tonight on "nightline," a killer's tracks. a shocking roadside discovery. four unidentified bodies. now, authorities fear a serial killer may be on the loose. and we've got the inside story. embarrassing bodies. people sharing the most intimate and personal details of their bodies on television, in the latest reality show sensation. but just who would be willing to put it all on display for the cameras? and, top whopper. in politics, there are lies damn lies and pants on fire lies.

but what was the number one political lie of 2010? tonight, the results are in, exclusively on "nightline." >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news with cynthia mcfadden and bill weir in new york city and terry moran in washington this is "nightline," december 16th, 2010. >> good evening, i'm terry moran. we're going to begin tonight with a disturbing discovery. four unidentified bodies found near a beach on long island, new york. one of the most troubling aspects for this case for police is the way it echoes a similar discovery not far away in atlantic city back in 2006 the bolds of four prostitutes found in a drainage ditch in a crime that has never been solved. investigators are now considering the possibility of a serial killer at work and andrea canning has our report. >> reporter: should people be scared? >> no, i don't think. no. i don't want anybody to think

that we have a jack the ripper running around suffolk county with blood dripping from a knife. >> reporter: but there is a believed serial killer on the loose. >> chilling new developments now breaking on new york's long island. >> police are worried they have a serial killer on the loose. >> reporter: striking fear into this small oceanside community. >> going to have to go. >> reporter: today, police expanded their search, looking for more bodies. even closing down a ten-mile stretch of road. >> nobody is going to be able to stay here. you have to go on the other side of the bridge. >> reporter: four women have already been found this week dumped along this barren beach sometimes in the past 18 months. some were wrapped in burlap sacks, found just 500 yards apart, and appear to have been removed from a vehicle. >> it sounds like they were dumped in a location that the killer felt comfortable, that he had time to remove the bodies from the vehicle. and probably drag or carry into a wood line. >> reporter: the man in charge of the investigation, commissioner richard dormer

admits he has no official suspects. how challenging is this investigation for you? >> oh, this is very challenging. as you can imagine. four unidentified bodies at this point and it's critical to an investigation that you identify the victims. so, you know we're waiting for the science to be completed. >> reporter: but there is a trail of potentially critical clues. from a frantic 911 call to postings on a popular website to a series of unsolved murders in atlantic city. this latest mystery unfolded saturday, after long island police literally stumbled onto the crime scene. the first body was discovered during a routine k-9 training exercise. officers chose the location because shonnan gilbert, a 24-year-old known prostitute had gone missing here in may. >> she said help me again, and she just looked like she was spaced out. >> reporter: gus was one of the last known people to see gilbert

alive. she says she was running from his neighbor's house, joseph brewer. she pounded on his door, saying someone was after her. he called 911 but she took off, vanishing into the wields. >> i could have saved that girl if i had known something was going to happen. >> reporter: her mother and sister believe she called 911 on her own. >> her last phone call was 23 minutes to 911. when she was grabbed and put into the truck. the police missed her by five minutes. >> she was basically running away trying to leave and he -- it was heard, get away from me and she was running and knocking on neighbor's doors. >> he's trying to kill me help me. >> reporter: police searched joseph brewer's home and towed this suv but will not comment. brewer did speak to abc news from inside his mother's house. >> the truth will come out.

>> reporter: reports say he admitted gilbert was at a party at his home but became agitated and left. >> this picture was taken if february. >> reporter: lorraine is another mother waiting news for his daughter megan. >> my mother's intuition is telling me megan is not with us. >> reporter: waterman is another pros fruit who used craigslist. she went missing in june and could also be among the victims. >> the worst part is not knowing where she is what happened to her. the police haven't really said too often much because they don't want to reveal anything that can be incriminating to their investigation. i actually heard from the detect ty today. he came to my house to do a dna swab to compare my dna with the four women that were found. he is leaning towards one of them as big megan. but he's not 100% guaranteed. we won't know anything until dna

and dental and the forensic times are all complete. >> reporter: that's where this doctor comes in. but the medical examiner admits it could take weeks or months. how do you go about identifying such badly decomposed bodies? >> well, generally, you know we can no longer identify them or classify them by looking at them just visually, so, we need to go to fordentistry and the study of bones and the skeleton. and then the last step is to do the dna analysis. >> reporter: as police in new york continue their investigation, they're also working with detectives 160 miles away in atlantic city. in 2006 four prostitutes there were murdered. their bodies found lying in a drainage ditch. the case has never been solved. attorney james leonard represents terry olson, a handyman who was investigated for the crimes but was never charged and denies any

