As the suspect was put on suicide watch, authorities carried out a search warrant at a second storage facility in Amityville, Long Island, New York, on Monday in connection with the Gilgo Beach killings.
According to the Suffolk County Police Department, a search warrant was first requested for a different storage unit in Amityville on Sunday.
The two locations’ owner, Omega Self Storage, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, thus it is unclear who rented the two units.
Tania Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Suffolk County district attorney, declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation.
Investigators claim they are still receiving information from the public following the arrest of Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architect who resides in Massapequa Park, Long Island, in connection with a large-scale investigation that had long since gone cold before his arrest. As a result, the storage facilities were searched.
After Heuermann’s arrest, Lopez said that the district attorney’s office was unable to share any fresh information obtained through search warrants or from the general public.
In connection with the deaths of three women who went missing between 2009 and 2010, Heuermann, 59, was charged on Friday with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder. Prosecutors claim that he is also under investigation for the death and disappearance of a fourth lady.
The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office reported on Monday afternoon that Heuermann “is currently on suicide watch, as determined by the County’s mental health staff.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney stated on Monday that his office is certain it can support its case due to the abundance of evidence, which includes DNA, telephone data, and a witness tip.
Heuermann is not thought to be responsible for all of the killings, despite the fact that 11 sets of human remains have been discovered since 2010 near Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, a rural location on Long Island’s South Shore. Fears that a serial killer was on the loose were sparked by the fatalities, many of which were connected to missing sex workers from the New York and New Jersey region.
Authorities searched Heuermann’s house in Massapequa Park, a community across the harbor from Gilgo Beach, and his office in midtown Manhattan after his arrest on Thursday night.
He entered a not-guilty plea. Heuermann has been a “loving” husband and father to his daughter and stepson, according to his attorney, Michael J. Brown, who also claimed that Heuermann “has insisted he did not commit these crimes.”
“There is nothing about Mr. Heuermann that would suggest that he is involved in these incidents,” Brown stated in a statement. We’re looking forward to defending him in court before a fair and impartial jury of his peers, even if the government chose to focus on him despite more significant and better leads.
Heuermann is accused of killing Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22. There is no set timetable for when the inquiry into the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, will be finished, according to Lopez.
According to investigators, the women were all thought to be sex workers who advertised on websites. According to court filings, they were all discovered restrained with tape or belts in similar postures. Three of the women’s bodies were also covered in a burlap-like substance.
A collaborative law enforcement review that was launched in early 2022 brought light to a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann after years of an investigation with no clear suspect. On the basis of a witness’ report, this car had been on detectives’ radar throughout Costello’s disappearance.
Burner cellphones and credit card activity, according to the authorities, also assisted in connecting Heuermann to the crimes. Additionally, investigators claimed to have tested hair from one of the victims that matched Heuermann’s wife, who was away while the multiple murders took place.
Therefore, it is possible that the burlap, tape, vehicle(s), or other instrumentalities used in carrying out these murders originated at the home of the defendant Heuermann, where his wife also dwells, or were transferred from his clothing, according to the prosecution.
According to the authorities, a male hair was also discovered on the burlap that had been used to wrap one of the victims. Police gathered a pizza that Heuermann had thrown out and tested the DNA on the crust.
Investigators concluded that his DNA “cannot be excluded” from matching the male hair based on lab results from June.
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