YAPHANK, NY — Suffolk County police's Homicide chief, who has led the Gilgo Beach investigation, has retired from the department's headquarters in Yaphank after 12 years with the second-longest tenure in the position in the department's history.
Thirty-one-year department veteran Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer was feted recently in a traditional law enforcement walk-out ceremony at police headquarters in Yaphank. The ceremony included a police helicopter flyover and music from the Suffolk County Police Emerald Society Drum and Fife Band.
In addition to Gilgo, other notable cases of Beyer's included that of the triple slaying in which only an infant was left alive inside a Farmingville townhouse in 2021, as well as the killing of Centereach mom Melissa Molinari, whose body was found dumped in the forest in Middle Island.
He also investigated the fatal beating of a five-year-old boy in Brentwood at the hands of his parents, and the gunning down of a man on a train at the Long Island Rail Road station in Ronkonkoma.
The longest-serving homicide chief was John Gierasch, who headed homicide from 1989 to 2002, a department spokesperson said.
Beyrer's role heading the homicide division required "constant availability," as he responded to scenes at all hours of the day and night, "and guided the work of detectives through some of the department’s most challenging cases," the department's brass said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
"The position demanded a deep sense of responsibility to victims, families, and the community," the post read, adding, "We thank you for your service and wish you a well-earned retirement."
