Who is James Burke? NY police chief allegedly possessed snuff film that linked him to Long Island Serial Killer
A little over a decade ago, Suffolk County police officer John Malia and his dog made the startling discovery of the skeletal remains of Melissa Barthelemy, a Craigslist escort on Gilgo Beach, Long Island. In the following months, the bodies of more sex workers were found and thus began the search for the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK), also known as the Gilgo Beach Killer or the Craigslist Ripper.
The case of the mysterious killer remains open, even after years of investigation, the identity of the killer has not been uncovered. This January, a new podcast, 'Unraveled', was launched with Alexis Linkletter and Billy Jensen investigating the investigation itself. Now, a companion special is releasing on Discovery+. 'Unraveled: The Real Story of the Long Island Serial Killer' takes a look at the case, and especially the involvement of one police officer, whose corruption led to many questions.
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Who is James Burke?
James Burke was formerly the police chief of the Suffolk County Police Department and previously served in the rank of Inspector as the commanding officer of the police department’s Organized Crime Bureau. He was appointed by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota as the chief investigator of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. He was made the police chief in January 2012, and it was from then that the investigation into the Long Island Serial Killer got murkier.
Soon after he became chief, Burke blocked the FBI's investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killings. According to The New York Post, a federal source said that Burke did not want the FBI to be involved in the investigation because he was in their crosshairs for assaulting Christopher Loeb.
The Loeb case is explored in the special. Loeb is a childhood friend of one of the podcast hosts, Alexis Linkletter. The year that Burke became police chief, Loeb, who was a heroin user at the time, was arrested for stealing a duffel bag from Burke's car. Loeb claimed that the bag from Burke's car contained sex toys, pornography, and what Loeb claimed was a snuff film which he claims linked Burke to the serial killings. When Loeb was in custody, he was shackled to the floor of an interrogation room and was violently beaten and threatened by Burke.
Burke was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison along with three years of supervised release for violating Loeb's civil rights. Spota, who appointed him to the DA's office, was found guilty in 2019 of helping to cover up the assault of Loeb. He was convicted of obstruction, witness tampering, and conspiracy charges in December 2019 and disbarred in June 2020.
The same year he was convicted, an escort claimed that she partied with Burke in 2011 at an unknown Oak Beach home and engaged in "rough sex." The escort claimed that numerous people, prostitutes, and drugs, including cocaine, were at the gatherings, and that she observed Burke use cocaine at the two parties she had attended with him. The allegations are significant because the location of the parties is in the same area where another possible victim of the Long Island Serial Killer, Shannan Gilbert, disappeared. An attorney for Gilbert's family also said that Burke should be investigated in connection with the case.
'Unraveled: The Real Story of the Long Island Serial Killer' is available on discovery+ on March 9.