involvement. >> the fact that we're dealing with four women that were disposed of and it would appear that at least one of them has connections to prostitution, so the similarities, to me are striking. >> prostitutes obviously, are easy prey. they are people that many times are not readily identified because they are living under aliases, they're from around city, they're transient. and what happens is also many serial killers have issues with women. and they believe prostitutes are evil and we should rid society of them. >> reporter: commissioner dormer says he just wants to bring closure to the families of each woman, whomever they may be. >> wondering, is that their loved one? so, we would like to put close sure on this thing for people. and that's why the identification is really critical for the families, for the investigation. >> reporter: tonight, police confirmed gilbert is not one of the four women. but they are still investigating her disappearance. authorities have not eyeidentifyied

any of the bolds found and at least two families are left wondering what happened to their daughters. for "nightline," i'm andrea canning in long island, new york. >> a tough and tragic case for investigators out in long island. thanks to andrea canning for that report. so we'll take a break, and when we come back we're going to go to a totally different subject. take a look at the latest reality tv show hit. people going on tv with their most personal most intimate bodily ailments. [ male announcer ] this is the evo 4g. this is android which powers the evo. this is something nice someone said about the evo. so is this. ♪ ♪ and this. and all this. and this is something really, really nice that someone said about the evo. well, we thought it was nice. this is the htc evo 4g. deaf, hard-of-hearing and people with speech disabilities only from sprint the

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successful reality tv mixes voyeurism on the part of the audience and six biggism by whoever is in front of the camera. we want to have to watch and they have to be willing to show. the idea of their being a limit on either, what gets shown, what gets watched, is undercut by a reality program that is currently a huge hit in england. nick watt has our report but be advised that some of the following scenes are very graphic. >> reporter: the show is called "embarrassing bodies." and, yep, pa's what it's about. >> the worst case of this i've ever seen. >> smelly lesions under his armpits. >> just ooze. >> reporter: but this isn't weird late night viewing. this is primetime channel four a mainstream station, and they

don't blur anything. the premise is simple. members of the public show up with an embarrassing affliction see a doctor and get free treatment. and it's all filmed. okay. i have three questions right off the bat. why would a network commission this? >> i'm going to get you to measure your willy. >> i remember the then director of programs saying, are you really telling me that someone is going to watch a show and see genital warts? >> reporter: alex was right. people will watch a show absentout about genital warts. 4 million people watch it. second question -- why? >> do you enjoy watching it? >> ah -- enjoy, i wouldn't say is the right word. >> reporter: so, what is it? >> that's how we get people in a way, to come to the show if the first place. we want people to watch the show. once we're there, we want them to educate them. >> i dare you, shock us. >> put it away.

>> reporter: first of all, about their own bodies. what's normal and what's not. >> a lot of guys that panic that they've been worm with small will willy willies. >> reporter: the show's website is big on this. there are pictures of girls bits and boys bits. apparently, weird is okay. >> we may have had parts of us that may have been -- we kind of thought, i never really thought that was right if i could have one testicle bigger than the other. often, it's simple things like that, two minutes reassurance from a doctor goes a long way. >> reporter: is that normal? >> yeah. >> when natalie first came to see the doctor her condition was causing her more than just a spot of bother and she finally reached bursting point. >> reporter: my third question is perhaps the most interesting. why do people appear on this show? why did natalie simonson expose the boils on her -- on tv?

>> because i was at my wits end with it all. i just thought why not? why not try it? why not? and it was actually quite teaming, really, in a way, to talk about it so openly you know, in such an extreme way, off so many years of not talking about it. so, yeah so far so good. >> reporter: natalie suffered boils and severe acne for nearly 20 years. she came on the show, exposed herself. >> yes, sheathey showed my bottom out, but it was a necessary part of my story, really. >> you know i think a small level of improvement for you would be a huge step. >> yes, very much so. >> reporter: she was prescribed a birth control pill to regulate her mother moans to control the acne and she was given a free course of laser treatment and skin grafts. >> happy girl. >> very happy. >> reporter: she is very very happy. and, not embarrassed at all. but would i want my work

colleagues to know i had boils on my backside? >> by the time the show airs and your colleagues at work know you've had that problem it's been sorted and your life has very much been changed. so, you probably don't really care about being on telly for 90 seconds. >> reporter: pixie is one of three regular doctors who front the show. she sees it breaking taboos and getting people to talk. >> item empowers people to talk and get things treated. yes, a lot of the problems are embarrassing, but very often, cringe-worthy things are the sign of something very very serious. >> nothing at all works. >> reporter: embarrassing bodies has saved lives. it saved 9-year-old charlotte. she came on with dreadful -- >> goodness me. i am absolutely shocked by that. i have never seen it that bad.

