Gilgo Beach case: New DNA evidence links Rex Heuermann to murders

The remains of at least 11 victims were found in the Gilgo Beach area though it remains unclear if they are all the work of the same killer. Many were sex workers who offered escort services on Craigslist or worked in New York City.

The first victim found was Melissa Barthelemy, whose remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway on 11 December 2010 during the search for Shannan Gilbert – a 24-year-old sex worker from New Jersey who vanished after visiting a client in Oak Park and making a chilling 911 call where she revealed fears for her life.

Two days later on 13 December, the remains of three other victims – Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello – were found close by.

All three women were known to advertise escort services on Craigslist.

Brainard-Barnes – known as one of the Gilgo Beach Four – was last seen alive in early June 2007 in New York City while Costello was last seen leaving her North Babylon home one day in early September 2010.

Waterman was last seen alive in early June 2010 at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge.

Brainard-Barnes, Waterman, Costello and Barthelemy are together known as the “Gilgo Four”.

Mr Heuermannis charged with the murders of Waterman, Barthelemy and Costello but is yet to be charged with Brainard-Barnes’ murder.

Rex Heuermann’s family have been left living in a “surreal hellscape” following the bombshell arrest of the married father-of-two, attorney Vess Mitev toldThe Independent.

At the time of Mr Heuermann’s bombshell arrest, his adult children Victoria and Christopher still lived with him and their mother Asa Ellerup at the family home in Massapequa Park – a stone’s throw from Gilgo Beach where victims’ bodies were dumped.

Mr Mitev, who is representing Victoria and Christopher, said they have been forced to deal with the fallout “every moment of every day” ever since.

“The Heuermann children have been living in a constant, surreal, waking nightmare,” he said.

“Just because the news coverage doesn’t continue or it’s not in the news on a daily basis each day, for them it’s every day, it’s every moment. It’s the moment they wake up to the moment they go back to sleep again.

“It’s a situation you wouldn’t want to wish on anyone. It’s not a reality.”

He added: “Their focus has just been on managing their basic daily needs. We have specific, fundamental needs that we require to survive as people and that has really been their primary goal as their resources have been depleted completely or are no longer available to them.

“Their basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and a safe space to sleep in have been all but obliterated. They’re trying to piece back together those very basic but yet so vital things that most of us take for granted.”

New DNA evidence has tied Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann to a discarded pizza crust – and, in turn, one of the three women he is accused of murdering.

The 59-year-old architect and married father-of-two appeared in Suffolk County Court on Wednesday morning for a pre-trial conference in the case that has rocked Long Island for more than a decade.

Sporting a new shorter haircut, the suspected killer looked on as prosecutors unveiled further damning evidence linking him to the murders since his arrest in July.

A cheek swab had been taken from Mr Heuermann following a court order last month.

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His Manhattan business describes him as a registered architect with over 30 years’ experience.

His neighbours describe him as a “family man” living with his wife and two children in a tight-knit community in Suffolk County.

But now authorities are describing him as the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer who unleashed terror along the shores of Long Island more than a decade ago.

So who is Rex Heuermann...?

For around two decades, the sands and marshes of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach kept a dark secret.

A killer or killers roamed the locality, luring in escorts and sex workers and brutally murdering them.

Body after body was dumped along the shoreline, hidden for months and even years without being discovered.

Then, in 2010, a chilling 911 call made by a woman in fear for her life led police to search the area.

What they discovered was far more horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

Over the next year, the remains of 11 victims – mainly female escorts – were discovered dumped in the area, plunging the Suffolk County community into terror.

But, the case went cold and no arrests were made, no suspects were named and there was no justice for the victims and their families. That is, until now.

In July, local married father-of-two Rex Heuermann was arrested on suspicion of being the infamous serial killer. The 59-year-old has been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello and is also the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman Maureen Brainard-Barnes – who was last seen alive in New York City in early June 2007.

Now, the question is: now an arrest has been made, is the hunt for the Gilgo Beach serial killer finally over?

Rex Heuermann was tied to the murders through DNA found on one of the victims.

In court documents following his 13 July arrest, prosecutors said that a male hair had been found on the burlap used to wrap Megan Waterman’s body before the killer dumped her along Gilgo Beach.

When the hair was first retrieved in 2010, it was unsuitable for DNA analysis, according to the court documents.

But that hair was kept safely locked away and was submitted for analysis in 2020. A DNA profile came back.

Now, to check if it matched Mr Heuermann, investigators needed his DNA to compare the samples.

This January, a surveillance team watching the suspect saw him chuck a pizza box into the trash close to his office in Manhattan. They nabbed the box and found a leftover pizza crust inside.

The forensics came back: it was Mr Heuermann’s hair found on Waterman’s body, prosecutors said.

It’s taken 13 years but Suffolk County Police finally say they’ve caught the serial killer who dumped his victims along the shores of Gilgo Beach – thanks to a pimp’s tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, his wife’s hair and a pizza crust. Rachel Sharp reports