Investigators return to Long Island home of Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect

MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. — Investigators returned Monday to the home of a New York architect charged in a string of slayings known as the Gilgo Beach killings.

State and county police officials descended on Rex Heuermann's dilapidated, single-family home in Massapequa Park on Long Island sometime before 7 a.m.

They used their vehicles and set up barriers to cordon off the block and raised white tents in front of the red house.

Officers removed boxes and bags of evidence from the house as forensic and crime lab units spent much of the day on site. Officials from the Suffolk County medical examiner's office also visited.

Spokespersons for the New York State Police and Suffolk County Police Department deferred questions to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office, which declined to comment.

''As District Attorney Tierney has previously stated, the work of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task force is continuing,'' his spokesperson Tania Lopez said in an emailed statement. "We do not comment on investigative steps while ongoing."

Heuermann has been in custody since his arrest last July, and has maintained his innocence.

''My clients have, understandably a visceral chagrin vis a vis a police presence in their home; they have been repeatedly excluded as having any involvement in any alleged act, and today is unfortunately another mile marker in the grim marathon that is their existence,'' attorney Vess Mitev wrote in an email.

Last July, police spent nearly two weeks scouring the home, located in a suburban town about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Manhattan.

The search of what Tierney has described as a ''very cluttered environment'' turned up more than 200 firearms, including dozens stored in a basement vault. Investigators also tore up a wooden deck, used an excavator to dig up the backyard and scanned for buried objects with specialized equipment.

Monday's search also comes about a month after authorities spent more than a week searching in a wooded area in Manorville. The remains of two women were found years earlier in the area, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Heuermann's home, though he hasn't been charged in those killings.

Heuermann, 60, is expected to be back in Riverhead court June 18 for a status hearing. No trial date has been set.