Man charged in Gilgo Beach, Long Island serial killings

[kittylady]

Gilgo Beach murders: Architect charged in Long Island serial killer case


An architect has been charged with murder in the deaths of three out of up to 11 victims in New York state.

Rex Heuermann, 59, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He is suspected in a fourth woman's death.

On Friday the married father pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Detectives investigating the Gilgo Beach murders say they matched DNA from pizza the suspect ate to genetic material found on the women's remains.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told a news conference on Friday: "Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us - a predator that ruined families."

The suspect, who was arrested at his home on Thursday night, is facing three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the three women's deaths.

After a plea was entered on his behalf in court, Mr Heuermann reportedly broke down in tears, telling his attorney: "I didn't do this."

Ms Barthelemy, Ms Waterman and Ms Costello were found dead in 2010 near a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

The women have been dubbed the Gilgo Beach Four. All four were sex workers, according to prosecutors.

US District Attorney Ray Tierney told Friday's news conference that "each of the four victims were found similarly positioned, bound in a similar fashion by either belts or tape, with three of the victims found wrapped in a burlap-type material".

The local prosecutor said the case against Mr Heuermann was built on mobile phone records linking him to the victims, as well as to a pick-up truck that was seen near one of the victim's homes. He allegedly communicated with the victims using "burner" phones, which he later disposed of.

Phone records also allowed investigators to determine that the deaths had taken place when Mr Heuermann's wife and children were out of town.

Hair found on a piece of burlap used to wrap one of the victims was linked to Mr Heuermann via a sample from a pizza box he discarded in a rubbish bin in Manhattan in January 2023.

Investigators say he was also snared by taunting calls that a person claiming to be the murderer made to one of Ms Barthelemy's family members using her mobile phone.

Ms Barthelemy was abducted in 2009. Ms Waterman and Ms Costello both went missing in 2010.

Mr Heuermann is also a prime suspect in the death of Ms Brainard-Barnes, who was abducted in 2007, although he has so far not been charged with her death.

In 2010, police were searching for one missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, when they discovered the remains of four others.

Altogether, 11 sets of human remains were found on the same stretch of Gilgo Beach between 2010-11, linked to nine women, one man and a toddler. The identities of four, including the toddler, her mother and the man, remain unidentified.

Gilbert's remains were eventually found, and an official post-mortem examination was inconclusive. Her family believes she may have been murdered - a theory supported by an independent autopsy that they commissioned.

A new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach murders was formed in February 2022. Mr Heuermann became the focus of the investigation within a month, Mr Tierney said. More than 300 subpoenas and search warrants were issued by investigators on the case.

Since the task force was formed, Mr Heuermann allegedly also used a burner phone to conduct more than 200 searches about topics related to serial killers and the Long Island investigation.

This included a search for "why hasn't the Long Island serial killer been caught" and "mapping the Long Island murder victims", court documents show.

Mr Tierney added that "torture porn" and "depictions of women being abused and being killed" were found on Mr Heuermann's computer.

The investigation into the other victims is ongoing.

Mr Heuermann is the owner of RH Consultants and Associates, a Manhattan architecture firm that describes itself as "New York City's premier architectural firm".

The Associated Press has reported that he has a daughter and a stepson. A neighbour described the suspect going to work every morning, dressed in a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase.

In a YouTube interview for a real estate-focused channel last year, he said he had been working in the heart of New York City since 1987, describing himself as a "trouble shooter".

People who lived near his home in Long Island's Massapequa Park expressed surprise at his arrest.

"The guy's been quiet, never really bothers anybody," neighbour Etienne DeVilliers told CBS, the BBC's US partner.

"We're shocked. Because this is a very, very quiet neighbourhood. Everybody knows each other, all of our neighbours, we're all friendly."


BBC News



For anyone interested, here's the Wikipedia thread about the killings and victims.

[notoriousmkg]

This is a big deal, and Charmedhour probably knows a lot more about this, but I remember, years ago, there was a series of killings in NY where the bodies were laid out in some park that goes along commuter rail tracks. And that the murders had never been solved. I have to admit, though, that this guy seems like an incredibly unlikely suspect - highly successful architect. Seems like a big, soft, mellow shlub of a guy.

[Sarzy]

I'm very glad they've got finally got him.

I wish I'd never read the list of things he searched for online. Vile. Makes me wonder if he's ever killed a child too. 

[beeyotch]

I read about why they're so sure they have the right guy and I was convinced. But how horrifying that he would present as such a normal functional professional.

The taunting phone calls they tied to him...this sick fucker called the victim's sister to ask if she thought she'd ever hear from the victim again. Then said he killed her after having sex with her.

It reinforces my life-long approach of generally not ever trusting people.

