Authorities have determined the man arrested in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killings in New York is not connected with a series of unsolved murders in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Rex Huermann, 59, was arrested on 13 July and charged with six counts of murder in the deaths of Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy — and he is also the main suspect in Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ killing.
The women, all women in their 20s who were working as sex workers, went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their remains were found along the stretch of a roadway in the Long Island shoreline community of Gilgo Beach. After Mr Heuermann was taken into custody, authorities in Las Vegas, South Carolina, New Jersey and Connecticut have probed possible links between the accused serial killer and local cold cases.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told ABC News earlier this month that authorities were weighing an investigation against Mr Huermanna in connection with the Black Horse Pike Strangler case in Atlantic City. Similarly to the Gilgo Beach killing, the victims in the Garden State were also working as sex workers. Their bodies were found in a ditch in the Black Horse Pike hotel in 2006.
But Mr Harrison has now told The New York Post that he believes someone else is behind the Atlantic City murders.
“We don’t believe that the sex workers killed in Atlantic City are connected to Rex Heuermann,” Mr Harrison said.
Sam Taylor, whose 19-year-old niece Molly Dilt was one of the Black Horse Pike victims, told the Post that authorities have not been in contact with his family. He said he had briefly thought about the similarities between the Gilgo Beach case and the Black Horse Pike killings.
“When they announced that they caught a serial killer in New York, I just turned to my wife and said, ‘Hey, I think they might have got the guy,’” Mr Taylor said. “We don’t know how my niece was killed or anything, but it’s kind of funny that this guy is murdering all the same type of people.”
Rex Huermann, 59, is charged with murdering Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy— (AP)
Mr Heuermann was first linked to the Gilgo Beach murders thanks to the description of a witness who saw him leave the home of one of his victims. The witness gave the tip to police 13 years ago but it was only revisited last year when the Suffolk Police Department revamped an investigation into the murders.
According to a criminal complaint, further cellphone records, chilling online searches and DNA evidence also tie Mr Heuermann to the crimes.
Last week, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney was grilled in a press conference about the chilling alleged discovery of a mattress inside a huge vault in the basement of Mr Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park.
The DA repeatedly refused to confirm or deny the existence of the potentially harrowing piece of evidence but did confirm the existence of the walk-in underground vault beneath the property that he shared with his family.
“The vault is big enough to walk into and it’s in the basement,” he said, adding that “like the rest of the house, [the vault] was cluttered”.
Mr Tierney noted that it will take time for the crime lab to test the trove of items seized for the likes of blood, hairs, fibres or other trace evidence which could indicate whether victims were killed at the property.
The search of Mr Heuermann’s home came to an end on Tuesday after investigators spent almost two weeks combing through the property— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Investigators previously revealed that a trove of around 270 guns had been seized from the home. Mr Heuermann has legal permits for 92 handguns and also owned several long guns.
The search of the home came to an end on Tuesday after investigators spent almost two weeks combing through the property, seizing items and digging up the yard for clues about the murders or looking for trophies that the alleged killer took from his victims.
Mr Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murders and is expected to be back in court on 1 August.
