Rex Heuermann, the suspect in the Gilgo Beach slayings, stored a number of illegally acquired firearms in his Long Island home and shouldn’t be allowed access to them, according to the prosecution.
Police discovered a number of firearms inside Heuermann’s residence in Massapequa Park, Nassau County, shortly after his arrest on July 13. These firearms were later determined to have been bought illegally, according to a court document from Suffolk County prosecutors.
In court documents submitted last week, Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Opisso stated that several “of the firearms seized were apparently purchased illegally.” He continued: “At least 26 unregistered handguns, 15 unregistered assault weapons, and 10 high-capacity magazines” are among the firearms in the collection, which is against state law.
According to Opisso, the 59-year-old Heuermann asserts to have a “continued financial interest” in those rifles and has “requested that the firearms be returned to him,” a request the district attorney opposes.
Heuermann, a Manhattan-based architect, has until October 25 to answer before Justice Richard Ambro of the Suffolk County Supreme Court is anticipated to rule, according to the prosecution.
On Thursday, it was impossible to immediately reach the suspect’s lawyer for comment.
To three counts of first-degree murder in the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, Heuermann has entered a not-guilty plea.
Prosecutors claim they still have evidence linking Heuermann to additional unsolved homicides, and he is also a suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. When Brainard-Barnes vanished in 2007, she was 25 years old. Her remains were discovered in late 2010 close to Gilgo Beach.
The ladies are known as the “Gilgo Four,” after Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s southern shore, where more bodies have been found.