NEW YORK, Feb 19: New human remains have been found on Long Island, prompting fresh speculation that a serial killer could be still operating in the area.

Police said that a man, who was walking his dog on a trail in the town of Manorville, discovered “human skeletal remains” in a heavily wooded area on Friday.

A police statement said that “Suffolk County police homicide squad detectives are investigating the circumstances” surrounding the find.

Fears that a serial killer was on the loose on Long Island first gripped the community in 2010, when the bodies of four prostitutes were discovered in Gilgo Beach.

In April 2011, authorities found four more bodies and the skeletal remains of a fifth person.

A 10th body was discovered last December.—AFP