Gilgo Beach murders suspect's family 'disgusted'

The family of the man accused of murdering three women in Long Island are "disgusted" by the allegations against him, a prosecutor has said.

Rex Heuermann, 59, has pleaded not guilty to killing Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy.

Police have recovered between 200-300 firearms stored in a locked vault at the suspect's run-down house.

Investigators have faced criticism they did not take the probe so seriously because the victims were sex workers.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN the suspect's family were shocked by the charges he faces. The defendant is a married father-of-two.

"They were disgusted," he said on Monday. "They were embarrassed."

He added: "If you ask me, I don't believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living."

He is accused of killing three women whose bodies were found close together in 2010 on Gilgo Beach, on the South Shore of Long Island.

Investigators have said they expect to charge him with the murder of a fourth woman: Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

The women, dubbed the Gilgo Four, were among 11 sets of human remains found on the beach, 50 miles (80km) east of New York City.

A law enforcement source told CNN that as Mr Heuermann was being processed at jail following his arrest last Thursday, he asked staff: "Is it in the news?"

Watched by journalists and members of the public, investigators have been searching his ramshackle home in Massapequa Park, a 20-minute drive from Gilgo Beach.

Neighbours and Long Island residents were astonished by the arrest of Mr Heuermann, the owner of a Manhattan architecture firm.

After years of few leads in the cold case, investigators were able to charge him using mobile phone records, DNA evidence from a pizza, and a description of the killer and his vehicle.