Is car taken from Long Island Serial Killer’s SC property linked to Charlotte victim?
A vehicle tied to Rex Heuermann, the alleged Long Island Serial Killer, was found more than 700 miles away from New York in Chester, South Carolina.
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect who lived in Massapequa Park on Long Island and worked in midtown Manhattan, was arrested last week and charged with the murders of three women, with a possible fourth charge forthcoming.
One of those women is Charlotte native, Amber Lynn Costello.
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bail.
An older green Chevy Avalanche was impounded by the Chester County Sheriff’s Department and driven out of secluded property owned by Heuermann and his brother to Suffolk County on Monday, ABC7 reported.
According to Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, Heuermann owned the vehicle at the time of the murders, but gave the vehicle to his brother in 2015.
Property records in Chester County show Heuermann bought the property totaling about 5 acres on Rippling Brook Drive in the Mirror Lakes subdivision on July 28, 2021 for $154,351, the Rock Hill Herald reported.
Chester SC deputies assisting in NY Gilgo Beach murders case, sheriff says
The Chester News and Reporter said Heuermann planned to retire in Chester.
A tale of two Avalanches
Another newer black Chevy Avalanche was recovered from Heuermann’s Long Island home over the weekend, the Post reported.
One of the women believed to have been killed by Heuermann is Amber Lynn Costello, a sex worker and North Carolina native born in Charlotte and raised in Wilmington. Her body was discovered in 2010 on a beach in Long Island.
Costello’s pimp is the person who told police that a “first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche” was the vehicle he believed Costello’s killer was driving, according to a bail application, as reported by media outlet Outkick.
Officials have not confirmed whether the vehicle found in South Carolina or the one found in Long Island was the one identified by the pimp.
Who is Heuermann’s brother in South Carolina?
Neighbors who know Heuermann’s brother, Craig, who has lived in Chester for around 20 years, told Fox News that dogs, loud music and banging can often be heard coming from his lot.
“We rarely see him outside,” one neighbor told Fox News. “He does have a ton of dogs on the property that you can hear barking all the time, but they don’t really bother us,” one neighbor said. “But as far as our few interactions, they’ve always been pleasant.”
Two neighbors told Fox that Craig had a rule that grass was not to be cut on Sundays. When a homeowner who lived across from him broke the rule, Craig allegedly approached him from behind and hit him over the head with a steel pole.
Neighbors also received business cards from Craig with the his name, phone number and the words, “Bad Motherf—er.”
“I keep my distance… I think he’s as crazy as a bed bug,” another neighbor told Fox.
Who are the other Long Island Serial Killer victims?
The four women, including Costello, at the center of the Heuermann case are known as The Gilgo Four, because they were found in the same area on Gilgo Beach on Jones Beach Island, a Long Island barrier island, in 2010.
Their bodies were discovered when police were searching for another young woman who had disappeared, 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert. Instead of finding Gilbert, police discovered the bodies of four women wrapped in camouflaged burlap. They had all been strangled, according to reports. (Gilbert’s body was found later.)
All four women are believed to have been sex workers that Heuermann contacted through an escort service:
Amber Lynn Costello, 27, of North Babylon, New York
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, of Norwich, Connecticut
Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of Bronx, New York
Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine
Though she is believed to be his first victim, Heuermann has not been charged with Brainard-Barnes’ murder.
Seven other bodies were found nearby, but Heuermann has not been connected to those. The investigation into other disappearances is ongoing.
