Victims' group declines proceeds from serial killer Gacy's artwork

'Pogo the Clown' self-portrait was done by killer John Wayne Gacy, whose art is on sale in Las Vegas.Exhibit coordinator: "I see it as an opportunity to help from something that was bad"The exhibit of John Wayne Gacy's artwork includes a painting of Jeffrey Dahmer's skullGacy created the 74 pieces of art while he was on death row awaiting execution Among the paintings expected to be displayed is a self-portrait that Gacy gave to pen-palsFor more on this story, see CNN affiliate KTNV

(CNN) -- A Las Vegas art coordinator's planned charity sale of serial killer John Wayne Gacy's paintings is under fire from the very crime victims group that is supposed to benefit from the proceeds.

The National Center for Victims of Crime is demanding that its name not be associated with the exhibit, entitled "Multiples: The Artwork of John Wayne Gacy," saying it did not agree to be a beneficiary of the sale.

In a written statement Thursday to CNN affiliate KTNV, the crime victims group said it sent a cease-and-desist letter to the gallery owner.

Since word spread that Gacy's work would be displayed at the Arts Factory beginning this month through September, the event has been surprisingly controversial in a city where very little surprises.

Westly Myles, the owner of the Arts Factory, said he opted to coordinate the show because he believed Gacy's work would provoke discussion and provide financial help to those who have been hurt by crime.

"People can think what they like, I see it as an opportunity to help from something that was bad," Myles said.

Gacy was convicted of raping and killing 33 boys and young men during a six-year span that culminated with his capture in 1978. Most of his victims were buried in and around his home.

He was dubbed "the Killer Clown" because he often performed as "Pogo the Clown" at events for children.

While awaiting execution, Gacy began painting.

After his execution in 1994, his attorney auctioned off his artwork.

Some of it was purchased and destroyed in a bonfire attended by 300 people, including some family members of Gacy's victims.

Gacy's paintings have often generated controversy in galleries across the nation.

"Multiples: The Artwork of John Wayne Gacy," is meant to reflect the multiple aspects of his life, according to johnwaynegacyart.com, a website set up to promote the show.

"We are familiar with multiple aspects of Gacy's story. He worked multiple jobs, lived multiple lives and committed multiple crimes," the site said. "What we are unfamiliar with is the art Gacy created while awaiting execution: multiple paintings."

Seventy-four pieces will be put up for sale at the Las Vegas exhibition. They include pencil drawings and audio recordings, and paintings of skulls, clowns and the seven dwarves from the Snow White fairy tale.

Included among the collection is an oil painting entitled "Dahmer Skull," which is price at $2,000 and was inspired by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.

But perhaps the most controversial piece is a self-portrait entitled "Goodbye Pogos" listed at $4,500.

Gacy reportedly gave these portraits to "close pen-pals at the end of his life," according the website.

Also for sale, according to the site, are reproduction and merchandising rights to Gacy's artwork.

Myles said the proceeds would be divided evenly among the charities. If the crime victims group doesn't want the money, Myles said he would find another organization to donate the proceeds.

Meanwhile, two other organizations named as beneficiaries of the sale say they are reconsidering accepting the money. .

"I think anyone would be pretty creeped out by it," Anne Mulford, the board president of the Contemporary Arts Center, told KTNV.

The Contemporary Arts Center, a nonprofit gallery, is among those to receive monies from the sale.

"I'll just be honest with you, that's how I feel, I don't want to see the art," Mulford said.

CNN

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Official: 4 sets of Long Island remains aren't linked to serial killer

Police divers search for human remains in waters near Point Lookout, New York, in April.NEW: The DA urges patience, saying the serial killer probe "is not an episode of 'CSI' "NEW: Three homicide cases are opened due to the new findings, none linked to a serial killerThe four sets of remains were found in March and April near where four others had beenTwo were dismembered, one was an Asian male and another a female toddler, says the DA

(CNN) -- The four sets of human remains most recently discovered on a Long Island beach don't appear to be related to four others discovered nearby that have been linked to a suspected serial killer, the Suffolk County district attorney said Monday.

The evidence suggests that perhaps two other killers dumped bodies along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, about 40 miles east of New York City. But they don't shed any light on the investigation into the person or people who authorities believe killed at least four sex workers whose bodies were found last December.

"This investigation is not an episode of 'CSI' or 'Criminal Minds' that is going to be solved in a one-hour period," District Attorney Thomas Spota said of the serial killer probe. "Most likely, it ... is going to take a very long period of time to complete."

The four latest sets of remains were found March 29 and April 4. Homicide cases are now open based on three of the four latest discoveries, according to the district attorney.

The first set of newly discovered remains include the head, hands and forearms of a woman Spota identified as Jessica Taylor. The rest of her body had been found in 2003 in Manorville, a community about 45 miles east on Long Island.

Like the four victims found last year, Taylor was a prostitute, the district attorney said. She had been working in Washington and had come up to New York City for a few days before going missing. Spota said that, despite extensive interviews, there were no suspects in her death and the case went cold -- until now.

More body parts -- a head, hands and a right foot -- were found slightly farther east along the parkway. While no name has been attached to them, Spota said they match with a body found in 2000, also in Manorville.

Both these two women's alleged killer or killers "went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the victims from being identified," said the district attorney, pointing to efforts to hide a tattoo on Taylor as an example. "This is clearly not so with any of the other remains."

The only set among those recently discovered that didn't show any signs of trauma is "the full skeletal remains" of what is thought to be a female toddler, according to Spota. This unidentified child, who was probably between 18 and 24 months old when she died, was wrapped in a blanket and deposited in the same stretch along the parkway. The county medical examiner has yet to indicate a cause of death in the girl's case, which isn't now considered a homicide.

The last of the recently discovered bodies was an unidentified male, thought to be Asian and in his late teens or early 20s. Spota said the medical examiner's office determined that he'd been dead for "years," and his skeleton shows "evidence of trauma, but the cause of death is radically different from all the other remains."

"What is now very clear is that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," Spota said. "But there is no evidence that all these remains are the result of a single killer."

Previously, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said that authorities believed one or more person was most likely responsible for the deaths of four women whose remains were found within a quarter-mile of each other in that same area last winter.

More still unidentified remains have been found as part of the serial killer investigation in nearby Nassau County. But police have yet to link those to any other case.

All the while, the woman who originally prompted the searches -- 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert -- remains missing.

The New Jersey woman was last seen in May 2010 while attending a private party at a home in the Oak Beach community. Like the four victims who were found in December and have been identified, Gilbert had advertised prostitution services on Websites such as Craigslist.

Dormer told reporters Monday that authorities haven't given up their search for her.

"We're still concerned about the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert," the police commissioner said. "We're going to continue our efforts to find her ... both for our investigation and for her family."

CNN

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Police hack '18 spots' in serial killer case

Man describes seeing victim aliveSTORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Authorities finished searching 18 "spots of interest" in Long Island, New York on ThursdayNEW: Their search did not uncover additional evidence in their investigation of a possible serial killerA helicopter has been hovering over the Tobay Beach area since morningThe remains are not linked to the bodies of four prostitutes found near Atlantic City in 2006 New York (CNN) -- Police and FBI agents finished searching 18 "spots of interest" in Long Island, New York on Thursday without uncovering additional evidence in their investigation of a possible serial killer.

"We didn't uncover anything that was noteworthy," said Nassau County Police spokesperson Kevin Smith. "Most of it was debris."

Their efforts are part of a probe into suspected serial killings that have turned up at least eight bodies -- four of them identified as prostitutes -- since December 2010.

New York State troopers alongside some 30 police officers from Long Island's Nassau and Suffolk counties hacked their way through the area's thick brush and bramble, using guidance from a helicopter overhead and, in some cases, using chainsaws to cut through the thick foliage.

Aviation teams that flew over parts of Long Island had "identified a significant number of items that aren't natural for the area," said Nassau County Acting Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter.

But as of Thursday, authorities had not uncovered any further human remains.

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Serial killer probe finds 9th set of remains

9th body found on Long Island beachSTORY HIGHLIGHTS The discoveries are about 5 miles from where 8 other human remains were found
What's thought to be a human skull is found Monday in Oyster Bay, police say
A medical examiner is trying to determine whether a separate set of remains is human
A county official says, "We want to bring to justice this animal"
New York (CNN) -- Police are examining what appears to be a human skull found on the outskirts of a bird sanctuary in Long Island, New York, potentially the ninth set of remains discovered in the probe of a suspected serial killer.

