MASSAPEQUA PARK, Nassau County (WABC) — The Long Island man charged in the deaths of at least three women in the Gilgo Beach murders remains behind bars after a major break in a case that went unsolved for more than a decade.
Rex Heuermann, an architect and married father of two who lives in Massapequa Park, was charged with first-degree murder Friday in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, according to an indictment unsealed in Suffolk County Criminal Court.
He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of another woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The victims in the case – there are 11 in total, including a man and a toddler – were mostly young women who were sex workers. Authorities have said that more than one person may have been responsible for the murders.
“We’re going to continue to work, investigate, and try to get a small measure of closure for all the victims’ families,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
Heuermann, 59, was tied to the murders in part through DNA extracted from a discarded pizza crust he ate and a male hair found on a victim, as well as his activity on a series of burner phones used to arrange meetings with the slain women. He also “searched obsessively” for information about the cases. Cell calls were traced to areas around his home on Long Island and office in Manhattan.
Heuermann was first eyed in the cases in March 2022. At the time, he was connected to a Chevy pickup truck a witness had seen where a victim disappeared in 2010.
“They never stopped working and will continue to work tirelessly until we bring justice to all the families involved,” Suffolk County police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.
The 59-year-old was arrested around 8:30 p.m. Thursday in Midtown, Manhattan, outside the office building where he works as an architect. Exclusive video obtained by Eyewitness News shows authorities surround Heuermann and take him into custody.
He was arraigned Friday afternoon in Suffolk County. He pleaded not guilty.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, personally appearing before the judge, called Heuermann an “ongoing danger.”
He implored the judge not to allow bail as Heuermann owns houses in South Carolina and Las Vegas and is a flight risk.
He said Heuermann used seven burner phones to make more than 200 searches about the Gilgo Beach investigation and family members of the victims.
Defense attorney Michael J. Brown called the case against Heuermann “extremely circumstantial in nature.”
Heuermann was ordered held on no bail pending a bail application based on what the judge called the “extreme depravity of the allegations.”
The four women Heuermann is linked to were all found covered in burlap along a half-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore in late 2010.
The group has been referred to as the “Gilgo Four” after investigators determined their killings were connected.
MORE: Who are the ‘Gilgo Four?’
Early Friday morning, crime laboratory officers were seen entering his home in Massapequa Park as a large police presence, led by Suffolk County Police, NY State Police, and other law enforcement partners kept a perimeter.
The home belonged to a family that had long kept to themselves, neighbors said, noting that the dilapidated property seemed out of place among rows of single-family homes and well-kept lawns in the small community.
“You never saw anybody coming in or out of that house,” said Richard Harmon, a neighbor. “You would say, ‘Who lives there?’ You never see anybody.”
MORE: What we know about the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders
As for the victims, their murders, along with the deaths of seven other people, have long gone unsolved.
Shannan Gilbert’s disappearance in 2010 triggered the hunt that exposed the larger mystery. A 24-year-old sex worker, she vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot in the seafront community of Oak Beach, disappearing into the marsh.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us – a predator that ruined families,” Suffolk County police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said on Friday. “If not for the members of this task force, he would still be out on the streets today.”
MORE: How investigators tracked down the Gilgo Beach murders suspect
This story includes information from the Associated Press.
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