Long Island serial killer: How a man accused of killing 11 people was arrested 13 years later

What is the Long Island serial killing case?

The Long Island serial killing case, also known as the Gilgo Beach serial killing case, revolves around a series of remains of women sex workers, found largely along the shore of the Gilgo Beach portion of the sprawling Long Island Beach, around 75 km from New York City in the United States.

The locations where eight of 10 bodies were found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010 are seen in this Suffolk County Police handout image released to Reuters on September 20, 2011. (REUTERS/Courtesy of Suffolk County Police/Handout)

It all started with the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert. The 24-year-old sex worker had gone missing in May 2010, hours after a meeting with a client in the area. Prior to her disappearance, she had made a frantic call to the police, repeating the phrase: “Somebody’s after me.”

As a part of a search for her, a police officer and his cadaver dog were scouring through the nearby beaches on December 11, 2010, when the German Shepard sniffed out a set of remains – later identified as those of 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy – wrapped in a decaying burlap sack.

Further searches in the area over the next two days revealed the dismembered remains of three other women – Megan Waterman (22), Amber Lynn Costello (27) and Maureen Brainerd-Barnes (28). Their physical appearance, the method of killing and the state in which their remains were found triggered speculation that they could be victims of a serial killer.

Pictures of women, whose bodies were identified among 10 bodies found near Gilgo Beach since December 2010, are seen in this Suffolk County Police handout image released to Reuters on September 20, 2011. (REUTERS/Courtesy of Suffolk County Police/Handout)

The women were all in their 20s, around 5 feet tall, weighed about 50 kg, and were current or former sex workers, who were last seen leaving to meet their clients. The cause of death was strangulation, and parts of their remains were found wrapped in burlap bags. Later, as the investigation dragged on, Suffolk Police faced (and denied) allegations that the case was not prioritised because of the victims’ profession.

A couple of months later, on March 29, 2011, police found the partial remains of another woman in a spot further along the stretch of the Long Island beach. She was later identified as 20-year-old Jessica Taylor, also a sex worker, who had gone missing eight years ago, and whose partial remains were found in another part of New York in July 2003.

Over the course of April and May 2011, the Suffolk County Police found the remains of at least five other women involved in sex work, including a mother and her female toddler, along the beach and in the neighbouring Nassau County. The remains of a man, dressed in women’s clothing, were also found. According to then-Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer, it is not unheard of for women to bring along their child for an online sex encounter.

Gilbert, meanwhile, was found dead in December 2011 in a nearby coastal marsh. Though police said that she drowned accidently and her death is not suspected to be a part of the Long Island serial killer case, her now-deceased mother had long argued that she was one of the killer’s victims.

The arrest of Rex Heuermann

Last Thursday (July 13, 2023), police took Rex Heuermann into custody on charges of murdering three of the first four women, whose remains were found in 2010. He has also been named the prime suspect in the murder of the fourth.

Heuermann, a 59-year-old New York-based architect, was arrested after a fresh review of an old clue in the case connected him to the murders. Heuermann, who resides near Long Island’s Massapequa Park village with his wife and two children, has denied charges of murdering Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman.

Police said that he carried out the killings while his wife Asa Ellerup, who had immigrated from Iceland, was away. Ellerup, who filed for divorce on Wednesday, played an unknowingly crucial role in his arrest – police said that DNA from strands of her hair helped connect Huermann to the remains.

What made him a suspect?

Police said that Heuermann came under their radar after they linked a witness statement about a specific early-model pick-up truck (a Chevrolet Avalanche) that was seen outside the home of Amber Costello, one of the victims, to Heuermann via the vehicle registration database.

His cell phone activity and credit card records also placed him in proximity to three of the victims. They also matched his DNA, which they reportedly collected from a half-eaten pizza crust in the trash, to that of genetic material found on the victims’ remains.

As per media reports attributed to the police officials involved in the investigation, Heuermann owned several burner phones and email addresses under false names, which were used to arrange meetings with sex workers. Police said that the suspect allegedly used one of the victim’s cellphone to contact her family anonymously, even telling them that he had killed her.

In addition to this, his internet search history allegedly showed that he had taken an active interest in the Gilgo case, searching for the progress in the investigation, including the phrase, “Why hasn’t the Long Island serial killer been caught?”

What next?

Heuermann is scheduled to appear in court on August 1 and, if convicted, faces life imprisonment without parole.

Over the course of this week, authorities searched Heuermann’s Long Island home, seizing the Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck, 200 firearms, a desktop computer, a large doll in a glass case, a large portrait of a woman with a bruised face, and a filing cabinet, among others.

Suffolk County District Attorney said that authorities are working on charging him in the death of the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Additionally, as per the Associated Press, law enforcement officials believe that the killings are unlikely to be the work of a single person, and hence, the probe is ongoing.

“Everything is in its infancy still. This is just part of it. There’s so much more work that needs to be done in terms of additional investigation, additional interviews, analysing evidence, and on and on,” Deputy Commissioner Anthony Carter told The Associated Press, adding, “There are still a lot of victims, and we need to continue to try to bring justice for all of them.”