More women coming forward claiming connections with Gilgo Beach murders suspect, sheriff says

The sheriff of Suffolk County, N.Y. says more women sex workers have come forward claiming they've had contact with Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann, CBS New York reports.

Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. told the station, "My staff is really going to vet these additional females to see if they actually did come in contact with him and then see what that contact was and see if that can lead us in any other possible direction."

Toulon said Heuermann can now get recreation time alone, make phone calls and receive mail behind bars.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said during a new conference Tuesday that investigators had completed their search of Heuermann's Long Island home.

Tierney said police found "approximately 279 weapons" in the "cluttered" residence, including "quite a few long guns" and 92 handgun permits.

In addition to the weapons, a "massive amount of material" was removed from the home, but Tierney declined to offer more details beyond saying there wasn't a "singular piece of evidence" that jumped out at him.

Many of the guns were found inside a walk-in vault in Heuermann's basement, police said Tuesday. Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CBS New York the vault had a large iron door but wasn't soundproof.

Heuermann, an architect who worked in New York City, has been charged with the murders of three women and, authorities have said, is the prime suspect in a fourth case.

The bodies were found on Gilgo Beach within a quarter mile of each other in 2010, each wrapped in burlap. Heuermann has pled not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court again Tuesday. He's being held without bail. 

Investigators have also searched the Massapequa Park home's backyard, as well as a storage unit nearby.

No "large items of evidence" were found in the yard, Tierney said, according to The Associated Press.

An excavator, sonar devices and cadaver dogs have been used in the search at Heuermann's house, and investigators searched around its foundation with shovels.

Police have been probing whether any murders were committed at the home, which Heuermann shared with his wife, Asa Ellerup, and their two daughters. Ellerup has filed for divorce. 

There were seven other sets of remains found on the same beach between 2010 and 2011, and CBS New York reported that Heuermann has not been ruled out as a suspect in those cases.

–Kerry Breen contributed to this report