The seaside underbrush near Oak Beach, N.Y., is basically a mass grave. After finding a fifth body near the Long Island beach community last week, authorities there redoubled their search for a missing girl and found three more over the weekend. Total body count: eight.

When local prostitute Shannan Gilbert went missing last year, the search along the beaches near Oak Beach in December turned up a startling discovery: The bodies of three women wrapped in burlap in the underbrush, all murdered, all prostitutes who advertised on Craigslist. Authorities said one of them could have been there for two years. Gilbert wasn't among them, but police believe she was in the area on a call when she disappeared: The last time police think she was seen alive was when a woman believed to be Gilbert awoke an Oak Beach resident at 4:45 a.m. pleading for help. Gilbert fled when the resident called the police.

Another body was found last week along Gilgo Beach, about a mile away from the first stash. Police haven't released the gender of that body or the cause of death, but they started searching the area harder and found another three sets of remains as of today. Oak Beach is a gated community on Jones Beach Island, a barrier island between Long Island and the Atlantic Ocean. It's about a third of the way between New York City and the Hamptons.

[Photo via AP]