Suspect in 'Long Island Serial Killer' Case ID'd as Architect Rex Heuermann: Source

More than a decade after the bodies of various young women began piling up around Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York, a suspect has been taken into custody, a law enforcement source confirms to PEOPLE.

Rex Heuermann, an architect with an office in Manhattan, has been identified as the suspect, the source confirms.

It is not clear if Heuermann has been charged. PEOPLE was not able to contact him, and it's not clear if he has an attorney.

News 12 Long Island was the first to report the arrest.

The killings, dubbed the "Long Island Serial Killer" case, first came to light in December 2010 when the bodies of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Megan Waterman and Maureen Brainard-Barnes were found wrapped in burlap and placed within about 500 feet of one another, buried in the marsh on Gilgo Beach. All four women had worked as online escorts and had been missing between 2007 and 2010.

Their remains were uncovered accidentally as police searched for 24-year-old escort Shannan Gilbert, who went missing after visiting a client, whom she met on Craigslist, in the gated community of Oak Beach, and then fleeing the man's home. Her remains were found in December 2011.

In March 2011, two months after police identified the remains of the four online escorts, the remains of six more bodies were unearthed along the beach.

Four of those remains were women, one was a female toddler and one was an Asian male wearing women's clothing. Two sets of the remains were later linked to the dismembered torsos of women first discovered in Manorville, about 40 miles away.

In January 2020, police released photographs of a black leather belt found at one of the dump locations they believed likely belonged to the murderer. The belt is imprinted with the letters "WH" or "HM" — possibly the suspect's initials.

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At a press conference, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said the belt was "handled by the suspect and didn't belong to any of the victims."

That same month, police announced the creation of a website, www.gilgonews.com, dedicated to sharing information with the public about the investigation, where tipsters can post tips anonymously.