Top cop who botched Gilgo Beach murder case was jailed for beating sex-toy crook
The disgraced ex-Suffolk County police chief who botched the Gilgo Beach murder probe had plenty of skeletons in his closet — and once did federal prison time for beating up a crook who stole his dildo and porn stash.
James Burke, 59, who admitted he roughed up suspect Christopher Loeb in 2012 for snatching his sick stash of sex goodies, also had drug-addled trysts with hookers and once fled from a drunken wreck, according to court records and various reports.
To top it off, Burke allegedly did a bare-bones investigation into the Gilgo Beach case, blocking out the FBI and other agencies working on the gruesome discovery of 11 bodies along Long Island’s South Shore in 2010, claimed attorney John Ray, who represents the families Gilgo Beach victims, Jessica Taylor and Shannan Gilbert.
“This case was bungled and polluted from the beginning,” he said.
Ray also represented the escort who claimed a fling with Burke, who was identified only as “Lee Ann.”
“He brought the message and culture to the case, I guess the culture that terminated from his own mind and heart — and it was not a good one,” the lawyer said.
Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke, who stalled the Gilgo Beach murder investigation, admitted he beat a drug addict in 2012 for stealing his duffle bag, which had a box of cigars, dildos and a stash of pornographic materials. New York Post
“He made it his domain,” Ray said.
“And this is a guy that’s in charge of a sex-murder investigation. It’s kind of bizarre.”
Burke could not be reached by phone and did not answer the door at his Smithtown home this week.
The attorneys who represented the former chief did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Long Island attorney John Ray, who represents the families of two women found dead on Gilgo Beach in 2010, said Burke had plenty of skeletons in his closet. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The lawyer who represented Burke when the prostitute allegations surfaced in 2017 denied the claims then and said they “don’t warrant a comment,” Fox News reported at the time.
The former chief pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and civil rights charges in 2016 and served prison time before he was released from a halfway house and back to his Smithtown home in 2018.
Burke admitted that he brutalized Loeb, an admitted drug addict, and threatened to give him a lethal “hot dose” of heroin for stealing his sordid duffle back from a department-issued SUV.
That bag contained ammunition, a box of cigars, a dildo, sex toys and a collection of pornography.
Rex Heuermann, 59, an architect with offices in Midtown, was charged last week with the murder of three women found dead on Gilgo Beach in Long Island in 2010. He’s the prime suspect in the slaying of a fourth woman found at the scene. AP
“I will never feel safe after what you and your officers did to me,” Loeb said in court at Burke’s sentencing in 2016.
“I will never again feel comfortable living in Suffolk County, the place that I used to call home.”
According to court papers from the case, federal prosecutors said Burke also kept a bar at his Long Island office that was open at all hours — and once fled from a drunken wreck in Suffolk County.
Internal affairs probes into Burke’s conduct alleged that he had a sexual affair with at least one prostitute, including hooking up in his police car, WPIX11 said in a 2016 report.
Former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges in 2016 and served prison time for conspiracy and violating the civil rights of a suspect who stole his stash of sex toys and pornography. New York Post
Federal prosecutors noted in his sentencing memorandum that year that the disgraced chief “was the subject of a number of internal affairs investigations,” including “a substantiated case” when he “consorted” with a known prostitute and drug user.
The fallen cop’s name has resurfaced in the wake of last week’s arrest of Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old Massapequa Park architect with Midtown offices, who was charged with the murder of three of the Gilgo Beach victims.
Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the death of another woman — with those victims known collectively as the “Gilgo Four.”
The four bodies were discovered in December 2010 along marshy property while investigators were searching for the remains of Gilbert — whose family Ray represents.
State police and Suffolk County cops have been combing through the Massapequa Park home of architect Rex Heuermann, who was charged last week with the murder of three women whose bodies were found in 2010. Getty Images
Taylor’s remains were found in a wooded area in Manorville in 2003, with additional remains found at Gilgo Beach years later, in March 2011 — months after the Gilgo Four were found.
Gilbert, who was also an escort and was from Jersey City disappeared from the area in May 2010 and was also found at Gilgo Beach months later along with the other victims.
Their deaths remain unsolved to this day.
“Their investigation was minimum,” Ray claimed of Suffolk County cops under Burke’s watch.
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested last week and charged in the deaths of three women found on Gilgo Beach in 2010. He is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, with the victims known collectively as the “Gilgo Four.” Fox 5 NY
“In Shannan’s case, they had no knowledge of what really happened. They didn’t interview any witnesses of any significance.”
“I mean, it was stunning what they didn’t do, he said. “And this continued over the years. All they did was stonewall.”
The change in the Gilgo Beach investigation came at the start of last year when former NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison took over as Suffolk County police commissioner and reopened the case.
By March 2022, a joint state police and county task force had identified Heuermann as the suspect in at least three of the Gilgo Four cases — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.
The hulking architect is also the main suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Police have not said if they believe there is a link between those four and the other bodies, and Ray says while it’s a possibility, “it’s also not necessarily true” that Heuermann could be a suspect in those.
“The Gilgo Four are intact and wrapped in burlap and put in a ritualistic order one after the other,” he said. “Much unlike all of the others, most of whom were dismembered.
“So the method, the modus operandi, are different,” he said.
“That would suggest more than one person.”
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton
Source: New York Post
