Suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann is not a suspect in the unsolved deaths of four sex workers whose bodies were discovered near Atlantic City 17 years ago, Long Island police said.
The strangled remains of Kim Raffo, 35; Tracy Ann Roberts, 23; Barbara Breidor, 42; and Molly Dilts, 19, were discovered in 2006 in a sewage ditch behind a now-demolished hotel along the Black Horse Pike.
Heuermann was recently charged in the murders of three sex workers whose bodies were found wrapped in burlap along Ocean Parkway on Long Island in late 2010 and is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman there. Those killings occurred from 2007 to 2010.
Soon after Heuermann’s arrest, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison announced law enforcement would revisit the “similar” Black Horse Pike Strangler case, in addition to cold cases around the country where the father of two has property.
“Shame on us if we don’t look into Las Vegas, South Carolina, even Atlantic City,” Harrison told WABC.
Now, however, Suffolk County’s top cop does not think there is a link between the hulking Long Island architect and the Jersey Shore slayings.
“We don’t believe that the sex workers killed in Atlantic City are connected to Rex Heuermann,” Harrison told The Post, adding cops in Atlantic County think someone else was behind the seaside slaughter.
But the family of Dilts, whose body decomposed so much that a cause of death could not be determined, hasn’t entirely given up hope on a possible breakthrough.
“When they announced that they caught a serial killer in New York, I just turned to my wife and said, ‘Hey, I think they might have got the guy,’” Sam Taylor, an uncle, told The Post.
“We don’t know how my niece was killed or anything, but it’s kind of funny that this guy is murdering all the same type of people,” Taylor, 60, added.
Heuermann reportedly has ties to the oceanfront gambling mecca, with Atlantic City workers telling Fox News they had previously seen the alleged killer around town, and a stripper claimed the father of two may have paid for a private room with her in recent years.
A spokesperson for the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office declined to comment on the case, warning that doing so could “compromise the investigation.”
Victims’ families, however, are frustrated that they’ve heard anything from law enforcement about any potential movement in their investigation in light of Heuermann’s arrest.
“It would be courteous of them to get in touch with me,” said Joyce Roberts, 73, mother of Tracy Ann Roberts, who died of asphyxiation.
“We’d like to figure this thing out,” she added.
The ACPO spokesperson said that “our office will continue to keep family members aware of any new findings.”
Heuermann, who pleaded not guilty, is due back in court on Aug. 1.
SOURCE: New york post
