Lengthy Island serial killer probe not over after architect is charged in 3 of 11 deaths

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Authorities on Lengthy Island are vowing to proceed investigating a string of killings referred to as the Gilgo Seashore 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’s additionally thought-about the prime suspect within the demise of one other girl, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

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

“We’re going to proceed to work, examine, and attempt to get a small measure of closure for all of the victims’ households,” Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney stated.

Heuermann, 59, was arrested late Thursday, a 12 months and a half after authorities shaped an interagency process pressure with investigators from the FBI, in addition to state and native police departments, geared 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 stated.

“They by no means stopped working and can proceed to work tirelessly till we carry justice to all of the households concerned,” Suffolk County police Commissioner Rodney Harrison stated.

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, Decide Richard Ambro cited “the intense depravity” of Heuermann’s alleged conduct.

Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, stated his consumer instructed him: “I did not do that.”

Investigators had been persevering with to go looking Heuermann’s house, a couple of 25-minute drive throughout a causeway spanning South Oyster Bay to the sandy stretch referred to as Gilgo Seashore the place the stays had been present in 2010 and 2011.

Many of the victims had been younger ladies who had been intercourse staff. Their deaths lengthy stumped investigators, and the thriller fueled immense public consideration and led to a 2020 Netflix movie, “Misplaced Women.”