[kittylady]

Jul 15, 2023 12:34:06 GMT Sarzy said:

I'm very glad they've got finally got him.

I wish I'd never read the list of things he searched for online. Vile. Makes me wonder if he's ever killed a child too. 

They have an unidentified child's body only listed as "Baby Doe". DNA testing showed that she's the daughter of one of the other unidentified potential victims, Jane Doe #3, known as "Peaches" because of a tattoo she had.

[no1novice]

Billy Baldwin knows 2 murderers now


Billy Baldwin was shocked to learn he grew up with Rex Heuermann, the man accused of killing four women on Long Island and leaving their remains near Gilgo Beach.

“Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann,” the actor, 60, tweeted on Friday.

Baldwin then shared that he and Heuermann, 59, were both part of the class of 1981 at Berner High School in Massapequa, NY.

“Married, two kids, architect,” the “Flatliners” star added. “‘Average guy… quiet, family man.’ Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock.”

He concluded, “23andMe strikes again???”

Baldwin explained in the comments section of his Instagram post about the revelation that the reference to 23andMe, a DNA testing kit, was pure speculation about whether that is how police were able to track down Heuermann.

“When people allow their 23 and me DNA results to be posted publicly it can often resolve a cold case crime or paternity issue because they can link someones child or niece or nephew to a suspect by their 23 and me results,” the “Northern Rescue” star told one of his followers.

Baldwin’s fans expressed their dismay over the fact that the celeb was in such close proximity with an alleged serial killer at one time.

“That’s so wild Billy! Did you get serial killer vibes back then?” another follower asked. “One of the besties from high school went on to commit a notorious crime. Obviously I didn’t see it coming but hindsight I totally see it happening.”

While Baldwin has not spoken out about Heuermann’s character, a source who knew the alleged killer told The Post Friday that he was “weird” and a “big talker.”

“He would always stand out. He was very personable. He would always make a point to talk to everyone in the room,” one person claimed.

“He was a big talker, promising to make professional connections and then never following through.”

However, they added of the New York City architect, “He was weird. He was always odd. He’d mosey around. We knew something was odd about him.”

Heuermann was taken into police custody Thursday after his DNA — which police found on a discarded pizza crust — matched the DNA found on the hair of one of the victims Megan Waterman.

His arrest is tied to the infamous “Gilgo Four,” the women who were found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010.

Heuermann has been charged with both first- and second-degree murder in the case of each of the victims. He pleaded not guilty.

[lindsaywhit]

I sat and thought for a minute about people in my neighborhood - what would I say about them if they were arrested for something like this? It seems like anyone I know in a neighborly but not 'close' way could be re-evaluated in a weird/off-putting/creepy way if I learned they had been strangling women and burying them in burlap. What was funny to me is that the hardest people to change my opinions about were the neighbors with dogs that obviously loved them.

[no1novice]

The Long Island Serial Killings Have Some Notable Hollywood Connections
Billy Baldwin posted about his relationship with the suspected killer, and a 2020 Netflix film about the case might deserve a rewatch

By Eve Batey
July 15, 2023
Police at the scene of home of a suspect in Gilgo Beach killings
Law enforcement officials are seen as they investigate the home of a suspect arrested in the unsolved Gilgo Beach killings on July 14, 2023 in Massapequa Park, New York.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Suffolk County police on Long Island announced a shocking development on Friday in a case that’s obsessed followers of true crime for over a decade. Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect, was arrested in what’s known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings, at least ten deaths that stretch as far back as the 1990s.

Several of the victims, as well as the then-abortive search for the killer, were immortalized in Robert Kolker’s 2013 non-fiction bestseller Lost Girls: An American Unsolved Mystery. A high-profile dramatic adaptation of that book, starring Amy Ryan and Gabriel Byrne, dropped on Netflix in 2020. Though it didn’t make much of a splash at the time (the emerging pandemic overshadowed its release on March 13), with the story on the front page of every paper in the country, it’s likely Lost Girls will see an uptick in views on the platform in coming days, though police say its central figure might not be one of the Long Island serial killer’s actual victims.


A grand jury had charged Heuermann with six counts of murder for the slayings of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. He's also “the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to a bail application from prosecutors,” but has yet to be charged in that case, according to CNN.




Heuermann has denied all involvement in the deaths and entered a plea of not guilty on all charges.

To just about everyone's surprise, actor Billy Baldwin popped up on social media to confirm that he went to high school with the suspect. “Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock,” he said.


In a subsequent Instagram post, Baldwin wrote that his tweeted mention of DNA test kit 23andMe was a reference to a practice known as forensic DNA, in which similar tests are used to link people via relatives to past crimes. “When people allow their 23 and Me DNA results to be posted publicly, it can often resolve a cold case crime or paternity issue because they can link someone's child or niece or nephew to a suspect by their 23 and Me results,” Baldwin said.

