Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation spreads out across Manorville, Long Island. What residents are saying about the search
MANORVILLE, N.Y. - The Gilgo Beach murders investigation has spread out across Manorville, Long Island again.
Authorities are searching for new evidence.
Twenty years ago, the partial remains of Gilgo Beach victims Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor were found in Manorville.
Area residents are asking if it's all related to suspect Rex Heuermann, who has been accused of killing four sex workers. He has denied any involvement in the killings.
Search linked to Gilgo Beach killer investigation, source says
The remains of Taylor and Mack were found two decades ago in Manorville and at Gilgo Beach. They were later identified through DNA. So far, there have been no arrests made in their cases.
A police source said the search is related to Heuermann.
The Manorville fire house is now a mobile command center for dozens of search teams.
It was a spectacle in the hamlet as search parties walked through the woods, adjacent to bulls, steers, cows, heifers, horses and wild turkeys. Members of the NYPD are collaborating with New York State Police, Suffolk County Police, and the DA's office. They've spread out across thousands of acres of brush and woods in the Pine Barrens, using cadaver dogs.
From Wading River to Yaphank to Manorville Hills County Park - nothing has been ruled out.
Manorville residents unnerved by the search
Area residents are speculating about what might be unearthed.
"Years since they said they found body parts along 111 there. There was never an answer. So now this? Gilgo Beach?" one resident said.
"This has happened before in Manorville. It's a quiet little community. I've been here a long time, and to see this happen is a bit unnerving," resident Billy Fehr said.
"Years and years ago, this was all open at one time. I've been out here over 50 years. You didn't have the expressway. Didn't have the Sunrise Highway," homeowner Frank Cole said.
Why search Manorville now?
Hofstra law professor Fred Klein is a former Nassau prosecutor. He say's it's usually rare to bring in such a force unless acting on a lead.
"It could be something an informant has come forward with and told them about after all these years," Klein said. "It may relate to something they found in his home. Something on his cell phone, or computer. A map."
Search will continue
There's so much territory to search, it could take up to a week as the cadaver dogs search for scents that appear with decomposing bodies.
The remains of 11 victims have been found off Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.