MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – Dozens of investigators descended Monday on the home of suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann in the largest law enforcement response at the home since last year's 12-day search.
A massive police response—including members of the state, Suffolk and Nassau police departments—was seen at the now-infamous, red-paneled home on First Avenue in Massapequa Park as a helicopter roared overhead.
Investigators were seen entering the house and the backyard after daybreak. They set up tents outside and were spotted carrying evidence boxes in and out of the house. They are expected to be there the next couple of days.
Local and state police referred questions to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, which declined requests for comment Monday but told the Associated Press in an email: "As District Attorney [Ray] Tierney has previously stated, the work of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task force is continuing. We do not comment on investigative steps while ongoing."
Heuermann's estranged wife Asa Ellerup and their adult son and daughter have remained residents of the home since his arrest. But they are away on vacation and were not there when police arrived Monday morning, 1010 WINS has learned.
Curious neighbors watched on as their normally quiet street again turned into a scene of furious activity. "Everybody loves the crime stuff, but it's scary when it's your neighbor," one woman said.
"Obviously they found something else, maybe Rex said something," a man said as investigators streamed in and out of the house.
The Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force has continued to wade through the decade-old case following Heuermann's arrest outside his Midtown Manhattan architectural consultancy firm last summer.
There hasn't been a law enforcement response this big at the home since last July, when it was searched top to bottom by investigators following the arrest of Heuermann, 60, in the infamous Long Island cold case.
While Ellerup, 60, has filed for divorce from her longtime husband, she also said in March that she gives him "the benefit of the doubt" and believes he's "not capable of the crimes he is accused of."
Heuermann, who has remained jailed in Riverhead, has maintained his innocence after being charged with the murders of four women—known as the “Gilgo Four”—whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011. He's due back in court on June 18.
Late last month, law enforcement conducted an intensive search of woods in Manorville, North Sea, and Calverton using canine teams.
Suffolk D.A. Ray Tierney confirmed at the time that there was a search of the woods, but he did not comment on any potential connection to the Gilgo Beach case.
"I haven't said anything and the people on my team haven't said anything," Tierney said. "So really you could speculate all you want. We're going to wait until we get that evidence."