Architect Arrested as Suspected Serial Killer in Gilgo Beach Murders

On Thursday of last week, Heuermann, 59, was arrested and charged with the murder of three of the ‘Gilgo Four’: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose remains were located and unearthed near Gilgo Beach in 2010. .

As the investigation has progressed, detectives have been tying up old unsolved homicide cases for more than a decade and it all leads to the same pattern and the same suspect. They even try to connect the architect to disappearance cases that go beyond Long Island.

The exact moment of the arrest of the architect accused of being a serial killer: he had 92 weapons in his house

According to police sources told ABC News, they are checking if they can “link it to unsolved murders or missing persons cases around the world.”

Parallel to the possible extension of the case, the detectives continue with their work in the field. This weekend they registered a deposit in the community of Amityville, on Long Island, according to what they indicated to the AP news agency.

Investigator Anthony Carter, who is part of the multidisciplinary team that has handled the case, is astonished: “He is a demon, and it is really difficult to get into the mind of someone who is capable of committing the crimes he committed,” he assured CNN.

Ray Tierney, Suffolk district attorney, said Monday in an interview for the same outlet that they have enough evidence with which they can “prove these three murders,” but that they are also trying to solve the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body found very close to that of the previous victims

“We are confident that we are going to be able to finally charge (Heuermann) with that fourth murder,” Tierney said.

DNA evidence, witnesses and other evidence that compromises Rex Heuermann

During all this time they have been collecting evidence to prove their involvement in the crimes that are attached to them.

The multijurisdictional task force has pieced together years of suspect activities, tracing lines of leads and interviewing witnesses, Carter told CNN.

In March 2022, the architect was already designated as a suspect in one of the crimes. A witness told authorities that he had seen the pickup truck when one of the victims disappeared.

Investigators in an area of Oak Beach where they found human remains of several women.

Credit: James Carbone/AP

“We have a description of the last individual to see the last victim alive, Amber Costello, that matches that of this defendant, who has quite a unique physical appearance,” prosecutor Tierney said. “We have phone evidence, and we also have that DNA.”

“This person pretended to do what he did to these victims. And that’s why I say he’s one of the worst, if not the worst,” Carter told CNN.

They are looking for a missing person and they found more bodies

On the night of May 1, 2010, 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert disappeared, apparently running through the Oak Beach gated community after leaving a client’s home, a Suffolk Police statement said.

Although multiple searches were conducted in the vicinity of where Gilbert was last seen, her body was not discovered until 18 months after she was first reported missing.

On December 11, 2010, eight months after the search for Gilbert began, a Suffolk County Police Department canine unit continued the search for Gilbert near his last known whereabouts. Instead of Gilbert, however, they discovered human remains who were later identified as 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy.

Two days after Barthelemy’s discovery, three other victims (initially designated Jane Does number two, three, and four) were located near the same area. The remains were later identified as 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 27-year-old Amber Lynn Costello, and 22-year-old Megan Waterman. The four women worked as escorts on Craigslist and were last seen between July 2007 and September 2010.

The entrance to the beach of Gilgo Beach, where they got eleven bodies buried.

Credit: Michael M. James/Getty Images

Subsequently, the investigation into the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert was expanded again. On March 29, 2011, the remains of another woman she met were discovered, identified as those of Jessica Taylor, who worked as her escort, like the previous four from Gilgo Beach.

Five days later, three more sets of remains were found in Suffolk County. One was that of a young girl, another was that of an as-yet-identified Asian male, and the third was initially named Jane Doe number six.

A week later, the investigation uncovered two other groups of remains, in Nassau County. Through DNA analysis, it was confirmed that one of them corresponded to the girl’s mother.

In May 2020, through advanced forensic technology, they identified another victim as Valerie Mark, who disappeared at age 24 while living in Philadelphia and working as an escort.

In early December 2011, police found Shannan Gilbert’s bag and mobile phone in some swamps; two days later they located her remains.

Heuermann: the discreet New York architect

Rex Heuermann, 59, is the owner of an architectural consulting company founded in 1994 and currently located in Midtown, Manhattan. “I was born and raised on Long Island. I’ve been working in Manhattan since 1997,” he himself said in an interview shared on YouTube last year.

Heuermann’s friends and clients in the real estate business were stunned by the news of his arrest. Also the neighbors of Massapequa Park, where he lived with his wife and his two children, reports Univision 41, the local Univision in New York.

In 1990 Heuermann married an executive from an office supplies company. He has a daughter who works in his company.

Heuermann is the son of an aerospace engineer and lived in the house where he grew up, according to a report by The New York Times.

At the time of his appearance in state court in Riverhead, Judge Richad Ambro ordered the defendant placed behind bars without bail, citing the “extreme depravity” of his alleged conduct.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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A pizza box and a disposable phone ended up giving away Rex Heuermann, a Long Island resident arrested by the New York police, accused of being the alleged murderer of Gilgo Beach, a series of homicides of women that occurred more than a decade ago. .

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Suffolk County police officers have arrested a suspect in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial murders that occurred between 2010 and 2011. Investigators search the suspect’s home to the surprise of neighbors.

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Massapequa Park residents look on in amazement as police and investigators arrive at the home of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer.

Credit: Eduardo Muñoz Alvarez/AP

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José Joaquín Torres/ Univision New York

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Relatives of several of the victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killer were present during the authorities’ press conference on the afternoon of Friday, July 14, 2023.

Credit: José Joaquín Torres/ Univision New York

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Criminal investigators take samples at the Massapequa Park home where the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders was arrested, Friday, July 14, 2023, in , NY (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)