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INMATES at a Long Island correctional facility will be interviewed about possible encounters with Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann, officials have said.
The development comes after Heuermann, who has pleaded not guilty in three murder cases, was linked to two otherĀ Gilgo Beach victims earlier this week.
About 60 inmates at the Nassau County Correctional Facility are expected to be interviewed on Friday, Newsday reported.
Investigators with the Suffolk County Sheriffās anti-trafficking unit will lead the interview process.
Inmates at Riker’s Island are also slated to be interviewed, according to Vicki DiStefano, spokeswoman for Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr.
āWe all know that our counties donāt have physical borders, and there is nothing stopping crimes from happening on one side or the other,” Toulon said in a statement.
“For us, working with neighboring jurisdictions to interview incarcerated women was the logical next step for our human trafficking team to assist with the Gilgo murder investigation.”
The three investigators who will lead the interviews work on a human trafficking unit Toulon created in 2018.
Toulon organized the unit to screen women who might have been forced into prostitution, according to Newsday.
The jail provides services to these women and others, Toulon said, which can aid in investigations.
āThese women are actually telling us things that we probably never would have learned,ā Toulon said.
So far, jail officials have provided 12 reports to the Gilgo Beach task force.
The reports all involved leads on the case, Newsday reported, with some women claiming they encountered Heuermann both in public and private.
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‘A LITTLE AGGRESSIVE’
Overall, jail officials have interviewed 141 women.
Among those are two sex workers who encountered Heuermann and described the meetings as “violent” and “aggressive.”
Those two incarcerated women were interviewed in July after Heuermann’s arrest.
Cops said the two women became concerned for their safety during their sexual interactions with the 6-foot-4, 240-pound alleged killer.
“A person of that size being a little aggressive was probably frightening,” Toulon said of Heuermann.
TWO OTHER VICTIMS
News of the inmate interviews comes as Heuermann was linked to two more missing women, Shannan GilbertĀ andĀ Karen Vergata.
Heuermann has not faced charges in connection to those two women.
In a press conference held on Wednesday, attorney John Ray – who is representing victims in the case – appeared withĀ Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison to provide an update.
Ray shared that four new witnesses had come forward, two of whom have given official sworn statements.
One of the sworn statements was from a woman who claimed to have been at Heuermann’s home with his wife, Asa Ellerup, and Vergata in 1996.
The second sworn witness was a taxi driver on Long Island in 2009 who encountered both Heuermann and Gilbert.
Heuermann remains at Suffolk County Jail without bail.
He is due back in court on November 15.