Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney touts work on fentanyl crisis, Gilgo Beach murders as he announces reelection campaign
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney touted his office’s work fighting the fentanyl crisis and finally nabbing the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer as he announced his reelection campaign Tuesday.The Long Island Republican said he’s made good on the many promises he made during his 2021 campaign — but said there’s more work to be done, especially when it comes to battling fentanyl.“If you look at our homicide numbers compared to our overdose numbers in Suffolk County — that cannot be ignored,” Tierney said, noting there were 25 homicides and 464 overdoses in 2023.
“We need to stop sticking our heads in the sand, and we need to address it,” he said.“We are going to work tirelessly to get that number down.” He also pointed to his office’s creation of a homicide bureau, a gang bureau and a task force that investigated the Gilgo Beach murders as proof that he’s changed the structure of the county law enforcement agency.
“I think when we looked at [the Gilgo Beach case], the bare bones were there,” he said.“But what was missing was a comprehensive approach and proper leadership.”“So … we applied the expertise and the resources of a great many people,” he continued.
“We took those resources, that know-how, and that knowledge and we put it all together.And we came up with a result which we are still working on.”Eventually, authorities collared suspected killer Rex Heuermann and arrested him outside his Manhattan office last year.He’s been charged with seven murders — Mack, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.“Going forward, we are starting to get into the meat of the case with pretrial hearings,” he said.
“So we look forward to initiating that next stage of the case.”“This is just the beginning,” Tierney said of his campaign.“We’re going to continue the work, and I’m going to continue to fu...