A New York architect is being held for the Gilgo Beach murders, a case that hasn’t been solved but is linked to at least ten sets of human remains that have been discovered in suburban Long Island since 2010.
Long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders suspect in custody in New York
This is the first arrest in the long-abandoned investigation, which gave rise to opposing hypotheses about whether a serial killer was involved.
Rex Heuermann is in jail, multiple sources informed CNN on Friday. Which murders he may have been involved in are unknown.
At a Massapequa address where he has a registered address, police were executing a search warrant, according to the sources. The Suffolk County DA’s office has scheduled a court appearance for later Friday morning.
According to the website of his business, Heuermann is a licensed architect and has owned the design and consulting firm RH Consultants & Associates in New York City since 1994.
Since the first set of female remains was found among the bushes along a remote stretch of waterfront property on Gilgo Beach, the deaths have perplexed investigators.
According to a joint news release, Suffolk County officials, including investigators and prosecutors, and the FBI are scheduled to disclose “a crucial development in the Gilgo Beach Homicide inquiry Task Force’s inquiry,” at 4 p.m. ET on Friday.
For years, the case baffled Suffolk County officials. In 2020, they discovered a belt bearing the suspect’s initials and created a website to solicit fresh information for the inquiry.
Some of the victims, according to the police, advertised their prostitution services on websites like Craigslist.
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In 2010, while looking for Shannan Gilbert, a missing 23-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey woman, authorities stumbled upon the first set of female remains in the bushes along a remote waterfront parcel on Gilgo Beach.
When Gilbert’s body was discovered a year later in nearby Oak Beach, authorities had already discovered ten sets of human remains dispersed across two Long Island counties.
The shocking revelations attracted a lot of local attention and instilled terror throughout various South Shore neighborhoods on Long Island.
Authorities later stated that they do not believe Gilbert’s death was connected to the Gilgo Beach murders and that it may have been an accident.
The bodies of four women were discovered in bushes along a quarter-mile length of Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach as a result of Gilbert’s disappearance.
Additional remains were discovered in Nassau County, roughly 40 miles east of New York City, and the nearby Gilgo Beach. They included a female toddler, a guy of Asian descent, and a person initially known as “Jane Doe #6,” according to police.
Police in 2020 determined that “Jane Doe #6” was Valerie Mack, a mother from Philadelphia who vanished when she was 24 years old.
According to the Suffolk County police, Mack’s partial bones were first uncovered nearby Gilgo Beach in 2000, and further fragmented remains were discovered in 2011.
A task force comprised of the FBI, state police, the county district attorney’s office, and the sheriff’s office was established by Suffolk County police last year to support “one of the most significant homicide investigations in Long Island history.”