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Why did authorities focus on Long Island? Officials reveal how they tracked down Rex Heuermann for Gilgo Beach murders

Rex Heuermann has been arrested in connection to the killings of the first four of the 11 murders

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A man has been apprehended for a number of killings that took place near remote Gilgo Beach on Long Island. Rex Heuermann, an architect, is the prime suspect in the famous murder case and was taken into custody. He has been arrested in connection to the killings of the first four of the 11 murders in the Oyster Bay area between 2010 and 2011.

Now, a report by NBC News revealed that two senior law enforcement officials said the authorities were out and out aware of the fact that the serial killer was from Long Island. Apparently, Heuermann is indeed a native of the aforestated place. During a brief news conference outside the suspect's red-painted one-story house on July 14, Rodney Harrison, the Suffolk County police commissioner said officers made the arrest in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday night, July 13. However, he has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charges

What led authorities to focus on Long Island?

A cell tower ping clue reportedly confirmed the authorities believe that the Gilgo Beach serial killer was from Long Island. As per the sources, the ping came from the Massapequa area from a phone belonging to one of the victims following her death. 

Officers believed that the alleged murderer used Melissa Barthelemy’s cellphone to call her teen sister repeatedly soon after Melissa's disappearance in 2009. The killer made bawdy remarks and claimed to have killed Melissa and disclosed details of her murder that only a killer would know. Police believed the caller was a White male and the calls came from midtown Manhattan. 

It was previously unreported that around the same time, the same victim’s cell phone briefly pinged off a tower in the Massapequa area. It was that clue which made assured the authorities that they would come across the killer in that area one day. 

Heuermann's family members were 'like loners'

Heuermann's next-door neighbor claimed that the suspect's family members "kept to themselves" and were "like loners." 64-year-old Patrica Maressa has been a resident of the neighborhood for more than two decades. She said that the news regarding the architect's arrest has left her stunned. “I can’t believe what’s going on,” she said before adding “It’s very sad."  She further added that she felt bad for both the families of the victims and the family of the suspect.

Maressa claimed that she didn't interact with the neighbors in the now infamous one-story "red house". She added that some of the locals in the area were "creeped out" by the home. “If they’re outside, we say, ‘Hi, how you doing? That’s about it,” Maressa recalled. The neighbor said Heuermann lived in the home along with his wife, son, and stepdaughter. “He’s a tall, big, big guy. Always dressed well,” she said, noting that he was not too friendly. “It seems like they were starting to redo the front of the house because they put in a new door and put in new windows," she said.