The Gilgo Beach serial murders went unsolved for more than a decade because corrupt police officers botched the case, a Long Island crime writer claims.
Robert Banfelder, who has written two books on the case, criticized Suffolk County authorities for failing to make an arrest until last week, when Rex Heuerman was charged with the murders of three of the ‘Gilgo Four,’ a group of women whose bodies were discovered near a Long Island beach in 2010.
‘They failed, they failed badly,’ he told the New York Post. They thwarted those who were trying to help with the investigation, especially the FBI. These are evil people who leaked the case.”
The author, 80, lives about 45 miles from Gilgo Beach and has previously described what he calls a ‘culture of corruption’ surrounding those in charge of investigating the murder.
He specifically targeted former Police Chief James Burke, former District Attorney Thomas Spota and former Anti-Corruption Bureau Chief Christopher McPartland.
Rex Heuerman is accused of killing three of the ‘Gilgo Four’, whose bodies were discovered near a Long Island beach in 2010.
Robert Banfelder, who has written two books on the case, slammed Suffolk County authorities for failing to make an arrest until last week.
James Burke, the disgraced former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of obstructing the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation by closing the case to the FBI in its early stages.
Disgraced Suffolk County DA Thomas Spota, 79 (left), and Christopher McPartland, the former head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, were convicted of helping cover up Burke’s behavior.
Burke was convicted in 2016 of conspiracy to obstruct justice and violating a victim’s civil rights for assaulting a burglar after he broke into his squad car and stole a duffel bag containing porn and sex toys.
His longtime mentor Spota and veteran anti-corruption prosecutor McPartland were indicted in December 2019 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and civil rights violations for helping to cover up Burke’s actions.
Banfelder accused Spota of ‘dropping the ball’ on the Long Island serial killings because he hired ‘bad cop’ Burke, who removed the FBI from the investigation because he knew they were also looking into his attack on the burglar.
‘They all go back,’ Banfelder said.
‘Burke could do whatever he wanted… he was involved in prostitution and he was partying. There is no question about it.’
Newstimesuk.com previously revealed Burke led a double life that included smoking crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes.
Before Burke became Suffolk County’s top cop, he was involved in a series of prostitution and drug busts, including one involving a tryst in his police car.
Heuerman was dramatically arrested outside his Fifth Avenue farm in midtown Manhattan last Thursday night, 13 years after the discovery of four bodies on Gilgo Beach, all wrapped in camouflage burlap sacks. In total, 11 bodies, including a child, were found along the same stretch.
He is the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and subsequent murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, although he has not yet been charged in the case.
The police investigation has been called into question after revelations that police ignored key clues, including a witness’ statement about seeing Heuerman’s Chevrolet Avalanche at a victim’s home.
The architect lived in a ‘dungeon-like’ Massapequa Park home just 18 miles from the beach with his wife Asa Ellarup, grown daughter and stepson – who police said were away at the time of the murder.
Police now believe Heuerman killed one of his men inside the home he shared with his family.
Thursday marked a seventh day of police searching Heuermann’s property for ‘trophies’ that could be linked to the victims. Investigators are also looking at his timeshare in Las Vegas and a property he owns in South Carolina.
Newstimesuk.com spotted an investigator carrying a note with some of the evidence found inside. Among the items on the list were a rope in a vault, a torn man’s shirt with stains in a bag, and handcuff keys on a shelf under a workbench.
Police on Sunday removed a huge haul of more than 200 weapons from the home. And over the past few days, several items have been unearthed, including a child-sized blonde doll, a cat and a Playboy magazine housed in a wooden case.
Investigators are also searching two storage units connected to Humane and several boxes were seen outside one on Wednesday. Blue tarps and white tents have been placed outside the unit to cordon off the scene.
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