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A new search is underway in connection to the Gilgo Beach murder investigation, according to police sources.
Detectives began searching a wooded area in Manorville, New York on Tuesday, with the sweep continuing on Wednesday, ABC News reports.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment to the outlet on the specifics of the search.
Rex Heuermann, 60, faces charges of killing four female sex workers whose bodies were discovered buried on a secluded part of Gilgo Beach over a decade ago.
He was arrested in July and initially charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello 27.
A new search operation is currently in progress as part of the Gilgo Beach murder case, as reported by law enforcement sources. Rex Heuermann, aged 60, stands accused of the murder of four female sex workers.
The initial victim, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, was located by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. Just two days later, the remains of Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old from Maine, were also found.
Heuermann is also charged with killing Amber Costello (left) and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right)
DNA found on the burlap wrapped around Waterman’s body was a 99.96 percent match to samples from a discarded pizza crust and napkin in a garbage bin outside Heuermann’s firm, police said
In February, he was also charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
The searches come after the father-of-two’s home in Massapequa was raided following discovery of the bodies.
The women were found wrapped in burlap and buried along the remote stretch of Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore over a decade ago.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all counts and currently remains in jail awaiting trial.
The women’s remains were discovered during the search for 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert, an escort from New Jersey who had vanished in May 2010 after making a frantic 911 call.
Her remains were found along the same stretch of coast in December 2011 – and it was her body that led police to the discovery of the ‘Gilgo Four’.
No one has ever been charged in Gilbert’s death and police said it may have been accidental – but her family believe she was murdered.
The women were among 11 found on the desolate stretch of coastline close to Heuermann’s Long Island Home between 2010 and 2011.
All of the victims worked as escorts who advertised themselves on Craigslist.
Heuermann, a father-of-two, has been held in jail without bail since his arrest and has pleaded not guilty
Police confirmed they are probing Heuermann’s potential link to the murders of two other sex workers: Valerie Mack, 25, went missing around the summer of 2000. Her remains were located that September, and more remains were discovered nearly 11 years later
The Heuermann family home in Massapequa Park was torn apart by authorities as they combed the property for evidence
Heuermann was linked to the killings by DNA on the burlap used to transport the bodied which was compared to samples taken from a pizza crust and napkin that were discarded outside his Manhattan architectural firm, police said.
The samples boasted a 99.96 percent match, according to law enforcement.
Prior to testing the DNA, cops were alerted to Heuermann as a potential suspect after a witness linked Heuermann’s Chevrolet Avalanche to Costello’s murder.
The car was then tied to Heuermann’s cellphone records, which allegedly linked him to locations related to the murders.
The indictment stated that Heuermann had used different burner phones to contact each of his victims.
Cops also accused Heuermann of using Barthelemy’s phone to make taunting phone calls to her family from the comfort of his office.
In October, it was revealed that Heuermann is being probed over the slaying of two additional sex workers.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison confirmed he had assigned additional investigators to the case of two other women, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata.
At the suspected time of the murders, Heuermann’s now ex-wife Asa Ellerup was away from home. She filed for divorce less than a week after he husband’s arrest.
