State and local law enforcement officers descended on an area of Long Island's Manorville Wednesday for a search as part of their ongoing investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killings, according to a law enforcement source with knowledge of the situation.
An NYPD officer at the scene told NBC New York the search area was focused at Schultz Road and North Street. The officer said an NYPD K-9 unit was on the scene, on Wading River Road near the Long Island Expressway. Dogs were set to search what the officer described as a "large, wooded area." The officer didn't say what they thought they might find, nor was it known if anything was found.
Suffolk County Police confirmed its officers were assisting, along with members of the NYPD and the New York State Police. It said, however, the department does not comment on active investigations. Additional information will be provided as it becomes unavailable, they said.
According to an NYPD spokesman, Suffolk County law enforcement officials asked for the help because of the size of the area they wanted to search. But neither Suffolk police nor the county district attorney would confirm that it was part of the Gilgo murder investigation.
The search continued well into Wednesday evening. A local resident told News 4 that police had been in the area for two days, though it wasn't clear why the hamlet had been targeted.
Manorville was home to the site where two sets of remains of young women, among others, were found during a parallel search along Gilgo Beach's Ocean Parkway. Those two women, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack, had remains dumped in both locations. They were found, in Mack's case, about 11 years apart.
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Remains of a toddler and man were also among those found. Those cases are unsolved.
Authorities have said the cases involve at least two separate killers. Manorville had been a notorious dumping ground, appreciated for the privacy of its heavy woodlands. One man, a New York City architect from Long Island named Rex Heuermann, has been charged with murder in the cases of four women whose bodies were found on Ocean Parkway.
Mack was not among them. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyer has focused on other potential suspects, including former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who was arrested in a sex sting last year. He also blocked federal investigators from taking part in the Gilgo murder investigation during his time in office.
Police have said there’s an ongoing investigation to see if Heuermann is linked to six other Gilgo victims.
