Free Republic

NEW YORK -- Searches by the Gilgo Beach Task Force expanded through a wide area of New York's Suffolk County woods this weekend. On Friday, the search extended to North Sea, where Sandra Costilla, 28, was discovered dead in Nov. 1993. John Bittrolff has been long suspected but never charged in her death, according to our sister station WABC. Bittrolff was convicted in 2017 in the murders of two other women, whose bodies were found in 1993 and 1994 in East Patchogue and Shirley

Accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has now been tied to the slayings of the women known as the “Gilgo Four,” including through a DNA sample from his daughter’s Monster energy drink — which investigators dug out of the trash after trailing her on the LIRR, prosecutors said Tuesday. Heuermann, 60, was named in a new indictment unsealed in Suffolk County court charging him with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the last of the four former escorts whose remains were found along Gilgo Beach in 2010 and whose killings remained unsolved for 13 years. Investigators linked Brainard-Banes’ murder to...

Rex Heuermann is charged in the murders of three sex workers. The attorney for Gilgo Beach, New York, murder suspect Rex Heuermann on Wednesday denied that his client is a "monster of a person" and maintained Heuermann's innocence. Heuermann returned to court Wednesday following his July arrest for the murders of three sex workers -- Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello -- whose bodies were found on Long Island in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty.

Police searching the house of Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann have found a soundproof room in the basement, a neighbor claimed - as cops brought cadaver dogs in to search his yard. Police told a neighbor of the New York architect they believed at least one woman was killed in that room, which was unearthed in what state troopers called a 'major excavation'. Robert Musto, 64, one of Heuermann's longtime neighbors in Massapequa, told the New York Post: 'He's got a soundproof room in his basement. What do you think that was for?' 'This guy is a wacko,' the...

Prior to the bombshell arrest on Thursday of Rex Heuermann over several of the Gilgo Beach murders, the case had been hampered by a series of scandals inside the police department leading the investigation. The disgraced former chief of Suffolk County Police Department, James Burke, was at the center of the storm, which culminated in his imprisonment in 2016 for 46 months for battering a thief who stole a bag from his police car which contained porn and sex toys. Shocking details emerged about Burke's alleged fondness for drugs and prostitutes. He has also been described by colleagues as a...

Chilling drone footage captured the moment cops combed through the backyard of suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. The search came a day after the Manhattan architect, 59, was arrested in New York City, 13 years after the first remains were found in his alleged murder spree. A fleet of forensic investigators descended on Heuermann's Massapequa Park home Friday in hopes of finding further evidence in the serial murder case that stumped investigators for over a decade. An array of tarpaulin sheets and white-suited workers littered his ghoulish property, which has seemingly fallen into disrepair despite being shared by...

The suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, a case that captured national attention and confounded investigators on Long Island for more than a decade, was identified Friday as Rex Heuermann, sources said. Heuermann was taken into custody and expected to be arraigned later, four senior law enforcement officials briefed on the case told NBC News. The Suffolk County police and the Suffolk County district attorney are leading the investigation. The suspect is from Massapequa, which is in neighboring Nassau County.

Two NYPD cops are being eyed in the Long Island serial slayings after investigators learned they got into trouble for hiring prostitutes while working for the department, according to sources familiar with the probe. One cop was forced out of the job in the 1990s when his supervisors learned he spent time pursuing hookers and paying street walkers and down-and-out women for sex while he was supposed to be on patrol. An internal investigation led to his resigning under pressure, one source said. The other officer still works for the NYPD but was stripped of his gun and badge years...