(NewsNation) — Golden State Killer survivor Gay Hardwick expressed hopes that family members of the Gilgo Beach victims “find out what their rights are.”
Hardwick said the families should “prepare” so that their voices can be heard and encouraged them to contact their district attorney to find out what advocacy is available for them.
“My heart goes out to the families of all of the victims,” said Hardwick, who joined NewsNation’s “Banfield” exclusively Tuesday. “I hope that they will find out what their rights are as indirect victims of losing their loved one so horrifically. … They may have certain rights to attend hearings, possibly to give a victim impact statement before sentencing, should he be convicted. These are things they need to be prepared and to know.”
Rex Heuermann was arrested last week in connection with the deaths of at least three women found along Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York. Investigators are searching a property in South Carolina belonging to Heuermann and looking into unsolved cases in Las Vegas as the investigation into the prime suspect in the murders expands.
In 2020, Joseph DeAngelo, now known as the Golden State Killer, was sentenced to life in prison for a string of murders and rapes across the state of California between 1975 and 1986. Hardwick said serial killers lead “double lives” and that we “all need to do our part” to stop their rampage.
“I’m a big fan of forensic genetic investigative genealogy, and it’s a seismic change for law enforcement. I hope all of us will upload our DNA profiles to a public site like GEDmatch or Family Tree so that law enforcement can expand their database and solve even more crimes,” Hardwick said.