The Gilgo Beach serial killings went unsolved for over a decade because corrupt police officers botched the case, a Long Island crime writer has claimed.
Robert Banfelder, who has written two books on the case, slammed Suffolk County authorities for failing to make an arrest until last week, when Rex Heuermann was charged in the killings of three of the ‘Gilgo Four,’ a group of women whose bodies were discovered near the Long Island beach in 2010.
‘They failed, they failed miserably,’ he told The New York Post. ‘They thwarted everyone who was trying to help the investigation, especially the FBI. These are bad dudes who botched the case.”
The author, 80, lives about 45 miles from Gilgo Beach and has previously described what he calls a ‘culture of corruption’ surrounding the people in charge of the murders investigation.
He particularly took aim at former police chief James Burke, former district attorney Thomas Spota and former Anti-Corruption Bureau chief Christopher McPartland.
James Burke, the disgraced former head of Suffolk County Police Department, has been accused of hampering the Gilgo Beach serial killer probe by booting the FBI off the case in its early stages
At least one victim of the Gilgo Beach murders was killed at the Long Island, home of suspect Rex Heuermann, police have revealed
Burke was convicted in 2016 of conspiring to obstruct justice and violating a victim’s civil rights for attacking a thief 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 convicted in December 2019 on counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and civil rights violations for helping to cover Burke’s actions.
Banfelder accused Spota of ‘dropping the ball’ in the Long Island serial killings because he hired ‘bad cop’ Burke, who removed the FBI from the investigation because he allegedly knew they were also looking into his assault of the thief.
‘They all go way back,’ Banfelder said.
‘Burke could do what he damn well pleased… He was involved in prostitution and he was partying. There’s no question about that.’
DailyMail.com previously revealed that Burke led a double life that allegedly included smoking crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes.
Before Burke became Suffolk County’s top cop, he had been involved in a series of scandals involving prostitutes and drugs, including a tryst in his police car with one of them.
Heuermann was dramatically arrested last Thursday night in Midtown Manhattan outside his Fifth Avenue firm, 13 years after the discovery of four bodies along Gilgo beach, all wrapped in camouflage burlap sacks. In total, the bodies of 11 people, including a toddler, have been found along that same stretch.
He is also the lead suspect in the 2007 disappearance and subsequent murder of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, though he has not yet been charged in the case.
The police investigation has been put into question after it was revealed police overlooked key clues including a witness’ statement about seeing Heuermann’s Chevrolet Avalanche in a victim’s house.
The architect lived in a ‘dungeon-like’ Massapequa Park home just 18 miles away from the beach with his wife Asa Ellerup, adult daughter and stepson – who police say were away when the murders took place.
Police now believe Heuermann may have killed one of his victims inside the home he shared with his family.
Police were seen searching Heuermann’s property for ‘trophies’ that may be linked to the victims for a seventh day on Thursday. Investigators are also looking at his time share in Las Vegas and a property he owned in South Carolina.
DailyMail.com spotted one investigator carrying a note listing some of the evidence found inside. Among the items on the list were a rope kept in a vault, a torn man’s shirt with a stain in a bag and handcuff keys in a shelf underneath a work bench.
Police on Sunday removed a massive haul of more than 200 weapons from the home. And over the past few days, a range of items including a child-sized blonde doll kept in a wooden case, a cat and Playboy magazines have been taken out.
Investigators have also been searching two storage units connected to Heuermann and on Wednesday several boxes were spotted outside one. Blue tarp and white tents have been erected outside the unit to close off the scene.
