Hi. When a store is open 24 hours, sometimes they list the hours as 12am to 12am (as you have discovered).
I know this Mobile station. It's store is indeed open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are not many gas stations in that area along the Long Island Expressway. Coming from the West, it's really the first gas station in Suffolk County on the Westbound side along the LIE (the one before that is in Plainview back by exit 48). This station is at exit 53. There is another one by exit 52 (Commack road) but that one is on the Eastbound side. At 1am in the morning, it is the only place to purchase cigarettes, beer, condoms or rolling paper in Hauppauge along the LIE. There are three or four other motels/hotels all within walking distance of that Mobil station. At 1 am or 2 am in the morning, there is a 90% chance of spotting a "working girl" walking in and out of that store on any night from around April to October (not so much in the winter months because it's usually too cold. Also, if there is any sort of snow on the ground it's near impossible to walk it safely).
Brain is spinning here...
thinking that maybe the seasonality of the missing victims is not due so much to the LISK being on Long Island during the warmer months but more because the warmer months give him a greater likelyhood of spotting working girls walking alone outside at night. He would just need to know where to look. A place like this Mobil station would rank very high on the list. Now that I am thinking about this, there is a gas station with a 24 hour mini mart at 5714 Old Sunrise Highway in Massapequa;
Google Map/Image of Mini Mart
This mini mart is a one minute walk and a five minute walk from the two motels were Barthelemy's cell phone last was used;
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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/nyregion/26bodies.html?_r=0
It's also another one of those situations where at 1am in the morning, this would be the only place to walk to purchase cigarettes, beer, condoms or rolling paper along with candy or a soda.