New York serial killer suspect identified and arrested

Unsolved killings were subject of 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls

Crime lab officers at the house where a man was taken into custody in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings. AP

A man arrested in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings on New York's Long Island known as the Gilgo Beach murders has been identified as an architect who has been living for decades across the bay from where the remains of 11 people were found.

A law enforcement official said that Rex Heuermann, 59, was taken into custody in Massapequa late on Thursday, near where investigators were seen on Friday searching his home.

The official was not authorised to publicly discuss details of the investigation and did so on condition of anonymity.

Mr Heuermann was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday in state court in Riverhead. A message seeking comment was left with his lawyer.

Voice and email messages were left at Mr Heuermann’s Manhattan office and at possible numbers for his home and family on Friday.

“This is a day that is a long time in coming, and hopefully a day that will bring peace to this community and to the families – peace that has been long overdue,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said during an unrelated public appearance on Long Island.

Mr Heuermann lives in Massapequa Park, a community to the north of South Oyster Bay and the sandy stretch known as Gilgo Beach, where skeletal remains were found along a remote oceanfront motorway in 2010 and 2011.

The deaths have long stumped investigators. Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers.

The case has drawn immense public attention. The mystery attracted national headlines for many years and the unsolved killings were the subject of the 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls.

Determining who killed them, and why, has vexed a series of seasoned homicide detectives through several changes in police leadership. Last year, an inter-agency task force was formed with investigators from the FBI, as well as state and local police departments, aimed at solving the case.

Law enforcement personnel converged on the small red house that had been raided early Friday in the suburb about 64km east of Midtown Manhattan.

Dozens of residents mingled alongside police and media, watching as a half-dozen investigators in protective suits conferred outside the front porch, which was in disrepair.

The home belonged to a family that had long kept to themselves, neighbours said, noting that the dilapidated property seemed out of place among rows of single family homes and well kept lawns in the small community.

“This house sticks out like a sore thumb,” said Gabriella Libardi, a 24-year-old teacher.

Mr Heuermann, married with two children, is a licensed architect with a small Manhattan-based firm that, according to its website, has done store buildouts and other renovations for major retailers, offices and apartments.

Last year, law enforcement agencies on Long Island formed a Gilgo Beach task force, showing what Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said was a renewed commitment to solving the killings.

“We’re happy to see that they’re finally active, the police, in accomplishing something. Let’s wait and see what it all leads to,” said John Ray, the lawyer for the families of two victims, Shannan Gilbert and Jessica Taylor.