According to police sources, a new search is underway in connection with the Gilgo Beach murder investigation.
Detectives began searching a wooded area in Manorville, New York, on Tuesday and the raid continued into Wednesday. ABC News reports.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment to the outlet on the details of the search.
Rex Heuermann, 60, is accused of murdering four sex workers whose bodies were found buried in a remote area of ​​Gilgo Beach more than 10 years ago.
He was arrested in July and initially charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
According to police sources, a new search is underway in connection with the Gilgo Beach murder investigation. Rex Heuermann, 60, accused of murdering four sex workers
The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, of Maine, was found two days later.
Heuermann is also accused of killing Amber Costello (left) and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right).
DNA found on burlap wrapped around Waterman’s body was a 99.96 percent match to samples from a pizza dough and a napkin discarded in a trash bin outside the Heuermann firm, police said.
In February, he was also charged with the murder of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The searches come after the father of two’s Massapequa home was raided following the discovery of the bodies.
The women were found wrapped in burlap and buried along the remote stretch of Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s south shore more than a decade ago.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges and currently remains in prison awaiting trial.
The women’s remains were discovered during the search for Shannan Gilbert, 23, a New Jersey escort who had disappeared in May 2010 after making a frantic 911 call.
His remains were found on the same stretch of coast in December 2011, and it was his body that led police to the discovery of the ‘Gilgo Four’.
No one has ever been charged with Gilbert’s death and police said it may have been accidental, but her family believes she was murdered.
The women were among 11 found on the desolate stretch of coast near Heuermann’s Long Island home between 2010 and 2011.
All of the victims worked as escorts who advertised on Craigslist.
Heuermann, a father of two, has been jailed without bail since his arrest and has pleaded not guilty.
Police confirmed they are investigating Heuermann’s possible link to the murders of two other sex workers: Valerie Mack, 25, disappeared around the summer of 2000. Her remains were located in September and more remains were discovered nearly 11 years later.
The Heuermann family home in Massapequa Park was vandalized by authorities as they combed the property for evidence.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the nature of the new search. Pictured: Investigators dressed in front of Heuermann’s home last July.
Heuermann was linked to the murders by DNA on the burlap used to transport the body, which was matched to samples taken from a pizza dough and a napkin that were discarded outside his Manhattan architecture studio, police said.
The samples showed a 99.96 percent match, according to authorities.
Before conducting DNA testing, police said they were alerted to Heuermann as a possible suspect after a witness linked Heuermann’s Chevrolet Avalanche to Costello’s murder.
The car was then linked to Heuermann’s cell phone records, which allegedly linked him to locations related to the murders.
The indictment alleged that Heuermann had used different disposable phones to contact each of his victims.
Cops also accused Heuermann of using Barthelemy’s phone to make taunting phone calls to his family from the comfort of his office.
In October, it was revealed that Heuermann is being investigated for the murder of two other sex workers.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison confirmed that he had assigned additional investigators to the case of two other women, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata.
Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann, right, appears in Judge Tim Mazzei’s courtroom alongside his attorney Michael Brown at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead on April 17.
His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup (pictured) was also seen pulling up in a black Mercedes in front of the Long Island courthouse.
James Burke, the disgraced former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of hindering the investigation of the Gilgo Beach serial killer by kicking the FBI off the case in its early stages.
The women known as the ‘Gilgo Four’ were discovered near Heuermann’s home on Long Island. However, other bodies have been found in the area, including those of sex workers.
At the suspected time of the murders, Heuermann’s now ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, was away from home. She filed for divorce less than a week after her husband’s arrest.
The accused killer returned to court for a procedural hearing on April 17.
He listened carefully to the hearing, which focused on large amounts of potential evidence seized from various devices related to the case.
Ellerup was also seen pulling up in a black Mercedes outside the Long Island courthouse.
Heuermann’s attorney is now trying to shift the blame for the Gilgo Beach murders to the corrupt former police chief who previously handled the case.
Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing last week, barrister Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke is “involved” in the sordid affair.
“We received approximately almost 3,000 tips on this case,” he told reporters outside the Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead.
“There were numerous tips that came to the Suffolk County Police Department, suggesting that Chief Burke was involved in this.”
Burke allegedly led a double life involving crack cocaine, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes. He is serving prison time after being convicted of several crimes, including assault, public lewdness and unlawful solicitation after exposing himself in a park.