In the latest development of the ongoing Gilgo Beach murder investigation, state and local law enforcement have initiated a fresh search in a forested region of Long Island.
An anonymous law enforcement source, who is privy to the situation, disclosed this information to NBC New York on Wednesday. However, the source refrained from providing specific details about the search site, including its exact location and the nature of evidence being sought.
Rex Heuermann, a 60-year-old architect from Manhattan, has been implicated in the decade-old murders of four women, collectively referred to as the "Gilgo Four." Their bodies were discovered near the beach, concealed in burlap, in December 2010, as per court documents. The victims have been identified as Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Amber Costello.
Heuermann was apprehended in July 2023 and initially charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello. In January of this year, he was also charged with the murder of Brainard-Barnes. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all four charges and is currently awaiting trial in jail.
The remains of the four women were discovered along a quarter-mile stretch of parkway in the Gilgo Beach area of Jones Beach Island in 2010. Subsequent searches revealed the remains of six additional adults and a toddler. However, no arrests have been made in connection with these latter victims.
Interestingly, Manorville, the site of the recent search, was previously the location where the remains of two young women, Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor, were found in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Both women were involved in sex work at the time of their disappearance. Additional remains of both women were discovered during a separate search along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach in 2011.
This new wave of investigations follows a statement last month by Heuermann's estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, who expressed disbelief in her husband's capability to commit the crimes he is accused of.
Despite their ongoing divorce proceedings, she continues to visit him in jail weekly. In a statement issued through her lawyer to Newsday, Ellerup stated that she would "listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of the trial." She added, "I have given Rex the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve."
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