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Investigators say it was phone records and a distinctive pickup truck that directed them toward Heuermann, and the AP reports that the DNA evidence in question was recovered from a pizza crust discarded by Heuermann and strands of his wife's hair that police say matched evidence found on one of the victims.

That victim, as well as others linked to the case, were found along a highway near Heuermann’s home between 2010 and 2011, only after the mother of another missing woman—Shannan Gilbert, who disappeared in 2010—pushed police to search the area. During that search, the remains of several other women, most of them sex workers, were found along Ocean Parkway in the tony Long Island enclave of Oak Beach. Several other bodies have been found in the area in years since, many of whom police say were killed by the same person. Until Friday, no arrests have ever been made, nor were any suspects announced in the homicides.

Though investigators have since said that they don’t believe Gilbert’s death is related to the Long Island serial killer case, it’s her death that’s at the heart of Lost Girls. It’s also what attracted director Liz Garbus to the film, she told Collider in after the film made its Sundance debut.

"The book tells the stories of five families who have lost a daughter and their various struggles over the course of about ten years as they try to get the authorities to help locate these girls,” Garbus said, while the film focuses on Mari Gilbert (Ryan), whose daughter Shannan “was the last girl to go missing as far as we know,” Garbus said at the time. “She raised some hell, and got the police to start looking, but of course, it was too late. And in doing so, a group of women came together to get justice for their loved ones. It's also the story of Mari Gilbert forgiving herself as a mother,” Garbus said.

The movie was also Garbus’s scripted debut, after a career focused on documentaries, including Oscar nominees The Farm: Angola, USA and What Happened, Miss Simone? The same year Lost Girls was released, Garbus also helmed docuseries I’ll Be Gone in the Dark for HBO, an adaptation of the late Michelle McNamara’s investigation into the Golden State Killer case.

McNamara died before her book was published, the victim of an accidental drug overdose in 2016. Mari Gilbert was also gone before Lost Girls was released, killed by another of her daughters, Sarra Gilbert, in 2016.

Speaking with Collider about her character, Ryan said that "Mari had an extremely hard life. She was a single parent who worked a few jobs, and she made really hard decisions with some of her parenting choices, which I'm sure, at the time, she believed were her best choices.”

In the film, Byrne plays former Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, who—in reality as well as the film—clashed with Mari Gilbert over the investigation. In a 2011 appearance on 48 Hours Mystery, he argued that Shannan accidentally drowned and was “hysterical” at the time of her death. That said, he agreed with other investigators that the other 10 bodies discovered in the area were victims of a serial killer, the search for which Mari Gilbert—and others—claim he botched. Dormer resigned as Commissioner later that year, and died in 2019 at age 79.

According to Garbus, Dormer “bungle[ed] this case—whether because of negligence or corruption, we really don't know—and what Gabriel did so brilliantly was walk the line for different interpretations to arise from it.”

Less nuanced, perhaps, is the characterization of Dean Bostick, a Suffolk Police investigator who has no real-life counterpart. Played by insurance pitchman Dean Winters in the film, Bostick is a “composite character,” Garbus said, a less ambiguous cop with lines like “I mean, honestly, who spends this much time looking for a missing hooker?”

The answer to that question, apparently, is Suffolk County's newest Police Commissioner, Rodney Harrison. He's the one who revived the then-dormant search for the serial killer last year, saying then that “I believe this case is solvable and identifying the person or people responsible for these murders is a top priority."

Heuermann remains in custody without bail, after prosecutors filed a 32-page document outlining the allegations against him. Lost Girls is available on Netflix now.

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/long-island-serial-killings-hollywood-connections

[lindsaywhit]

So did this guy just stop killing twelve years ago? Anyone read any theories on that?

[Sarzy]

^ I find it hard to imagine he stopped for that long. I'd be interested to know too. 



----

Asa Ellerup, married to Rex Heuermann, who has been charged with murder, cut a glum figure. She was away when the killings happened, yet became central to the investigation.

Questions about Ms. Ellerup rippled along the bustling checkout counters on Monday morning in the IGA supermarket where she shopped several times a week for more than 20 years.

“Could he have been a monster who killed those girls and an angel at home?” said Mery Salmeri, a store manager. “Or maybe his family was just so scared of him that they were like his prisoners who would never tell anyone, even if they had some idea of what he was capable of.”

Cashiers at the supermarket knew them as a quiet, cheerless family that shopped several times a week. Ms. Salmeri said she watched their children grow up over the past 25 years. One thing remained constant, she said: Mr. Heuermann never accompanied them.

“He never came with them,” she said. “I’m not sure what that says about them.”

