Massapequa, its residents proudly proclaim, is a cop town. Perched on Long Island's idyllic South Shore, it is just an hour's journey via train from Manhattan. The community is home to New York Police Department (NYPD) detectives, multi-generational police families, officers from Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and members of myriad other law enforcement agencies.
And when body parts started to be discovered in 2010 on Gilgo Beach - not far from where local teens work as lifeguards and families gather in the summer - it became clear that a serial killer had been active on Long Island for years. The rumour mill went into overdrive. Was he local? Was he still hunting? And was he, after operating for so long without getting caught, perhaps even wearing a badge?
The 2023 arrest of architect Rex Heuermann put to rest those theories - and his admission in court this week to the murders of eight women has brought even further closure to Long Island police, they said. It's a great relief, said Craig Garland, a retired NYPD detective, Massapequa resident and Little League baseball organiser.
Heuermann, a 62-year-old married father-of-two, was arrested in July 2023 in Manhattan after authorities obtained his DNA from a discarded piece of pizza outside his mid-town office. His links to the investigation shocked many locals who were unaware of his true nature as he had blended seamlessly into their community.
The recent events have sparked a sense of disbelief and sorrow among the residents of Massapequa, as they continue to grapple with the reality of having had a serial killer living amongst them.
