In an unusual move, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has announced he will personally handle the case against the suspect in the Long Island serial killer investigation.
Tierney will be the lead prosecutor in the case against Rex Heuermann, the Massapequa Park man charged with murder related to three women whose remains were found near Gilgo Beach in 2010. Heuerman pleaded not guilty.
The announcement came one day after officials concluded their search of Heuermann's home and backyard.
“We’re going to be pulling out shortly and I would say that we have obtained a massive amount of material, all of which has to be cataloged and analyzed and it's going to take quite some time,” Tierney said at news conference this week outside Heuerman's home.
He said no additional human remains were found on the property after several days of excavation. Almost 300 guns were recovered from the home — some from inside a walk-in vault in the basement, but Tierney would not say if anything else was found there.
The last time a Suffolk County DA personally handled a prosecution was over 30 years ago, according to Newsday.
Tierney has prosecuted both state and federal cases since 1992 when he first joined the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. As an assistant DA, he handled cases involving murder, child abuse and other complex criminal investigations.
