Gilgo Beach police remove long rope and paint chips from serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann's home as search continues

• Rex Heuermann's house on Long Island was searched again on Thursday
• He is accused of four murders in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killer.
• Police seized several items while the suspected murderer's family was out of town

Police removed a long rope and paint chips from the porch of the Massapequa Park home of suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann.

On Thursday afternoon, officers wearing gloves and face masks could be seen standing on folding chairs, picking up paint chips from under the porch rafters, on the fourth day of the search that began Monday when officers searched Heuermann's home for a second time.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney arrived at the home around 3:40 p.m. Thursday afternoon. He entered the property, exited about 20 minutes later, and left. He did not speak to nearby news crews.

It remains unclear if today is the last day of the search. Last summer, Tierney showed up at Heuermann's home during the first search of the house, which lasted 12 days.

The New York State Police dispatch vehicle left the block at noon, and a truck loaded with evidence pulled out of the driveway a few hours later and drove away from Heuermann's block.

Suffolk County Police and NYS Troopers have been on the scene since a new search warrant was executed on Monday. It is not clear what the reason for the search was or what they were looking for.

Heumann's 27-year-old daughter Victoria Heuermann was reportedly the only person at home when officers knocked on the door of the house and was asked to leave the property.

Robert Macedonio, Asa Ellerup's lawyer, added that Victoria had been “cooperative.”

Her mother Asa Ellerup, Heuermann's estranged wife, and her son Christopher Sheridan, 34, are said to have been in South Carolina before the search.

Since Monday, teams of investigators have been removing bags, boxes, furniture and household items from the house. The coroner was on site at the beginning of the week.

Thursday's search, the fourth this week, was part of a second attempt by Long Island investigators to search Heuermann's home for possible evidence.

The first search last July lasted twelve days after the architect was dramatically arrested on the premises of his workplace in Manhattan.

During this search last year, investigators seized a huge stash of weapons from the house, including at least four long guns.

In addition, several more blue plastic boxes containing weapons were taken from the property. It turned out that he had permits for a whopping 92 firearms.

Investigators reportedly searched the house at the time for possible “trophies” from the victims Heuermann is accused of murdering, but it is unclear whether any were found.

The crimes Heuermann is accused of are connected to the ten-year search for the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer. Between 2010 and 2011, a total of eleven bodies were found on Gilgo Beach – he was not charged for seven of them.

Meanwhile, neighbors in the middle-class community of Massapequa Park, where Heuermann lived his entire life, near where the victim's remains were found, described him as a menacing figure whose house was avoided by children on Halloween.

“We crossed the street. He was someone you didn't like to see,” 24-year-old neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the New York Times after his arrest.

After his arrest, it was also revealed that Heuermann had once been thrown out of a Whole Foods store for stealing oranges and had to pay thousands in back taxes.

In the recent video of Heuermann's arrest, he is seen walking down a busy street at dusk during rush hour with a bag on his back, seemingly unaware that he is being pursued by police officers.

Eventually, Heuermann was stopped and surrounded by a group of police officers in suits. He was arrested at around 8:30 p.m. A little over 12 hours later, he was charged with three counts of premeditated murder in a Long Island court.

A longtime colleague of Heuermann's told the Times that he spoke to the suspect on Thursday evening and noticed him cracking jokes. “That must have been just before he left the office, before they arrested him,” Steve Kramberg told the Times.

The suspect's neighbors had long been suspicious of the mysterious architect. One of them, Mike Schmidt, said, according to the Times, that he often drank beer with another neighbor and pointed to Heuermann's house, remarking, “He probably has bodies in there.”