Investigators this weekend are continuing to search the home of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann and are seizing items that may be relevant to the case, the New York Post reports.
On Saturday, crews could be seen collecting various garden tools, including a shovel and hedge clippers. A police K-9 unit also was spotted at the house, where a wooden deck was dismantled and cement tiles were removed. Teams carried multiple bags of evidence to police vehicles waiting nearby.
Investigators wearing white forensic suits spent much of the day combing through the backyard, according to aerial footage from News 12 Long Island.
Authorities have been at the Massapequa Park home for 10 days – since July 14 – after arresting the 59-year-old Heuermann in connection with the deaths of three women whose bodies were found in December 2010 buried in burlap bags on a Long Island beach.
Heuermann also is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, and police in multiple jurisdictions are investigating whether he may be involved in other unsolved cases.
Police believe that at least some of the murders happened at the property, according to News 12, citing multiple unnamed sources.
So far, law enforcement has not said much about what they’ve found at the home, but they are expected to leave the site in the coming days.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said “a good bit” of evidence has been collected from the site.
“This is a 24-hour, 7-day a week operation but the team effort is helping us getting to a place where we could present it to Ray Tierney, the district attorney, and put this gentleman away for a very, very long period of time,” Harrison told reporters, according to the Post.
“We’re going to make sure that if there is anything that we need to retrieve that is going to help us with the prosecution we will take it with us and add it to the package.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, crews were previously observed carrying a child-size doll out of the home. Hundreds of guns and a portrait of what appeared to be a battered woman also have been removed.
Heuermann is believed to have lived in the home with his wife, Asa Ellerup, and their two adult children. It is not clear where Ellerup and the kids are living at present and neighbors say they have not seen the family since police began searching the residence, according to News 12. Ellerup filed for divorce this week.
Massapequa Park Mayor Danny Pearl told residents that his goal is to bring some normalcy back to the neighborhood.
“When this finally clears out, you know, the village will do everything we can to try to give you back the peace that you had before all this happened,” Pearl said, according to the Post. “I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to that . . . kind of quality of life per se, but we are going to work together very closely.”
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is on suicide watch at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Feature Photo: Authorities work outside as they search the home of suspect Rex Heuermann, Wednesday, July 19, 2023, in New York. Police carted more boxes of potential evidence Tuesday out of the Long Island home of Heuermann, who has been charged with killing at least three women and leaving their remains alongside a beach highway. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)]
