Serial killer taunted victim's family

Chilling details have surfaced in the murder of a Buffalo native, who may have fallen victim to a Craigslist serial killer.

This serial killer is still on the loose, and one of the best clues police have to who it might be came because of phone calls made to Buffalo.

Days after 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy disappeared in July of 2009, her cell phone was used by a man who called Melissa's younger sister. According to the New York Daily News, in one of the calls he said, "Do you know what your sister is doing? She's a whore."

Attorney Steven Cohen of Hogan-Willig Attorneys said, "I think it's generally accepted that serial killers, while they have a passion for killing, they're also trying to get themselves caught, so they tend to leave a series of clues behind for diligent detectives to find."

Detectives traced the last two calls to the Madison Square Garden and Times Square area. Last month, the bodies of four women, including Melissa's, were found buried on a beach on Long Island. Police found that Melissa had last checked her voicemail from Long Island. Cohen is now representing the Barthelemy family in Buffalo.

"Knowing that this killer has their home telephone number and all that can be traced from that is certainly alarming, but every emotion is subordinate to the overwhelming grief that the family's suffering from the loss of their daughter," said Cohen.

Melissa was born and raised in western New York, and confided in her younger sister that she had been working as an escort and exotic dancer in New York City. When she first disappeared, that slowed down the case according to Cohen.

Cohen explained, "As soon as the police got wind of the fact that Melissa was a call girl, they lost all interest in this and wouldn't even open up a file. You get into a life like this, the system turns its back on you."

The Barthelemy family will speak to the media Thursday afternoon.