Police on Long Island are again searching the home of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer – this time to tie him to other murders.
The 60-year-old suspect, who is not being named by The Daily Wire, has been charged with the murders of four young women: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Costello, who were found on a beach along the south shore of Long Island, New York, back in 2010. The suspect has pleaded not guilty.
But their bodies were not the only ones found on Gilgo Beach at that time. The remains of 11 people were found in the Gilgo Beach area, but not all have been connected to the current suspect.
“They’re looking to match up previously recovered body parts but that didn’t match any of the identified victims,” a source familiar with the search told the New York Post.
The suspect’s wife, who is also not being named by The Daily Wire, reportedly told a neighbor that police “tore the place apart the first time, that there was no stone unturned.”
“I don’t know what they could possibly be looking for or they could find this time,” the neighbor added. “You got to move on.”
A source also told the Post that the latest search is an attempt to expand the evidence against the suspect, saying the “problem with the case they have is it’s largely circumstantial.”
“The physical evidence, meaning the mitochondrial DNA, is not 100%. You still need to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that [the suspect] was with these victims at a time, a certain location, and you have to put him at the scene wherever that scene may be and doing the act,” the source added.
“That is what they are searching for, new evidence for the theory that one or more may have been murdered in his home while his family was away,” the source continued. “But right now, that’s the piece that is missing.”
The suspect was arrested on July 13, 2023. Six days after his arrest, his wife filed for divorce. She and other family members reportedly will receive $1 million for participating in a documentary series with Peacock. The project will follow the family’s lives as they cope with the upcoming trial and how it has uprooted their lives.
Police investigating the Gilgo Beach serial killings are operating on the theory that the suspect committed the murders in his own home, a source told CNN.
The theory is based on the fact that the suspect’s family was out of town during the murders, suggesting he may have lured the victims to his home, a source involved in the investigation told the outlet.
Authorities are operating under this theory, the source said, as they continue to search the suspect’s home for trace evidence of the victims. Killing them at his own home would have allowed him to control the environment while having easy access to the materials found along with the victims at Gilgo Beach, such as tape and burlap bags.
Four bodies were found within days of each other. The body of Barthelemy was found on December 11, 2010, during a police training exercise with a K9, according to a bail application obtained by the Daily Beast. Two days later, police searched the area and discovered the three other bodies.
If convicted, the suspect faces multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.