Image caption Police say the remote beach in Long Island has long been a dumping ground for murder victims

Police in New York believe a lone serial killer was responsible for 10 unsolved murders in Long Island.

Ten dismembered corpses were found between December last year and April this year on a remote beachfront road.

The murders - of eight women, one man and one baby - date back to 1996. Five of the victims, all women, have been identified. They were prostitutes.

Each body had been dumped alongside a windswept road, running the length of a remote barrier island at Gilgo Beach.

But some of the victims' body parts were also found on Fire Island in eastern Long Island, about 50 miles (80km) away.

Initially, detectives were cautious in linking all 10 deaths.

No suspects

But they now say a single serial killer appears to have been responsible, and that the perpetrator is probably local.

A $25,000 (£16,000) reward has led to 1,200 tips relating to the case but no suspects have yet been identified.

"Looking at the common denominators involved with the dumping ground, the type of victims, the dismemberments, all on Long Island, our theory is that it's probably one serial killer," Suffolk County police commissioner Richard Dormer told the Associated Press news agency.

But Mr Dormer, who at one time thought as many as three killers could have been responsible, conceded not everyone in his department shared his latest view.

The first remains were discovered on 11 December 2010 when a police officer and sniffer dog were looking for the body of a New Jersey escort who went missing in May of that year.

The dead adults are all thought to have been prostitutes, including the male, an unidentified Asian, who was found wearing female clothing.

The baby has been linked by DNA to another victim thought to be her mother. They were found seven miles (11km) apart.