A suspect has been arrested in reference to 3 of the ten sufferers related to the Gilgo Beach, New York, murders, government stated.
New York City architect Rex Heuermann is charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose our bodies have been discovered coated in burlap alongside Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore in December 2010, in step with courtroom data unsealed Friday in Suffolk County Criminal Court.
Barthelemy disappeared in July 2009, Waterman disappeared in June 2010 and Costello was once ultimate noticed in September 2010. The 3 women have been between 22 and 27 years previous and all labored as intercourse staff, courtroom data stated.
“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison stated Friday. “A predator that ruined families.”
Rex Heuermann is proven in this reserving photograph launched by way of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department.
Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department
Shortly earlier than each and every lady vanished, she had touch with an individual the usage of a “burner” cell phone with no verified identification, in step with courtroom data. The cell phones of two sufferers have been utilized by the killer after their deaths, in step with data.
On 5 events in the summer season of 2009, any person in midtown Manhattan — which is the place Heuermann’s place of work is positioned — used Barthelemy’s telephone to make “taunting phone calls to Ms. Barthelemy’s family members,” courtroom paperwork stated. Some of the calls “resulted in a conversation between the caller, who was a male, and a relative of Melissa Barthelemy, in which the male caller admitted killing and sexually assaulting Ms. Barthelemy,” paperwork stated.
According to courtroom paperwork, data established that Heuermann’s spouse was once out of the city when Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello disappeared.
A fourth sufferer, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in July 2007, was once additionally tied to the 3 women. While Heuermann isn’t charged in the demise of Brainard-Barnes, the courtroom record stated he’s the “prime suspect in her death.” The investigation into Brainard-Barnes’ demise is ongoing, officers stated Friday.
Pictures of women, whose our bodies have been identified amongst 10 our bodies discovered close to Gilgo Beach since December 2010, are noticed in this Suffolk County Police handout symbol launched to Reuters on September 20, 2011.
Handout ./Courtesy of Suffolk County Police by the use of Reuters, FILE
“Each of the four victims were found similarly positioned, bound in a similar fashion by either belts or tape,” courtroom paperwork stated.
Male hair was once recovered from the burlap used to wrap Waterman’s frame, and that DNA was once discovered to be a fit to leftover pizza crust Heuermann threw right into a Manhattan rubbish can in January 2023, in step with courtroom paperwork.
Heuermann, 59, a married father of two, used one of his burner telephones “to conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography,” courtroom data stated.
Other searches have been “related to active and known serial killers,” and the disappearances of the Gilgo Beach sufferers. One seek, in step with courtroom data, was once, “Why hasn’t the Long Island serial killer been caught.”
Rex Heuermann is proven in an undated report photograph from his company’s web page.
RH Consultants & Associates, Inc.
He additionally allegedly looked for footage of the Gilgo Beach sufferers and their kin, Tierney stated.
Heuermann additionally looked for and seen articles in regards to the government investigating him, in step with paperwork.
The suspect was once arrested in Manhattan Thursday evening, government stated, and legislation enforcement was once noticed out of doors his house in Massapequa Park on Long Island Friday morning.
Crime laboratory officials arrive to the home the place a suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in reference to a long-unsolved string of killings, July 14, 2023, in Massapequa, New York.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
Heuermann first got here up as a suspect in the investigation in March 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney stated Friday.
Heuermann was once tracked thru his automotive, a Chevrolet Avalanche, which was once came upon in 2022. A witness to Costello’s disappearance reported seeing a Chevrolet Avalanche, courtroom data stated.
Detectives additionally tracked Heuermann thru cell phone data, in step with courtroom data. Tierney stated cell phone mapping led investigators to 0 in on spaces in Massapequa Park and midtown Manhattan.
Police officials stand guard close to the home the place a suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in reference to a long-unsolved string of killings, July 14, 2023, in Massapequa, New York.
Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AP
Fears of a serial killer at the South Shore of Long Island started in 2010 with the invention of a girl’s frame alongside Ocean Parkway.
Over the following 12 months, the our bodies of seven extra women, a person and a baby have been came upon in the similar common house.
The places the place 8 of 10 our bodies have been discovered close to Gilgo Beach since December 2010 are noticed in this Suffolk County Police handout symbol launched to Reuters, Sept. 20, 2011.
Courtesy of Suffolk County Police by the use of Reuters, FILE
Investigators have lengthy believed it was once imaginable there was once multiple killer as a result of of the other stipulations of the sufferers. Additionally, the wooded stretches alongside Ocean Parkway have been lengthy identified as dumping grounds for our bodies.
Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of sufferer Jessica Taylor, advised journalists she was once “shell shocked” by way of the arrest.
Taylor disappeared in 2003 on the age of 20. Partial stays have been discovered in 2003 and extra stays have been came upon in 2011 alongside Ocean Parkway.
“I hope that she’s remembered as a beautiful young woman” and now not as a intercourse employee, Robinson stated Friday.
Neighbors collect out of doors the Gilgo Beach suspect’s house in Massapequa Park on Long Island, July 14, 2023.
Victor Ordonez/ABC News
Heuermann is charged with 3 counts of first-degree homicide and 3 counts of second-degree homicide.
Defense legal professional Michael Brown entered a now not responsible plea on Heuermann’s behalf at his arraignment on Friday. Heuermann most effective spoke his title in courtroom. He was once ordered hung on no bail.
Following the illusion, his legal professional advised journalists that, thru tears, Heuermann advised him, “I didn’t do this.”
“Today is a good day,” Harrison stated at a news convention Friday, earlier than hugging members of the family of the sufferers.
“There’s more work to do in this investigation regarding the other victims of the Gilgo Beach bodies,” he added, encouraging someone with information to return ahead.Â
ABC News’ Mark Crudele contributed to this record.
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