A Long Island architect was arrested and charged with the murders of three women more than a decade after the bodies were discovered on a South Shore beach.
(Bloomberg) — A Long Island architect was arrested and charged with the murders of three women more than a decade after the bodies were discovered on a South Shore beach.
Rex Heuermann was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, according to a court filing by the Suffolk County District Attorney on Friday. Heuermann, 59, is the “prime suspect” in the killing of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us, a predator that ruined families,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said in a press conference.
The remains of the four women were found wrapped in burlap near Gilgo Beach within days of each other in 2010. Heuermann was arrested Thursday night at his Massapequa home in Long Island. He pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Prosecutors, who urged the judge to hold Heuermann in custody before trial, used cell tower evidence to link him to burner phones used to communicate with the four women, who are believed to have been sex workers, and say he used the mobile phone of one of his victims to make taunting calls to her family after her murder.
Heuermann is the owner of an architecture firm in Midtown Manhattan, and prosecutors say he made several of the calls from locations near his office. Calls to RH Consultants and Associates, the company founded by Heuermann, and to his attorney weren’t answered.
Prosecutors say a witness described a client entering Costello’s home the night before she disappeared. The man’s physical appearance — about 6’4 in height with big oval glasses — matched Heuermann’s. The witness said the client left after Costello pretended to have her boyfriend disrupt their meeting — and kept the money — only to be messaged by the client the next day, asking to meet away from the house so that he could use the “credit.”
They said a break in the case came in March 2022 with the discovery that Heuermann had a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche — a distinctive pickup truck that was identified by the witness.
That led to a “comprehensive investigation” of Heuermann, involving 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal moves to obtain evidence. Police and prosecutors made use of a secret grand jury to avoid tipping off Heuermann, who did more than 200 online searches to try to learn what authorities knew about the murders, District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters.
Heuermann allegedly set up a Tinder account with a fake name linked to a burner phone used to contact sex workers, and set up email accounts used to search for torture and child pornography, serial killers, and the disappearances of the four women. He allegedly searched: “why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer.”
Investigators used mitochondrial DNA evidence to link hairs found on some of the women to both Heuermann and his wife. Prosecutors said the wife’s hairs were likely transferred to the victims through Heuermann’s clothing and other objects from their home. Heuermann’s wife and children were out of town for each of the murders, according to prosecutors.
The technology used for the analysis didn’t exist when the investigation began a decade ago, officials said Friday.
Fears about a serial killer on Long Island have gripped the New York area since the four women were discovered after police began investigating the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert in May 2010. Several more sets of remains were discovered in 2011, including the body of a toddler.
Early last year, Harrison announced the creation of a task force to solve the case and identify some of the remaining unidentified victims. Tierney and Harrison started in their roles shortly before the creation of the task force, and said Friday that solving these crimes has been a priority for them.
Beyond the “Gilgo Four” it’s unclear how many of the other murders are connected, and some of the remains within the area first appeared in the 90s. Officials said Friday that the investigation into the other murders is ongoing, and wouldn’t comment on other possible suspects.
“We’re going to maintain that investigative secrecy and when I talk about other individuals and other cases, it will be after they have handcuffs on,” Tierney said.
A 911 call made by Gilbert, a sex worker, was released last year, in which she claimed people were trying to kill her. Still, Suffolk Police have said her death was likely not a murder and not part of the broader serial killer case. Her body was found in a marsh.
Multiple sources first confirmed the arrest to News 12 Long Island, which said that First Avenue in Massapequa Park was “flooded with police.” Jones Beach Island, where Gilgo is located, sits below Massapequa and is a popular beach destination for New Yorkers.
(Updates with remarks of police commissioner in third paragraph.)
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