Ex-Suffolk Police Chief Stuart Cameron discusses Gilgo Beach investigation, TWA Flight 800 disaster, MS-13 murders in new book

Suffolk police never stopped hunting for the killer who murdered the women whose remains were found in the Gilgo Beach area, former Chief of Department Stuart Cameron said, even as the media and public grew frustrated with an investigation that stretched on for more than a dozen years and had seemingly gone to the dogs.

But dogs — and their human police partners — played a special and unsung role in the investigation that eventually led to the 2023 arrest of Massapequa Park architect Rex A. Heuermann, the longtime law-enforcement official wrote in his new memoir, "The Long Watch."

Cameron described the Suffolk police K-9 Unit in his book as among the nation’s best, staffed by "good police officers and good human beings." One officer especially stood out: John Mallia, who with his German shepherd partner, Blue, located five of the 11 sets of remains found on the South Shore of Long Island. Without the K-9 unit, Cameron said, those remains may have never been found.

"I really had the highest respect for the people that worked for me in K-9," Cameron, then the commanding officer of the Special Patrol Bureau, said in an exclusive interview with Newsday. "They were extremely dedicated to the job."

Cameron, now the chief of the Old Westbury Police Department, said "The Long Watch" began as an attempt to share his experiences during 40-plus years in law enforcement with his children and grandchildren. The self-published book, which became available on Amazon on Thursday, chronicles his involvement in the Gilgo Beach investigation, MS-13 murders, the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the corruption case that ended in prison sentences for former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke and ex-Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota.

Cameron, 64, grew up in Nassau watching TV shows such as "Adam-12," which persuaded him to pursue a career in law enforcement at an early age. He hoped to join the Nassau County Police Department but was eventually hired by Suffolk police in 1985. He hoped to make lieutenant one day and said he never dreamed that he would serve as the department’s chief of department and acting police commissioner.

"I personally did a lot of interesting things in my career and it is rewarding to be able to record that and publish them in a book," Cameron said.

When Mallia and Blue discovered the first Gilgo body on Dec. 11, 2010, Cameron said, investigators initially assumed it was the remains of Shannon Gilbert, the sex worker who had disappeared after making a frantic 911 call several months earlier. The remains instead turned out to be those of Melissa Barthelemy, a Bronx woman reported missing in 2009. The New York State Police sent additional cadaver dogs to aid with the search.

"He [Mallia] found three more sets of human remains in one day, which was really shocking," Cameron said. "I think it was at that point that pretty much everybody realized there was a serial killer working in Suffolk County."

The terrain the K-9 unit searched was extremely difficult: marsh, spongy ground filled with brambles, thorny vines and dense vegetation. Ticks, poison ivy and scratches came with the territory, Cameron said.

Cameron, who lives in eastern Nassau, was named chief of department in 2015 after Burke, who was under investigation by the FBI after he was accused of assaulting a crime suspect and orchestrating a cover-up, was fired by then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. Burke had barred the FBI — and its massive resources — from the case while he was under investigation.

Cameron said it is impossible to say if the case would have been solved sooner if the FBI had remained involved — the mitochondrial DNA technology crucial to the investigation, for example, was not available until later. "Of course, I think greater collaboration would have been beneficial," he added.

MS-13 began a killing spree across Long Island not long after Cameron was named chief of department. The slayings of two Brentwood High School girls in 2016 and four teens in Central Islip the following year, killed with machetes and baseball bats, horrified the country, he said. Most of the killers were teens.

"Prior to the double homicide and the quadruple homicide, some people had disappeared and there was belief that it was possible that MS-13 had a hand in it. It was hard, I think for people, for the public, to wrap their minds around the fact that people this age, with no prior criminal record, could be engaged in these horrendous acts," Cameron said.

"We put together a task force in the Third Precinct, because MS-13 was predominantly operating in that precinct," Cameron said. "A gang task force, and we did resolve it quickly and efficiently. The FBI, being back on the FBI gang task force, was an absolute asset to get that done."

Cameron, then a lieutenant, got a front-row look at large-scale policing in 1996, when TWA Flight 800 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Suffolk County while en route from Kennedy Airport to France. More than 200 people were on board, and investigators later determined that the crash was caused by mechanical failure. Cameron spent many weeks after the crash supervising security at the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office along with Burke, who was a sergeant at the time.

"There was a belief, initially, that a missile had shot down the plane, that it could have been a terrorist attack," Cameron said. "So that could have been an investigation into one of the largest mass murder cases in U.S. history. It was critically important that security be elevated for anyone coming into the medical examiner’s office."

Cameron said he enjoyed the process of writing "The Long Watch" and is considering taking on another book project — the history of the Suffolk County Police Department.

"I like hearing about the history, so I tried to record some of that history in there [“The Longest Watch"] because it’s all oral history," the chief said. "When people pass away, it’s gone."