Ties Between Gilgo Beach, Atlantic City Slayings Updated By Police

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ — Police no longer believe there to be a connection between the Gilgo Beach killings and similar killings of Atlantic City sex workers, according to a report.

Similarities in the deaths in both cases led investigators to believe that accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann could also be responsible for the 2006 deaths of four Atlantic City sex workers.

In both, sex workers were found strangled to death. The four Atlantic City women killed were found dead in a drainage ditch behind an Egg Harbor Township motel.

But that connection has since been ruled out, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told the New York Post.

"We don't believe that the sex workers killed in Atlantic City are connected to Rex Heuermann," Harrison told The Post.

He said that Atlantic County police believe that someone else was behind the Atlantic City slayings.

Police are still investigating whether Heuermann is connected to other cold cases across the country, including in Nevada and South Carolina.

Since 2010, at least 11 sets of remains have been found, believed to be related to the Gilgo Beach killings. Police have searched for a serial killer ever since. At least four of the killings included strangulation, and two showed signs of blunt-force trauma. The cause of death remains inconclusive for some victims.

At a recent press conference, Harrison said that the investigation into the Gilgo Beach killings isn't over.

"Even with this arrest, we're not done," he said. "There's more work to do in this investigation regarding the other victims, the Gilgo Beach bodies that were discovered."

He also encouraged anyone with more information to call the Gilgo Beach hotline: 1-800-220-TIPS or to submit at tip on the Gilgo News website.

Heuermann is expected back in court on Aug. 1.

With additional reporting by the Patch team in Long Island.