'Sweetest of People': Classmate Remembers Karen Vergata, Jane Doe 7

GLEN HEAD, NY — A Long Island native is remembering his high school classmate, after law enforcement identified her as Jane Doe 7 on Friday.

Eugene Koebler, who was born and raised in Sea Cliff, told Patch he had fond memories of attending North Shore High School with Karen Vergata, whose remains were first found on Fire Island on April 20, 1996.

The two graduated together in 1979.

Koebler said that while he did not consider Vergata a "best friend" the two were friendly with each other throughout high school.

In their senior year, the two took a class called "Math for Daily Living", where she made an impression on him.

It was an alternative class that a student could take if they were having struggles with algebra, or geometry.

"Most of the kids that took those classes were kids like me that were artists," said Koebler, who said he's been a musician his whole life.

The teacher, Mr. Grahm, "had a heart for the creative type" and would give the students space to develop their stills, such as play guitar, as long as they got their work done.

Vergata fit right in with these other students. Koebler described her as a "very unique dresser" who liked to wear "big floppy hats", jewelry, and fringe.

"I definitely think she was different," said Koebler. "She had more of an artistic personality and an empathy about her."

In fact, Koebler recalls that the vice principal at the time often wrote up kids, like himself, for wearing hats inside school. Vergata was the only female student who wore hats, he said.

She appeared to be an aspiring artist, he said.

"I remember her sitting in class and drawing all the time," Koebler said. "She used to draw with pencil and paper, and she'd be like, 'Hey, check this out.' And I'd be like, 'Wow, that's really great.'"

Most of the time, Koebler said she had a smile on her face. At other times, she would come into class a "bit depressed or upset about something."

Koebler never asked her what was going on in her personal life, he said. But overall, she was a "very empathetic person" who would always ask how Koebler was doing.

"I think that's why some days she struggled," he said, adding that he believes most artists have empathetic tendencies. "I think she probably felt a lot more than most people did. Especially high school kids."

The most remarkable memory he has of Vergata is when she decided to pierce her ears in class.

"She went up to the teacher, Mr. Graham, and said, 'Hey, this other girl and I want to do a math experiment, but it requires a bag of ice,'" Koebler said.

The teacher most likely thought it had something to do with measuring, so he granted Vergata permission to get a bag of ice from the cafeteria.

"She comes back, and the next thing I see is the other girl holding the bag of ice on her ear," Koebler said. "The next thing you know, the sewing needle comes out."

The other girl then poked the needle into Vergata's left earlobe, using the ice and a potato — with the entire class watching in awe.

“By the end of the period, she had four new earrings in her ear," Koebler said. "I think that's the kind of girl she was, she was a risk-taker. And just fearless."

After graduation, Koebler said he never saw Vergata again. He permanently left Long Island in 2006, and now lives in North Carolina.

But throughout the years, he followed the Gilgo Beach serial killings case.

"It just shocked the hell out of me," Koebler said. "I already felt a connection to it all, simply because it happened where I grew up."

He also was aware of the arrest and indictment of Rex Heuermann, who is charged in the deaths of three sex workers, but not Vergata's.

When checking his phone for the news on Friday, Koebler said he saw a headline that another woman had been identified. Since he followed the story for so long, he clicked it.

But he never expected that the person identified would be the same girl all those years ago, who wore floppy hats.

"I called my friend, and we had a debate about it, whether it could be her or not by comparing the yearbook pictures that he had," said Koebler.

He also shared the photos with his wife, who used to work as a makeup artist and has a good understanding of facial features. She also confirmed that the photos were the same person.

"I just felt heartbroken and angry at the same time," said Koebler. "All that I knew about that what the other girls must have gone through, visions of the suffering she must have endured, just really overwhelmed me."

The news has been "messing with" his head for several days now, he said, mostly because he didn't even know Vergata had gone missing.

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Vergata went missing on Feb. 14, 1996. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at the Friday news conference. At the time, she lived on West 45th Street in Manhattan, and was believed to be working as an escort when she disappeared.

Her skull was found the same day as law enforcement discovered the remains of "Jane Doe No. 3," also known as "Peaches." Vergata's skull was also found just weeks after the remains of Jessica Taylor were found March 29, 2011, near Ocean Parkway.

No missing person report was filed at the time, Tierney said. In 2017, Vergata's father, Dominic Vergata, filed a 2017 petition to officially declare his daughter deceased.

Dominic passed away in 2022.

Koebler made a post about Vergata on social media on Saturday, writing that he was in "absolute shock" and described her as the "sweetest of people."

Many other North Shore High School alumni commented on the post, also in shock.

"When I saw the name in the picture, it kind of just flooded me with all these memories and stuff from school," said Koebler. "And it was kind of like I was right back there."