>> charlotte's story was a classic case of sometimes what you think you've got is merely a symptom. >> my husband and i cry at night when she's in bed because we -- we are just helpless. >> reporter: the embarrassing bodies doctor took a leap. was that just a symptom of an immunity problem. >> have you checked her immune system? >> reporter: turns out she was right. she was diagnosed with a rare disorder. she had chemotherapy a bone mare roe transplant. sharcharlotte charlotte's life was shaved by this show. >> thank you. can you see yourself in those? >> yes. >> putting these on television is one way of actually saving lives and informing people. so i feel we're doing a good job and we enjoy doing it. can i see it please? >> reporter: because somehow they've got the balance right. it's yucky enough to attract the car crash viewers, not too yucky

to turn them off. >> off it goes. >> and you guys are going to do your tops off, too. come on. off it goes. >> reporter: it is not explodeive and it's good compelling tv. >> it's something i would eat either before or after you watched it certainly. >> reporter: you do watch it. >> i do. not all the time. and occasional little you have to look away. >> reporter: they're now trying to sell this format to the u.s. you have been warned. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in london. >> that was disgusting. but i guess constructive in parts. thanks to nick watt for that report. up next when politicians fib. we're not so ambitious as to attempt to comprehend some survey, but we do have the biggest political lies of 2010.o.o.o.o.o.o.o.o. o.o.o.o.o.

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[ steve ] i was going to sell it online and make a fortune. but then, i won a $1,000 prepaid card just because i used my citi card. so i made a decision if citi could surprise me, why not do the same for someone else? [ male announcer ] register and use your card for a chance to win a prepaid card worth up to $10,000. what's your story? citi can help you write it. >> announcer: "nightline" continues from washington with terry moran. >> well, how can you tell when a politician is lying? when his lips are moving says a cynic. that's a gross exaggeration and a bad joke, but if you look over

a year's worth of misspeaking out of washington, you might start to wonder. so, what was the biggest political lie this year? senior white house correspondent jake tapper joins us for tonight's "sign of the times." >> reporter: pinocchio is an adorable symbol of fibbing. but politicians are not nearly so cute when they shade the truth. the folks at politifact.com make it their mission to let us know when public officials are telling us things that are not so. they even now present the political lie of the year. unfortunately, as always there are many, many possible nominee nominees. politifact narrowed it down. >> the president of the united states will be taking a trip over to india that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day. >> minnesota republican michele

bachmann repeopled this untruth, based on one comment, unnamed indian official told an indian publication. $200 million a day, more than the cost of the war in afghanistan. the white house and previous administrations call that apparently made-up figure crazy talk and politifact called it untrue. alan grayson ran this tv ad about his opponent. >> why submit yourself to your own husband. >> reporter: which is not true. grayson was taking the words of now congressman-elect webster out of context. webster had cited that bubbly call husband as one husband should not pray for. >> and she can pray that if she wants to but don't you pray. >> florida republican governor electric scott was more fortunate. he withstood politifact's rating of that penalties on fire lie to

win. while charlie rangel also survived a pants on fire labeling for saying an ethics report on his congressional trip exonerates me. it did no such thing. nor was the florida democratic party truthful when it claimed that former republican congressman bill mccullum, quote, voted to dismantle social security. no, he did not. and while we're at it, that's a lot of lying nominees from florida. hmm. but at any rate none of those others were enough to win lie of the year. this year's winner was not only selected by the editors of politifact, it was also the people's choice. almost 4,000 readers voted. and here to tell us the lie of the year is the editor of politifact, bill adair. bill, and the winner is? >> the claim that the democratic health care bill is a government takeover of health care. >> reporter: a lie repeated far

and wide and again and again. >> this is a government takeover of our health care system. >> government takeover. >> government takeover. >> government takeover. >> massive government takeover. >> reporter: and why is this the biggest lie of the year as opposed to all the other lies? >> it was so pervasive. it was said by the republican leadership, by republicans running for congress, said by republicans running for governor. and it just not true. this is a plan that uses the private health insurance system to expand health care coverage. >> reporter: mark twain once said a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes. congratulations to the lie of the year for its speed and effectiveness. way to deceive the public. this is jake tapper for "nightline" in washington. >> well, that will start a debate. thanks to jake tapper for that report. when we come back the war in afghanistan, that's the subject of tonight's closing argument. but first, here's jimmy kimmel with what's coming up next on

"jimmy kimmel live." >> jimmy: tonight, jeff bridges, diddy and his band diddy dirty money