A suspect has been arrested in connection with the Gilgo Beach, New York, murders, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone confirmed Friday.
“We have never stopped working on this case,” Bellone said. “The work is not done here, but this is a major, major step forward in achieving a goal we have had from the very beginning — and that is to bring closure to these families.”
Pictures of women, whose bodies were identified among 10 bodies found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010, are seen in this Suffolk County Police handout image released to Reuters on September 20, 2011.
Handout ./Courtesy of Suffolk County Police via Reuters, FILE
The suspect, a man, was arrested in Manhattan Thursday night, authorities said. His identity is under seal until he appears in Suffolk County criminal court later on Friday, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Police were led to the suspect through advanced communication analytics, according to the sources.
Crime laboratory officers arrive to the house where a suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, July 14, 2023, in Massapequa, New York.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
Law enforcement was seen outside the suspect’s home in Massapequa Park on Long Island Friday morning.
The Massapequa Park address “has been on our radar for some time,” a source close to the investigation told ABC News.
“This all came down to phone data,” the source added.
Police officers stand guard near the house where a suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, July 14, 2023, in Massapequa, New York.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
Neighbors gather outside the Gilgo Beach suspect’s home in Massapequa Park on Long Island, July 14, 2023.
Victor Ordonez/ABC News
Fears of a serial killer on the South Shore of Long Island began in 2010 with the discovery of a woman’s body along Ocean Parkway.
Over the next year, the bodies of seven more women, a man and a toddler were discovered in the same general area.
In recent months, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison invited the FBI to help and formed a task force focused on the case.
The locations where eight of 10 bodies were found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010 are seen in this Suffolk County Police handout image released to Reuters, Sept. 20, 2011.
Courtesy of Suffolk County Police via Reuters, FILE
Investigators have long believed it was possible there was more than one killer because of the different conditions of the victims. Additionally, the wooded stretches along Ocean Parkway were long known as dumping grounds for bodies.
It’s believed the suspect under arrest is tied to a subset of the 10 bodies.
“I know there is a community out there that, as the facts unfold, will be sleeping a lot easier tonight,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday. “And a lot of families, whose lives have been turned upside down, always wondering, questioning what happened, and will the perpetrator ever be brought to justice?”
“The day has finally come when someone so depraved of heart who would kill individuals, innocent individuals, in the prime of their young lives, is finally brought to justice,” she said.
ABC News’ Cristina Corbin and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Source: abc news
