Gilgo Beach Murders: Questions arise about key tip that may have been overlooked
MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. -- Investigators were seen Sunday digging in the backyard of the Gilgo Beach murders suspect's home and collecting evidence.
Their search came as questions have arisen about the investigation, and whether a critical tip was overlooked that perhaps could have helped crack the case sooner.
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It has been more than a week since investigators started combing through the home of suspect Rex Heuermann. Neighbors are still shaking their heads in disbelief.
"That's why we drive our children everywhere. We pick them up everywhere. We are not in the society we were when we grew up," Colleen May said.
Heuermann's arrest for the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, who were all found at Gilgo Beach, was an explosive breakthrough for Long Island. On Sunday, a drone captured video of a backhoe digging a large hole in the backyard as detectives in white hazmat suits took pictures and gathered evidence.
As they continue to work, questions are mounting over whether detectives dropped the ball on a key piece of evidence from Costello's roommate, who described Heuermann's frame after an interaction with him.
"Specifically, the individual was between 6-foot-4 and 6-6 and well over 200 pounds, 250 pounds, very large-build individual," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
The witness even gave specific details on the unique Chevy Avalanche on the night Costello went missing 13 years ago.
"The Chevy Avalanche is a key piece of that evidence," Tierney said.
Tierney inherited the investigation when he took office in 2022.
"When they are getting that, that's lost within a sea of other tips and information they are getting. And at the time, there wasn't really any coherent leadership at the top. So there's no interaction between the FBI and the other agencies," Tierney said.
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One big setback happened in 2012. Shortly after taking over the Suffolk County Police Department, James Burke was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy. When Tierney took office in 2022, he created a multi-agency task force to work on the Gilgo four case.
"I can't say from a leadership perspective what happened prior to January 2022, but I can tell you what we did starting in February 2022, and that's what we did and six weeks later, we had a suspect," Tierney said.
Heuermann is charged with the murder of the three women. He's also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
As far as the investigation at the suspect's home, police said they expect to wrap it up this week.