NEW YORK — The trail had gone cold as clues suddenly dwindled. For a time, doubts swirled about whether a killer who dumped the remains of his female victims along remote stretches of coastline on New York’s Long Island would ever be caught.
Then finally, after more than a dozen long years, bereaved families of the victims were provided with a whiff of relief Friday when authorities announced the arrest of a 59-year-old architect who they believe is responsible for their deaths.
The arrest rekindled anger and grief — but also brought the prospect of closure — for family members including Amy Brotz, whose cousin, Melissa Barthelemy, was the first of the victims to be discovered, found accidentally during a search for another woman.
“I can’t wrap my head around this,” Brotz said, just hours after being startled by the unexpected news of an arrest. “God has brought peace to the families,” she said. “Maybe we can start the healing.”
The yearslong ordeal was especially unnerving for Brotz and her family because prosecutors say the suspect used Barthelemy’s cellphone to torment her relatives with calls soon after her disappearance, including one in which he said he’d killed her.
A crime laboratory officer removes a box of items as law enforcement searches the home of Rex Heuermann, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y. Heuermann, a Long Island architect, was charged Friday, July 14, with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)AP
To accelerate the search for Barthelemy’s remains, her family hired a psychic who provided tantalizing clues that would prove prophetic: She would be found in a shallow grave along the shore, near a sign with the letter G.
Gilgo Beach would become the focal point of the long-stalled investigation into the discovery of 11 sets of remains, including that of a toddler, all discarded along the parkway that cuts…
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