At Gilgo Beach the day of Heuermann's hearing, a barren and frigid scene
Hours before alleged Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann was expected to plead guilty in the deaths of eight women, the beach itself was frigid and deserted Wednesday morning.
Gilgo is on a barrier beach 2½ miles off Long Island’s South Shore and a half-hour drive from Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home. It gets few visitors outside the summer months, though a small year-round population lives on the beach’s Great South Bay side, not far from where authorities started to find the bodies of Heuermann’s alleged victims in 2010.
The thicket where scores of police officers and body-sniffing dogs once searched is populated by ground-hugging pine and bayberry bushes so dense as to make passage difficult. On Wednesday it was hard to see much in the bramble, save a few beer cans and rabbits at the edge.
Nicholas Spangler is a general assignment reporter and has worked at Newsday since 2010.
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