This summer, after 13 years, the police finally made an arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders. When I was reporting “Lost Girls,” my 2013 book about the case and victims, the police were largely silent. Since July, I’ve conducted interviews with people close to the Gilgo case during every chapter of its bizarre 13-year timeline. (Several sources asked for anonymity, concerned that public statements by insiders might undercut the case against Heuermann before the trial.) From the moment those women were found at Gilgo Beach, the law-enforcement culture of Suffolk County seemed so preternaturally ill suited to handle this case that a killer was allowed to roam free.

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Persons: Gilbert, Rex Heuermann, Heuermann, I’ve, —, curdled Organizations: Heuermann, Hamptons Locations: Manhattan, Massapequa, Long, Gilgo, Suffolk County, Brentwood, Wyandanch, Central Islip, It’s