RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Authorities on Long Island are vowing to proceed investigating a string of killings often called the Gilgo Beach murders after charging an architect within the deaths of three of the 11 victims.

Rex Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello over a decade in the past. He can also be thought-about the prime suspect within the loss of life of one other girl, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

Their our bodies have been sure and hidden in thick underbrush alongside a distant seaside freeway throughout the bay from the Massapequa Park neighborhood the place Heuermann has lived all his life. Investigators have mentioned it’s unlikely only one individual killed all of the victims.

“We’re going to continue to work, investigate, and try to get a small measure of closure for all the victims’ families,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney mentioned.

Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday, a 12 months and a half after authorities shaped an interagency process power with investigators from the FBI, in addition to state and native police departments, aimed toward fixing the case. He was charged Friday.

Heuermann was first recognized as a suspect in March 2022, when detectives linked him to a pickup truck {that a} witness reported seeing when one of many victims disappeared in 2010. In March, detectives recovered Heuermann’s DNA from a pizza crust he discarded and matched it to proof discovered on one of many victims, authorities mentioned.

“They never stopped working and will continue to work tirelessly until we bring justice to all the families involved,” Suffolk County police Commissioner Rodney Harrison mentioned.

Heuermann was ordered jailed with out bail after his lawyer entered a not responsible plea on his behalf at an arraignment Friday in state court docket in Riverhead. In denying bail, Judge Richard Ambro cited “the extreme depravity” of Heuermann’s alleged conduct.

Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, mentioned his shopper informed him: “I didn’t do this.”

Investigators have been persevering with to go looking Heuermann’s dwelling, a few 25-minute drive throughout a causeway spanning South Oyster Bay to the sandy stretch often called Gilgo Beach the place the stays have been present in 2010 and 2011.

Most of the victims have been younger ladies who had been intercourse employees. Their deaths lengthy stumped investigators, and the thriller fueled immense public consideration and led to a 2020 Netflix movie, “Lost Girls.”

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