Gilgo arrest a result of science, police tenacity, cooperation

For more than a decade, the faces of those murdered and left behind at Gilgo Beach have haunted us. Most were troubled young women whose lives as sex workers fell into the despair and dangers of meeting anonymous men.

Now we have someone indicted on charges of murdering three of the women, with many more questions about the remaining seven unsolved murders.

The arrest of Rex Heuermann — a married Massapequa architect and father of two — is the culmination of tenacious work by investigators, cutting-edge forensic technology and, as with all seemingly unsolvable mysteries, a little bit of luck.

Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney, Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, the FBI, State Police and a special team of SCPD detectives all deserve credit, especially after years of scandal that plagued Suffolk law enforcement. By deciding to review all of the accumulated evidence with fresh eyes and skilled investigators, the professionalism of Tierney and Harrison reinvigorated this cold case, leading to last week’s arrest.

But it is the shadowy legacy of former DA Tom Spota and Chief of Police James Burke — both later convicted on unrelated corruption charges — that appears part of the reason why this murder case took so long to come up with an arrest.

There’s no doubt Heuermann, as an alleged serial killer hiding in plain sight in the suburbs, was an elusive target for investigators. Police say he used hard-to-trace burner cellphones and other measures to cover his tracks. But from the very beginning, it was peculiar that Suffolk authorities — once the complexity of the multiple murders was realized — did not seek the help of the FBI, which is renowned for its sophisticated DNA crime-fighting technology and its experience dealing with past serial killers around the nation.

According to several accounts, Burke stubbornly resisted the FBI’s involvement in all but the most nominal ways, reflecting a hidebound tradition in the county force of going it alone. As months turned into years for the victims’ families, the investigation dragged on as Spota supported Burke’s position toward the FBI and resisted providing timely subpoenas needed to capture certain cellphone evidence.

More than a decade ago, experienced profilers examining the case suggested a white male killer who lived near the murder scene that, in retrospect, eerily resembles Heuermann. A witness told police of a man who fit Heuermann’s description driving a Chevy Avalanche linked to the last known sighting of victim Amber Lynn Costello, whose body was found in 2010. Would these telltale pieces of evidence have led to an arrest much sooner if the FBI was asked to help?

As Spota and Burke’s powers waned, former DA Tim Sini, who also served as police commissioner, embraced the help of the FBI. In 2022, Harrison approved the special Gilgo task force, to reexamine the old evidence and new leads, and expressed confidence it would lead to an arrest. Working as a team under an impressive cone of silence, the Gilgo investigators pieced together incriminating evidence from Heuermann’s disposable cellphones and matched evidence from the murder scene with his DNA. Much more needs to be done, though, to solve the other Gilgo deaths and end the ugly rumors that have surrounded this investigation for far too long.

For decades, Suffolk has been criticized for its questionable methods in handling murders and other serious crimes. Now, hopefully, the Gilgo case will become a new model of what can be achieved when authorities seek out the best help and finest technology to investigate homicides that would have been otherwise forgotten.