RIVERHEAD, NY — A Long Island architect has been charged with homicide within the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings referred to as the Gilgo Beach murders.
Rex Heuermann, who has lived for many years throughout a bay from the place the stays had been discovered, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He can be thought-about the prime suspect in one other killing, authorities stated.
Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday in Massapequa amid a renewed investigation that tied him to a pickup truck {that a} witness reported seeing when one of many victims disappeared in 2010. Detectives finally recovered his DNA and matched it to genetic materials recovered from the our bodies, which had been sure up and hidden in thick underbrush alongside a distant seashore freeway.
In latest months, authorities stated, Heuermann sought to maintain tabs on the probe, conducting lots of of web searches for the names of girls he’s accused of killing, in addition to podcasts and documentaries in regards to the case.
He pleaded not responsible at an arraignment Friday in Riverhead and was ordered jailed with out bail.
A message looking for remark was left together with his lawyer. Voice and e mail messages had been left at Heuermann’s Manhattan workplace and at potential numbers for his dwelling and household Friday.
Suffolk County prosecutors are asking that Heuermann be held with out bail, citing the “heinous nature of these serial murders,” in addition to latest searches he made for sadistic supplies, together with sexually exploitive pictures of youngsters.
After linking Heuermann to the pickup truck, prosecutors stated investigators had been in a position to join him to different proof, together with the burner cellphones used to rearrange conferences with the slain girls, and taunting calls that an individual claiming to be the killer made to one among Barthelemy’s family utilizing her cellphone after she disappeared in 2009.
“This is a day that is a long time in coming, and hopefully a day that will bring peace to this community and to the families — peace that has been long overdue,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stated throughout an unrelated look on Long Island.
The information of an arrest got here as a shock to a few of the family after so a few years ready for a break within the case. In a textual content message, a sister of 1 sufferer stated her household wasn’t prepared to talk publicly as a result of they “really haven’t had a chance to process the news today.”
Heuermann lives in Massapequa Park, a group simply north of South Oyster Bay and the sandy stretch referred to as Gilgo Beach the place skeletal stays had been discovered alongside a distant oceanfront freeway in 2010 and 2011. The deaths have lengthy stumped investigators. Most of the victims had been younger girls who had been intercourse employees.
The case has drawn immense public consideration. The thriller attracted nationwide headlines for a few years and the unsolved killings had been the topic of the 2020 Netflix movie “Lost Girls.”
Determining who killed them, and why, has vexed a slew of seasoned murder detectives by way of a number of adjustments in police management. Last yr, an interagency process power was fashioned with investigators from the FBI, in addition to state and native police departments, aimed toward fixing the case.
Law enforcement personnel converged on the small purple home that had been raided early Friday within the suburb about 40 miles (64 km) east of midtown Manhattan. Dozens of residents mingled alongside police and media, watching as a half-dozen investigators, some in protecting fits, conferred outdoors the entrance porch, which was in disrepair, its roof propped up by 2-by-4s.
The dwelling belonged to a household that had lengthy saved to themselves, neighbors stated, noting that the dilapidated property appeared misplaced amongst rows of single household properties and properly saved lawns within the small group.
“This house sticks out like a sore thumb. There were overgrown shrubs, there was always wood in front of the house,” stated Gabriella Libardi, a 24-year-old trainer. “It was very creepy. I wouldn’t send my child there.”
Barry Auslander, one other neighbor, stated the person who lived in the home commuted by practice to New York City every morning, sporting a swimsuit and tie and carrying a briefcase.
“It was weird. He looked like a businessman,” stated Auslander. “But his house is a dump.”
Heuermann, married with two kids, is a licensed architect with a small Manhattan-based agency that, in response to its web site, has achieved retailer buildouts and different renovations for main retailers, places of work and flats.
Last yr, legislation enforcement businesses on Long Island fashioned a Gilgo Beach process power, exhibiting what Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison stated was a renewed dedication to fixing the killings.
“We’re happy to see that they’re finally active, the police, in accomplishing something. Let’s wait and see what it all leads to,” stated John Ray, the lawyer for the households of two of the ladies whose stays had been discovered, Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor.
Gilbert’s disappearance in 2010 triggered the hunt that uncovered the bigger thriller. A 24-year-old intercourse employee, she vanished after leaving a shopper’s home on foot within the seafront group of Oak Beach, disappearing into the marsh.
Months later, a police officer and his cadaver canine had been in search of her physique within the thicket alongside close by Ocean Parkway after they occurred upon the stays of a distinct lady. Within days, three different our bodies had been discovered, all inside a brief stroll of each other.
By spring 2011, that quantity had climbed to 10 units of human stays — these of eight girls, one man and one toddler. Some had been later linked to dismembered physique components discovered elsewhere on Long Island, making for a puzzling crime scene that stretched from a park close to the New York City limits to a resort group on Fire Island and out to far japanese Long Island.
Gilbert’s physique was present in December 2011, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) east of the place the opposite 10 units had been found.
In speaking in regards to the our bodies close to Gilgo Beach, investigators have stated a number of instances over time that it’s unlikely one particular person killed all of the victims.
• Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press contributors embody Jennifer Peltz, Bobby Caina Calvan, Michael R. Sisak and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York and Sarah Brumfield in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com