Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann could be connected to 2006 Atlantic City murders
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. (CBS) -- The man suspected in a slate of killings across Long Island's Gilgo Beach is also under investigation for a possible connection to the unsolved murders of four women who were found near Atlantic City in 2006.
Rex Heuermann of Massapequa Park, New York, is charged with the murders of three of the "Gilgo Beach Four," Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. Heuermann is also considered the "prime suspect" in the death of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the Suffolk County District Attorney said in a news conference.
The Gilgo Beach Four were found in 2010 all close to each other. At least 10 victims were found in the area that year and believed to be the victims of a serial killer.
With Heuermann now in custody, police are examining possible connections to other unsolved killings.
"Investigators are looking into Heuermann in connection with cases around the nation including Atlantic City, Las Vegas and South Carolina," a spokesperson for the Suffolk County Police Department told CBS News Philadelphia.
Heuermann and his wife, who was since filed for divorce, purchased two timeshare condos in Las Vegas between 2003 and 2005.
Egg Harbor Township and Atlantic City's "Eastbound Strangler" cold case
In 2006, in a drainage ditch behind the now-demolished Golden Key Motel, the bodies of four women – Molly Dilts, Kim Raffo, Barbara Breidor and Tracy Roberts – were found close together in a grassy area along the Black Horse Pike.
A former Egg Harbor Township police captain who worked on the case told CBS' 48 Hours the four women were found close to each other in the ditch in the same manner.
"All facing east, all with no shoes on, no purse, no cell phone, no personal belongings," John DeAngelis said at the time.
He suspected one killer was involved with all four of those victims. The women were believed to be sex workers.
Tabloids started referring to the case as the work of an "Eastbound Strangler" as the case went cold.
Local authorities have not charged Heuermann in these cases.
In a statement, the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office could not confirm connections between Heuermann and the 2006 case.