SAN ANTONIO — In a stunning development, the alleged Long Island Serial Killer has been arrested.
Rex Heuermann is charged with multiple counts of murder linked to the killings of multiple women more than a decade ago.
The killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders, led to the discoveries of at least 10 bodies in the area.
KENS 5 discovered a local connection to this notorious cold case.
Following the murders, a woman in New Braunfels got the call to fly to New York and help victims' families.
Dottie Laster spent the majority of her time in New York for the first two years after the bodies were discovered, and formed a lifelong bond with victims' families.
"I was the first person one of the families called. That'll be something that will be my honor forever," said Laster, the Founder of Trafficking Victim Rescue Central.
With more than two decades of experience helping victims of human trafficking and training law enforcement on the topic, Laster remains devoted to getting justice for heartbroken families.
"A lot of times the victims could be missing forever. They might never have been found," she explained.
Laster's previous experience caught the attention of worldwide non-profit Avaaz. In 2010, she got the call to help families of the "Gilgo Four".
"They asked if I could help one of the families with a missing loved one, which turned out to be Megan Waterman," Laster recalled. "Megan Waterman's family asked me if I would help Shannan Gilbert's family, which I did."
According to CBS News, the Gilgo Four "...ranged in age from 22 to 27 years old. They were identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, abducted in 2007, Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, who went missing in 2010."
The women didn't know each other, reports say, but all worked as sex workers. CBS News said the victims advertised on the online site Craigslist.
In December 2010, the remains of four women were found close to one another on Gilgo Beach.
The bodies were initially found as investigators searched for missing sex worker, Shannan Gilbert.
"I want to make sure to remind everyone that we wouldn't know about anything without Shannan. She escaped something, called for help, was on the phone with 911 for an extended period of time," Laster explained. "Then she was not located."
Police say, in all, eight women, a man and toddler were found dead.
"In 2010, I was saying this needs to be looked at as a trafficking case. Not solely who was responsible for their death, but who put them in that position? Who benefited from and who was paid to put them in the hands of an alleged monster?"
Laster also took the role of shielding families from hate.
"Be a shield to some of that harshness, that misunderstanding," she explained. "In the beginning some of the headlines literally were blaming the victims."
Laster remembered a poignant moment during a balloon release for the women who were killed, involving one of their grandfathers.
"We're releasing the balloons and he looks at me with tears and he said, 'How can anyone be so mean?' He meant everything. The murder, the response to the murders, the names the victims were called," said Laster. "He's passed away now...I think of him often."
Thursday, police arrested 59-year-old Rex Heuermann in a community just north of Gilgo Beach and charged him in the murders of three of the victims.
"Rex Huermann is a demon that walks among us, a predator that ruined families," said Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Rodney Harrison, in a press conference Friday afternoon.
Laster says federal and state laws exist that allow everyone who participated in exploiting these women to be held accountable.
"I hope the allegation leads to the prosecution of absolutely everyone that had something to do with this," said Laster. "The beauty is, in spite of this horrible tragedy and whatever allegations against this monster are found to be true, he's just a monster. The love for these women, for those families, for us that met through horrible circumstances cannot be killed."
Heuermann was arraigned in court Friday and pleaded not guilty. The judge ordered him held without bail.