Ms. Ellerup looked depressed, Ms. Salmeri said, and the family often paid with food stamps, unusual at this store.

Prosecutors say Mr. Heuermann’s use of disposable burner phones — to contact his victims, to keep tabs on the investigation and to access cruel pornography — not only helped him elude the authorities for years, but may have kept his wife in the dark.

Criminologists say serial killers can be married and seem well adjusted. And, said Scott Bonn, a criminologist and researcher, “It’s not unusual for the wives and families of serial killers to be completely unaware about their darker compulsions.”

“They’re able to compartmentalize,” he said, “and see no contradiction in being a caring parent and partner in one aspect of their lives and in another, torturing and killing people,” he added.

The family’s location following Mr. Heuermann’s arrest was unclear. They were not seen this weekend as crime scene workers carried a succession of evidence boxes out of the house into trucks, or on Monday when the authorities searched a storage unit in nearby Amityville.

Both the accused man and his wife have spent their lives in the commuter suburbs of New York. Ms. Ellerup grew up about two miles from Mr. Heuermann after she and her sister emigrated from Iceland with their parents. Her mother is deceased, neighbors said, and her father still lives in the family’s house. He did not answer the door on Monday.

Ms. Ellerup attended Farmingdale High School and married briefly in her 20s and was divorced in the early 1990s in Queens. It was unclear whether she had a professional life outside the home.

On Ms. Ellerup’s apparent Twitter account, which had not been active in a decade, she posted about her passion for comic book conventions and taking vacations and vented about cold weather. Her handle, @elvenmaiden, was an apparent reference to a video game.

The Mustos, like other neighbors, called Mr. Heuermann’s family reclusive and enigmatic. On a tight-knit block, they did not socialize. Their unkempt house stood out almost as an extension of their nature.

To Ms. Musto, Ms. Ellerup did not seem concerned with appearances either. “It could be middle of the afternoon and she looked like she just rolled out of bed,” she said.

“I’m friendly with everybody around here but she didn’t talk to anyone,” Ms. Musto said.

There was speculation but little insight into Mr. Heuermann’s relationship with his wife and his family life. Their closest neighbors said they did not know them well and not one neighbor recalled anyone outside the family ever being allowed — or wanting to go — inside the house.

www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/nyregion/gilgo-beach-rex-heuermann-wife.html

[beeyotch]

These neighbors' quotes get me thinking about how much is just their own judgmental assumptions: There's not enough info to really get a full picture of what the family were like--because I can tell you I'm always the one who keeps to themselves and doesn't socialize in the neighborhood. (Having a kid, and previously a dog, made this only slightly less true.) And the comment about not caring about appearances could apply too. I look like I just rolled out of bed frequently, because whose business is it really if I look frumpy and just throw my hair up in a bun?

I'm just saying from the perspective of these quotes, it's a thin line between being odd or decidedly not social--and being a person with serious issues like being a serial killer or a serial killer's wife/family.

[Sarzy]

^ Fair points.

Apparently his wife has filed for divorce. I can't imagine the shock of finding out your husband is a serial killer. Even if he was abusive at home, it's just not something you'd ever expect. 

[czb]

Jul 20, 2023 20:22:47 GMT beeyotch said:

These neighbors' quotes get me thinking about how much is just their own judgmental assumptions: There's not enough info to really get a full picture of what the family were like--because I can tell you I'm always the one who keeps to themselves and doesn't socialize in the neighborhood. (Having a kid, and previously a dog, made this only slightly less true.) And the comment about not caring about appearances could apply too. I look like I just rolled out of bed frequently, because whose business is it really if I look frumpy and just throw my hair up in a bun?

I'm just saying from the perspective of these quotes, it's a thin line between being odd or decidedly not social--and being a person with serious issues like being a serial killer or a serial killer's wife/family.

but i think what you are saying is prevalent in a lot of 'tight-knit' neigborhoods. the quiet/non-participatory ones get pegged a certain way. some people don't want to socialize and that doesn't make you 'bad'.

sounds like this guy was a total enigma.

[sputnik]

it's also weird that he was so meticulous in his work at an architectural firm, and apparently did well and yet his house was a dilapidated mess. you'd think someone in his line of work would at least have a nice house?

[Sarzy]

At least one victim of the Gilgo Beach murders was killed at the Long Island home of serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann, police believe.

Law enforcement sources told CBS News detectives are now looking into unsolved murders across the country to see if they are linked to Heuermann, 59. Cops say he was behind the deaths of three sex workers in 2010 who were buried at Giglo Beach. He is the prime suspect in a fourth killing.


www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12321159/Gilgo-Beach-serial-killer-suspect-Rex-Heuermann-killed-one-victims-home.html