Law enforcement officials in New York arrested 59-year-old Rex Heuermann in connection to the Gilgo Beach murders, a string of killings on Long Island that have remained unsolved since 2010.
The Associated Press confirmed the arrest with law enforcement officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. According to the Associated Press, Heuermann was taken into custody at his residence in Massapequa Park on Thursday evening and is expected to be arraigned on Friday afternoon. Law enforcement officials with the Suffolk County Police Department are expected to host a press conference later today to provide more information.
The arrest on Friday comes after a several years long manhunt for the individual accused of killing several individuals after at least seven bodies were found across parts of Gilgo Beach, located in Suffolk County, New York.
The investigation first began in 2010 when 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert was reported missing. According to police, Gilbert was last seen on the night of May 1, 2010, by a driver near Oak Beach, and her body was not discovered until December 2011.
"Years before the 2010 discovery of one set of human remains at Oak Beach in Suffolk County, 10 people fell victim to suspected homicide. Multiple females, one male, and a toddler were robbed of their lives between 1996 and 2010. The pursuit of a 2010 missing persons search unveiled their remains across Long Island; and, one of the most consequential homicide investigations in the history of Long Island began," the Suffolk County Police said in a timeline of the investigation.
In a crime scene map published by the Suffolk County Police, the locations where the seven victim's remains were found can be seen. According to the police, the victims included Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack. Two other individuals who were found were not identified but police said one was a toddler and one was an Asian male. The remains of another unidentified female were believed to belong to the mother of the female toddler.
WABC news in New York reported on Friday that Heuermann resided at a home located at 105 1st Avenue in Massapequa Park. Google Maps shows that this home is around 27 minutes away from Gilgo Beach, where many of the victim's bodies were found. The South Oyster Bay separates Massapequa from Gilgo Beach.
One of his neighbors told Newsweek that children were often advised to stay away from his house on Halloween and that he was quiet.
The string of murders on Long Island sparked a widespread manhunt and interest from the public. In 2020, a Netflix series on the murders was released entitled Lost Girls.
Newsweek reached out to the Suffolk County Police Department via email for comment.
Correction: 07/14/23, 9:13 p.m.: A previous version of this article misspelled Heuermann in the headline.
