Nassau County Police Investigating Possible Link Between Accused Long Island Serial Killer and 1989 Death of Sex Worker - The Messenger
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Nassau County Police Investigating Possible Link Between Accused Long Island Serial Killer and 1989 Death of Sex Worker

Police sources have confirmed to The Messenger that several cold cases in Nassau County are getting a fresh look

Rex A. Heuermann appears before Judge Timothy P. Mazzei in Suffolk County Court on August 1, 2023 in Central Islip, New York.James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images

In the nearly two months since his arrest, investigators in multiple states have been taking a second look at cold murder cases, trying to connect them, in some way, to Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann, who is accused of being the Gilgo Beach serial killer.

That includes detectives working in the same county where the 59-year-old suspect lived on New York's Long Island. Heuermann had been living in a home in Massapequa Park in Nassau County, with his now-estranged wife and two adult children.

Police sources have confirmed to The Messenger that several cold cases in Nassau County are getting a fresh look, including the 1989 death of Carmen Vargas.

ABC7NY in New York cites a source as saying Vargas' murder appears to fit Heuermann's alleged pattern.

Vargas, a 29-year-old sex worker, was last seen entering a truck in East Harlem. Her body was discovered weeks later, dumped along Long Island's heavily trafficked Meadowbrook State Parkway.

Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder in the deaths Melissa Barthelemy, who was last seen on July 10, 2009; Megan Waterman, who went missing June 6, 2010; and Amber Costello, who hasn't been seen since Sept. 2, 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty via his attorney.

He's also the prime suspect in the slaying of a fourth woman whose body was found near the others, according to prosecutors.

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