Gilgo Beach cops return to suspect Rex Heuermann's house on new search warrant

Investigators and state police have swarmed the Massapequa Park home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann with a new search warrant.

Police arrived early Monday morning to the home where Heuermann's estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, and their two children, Victoria Heuermann, 26, and Christopher Sheridan, 33, live.

Asa Ellerup's attorney Robert A. Macedonio told NewsNationNow that 'no family members were home at the time police arrived.'

It is not clear at this time what elicited Monday's search of the Long Island property or what officials were looking for, but multiple law enforcement agencies were present, including a command center.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office declined to comment other than to say 'the work of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task force is continuing their investigation.'

Investigators and state police swarmed the Massapequa Park home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann with a new search warrant. He is seen in court in February

An aerial view of police at the Massapequa Park home of alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann

Heuermann, 60, is awaiting trial and is facing murder charges, for killing four women whose bodies were found wrapped on a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. 

He was arrested in July and initially charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello 27. 

In February, he was also charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. 

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all counts and currently remains in jail awaiting trial. 

Last month, Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown attempted to shift the blame for the Gilgo Beach murders on to corrupt former Suffolk County Police Chief, James Burke, who was previously in charge of the case.

Brown alleged that Burke, now 59,  is 'involved' in the sordid affair.

'We received approximately almost 3,000 leads on this case,'  he told reporters outside Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead.

 'There were numerous leads that came into the Suffolk County Police Department, suggesting that Chief Burke was involved in this.'

Burke allegedly led a double life involving crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes

He served jail time after being convicted of several offences including assault, public lewdness and unlawful solicitation after flashing in a park.

Speaking about the former cop's involvement with the Gilgo Beach murders case, Brown said: 'Chief Burke would not let the FBI into the investigation back then, with their expertise.

'It's problematic for us that the chief of police who was running the investigation had this very checkered past and was involved in criminal activity. He recently served a four or four-and-a-half year prison sentence in the federal system. 

Brown added: 'Just recently he was arrested on some allegation of being very deviant sexually. We want to see those records.'

Pictured: Former Suffolk County police chief James Burke (center) is escorted to a vehicle by FBI personnel outside the FBI office in Melville, New York on December 9, 2015

James Burke, the disgraced former head of Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of hampering the Gilgo Beach serial killer probe by booting the FBI off the case in its early stages

Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing August 2023. Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke is 'involved' in the case

In August 2023, Burke was busted in an area known for gay cruising dubbed 'pickle park', when he was caught in a coordinated sting by undercover cops.

He was arrested by Suffolk County Parks Rangers at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park in Farmingville after he was allegedly offering oral sex to an undercover male park ranger.

He was charged with offering a sex act, indecent exposure, public lewdness and criminal solicitation in the fifth degree. 

Once Suffolk County's highest-ranking cop, Burke was less than 10 miles from his Smithtown home and in a rental car with Rhode Island plates when he was picked up by the authorities in the area of Bald Hill and North Ocean Avenue. 

He was also accused of stymying the Gilgo Beach case in its early stages by blocking the FBI's role in the investigation.

He forged a 'tough cop' reputation throughout his career that included dubious policing tactics and a penchant for cigars dipped in cherry brandy.

Burke, who enjoyed a close relationship with several disgraced local officials, rose through the ranks of the department despite scandals that included sleeping with a prostitute in his patrol car.

His alleged secret taste for drugs and prostitutes came to light in 2015 after he was investigated for attacking Christopher Loeb, a young heroin addict who stole a bag from the police chief's car.

Inside the bag, Loeb found sex toys and a porn DVD with sickening footage that showed a bound and gagged women being tortured.

Burke battered Christopher Loeb (pictured), who stole a bag from the police chief's car which contained porn and sex toys

Burke was determined to catch the thief and protect his career - knowing the contents of the duffel bag could land him in hot water.

He then orchestrated a failed cover-up when Loeb complained about the beating and the FBI investigated Burke and his cronies in Suffolk County.

Loeb broke into Burke's department-issued SUV in December 2012 and was later identified and arrested.

He was taken to a police station and handcuffed to the floor of an interrogation room before Burke violently battered Loeb. The police chief, who ran a force of 2,200 officers, also threatened to kill Loeb before a junior cop urged his boss to stop.

The episode ultimately exposed a culture of corruption at the highest levels of Suffolk County government. Ex-District Attorney Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland, the former chief of an anti-corruption bureau, were also jailed for five years for their roles in the scandal.

The FBI had spent two years probing the cover-up before Burke was arrested after at least ten police office agreed to cooperate in the case.

The judge who jailed Burke, who was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and violating Loeb's civil rights, said he 'corrupted a system'. 

In late April, Suffolk County Police, the NYPD and NYS Troopers were searching an area in Manorville in connection to the Gilgo Beach murder investigation.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the specifics of the search.

Multiple agencies searching Manorville location in connection with Gilgo Beach investigation

The new searches came after the father-of-two's home in Massapequa was raided following 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 over a decade ago.

The women's remains were discovered during the search for 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert, an escort from New Jersey who had vanished in May 2010 after making a frantic 911 call.

Her remains were found along the same stretch of coast in December 2011 - and it was her body that led police to the discovery of the 'Gilgo Four'.

No one has ever been charged in Gilbert's death and police said it may have been accidental - but her family believe she was murdered.

The new searches came after the father-of-two's home in Massapequa was raided following discovery of the bodies

The first victim, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, from Maine, was found two days later

Heuermann is also charged with killing Amber Costello (left) and  Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right) 

Shannan Gilbert, worked as an escort. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach December 2011. The search for Gilbert let to the discovery of the 'Gilgo Four' 

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all counts and currently remains in jail awaiting trial

The women were among 11 found on the desolate stretch of coastline close to Heuermann's Long Island Home between 2010 and 2011.

All of the victims worked as escorts who advertised themselves on Craigslist.

Heuermann was linked to the killings by DNA on the burlap used to transport the bodied which was compared to samples taken from a pizza crust and napkin that were discarded outside his Manhattan architectural firm, police said.

The samples boasted a 99.96 percent match, according to law enforcement.

Prior to testing the DNA, cops said they were alerted to Heuermann as a potential suspect after a witness linked Heuermann's Chevrolet Avalanche to Costello's murder.

The car was then tied to Heuermann's cellphone records, which allegedly linked him to locations related to the murders.

The indictment stated that Heuermann had used different burner phones to contact each of his victims.

The Heuermann family home in Massapequa Park was torn apart by authorities as they combed the property for evidence

Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is 'not capable' of the brutal murders he's been accused of, according to his estranged wife Asa Ellerup (pictured) 

Cops also accused Heuermann of using Barthelemy's phone to make taunting phone calls to her family from the comfort of his office.

Her sister Melissa told how she was bombarded with threatening phone calls from the killer who boasted of the killing and was keeping tabs on her movements.

In October, it was revealed that Heuermann is being probed over the slaying of two additional sex workers.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office declined to comment on the nature of the new search. Pictured: Investigators suit up outside Heuermann's home last July

His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup (pictured) was also spotted pulling up in a black Mercedes outside the Long Island courthouse

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison confirmed he had assigned additional investigators to the case of two other women, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata.

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.