Gilgo killings: DA says investigators looking for blood, DNA and 'trophies' as evidence to connect Rex Heuermann to slayings

A week after the bombshell arrest of a suspect in the Gilgo Beach killings, investigators continued their "painstaking" search for forensic evidence and so-called "trophies" that could further implicate suspect Rex A. Heuermann in the slayings of three women and possibly other victims, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Thursday.

Tierney's comments came hours after police said investigators are probing a possible connection between the Massapequa Park architect charged in the killings of three women whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway nearly 13 years ago and unsolved slayings around the country, including the killings of four women near Atlantic City in 2006.

"Normally people keep mementos of significant times in their life, so that’s what we’re looking for," said Tierney, who declined to discuss evidence that investigators have so far removed from Heuermann's home, Manhattan office, storage units or found in a vehicle that helped identify him as a suspect. Tierney said investigators are looking for "trace evidence, blood, DNA."

According to a newly released search warrant in the case, investigators believe the dark green 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche once owned by Heuermann, which was seized by the FBI in South Carolina after his arrest and brought to Hauppauge Wednesday, could contain evidence related to the criminal charges of murder, patronizing a person for prostitution and conspiracy, according to a copy of a search warrant filed in Chester, South Carolina.

The vehicle was the key in first identifying Heuermann as a suspect in the killings, prosecutors have said.

The warrant, which was issued July 14, the day Heuermann was indicted in Suffolk County, described the possible trophies as both personal items belonging to the victims and those Heuermann might have kept after using them to allegedly kill.

“Their telephones, articles of clothing, jewelry, identification, notebooks, ledgers, Bibles, personal effects and/or photographs or recordings depicting the victims,” the warrant said, listing potential trophies investigators are hoping to find in the vehicle.

The warrant also lists other possible items as “cellular phones, condoms, cut distal ends of black leather belts, devices utilized to stamp letters onto leather goods such as belts, as well as knives, scissors, cutting instruments, Bounty paper towels specifically from the 'Bounty Modern Print Collection' " and burlap, which authorities have said was covering the remains of three of the first four victims discovered.

In 2020, Suffolk police released images of a black leather belt they said was found near one of the victim's bodies with the letters WH or HM stamped on it.

The warrant shows that a Chester County Sheriff’s deputy located the vehicle shortly before 11 p.m. July 13, hours after Heuermann was arrested. It was located on the property where Heuermann’s brother, Craig Heuermann, lives and is currently registered to the brother, according to the warrant.

Since the arrest of Heuermann seven days ago on first- and second-degree murder charges in the killings of three of the Gilgo Beach victims, the investigation into Heuermann has expanded beyond Suffolk County to South Carolina and Nevada — where Heuermann also has connections. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“Investigators are looking into him in connection with cases around the nation, including Atlantic City,” a Suffolk County Police Department spokesperson said Thursday.

Gilgo Beach homicide investigators have previously examined whether there could be a connection between the Long Island slayings and the 2006 killings of four women, who also worked as sex workers.

In 2020, then-Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said investigators had found no apparent link between the death of Gilgo victim Valerie Mack and the slayings of four women in the Atlantic City area, although the department continued to have conversations with their New Jersey counterparts about the homicides.

A spokesperson for the Atlantic County, New Jersey prosecutor's said in a statement Thursday: "Our office continues to investigate the 2006 Black Horse Pike homicides as we do all unresolved matters, and we follow all leads. Since this remains an open investigation, we cannot comment on the questions you asked due to its potential to compromise the investigation. We cannot comment specifically about the Gilgo Beach Murders case or any suspects in that case as we are not involved."

Meanwhile, Suffolk County police, state troopers and crime lab analysts on Thursday continued searching the Massapequa Park home and an Amityville storage unit used by Heuermann.

Heuermann's wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce Wednesday, according to court records and her attorney. Her attorney, Robert Macedonio, in a statement Thursday said: "As you can imagine, our client and her family are going through a devastating time in their lives. The sensitive nature of her husband's arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elderly family members."

He added: "Ms. Ellerup does not wish to comment further and has requested the public and press to please respect the family's privacy at this time."