Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer may have ties to Atlantic City: investigators
ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (WABC) -- Suffolk County police say that unsolved cases "around the nation including Atlantic City" are being reviewed for any possible connections to the Gilgo Beach murders.
In 2006, the bodies of four women employed as sex workers were found in a watery ditch along "Black Horse Pike," along Route 40 in Egg Harbor Township, just over the Atlantic City border.
The deaths are believed to be the work of a serial killer, but no arrests have been made.
Former Suffolk Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said in 2020 that her investigators had been in contact with law enforcement in New Jersey, but uncovered no link between the killings.
With the formation of the Gilgo Beach Task Force and arrest of Rex Heuermann last week, past investigative leads are now being revisited.
A spokesperson for the Atlantic County Prosecutors Office said Thursday:
"Our office continues to investigate the 2006 Black Horse Pike homicides as we do all unresolved matters, and we follow all leads. Since this remains an open investigation, we cannot comment further due to its potential to compromise the investigation. We have no comment on the Gilgo Beach investigation."
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Eyewitness News on Wednesday that "there were some murders a couple years ago that were similar, or something where it had to do with sex workers, we had to take a closer look and see if it was similar to the Gilgo Beach murders. What I'm being told is it's not a connection, but we want to revisit that investigation as well."
"Shame on us if we don't look into Las Vegas, South Carolina, even Atlantic City, we've got to make sure if anyone has any information."
Rex Heuermann, 59, has been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found covered in burlap along Ocean Parkway on Long Island's South Shore in December 2010.
He was also named the "prime suspect" in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a fourth woman discovered in the same spot, police said.
Officials now say their investigation includes interviews with incarcerated sex workers.
Heuermann's wife also filed for divorce on Wednesday.
Asa Ellerup filed the complaint in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Her attorney, Robert Macedonio, declined any additional comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
MORE: How investigators tracked down the Gilgo Beach murders suspect
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