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MASSAPEQUA PARK, Nassau County (WABC) — <\/span>A man was charged Friday with first-degree murder in the deaths of three female victims of the so-called Gilgo Beach murders after a major break in a case that has shocked Long Islanders for more than 12 years.<\/p>\n Rex Heuermann is charged in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, according to an indictment unsealed in Suffolk County Criminal Court.<\/p>\n Although he is not charged in Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ death, the indictment says Heuermann is the “prime suspect in her death.”<\/p>\n The four women he is linked to were found covered in burlap along a half-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore in late 2010.<\/p>\n The group became known as the “Gilgo Four” after investigators determined their murders were linked.<\/p>\n The 59-year-old Massapequa Park man was arrested around 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Midtown Manhattan, in front of the office building where he works as an architect.<\/p>\n “This is a day that will be a long time coming, and hopefully a day that will bring peace to this community and families, peace that has been long overdue,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul, during an unrelated appearance in Long. island<\/p>\n On Friday morning, crime lab officers were seen entering Heuermann’s home as a large police presence, led by Suffolk County Police, New York State Police and other enforcement partners of the law they maintained a perimeter.<\/p>\n The house belonged to a family that had kept it for a long time, said neighbors, who noted that the dilapidated property looked out of place among the rows of single-family homes and manicured lawns in the small community.<\/p>\n Their murders, along with the deaths of eight others, have long gone unsolved.<\/p>\n Shannan Gilbert’s disappearance in 2010 sparked the manhunt that exposed the biggest mystery. A 24-year-old sex worker disappeared after walking out of a client’s home in the waterfront community of Oak Beach and disappeared into the marsh.<\/p>\n ———-<\/p>\n * More Long Island news<\/p>\n * Send us a news tip<\/a><\/p>\n * Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts <\/p>\n