Search warrant for Gilgo Beach suspect’s South Carolina property sought possible ‘trophies,’ other items that may have been used in serial killings, newspaper reports

By Rob Frehse, CNN

(CNN) — A search warrant for property in South Carolina owned by the suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings sought possible “trophies,” among other items, the suspect may have taken after the killings, according to the Chester News & Reporter, which has seen the warrant.

The search warrant reveals authorities are also looking for other items that may have been used in the killings, DNA evidence and any items from locked rooms or storage areas on property owned by suspect Rex Heuermann, the paper reported.

CNN has reached out to authorities in South Carolina to obtain the search warrant.

Heuermann was arrested in New York City last week and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the “Gilgo Four,” a group of four women whose remains were found along a short stretch of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach in 2010.

The 59-year-old architect, who worked in Manhattan, had kids and a wife of 27 years, has pleaded not guilty in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.

Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and killing of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to a bail application. He has not been charged in her death.

Investigators have been operating on the theory that Heuermann committed the killings in his Massapequa Park home, just miles from where the remains of the women were found.

A source involved in the investigation told CNN the disappearances occurred during times his family was out of town, suggesting he may have lured victims to the Long Island home.

Heuermann’s wife and children were both traveling at the time of the killings and the suspect was alone, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters last week.

The investigations now span the country, including in Nevada and South Carolina, where authorities are examining Heuermann’s ties in those states and properties he owns or formerly owned.

The South Carolina warrant shows a long list of items under “property sought,” many of which are listed as “trophies,” the paper reported.

The list included phones, articles of clothing, jewelry, identification, notebooks, ledgers, Bibles, personal effects and/or photographs or recordings depicting the victims, according to the paper.

Other “trophy” items were separately listed, according to the paper, including condoms, black leather belts, devices used to stamp letters on leather goods, knives, scissors and “Bounty paper towels specifically from the Bounty Modern Print Collection.”

Forensic and trace evidence was also sought, the paper reported, including anything that could provide DNA, such as fingernails and hair. The warrant also sought any firearm-related evidence or storage containers.

Prosecutors are reviewing a mountain of evidence used to connect Heuermann to at least three of the Gilgo Four killings, including credit card bills, cell phone data and DNA evidence.

The four women were among a string of 11 bodies found scattered along Long Island’s South Shore between 2010 and 2011, sparking what police have called “one of the most consequential homicide investigations” in the area’s history.

The remains of each of the four victims were found bound in camouflaged burlap and hidden along the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway, authorities said. The women, who disappeared between 2007 and 2010, all worked as escorts and advertised their services, according to police.

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