1:48Police officers stand guard as law enforcement searches the home of Rex Heuermann, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y.Jeenah Moom/AP
More than 200 firearms were found at the home of the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, officials said.
Rex A. Heuermann, 59, a Manhattan architect, was arrested in Manhattan last week and charged with three first-degree murders.
"We wanted to take him into custody somewhere outside the house, because of access to those weapons," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told ABC News.
Rex Heuermann is shown in this booking photo released by the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department.Suffolk County Sheriff's Department
Heuermann 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.
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The guns explain why police would have chosen to arrest him away from home, former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday.
This combination of undated image provided by the Suffolk County Police Department, shows Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes.AP
Investigators would have searched databases and discovered that Heuermann had dozens of gun permits, Boyce said.
"You don't want to go into that house -- you want to take him off-premise," Boyce said. "This way it's safer for everybody."
Investigators on Tuesday were digging into Heuermann's life and checking to see if they could tie him to unsolved murders or missing persons cases throughout New York state, an NYPD official told ABC News.
Police officers stand guard as law enforcement searches the home of Rex Heuermann, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y.Jeenah Moom/AP
The suspect's DNA has been entered into a statewide database, available to all law enforcement agencies in New York.
Beyond Long Island, the search for forensic and physical evidence has expanded to property Heuermann owns in Chester, South Carolina, where authorities seized his Chevrolet Avalanche in connection with the case. A witness to Costello's disappearance reported seeing a Chevrolet Avalanche, according to court records.
Heuermann's defense attorney, Michael Brown, said in a statement Monday: "There is nothing about Mr. Heuermann that would suggest that he is involved in these incidents. And while the government has decided to focus on him despite more significant and stronger leads, we are looking forward to defending him in a court of law before a fair and impartial jury of his peers."
