Classmates Describe Gilgo Beach Suspect’s Troubled School Days
Former classmates say the accused serial killer charged in the deaths of three women associated with the Gilgo Beach murders was an isolated teenager who was picked on in school—and was known for lashing out at those who targeted him.
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested on July 13 and has since pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Authorities say he is considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, with investigators still seeking answers as to who was responsible for taking the lives of 11 people whose remains were found on Long Island over a decade ago.
How the Gilgo Beach Suspect Was Undone by a Pizza Box and a Tinder Account
On Friday, The New York Times reported on Berner High School contemporaries’ experiences and impressions of Heuermann in their youth. The classmates graduated two grades behind the alleged killer and recalled him as having endured a hard time at home and at the school in Massapequa, New York.
John Parisi said Heuermann was “everybody’s punching bag,” adding that he never quite fell into one of the school’s cliques. “He got picked on a lot,” Parisi said. But in high school, Heuermann got bigger and others took note. “I was really scared of him. He was the type of guy if he snapped he could really hurt you,” Parisi said. “He was disillusioned and he was misguided. You had to be very careful.”
Others expressed disbelief when they found out Heuermann had been accused of the slayings. “It’s a shock. We knew him,” Michael Sean Fagan said. “He was nerdy, smart.” Others, in contrast, weren’t even remotely shocked. Don Ophals, who went to kindergarten with Heuermann and continued to be his classmate through 12th grade, said he “was not surprised at all. “I said, ‘Oh my god, it fits perfectly.’ That’s the weird guy,” Ophals told the Times, describing Heuermann as a “recluse” who “barely spoke.”
Dan Musto, who says he knew Heuermann growing up, said it was also well known that Heuermann was given a hard time by his father, Ted, and that Heuermann was once caught after a shoplifting spree. “Why is he getting in trouble? He’s fighting with his dad,” Musto said. “It was common knowledge.” Heuermann was 12 in 1975 when his father died, with his mother, Dolores, left to raise Heuermann and his four siblings.
Another person who grew up near Heuermann’s home said he lacked the “social skills to hold a conversation” and that it was known that Heuermann would fight back if he was antagonized to a certain point. “He had a mean streak in him,” John DeMicoli said.
One of Heuermann’s neighbors, Etienne de Villiers, also said they only had a few conversations, but he once had to tell Heuermann to stop leering at his sunbathing wife over a backyard fence. De Villiers said that when Heuermann’s daughter Victoria, now 26, got her license, he wanted to tell her, “Just get in your car and drive and never come back.”
On Thursday, Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup and son Christopher were seen by local news crews returning to the family home following a 12-day police search of the property. During the search, Long Island police found a vault on the property containing hundreds of guns. An attorney for Ellerup confirmed last week that she has filed for divorce.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told NBC News he will personally prosecute the case and called the DNA evidence collected so far “very powerful.” Heuermann faces charges of first- and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of three women identified as Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Their bodies were found wrapped in hunting burlap in 2010.
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