Authorities investigating Gilgo Beach murders looking into possible Atlantic City area connections

EGG HARBOR TWP., New Jersey (WPVI) -- Authorities in New York are looking into an unsolved murder case in the Atlantic City area as they continue to investigate the suspect charged in the Gilgo Beach homicides.

New York architect Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested last week and charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found covered in burlap in Gilgo Beach back on December 2010.

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He was also named the "prime suspect" in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a fourth woman discovered in the same spot, police said.

Police in Suffolk County, New York are also looking at other similar unsolved cases throughout the nation to see if Heuermann could be involved, including the 2006 case near Atlantic City.

"It was a strange, strange case because all the girls were laid facing east, facing Atlantic City," said GG Henning, manager of Garden State Fuel along the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township.

Four women found dead in a watery ditch behind the Golden Key Motel in EHT in 2006 were all sex workers.

"I heard something like they found the four bodies not far from the Golden Key Motel," remembered Janak Dand, owner of the Bay Drive Motel on Black Horse Pike.

"It was right down the street from us," said Henning. "This is not the nicest neighborhood anyway. And there was a lot of stuff going on at the time."

She immediately thought of it when she heard about Heuermann's arrest.

"I did because I remember what happened back here. There were strange circumstances with this current case as well as what happened back then," said Henning.

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office said it cannot comment on open and ongoing investigations.

Heuermann's attorney has said he plans on fighting the charges.