ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY: Rex Heuermann, the suspected Long Island or Gilgo Beach serial killer, is being investigated over a series of “similar” unsolved murders of sex workers around Atlantic City in New Jersey. This is according to Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.

Detectives had already looked at possible ties between the Gilgo Beach murders and New Jersey’s Black Horse Pike serial killer even before the 59-year-old architect’s arrest last week. Investigators are reportedly using his DNA to check for matches with unsolved crimes across New York, and they have also started inquiries in South Carolina and Sin City in Nevada where Heuermann owns real estate.

'We want to revisit Eastbound strangler investigation'

“Shame on us if we don’t look into Las Vegas, South Carolina, even Atlantic City,” Harrison told the local outlet. “We’ve got to make sure if anyone has any information.” Although it initially suggested there was “not a connection,” the commissioner said: “We want to revisit that investigation” WABC reported. The still-unfound New Jersey serial killer was dubbed the 'Eastbound strangler' because all four victims — Kim Raffo, 35, Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, Barbara Breidor, 42, and Molly Dilts, 20 — were found lying face-down with their heads pointed east toward the city’s casino high-rises. The bodies were dumped close to the Bay Drive Motel. The Eastbound Strangler is an unidentified serial killer believed to be responsible for the murders of four women near Atlantic City, New Jersey, found on November 20, 2006. A $25,000 reward offered for information has gone unclaimed.

Who were the victims?

Kim Raffo was a former waitress from Canarsie, Brooklyn, who left her husband and children for drugs and prostitution in Atlantic City in 2022. She was last seen alive a day before her body was recovered. She had been strangled to death either with a rope or cord. Kim was also the mother of a young daughter. Her cause of death couldn't be determined due to decomposition of the body. Kim was introduced to crack cocaine by a romantic partner, as per Medium.

Barbara V Breidor who came from a wealthy family worked as a sex worker to support her cocaine addiction. The mother of a nine-year-old daughter then disappeared in October 2006 but was not reported missing for several weeks. Identified through dental records, her body was so badly decomposed that the cause of death could not be determined. "Barbara was an intelligent, fine person. She ran a multimillion-dollar business,” Richard Adams, his friend told New York Post. “She was well educated. She went to Penn State University.”

The victim's bodies were decomposed beyond recognition

Molly Jean Dilts, believed to have been killed first, was originally from Black Lick, Pennsylvania. She was last seen alive a few days before her disappearance. She was the only victim not to have a record of prostitution but was believed to be working as one. She was believed to have been the first to be killed and her body was so badly decomposed and could be identified through fingerprints. The blue-eyed woman had a bulldog tattooed on her back, a Playboy bunny tattooed on her right shoulder, and “Molly” tattooed near her navel. She was suspected of having been in the ditch with water for almost a month.

Macho Hernandez who lived in Ocean Avenue at the time described her as a quiet woman who might have been running away from problems at home. However for Joe Boccino, the owner of Papa Joe’s diner and several apartment buildings on Tennessee Avenue "She was like anybody else on these streets,” as reported by the New York Times.

'I remember that night like it was yesterday'

Tracy Ann Roberts hailed from a small town in Delaware. She was also found close by in varying states of decomposition. She was last seen alive in November 2006 and was suspected to have died of asphyxia. She had a five-year-old daughter and struggled with addiction. She was seen last time in the hospital when a pimp hit her in the throat making her cough blood.

The women died at different times, from two days before being found to a month. Their gruesome grave was behind the Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor Township on Black Horse Pike. "I remember that night like it was yesterday and getting the phone call about the bodies of the women that were discovered. I remember exactly where I was going in the car with my family and I dropped everything and said I have to go. I knew that I had to get there immediately," Police Chief Michael Hughes, who was a detective at the time, said. There were suspects early in the investigation but those persons of interest but no evidence was found linking them with the murders.