Lt. Kevin Smith of the Nassau County Police Department said the skull was found Monday around 3:30 p.m. in the town of Oyster Bay. About four hours earlier, a New York state police officer and his cadaver dog spotted another set of remains about a mile and a half away, and authorities worked to determine whether those remains are human.

Authorities could continue their search on Tuesday.

These discoveries come on the first day that authorities probing the deaths of several young women searched for evidence in and around Nassau County. Since December, eight sets of human remains have been found in Suffolk County, just to the east of Nassau County and roughly five miles from the sites of Monday's discoveries.

"It's just been very startling, all of it has been," Smith told reporters Monday. "It's just amazing that we're finding these things. Obviously, we have a lot of work to do."

Authorities are working on the presumption that a single person is responsible for the women's killings. The four victims who have been identified thus far all advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist, police have said.

"Collectively, we want to bring to justice this animal who has obviously taken the lives of a number of people," said Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Monday.

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Search for missing woman expands as police look for serial killer

STORY HIGHLIGHTSPolice say the search for a missing woman will expand MondayInvestigators are embroiled in a manhunt for a potential serial killerThree bodies found last week were uncovered within a few miles of each otherA woman's body was also found March 29 west of Cedar Beach New York (CNN) -- Police say the search for a missing woman, which led investigators to the closely grouped remains of eight bodies in Long Island, New York, will expand Monday.

Investigators -- now embroiled in a manhunt for a potential serial killer -- are expected to spread out along the Nassau County line, working westward from Jones Beach in their search for Shannan Gilbert, who has been missing since May.

"We will be looking for human remains and any possible evidence," said Nassau Police spokesman Kevin Smith.

On Thursday, investigators said they were nearly finished with at least one part of the search effort in the Oak Beach area, where four female bodies were found stuffed in bushes along a quarter mile strip of beachfront property in December.

"Our search for (Gilbert) will continue, even though this component of the search is nearly over," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer told reporters.

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Police search for evidence in 8 serial killings on Long Island

By Spencer Platt, Getty Images

Suffolk County Police and police recruits search an area of beach Tuesday near where human remains were found in Babylon, New York.

EnlargeCloseBy Spencer Platt, Getty Images

Suffolk County Police and police recruits search an area of beach Tuesday near where human remains were found in Babylon, New York.

State troopers will join the search Monday on the Babylon, N.Y., barrier island where the remains of eight people have been discovered since December.

LA: Police look for links to 'Grim Sleeper' caseMISSING WOMAN: Not among beach victimsPolice say the victims are the work of a serial killer and were murdered elsewhere and dumped on the beach.

The oldest remains "have been there at least a couple of years" and the newest were of people reported missing last year, Nassau County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said.

Four of the victims have been identified by police as women who worked as prostitutes and advertised on Craigslist, the online classified ad site.

Prostitutes are common targets for serial sexual killers, because they are easily abducted and often not reported missing right away. The bodies of four women who had worked as escorts were dumped behind an Atlantic City motel in 2006, and four women, three of whom had been prostitutes, have been killed in Daytona Beach, Fla. Both cases remain unsolved.

Nonetheless, such cases are "very, very rare," says Louis Schlesinger, a forensic psychology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

"Serial sexual murder has been going on since pre-modern times, in different cultures, in different countries, and there's no evidence at all that it's increasing."

Four sets of remains on Gilgo Beach were discovered in December, when police were searching for Shannan Gilbert, who was last seen in a nearby housing development. A fifth body was found March 29, and three other sets of remains were discovered Monday. Gilbert was not found, according to police.

When bodies have been dumped somewhere other than the murder site, there is little evidence to aid investigation, says James Alan Fox, author of Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder.

"These cases are extremely difficult to solve, one because of the lack of physical evidence, and two because of the lack of potential suspects," Fox says.

In most murder cases, the killer is someone the victim knows.

"In any state you'll find unsolved slayings of prostitutes," Fox says. "Unfortunately it's easy picking for criminals."

The New York City Medical Examiner's office is helping local police identify the most recently discovered remains. "No doubt about it, it's a difficult case. The type of occupation, they're meeting strangers, the connections are very flimsy. It does add to our burden," Dormer says.

Melissa Cann, whose older sister Maureen Brainard-Barnes was among the victims identified, said her sister was 25 and the mother of two. She had been missing since 2007 when her remains were identified. "Every time you think you could heal, everything opens back up," Cann says.

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