By MICHAEL BALSAMO and JAKE OFFENHARTZ (Associated Press)
RIVERHEAD, NY (AP) — 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 often known as the Gilgo Beach murders.
Rex Heuermann, 59, has lived for many years throughout a bay from the place the stays have been discovered. He is charged with first and second diploma homicide in reference to the deaths of three victims, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. Authorities say he’s additionally the “prime suspect” in one other killing.
Heuermann was taken into custody in Massapequa late Thursday, close to the place investigators have been seen looking his house Friday. He is predicted to be arraigned Friday afternoon in state courtroom in Riverhead.
A message in search of remark was left together with his lawyer. Voice and e mail messages have been left at Heuermann’s Manhattan workplace and at attainable numbers for his house 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 current searches he made for sadistic supplies, together with sexually exploitive photographs of kids and images of the victims and their kin.
“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 number of the kin 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 often known as Gilgo Beach the place skeletal stays have been discovered alongside a distant oceanfront freeway in 2010 and 2011. The deaths have lengthy stumped investigators. Most of the victims have been younger ladies 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 have been the topic of the 2020 Netflix movie “Lost Girls.”
Determining who killed them, and why, has vexed a slew of seasoned murder detectives via a number of modifications in police management. Last yr, an interagency process power was shaped 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 in protecting fits conferred exterior the entrance porch, which was in disrepair, its roof propped up by 2-by-4s.
The house 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 nicely 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 instructor. “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, carrying 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 youngsters, is a licensed architect with a small Manhattan-based agency that, in keeping with its web site, has achieved retailer buildouts and different renovations for main retailers, workplaces and flats.
Last yr, legislation enforcement businesses on Long Island shaped a Gilgo Beach process power, displaying 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 have 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 consumer’s home on foot within the seafront group of Oak Beach, disappearing into the marsh.
Months later, a police officer and his cadaver canine have been searching for her physique within the thicket alongside close by Ocean Parkway after they occurred upon the stays of a special lady. Within days, three different our bodies have 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 ladies, one man and one toddler. Some have 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 jap Long Island.
Gilbert’s physique was present in December 2011, about 3 miles (5 kilometers) east of the place the opposite 10 units have been found.
In speaking in regards to the our bodies close to Gilgo Beach, investigators have stated a number of occasions 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.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”