Gilgo Beach murders: Rex Heuermann’s potential ties to Atlantic City probed as sister-in-law speaks out

Investigators are exploring the possibility that suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann could be responsible for other murders all across America, following his sudden arrest last week.

Former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce told ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that the 59-year-old suspect is now being looked at in connection to missing persons cases and murders far beyond the shores of Long Island – across the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut and even nationwide.

“I made some phone calls yesterday to see what they were doing. They’re looking at all missing persons who have never been found and see if they can put those together,” he said.

“Not just in Suffolk, but throughout the tri-state area to see what they can put together. There’s also the FBI looking at national issues as well.”

Mr Boyce pointed out that Mr Heuermann had been “free” for many years – as the accused killer continued his daily life for 13 years after the bodies were first discovered in 2010.

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Mr Heuermann’s bombshell arrest last sent shockwaves across the shoreline community of Gilgo Beach in Long Island following 13 years of unanswered questions over a trail of bodies found in the area.

The married father-of-two is facing six charges over the murders of Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy — all sex workers in their 20s whose bodies were found during a missing persons investigation in 2010.

He is also the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard- Barnes, with authorities saying more charges are expected. The Suffolk County Police Department is also probing potential ties to the other six bodies linked to the Gilgo Beach case, as well as other murders nationwide.

Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN that Mr Heuermann’s family reacted with shock to his arrest and are now cooperating with the investigation. Before being taken into custody, Mr Heuermann, 59, had outwardly led a normal life, working as an architect in Midtown Manhattan and making very little impression on his neighbours in Massapequa Park.

“They were disgusted. They were embarrassed,” Mr Harrison said. “So, if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living.”

Rex Heuermann’s wife has filed for divorce just six days after New York police arrested her husband over the notorious Gilgo Beach murders.

Court records show that Asa Ellerup – the accused serial killer’s wife of two decades and mother of his children – filed a matrimonial complaint in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The case – Asa Ellerup v Rex Heuermann – is listed as “uncontested”.

His family are said to have been left “shocked” and “disgusted” after the Long Island native, 59, was arrested on Thursday and charged with the murders of three women.

A Manhattan architect and father-of-two has been arrested in connection to one of the most infamous unsolved serial killer cases along the East Coast.

So who really is Rex Heuermann?

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

New York City Department of Buildings records unearthed by The Real Deal on Wednesday show that Mr Heuermann’s firm RH Architecture was hired by a tenant at the Trump Building on 40 Wall Street.

The job was completed in 2018 and Mr Heuermann’s firm was paid $200,000 to complete it.

The Trump Organization said in a statement that it has never hired Mr Heuermann’s services and it was a third-party tenant who employed the now suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer.

“Mr Heuermann has never worked for the Trump Organization in any capacity,” a spokesperson told TRD. “According to our records, he was hired by a third-party tenant, who vacated years ago, to perform minor architectural work in their individual space.”

It’s unclear whether Mr Heuermann ever visited the building as part of the job he was hired to do. The Independent has reached out for comment.

Attorney John Ray represents the families of Gilbert and Jessica Taylor, whose remains were among those found during the 2010 probe. Mr Ray told The Independent on Tuesday that he has long suspected that a woman may have helped the killer lure the victims.

“We have a number of reasons to think a woman may have been involved. Nothing is certain here, [I want] to emphasise that, but there was some evidence that a woman was involved,” Mr Ray said.

The attorney said that some of the evidence that could suggest a woman was involved in the killings is the way a “baby Doe’s” body was found.

The child’s mother, dubbed “Peaches” for a tattoo on her torso, was found in Nassau County in 1997. Additional remains and those of her child were found years later, and the murders have been linked to the Gilgo Beach case.

“The baby was wrapped in a blanket of some kind. And that’s something, you know, if you’re a depraved murderer, as a man ... Would you take the time to do that?” Mr Ray said. “But a mother might do that. That’s just one I use that as one of several reasons why we think that, but we don’t have any dispositive evidence that it was so.”

Reporters on the scene of Rex Heuermann’s home on Wednesday revealed that investigators tried to block their view as some items were being seized.

This has raised speculation as to what evidence may have been found inside his family home in Massapequa Park.

While Rex Heuermann has pleaded not guilty and broke down in tears while protesting his innocence, investigators have painted him as a warped individual who systematically preyed on his victims, obsessively following police efforts to catch him online and potentially posing a threat of striking again.

But who are his alleged victims?

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad reports: