stretch of 10 miles that had been shut down to traffic. The highway was marked with bright orange arrows that pointed north to the spots where, just 30 feet further, a body had been found.

Megan’s body identified

On January 18th, 2011, which would have been Megan’s 23rd birthday, the New York City medical examiner told police and prosecutors that she had been identified as one of the four victims. The next day, January 19th, investigators broke the news to Megan’s family. It was a rollercoaster for the family because the police had—while waiting for lab results—told them that they thought it was unlikely Megan was among the victims because it seemed that all of the bodies had been decomposing longer than the 6 months between June and December.

On January 25th, police announced that all four victims had been identified. They were Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, and Megan Waterman. The families of the victims started to reach out to one another to grieve and to support each another in their fight for justice. Megan was the most recent of the four women to have disappeared.

What they didn’t know then was that there would be an 11-year search for the killer, and a corruption scandal at the very highest levels of the Suffolk police. And that these four bodies were just the beginning of what would be discovered on that desolate, wind-swept stretch of Ocean Parkway.

This text has been adapted from the Murder, She Told podcast episode, Megan Waterman: Murder on Gilgo Beach, Part One. To hear Megan’s full story, find and listen to Murder, She Told on your favorite podcast platform.

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Sources For This Episode

Newspaper articles

Various articles from Bangor Daily News, Daily Mail, Daily News, National Post, New York Post, New York Times, Newsday, Portland Press Herald, Scarborough Leader, The Boston Globe, The Current, The Daily Mirror, The Scarborough Leader, Wall Street Journal, here.

Written by various authors including Al Baker, Alex Taylor, Alison Gendar, Andrew Strickler, Ann Kim, Annette Witheridge, Anthony DeStefano, Barry Paddock, Ben Chapman, Benedict Moore-Bridger, Brad Hunter, Bruce Golding, Chau Lam, Christine Pelisek, Dan Aceto, Daniel Bates, Denise Buffa, Dwight Garner, Emily Dooley, Eric Russell, Frank Eltman, Henrick Karoliszyn, Janon Fisher, John Lauinger, John Marzulli, John Richardson, Keith Falkiner, Kerry Burke , Kirsten Fleming, Larry Celona, Larry McShane, Laura Collins-Hughes, Leslie Bridgers, Liz Robbins, Lukas Alpert, Manny Fernandez, Matthew Chayes, Matthew Lysiak, Michael Daly, Michael Kelley, Michael O'Keeffe, Nate Schweber, Nathan Place, Neil Genzlinger, Noah Rosenberg, Patrik Jonsson, Paul Toohey, Peter Sheridan, Philip Marchand, Rich Schapiro, Robert Kolker, Rocco Parascandola, Samuel Goldsmith, Sean Gardiner, Sherryl Connelly, Simone Weichselbaum, Tania Lopez, TJ Pignataro, and Yamiche Alcindor.

Books

“Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery” by Robert Kolker (2013)

Online written sources

'Police Investigate Scarborough Woman's Disappearance' (WMTW News 8 Portland), 6/14/2010

'Police hunt for missing Maine mother' (Portland Press Herald), 6/17/2010, by Ann Kim

'Maine mother and escort missing for two weeks' (Boston 25 News), 6/17/2010

'Vigil held for missing woman, 22' (Portland Press Herald), 6/26/2010, by John Richardson

'Find Megan Waterman' (meganwaterman.com), 6/27/2010

'Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell' (CNN), 8/10/2010

'Megan Amelia Gove Waterman' (FindaGrave), 1/25/2011

'Megan Amelia Waterman' (Dignity Memorial), 5/1/2011

Photos

Photos from meganwaterman.com, FindaGrave, and various newspaper articles. Map in cover photo from Lost Girls by Robert Kolker.

Credits

Vocal performance, audio editing, and research by Kristen Seavey

Writing, research and photo editing by Byron Willis

Research support by Brittany Healy

Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey