Bodies wrapped in burlap were unearthed near remote Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s South Coast more than a decade ago, scaring residents and costing victims’ families. In all, the rest of the nine women, one man and a toddler detected.
Since then, investigators have been trying to determine whether the murder was committed by one person or by multiple killers. But for more than a decade, the case went nowhere.
Then, on Thursday, Rex Heuermann, an architect who has lived most of his life in Nassau County and worked in Manhattan, was taken into custody, and a bail application said he was charged in three murders and is the prime suspect in the fourth. . Before arresting him, investigators screened for clues as simple as a monogrammed belt and as complex as the electronic signal of a disposable cell phone.
By Friday morning, police officers had cordoned off Mr. Heuermann’s home, a small, one-story house with faded red paint, on a block of First Avenue in Massapequa Park, where vehicles vehicles and police gathered at the scene.
Rodney Harrison, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Commissioner, said at a news conference outside the home early Friday morning, authorities made the arrest in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday night. The suspect is expected to be indicted Friday afternoon, said Commissioner Harrison, who did not name the person arrested.
Suffolk County chief executive Steve Bellone said the “unrelenting determination” of several agencies led to the arrest, adding that he hoped it would bring “public justice.” justice for these victims and closure for the families that have suffered.”
Murders have terrorized people for more than a decade when body after body was discovered in a remote area about 40 miles from Midtown starting in 2010. Overall, the remains of Mr. nine women, one man and a toddler have been detected in the area. For years, investigators have investigated whether the killings were committed by one person or by multiple killers.
“The work is not done yet, but this is a big, important step forward,” Mr. Bellone said.
In recent years, investigators have used a sophisticated technology to locate disposable cell phones they believe the killer used to communicate with his victims. themselves for several hours before they disappeared, said a person with knowledge of the investigation. Investigators used this mapping technology to find where the calls originated and narrowed them down to a small area near First Avenue in Massapequa Park, where Heuermann lives, and an area The small town of Midtown Manhattan turned out to be close to his office.
Mr. Heuermann lived most, if not all, of his life in a tidy working-class suburb about an hour by train or car from Midtown Manhattan. Neighbors describe him as a “normal” man who walks to Massapequa Park station every day, wearing a suit and carrying a briefcase.
Barry Auslander, a neighbor, said: ‘When you saw him walking to the train station, you would never think he was a businessman.
Cheryl Lombardi, a neighbour, said: ‘After hearing about this case for so many years, it was a shock.
No one answered the phone at Mr. Heuermann’s company, RH Consultants and Associates, on Friday morning. An email seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Four women linked to Mr. Heuermann, each wrapped in a sack and taped in the same way, were later buried within a quarter of a mile along Gilgo Beach.
The person with knowledge of the matter said the bodies were essentially lying next to each other. Investigators knew that the disposable phones were used to contact the women in the evening, late at night and early morning, the person said.
Daytime contacts were made in a small area of Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station, a few blocks from Heuermann’s office.
In an interview in February 2022, Mr. Heuermann described himself as an architect and architectural consultant who has carefully read the building and administrative regulations, and saved kept a “rich library of obsolete books”.
“I am a troubleshooter, born and raised on Long Island, working in Manhattan since 1987 — a very long time,” he said in an 18 and a half minute interview with Antoine Amira, a real estate agent and host of a YouTube show called Bonjour Realty.
The murder came to light around May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert, 24, from Jersey City, NJ, working as an escort, was reported missing on Long Island. She disappeared while visiting a client in Oak Beach, a gated community three miles from Gilgo Beach.
A search by Suffolk County police resulted in the discovery of four bodies wrapped in burlap and buried along Ocean Parkway, three miles from where Mrs. Gilbert was last seen alive. In 2011, they were identified by DNA as Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. All are in their 20s and work as escorts. Later that year, they found the remains of Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old mother from southern New Jersey who had paid the bills for escorting and had been missing for 20 years.
The bail application that prosecutors filed in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead asked a judge to take Heuermann into custody and said he had been charged with first-degree murder in three murders: Mrs. Waterman, Mrs. Costello and Mrs. Barthelemy. He is considered the prime suspect in the death of the fourth person, Ms. Brainard-Barnes.
Mrs. Gilbert’s body was found in December 2011, but investigators said they did not believe her death was linked to the serial killer. Mrs. Gilbert’s family disagrees and request the publication of more evidence.
The investigation yielded few results for many years.
In 2020, investigators at a news conference revealed a photograph they believe is key evidence gathered early in the investigation: a black leather belt, embossed with a pair of letters. the one about half an inch tall. Investigators said it spelled the initials “WH” or “HM.”
Mr. Heuermann’s neighbors said he attended Alfred G. Berner High School and lived in his family’s long-standing home, which has vegetation on the roof partially supported by bare wood. With its cracked, faded shingles and squalid courtyard, the little house stood out among the neat houses in the block.
Other neighbors said people avoid going to the house on holidays like Halloween because it’s sleazy and no one knows the owner.
In his interview with Amira, Mr. Heuermann said his father was an aerospace engineer who helped build satellites and make furniture at home. Heuermann said he also builds furniture from his home workshop.
Sitting at his desk and wearing a light blue button-down shirt, Mr. Heuermann describes the “patience” and “tolerance” needed to deal with the threatened suburban architects. by New York’s Byzantine building regulations.
His work, he said, has taught him more about “how to understand people”.
At the end of the interview, Mr. Amira asked Mr. Heuermann to pose for a selfie. Mr. Heuermann, a tall, muscular man, taller than Mr. Amira, wore a pair of black sunglasses.
Can you laugh? Mr. Amira asked.
“It is,” replied Mr. Heuermann.
Andy Newman And Ellen Yan contribution report.
