"One Individual Under Arrest": Suffolk County Police Announce the Gilgo Beach Arrest, July 14, 2023

Name: "One Individual Under Arrest": Suffolk County Police Announce the Gilgo Beach Arrest, July 14, 2023
Uploaded: 2023-07-14T00:00:00Z
Duration: 1 min 54 s
Description: The day after Rex Heuermann's arrest, a Suffolk County police official told reporters that the Gilgo Beach task force had arrested one individual in Manhattan and that an indictment was expected that afternoon.

The day after Rex Heuermann's arrest, a Suffolk County police official told reporters that the Gilgo Beach task force had arrested one individual in Manhattan and that an indictment was expected that afternoon.

Subject: Rex Heuermann
Recorded: about July 14, 2023
Runtime: 1:54

The Interview

This is not an interview, and Rex Heuermann is neither heard nor named in it. It is a short statement to reporters by a Suffolk County Police Department official on July 14, 2023, the day after Heuermann was arrested, posted by NBC News. The official confirms that "one individual" had been arrested in the Gilgo Beach investigation and that a fuller press conference would follow that afternoon. He is not named in the clip.

Historical Context

Beginning in December 2010, the remains of several women were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach on Long Island's South Shore. For more than a decade the killings went unsolved. On July 13, 2023, Heuermann, a Manhattan architect who lived in Massapequa Park, was arrested and was then charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. Charges for the murders of Maureen Brainard-Barnes (January 2024), Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla (June 2024) and Valerie Mack (December 2024) followed.

Circumstances

The official says that at about 8:30 p.m. the previous night, near 35th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, members of the Gilgo Beach Task Force, Suffolk County police detectives and investigators working with the FBI, arrested one individual and took him to police headquarters in Yaphank. He says the case was before a grand jury, that an indictment was expected that afternoon, and that a press conference with the district attorney would follow at four o'clock in Riverhead.

What the Recording Covers

The statement is brief and factual. The official describes the arrest, says the suspect is in custody, outlines the grand jury and the expected indictment, and thanks the members of the task force for what he calls a collaborative effort. He does not name the suspect or any victim.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It records an official on-camera confirmation of an arrest in a case that had been unsolved since 2010, given hours before officials named and charged the suspect that afternoon.

Important Caveats

Heuermann is not heard or named. The speaker is not identified in the clip; he may have been Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, but this has not been verified and the page should not name him without confirmation. The YouTube description's "New York police" is loose: the announcement is by the Suffolk County Police Department on Long Island, not the New York City Police Department, although the arrest took place in Manhattan. Officials named the suspect and set out the charges later that day, not in this clip.

Suffolk County Police Official: Uh, there's been some new developments in the Gilgo investigation. Last night, a little bit around 8:30 p.m., in the vicinity of 35th and Fifth Avenue in the city, members assigned to the Gilgo Beach Task Force, which consisted of numerous detectives and investigators from the Suffolk County Police Department, as well as our partners in the FBI, did place one individual under arrest, transported him back to 30 Yaphank, which is our headquarters, and he's currently in custody at this time.

Suffolk County Police Official: The case is in grand jury. We anticipate an indictment later on this afternoon, and we're going to probably have a press conference around four to five o'clock this afternoon with the district attorney and a lot of the other leadership that law enforcement has out here in Suffolk County.

Suffolk County Police Official: I do have to take advantage of this opportunity and thank, uh, the teamwork, the effort, the work by all the members of the task force allowing us to get to this point today. It was a collaborative effort. Um, the resilient work that was done allowed us to place somebody into custody. But once again, is this, uh, there will be a lot more detailed press conference later on today, four o'clock, uh, out in Riverhead at the district attorney's office.

Nbc News: Thanks for watching our YouTube channel. Follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app. [01:42 to 01:54: no speech in either machine source; clip ends.] ---