Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect arrested
The attorney representing two victims’ families, John Ray, tells ‘America’s Newsroom’ that the families are ‘delighted’ that ‘finally something is happening’ after the 12-year-old cold case.
Relatives of the victims of the infamous Long Island Gilgo Beach murders are "delighted" that police have arrested a suspect in the string of unsolved killings, according to an attorney representing two families.
Police arrested Long Island resident Rex Heuermann Thursday evening in connection to the 2010 case where a search for missing escort Shannan Gilbert led authorities to 11 sets of human remains along a suburban beach highway in Babylon, N.Y.
John Ray, attorney for the families of Gilbert and Jessica Taylor, joined "America’s Newsroom" Friday to discuss developments in the case.
LONG ISLAND GILGO BEACH MURDERS SUSPECT REX HEUERMANN IS ARRESTED
Shannan Gilbert smiles in this undated photo. Gilbet’s remains were found near Oak Beach, New York on December 13, 2011. (The family of Shannan Gilbert)
"We do know that the DNA has been the key to all of their investigation, and that DNA has been worked upon over and over in the FBI's labs," he told hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino. "So it's very likely that's the source of the entire thing."
"We’re delighted that finally something is happening," he said.
Ray suspected the arrest was related to the "Gilgo Four" – the four victims whose remains were first discovered in the case.
The locations where eight of 10 bodies were found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010 are seen in this Suffolk County Police handout image. (Reuters/Courtesy of Suffolk County Police)
"They may be able to link this fellow up with the other victims, but not yet," he explained.
Police arrived at Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, a 25-minute drive from Gilgo Beach where the remains were discovered, at 10 p.m. Thursday.
Ray worked on the case for 12 years and gathered a "huge volume" of evidence, much of which he said lead to Massapequa.
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"We've been feeding the police with information that we get," he explained. "And I hope some of it's been helpful."
He said the case could go as far back as the 1980s, citing various women from Long Island of similar backgrounds who were found in similar circumstances.
But the links he found may not be concrete evidence, he said.
Counter-clockwise from left: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Megan Waterman, 22 and Melissa Barthelemy, 24, disappeared after meeting with a client on Craigslist. The remains of the women were found in December 2010 at Gilgo Beach on Long Island. (Suffolk County Police Department)
"These are awful lot of coincidences that have occurred in this case. A stunning number of coincidences," Ray said. "There's a lot more to be talked about, more evidence that's involved here."
"We’ve kept this case alive when it was being buried alive with the victims over the years, so I'm glad that the police are finally making a move."
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Gilbert's official cause of death remains "undetermined" despite a private autopsy that suggested strangulation. Her remains were discovered in December 2011, over a year after her disappearance.
Remains belonging to Taylor were found in a wooded area in Manorville in 2003. Additional remains were discovered in March 2011 along Ocean Parkway in the search for Gilbert.
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