Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced that the search of Rex Heuermann's Long Island residence has concluded following the discovery of "considerable evidence" in the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
The district attorney stated that it would take "some time" for experts to evaluate the "massive amount of evidence" seized from the disorganized residence, which includes approximately 279 firearms.
Gilgo Beach Murders Suspect's Home Search Ends
Using ground-penetrating radar, an excavator, and a police dog, investigators had been excavating in Heuermann's Massapequa Park backyard for days, according to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison on Monday.
Authorities have suspected that Heuermann committed the murders in his residence, which is less than a mile from where the women's remains were discovered, as per CNN.
Heuermann was apprehended in New York City, where he worked as an architectural consultant, on July 13 and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the "Gilgo Four" - women whose remains were discovered in 2010 along a brief stretch of Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach.
In the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello, he has pled not guilty. The 59-year-old architect is also the leading suspect in the disappearance and murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, but he has not been charged in connection with this case.
According to a source involved in the investigation, the disappearances occurred during periods when Heuermann's family was out of town, suggesting that he may have lured victims to the home where he resided with his wife, daughter, and stepson.
"We have concluded our examination of the Gilgo residence." Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters. He refrained from stating whether he believed any murders took place on the Massapequa Park property, according to USA Today.
Tierney refused to comment when asked if anyone might have been murdered at Heuermann's residence. The arrest of Heuermann in front of his office in Manhattan was the most significant action in the decades-long investigation into bodies discovered along Gilgo Beach.
Long Island Serial Killer Case
Since his arrest, police have scoured his home and yard for evidence relating to the murders of sex workers as well as any other possible victims. Heuermann has pled not guilty and stated, "I did not do this," according to defense attorney Michael Brown. He is detained without bond.
Per NY Times, the suspect's estranged wife and two adult children have vacated the property, and crime scene investigators have spent the past week excavating the backyard and removing a variety of large and small domestic items.
As they've worked, the home has become a tourism attraction for true crime enthusiasts and a daily camp for news crews covering the case.
In 2010, the victims' corpses were discovered 20 minutes away from the Massapequa Park residence, bound and wrapped in burlap identically. Eleven bodies have been discovered along the miles-long stretch of shoreline on the South Shore, and law enforcement agencies in the region are investigating unsolved cases in which Mr. Heuermann may be a suspect.
Tierney stated at a news conference held outside the residence on Tuesday that the authorities executed a search warrant that enabled them to use ground-penetrating technology to detect "a number of disturbances" in the backyard, indicating the presence of concealed objects.
The accused serial killer was an architect whose practice included advising co-op directors on construction-related matters. The position granted him uncommon authority.
