Rex Heuermann press conference – live: Long Island police to give ‘update’ in Gilgo Beach murders case
Police in Long Island have announced an “update” in the investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and other New York officials have scheduled a press conference for 10.30am ET on Friday morning to announce new details over the murders.
A senior law enforcement source told NBC New York that investigators have been able to identity another victim – previously referred to as the seventh Jane Doe.
This comes as prosecutors have asked the court to obtain a swab of DNA from serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann and as his wife broke her silence in her first interview since his shock arrest to reveal she is filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” every night over the horror case.
Mr Heuermann, 59, was arrested on 13 July and charged with the murders of Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He is also the main suspect in Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ killing.
The women all went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their remains were found along Gilgo Beach.
Key Points
District Attorney says they handed over 8 gigabytes of discovery
Serial killer suspect’s first words after arrest revealed
‘Massive amount’ of evidence recovered from Heuermann home
‘My children cry themselves to sleep,’ says estranged wife
How the net closed in on Rex Heuermann
07:00 , Rachel Sharp
Court records show that Mr Heuermann was linked to the “Gilgo Four” murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, “sadistic” online searches, phone calls taunting victims’ families, his wife’s hair found on the victims’ bodies – and a pizza crust.
The first piece of the puzzle came when a witness in the Amber Costello case revealed details about a vehicle that a client was driving when she was last seen alive.
Costello, who worked as a sex worker, was seen alive on the evening of 2 September 2010 when she left her home in West Babylon. A witness said she had gone to meet a client who was driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
Last year, a registration search showed that local man Mr Heuermann owned a first-generation model of the truck at the time of Costello’s disappearance. He also matched the witness’ description of the man believed to be the killer: a large, white “ogre”-like male in his mid-40s, around 6’4’ to 6’6” tall, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses”.
The discovery of the car led investigators to hone in on Mr Heuermann including executing 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence to determine his potential involvement in the killings.
Among this was Mr Heuermann’s alleged use of burner phones, with prosecutors saying that he used burner phones to contact the three women and arrange to meet them at the time when they went missing.
He also allegedly took two of the victims’ cellphones – and used one to make taunting phone calls to one of their families where he boasted about her murder, court documents state.
Mr Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the victims, while his wife’s hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to.
Eight gigabytes of evidence handed over in Rex Heuermann’s case
06:00 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
ICYMI: Long Island police dodge questions about crucial piece of evidence at Rex Heuermann home
05:00 , Rachel Sharp
Investigators in Long Island have dodged questions about a crucial piece of evidence believed to have been found inside the family home of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney was grilled in a press conference last Tuesday about the chilling alleged discovery of a mattress inside a huge vault in the basement of his home in Massapequa Park.
The DA repeatedly refused to confirm or deny the existence of the potentially harrowing piece of evidence but did confirm the existence of the walk-in underground vault beneath the property that he shared with his family.
“The vault is big enough to walk into and it’s in the basement,” he said, adding that “like the rest of the house, [the vault] was cluttered”.
Read more:
Long Island police dodge questions about evidence in Rex Heuermann home
RECAP: The Gilgo Beach serial killer case
04:00 , Rachel Sharp
The Gilgo Beach murders had long stumped law enforcement officials in Suffolk County who believed it could be the work of one or more serial killers who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along the remote beaches on Ocean Parkway.
The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach.
She called 911 for help saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again.
During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman.
Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by.
By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Police have long thought that it could be the work of one or more serial killers.
Gilbert’s body was then found in December 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client’s home.
However, an independent autopsy commissioned by her family ruled that she died by strangulation and her mother believes she was murdered.
Like Gilbert, most of the victims targeted were sex workers, while some are yet to be identified.
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
02:00 , Rachel Sharp
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.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
PICTURED: Search of Rex Heuermann’s home
01:00 , Rachel Sharp
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Thursday 3 August 2023 23:00 , Rachel Sharp
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?
Rex Heuermann: Who is serial killer suspect in Gilgo Beach murders
WATCH: Last known movements of Gilgo Beach victim Megan Waterman
Thursday 3 August 2023 22:15 , Rachel Sharp
Evidence against Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage: prosecutors
Thursday 3 August 2023 21:00 , Rachel Sharp
The trove of evidence against Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage from his home in Massapequa Park and his office in Midtown Manhattan, according to prosecutors.
The accused killer appeared in court in Suffolk County on Tuesday for a brief preliminary hearing.
In the hearing, prosecutors outlined the wealth of evidence against him including 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports.
The evidence was turned over to Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei and Mr Heuermann’s attorney Michael Brown. It has been sealed under a protective order, limiting its release to the public.
Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family
Thursday 3 August 2023 20:15 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
Prosecutors seek Rex Heuermann DNA swab
Thursday 3 August 2023 19:41 , Megan Sheets
Prosecutors in the Gilgo Beach murders case have asked the court to obtain a swab of suspect Rex Heuermann’s DNA.
CNN reported on the request on Thursday, two days after Mr Heuermann appeared in court for an evidentiary hearing.
Previous court filings revealed that investigators used discarded pizza crust to link Mr Heuermann to the killings.
Read more about prior evidence:
How pizza crust, burner phones and wife’s hairs led police to Gilgo Beach suspect
Rex Heuermann’s wife says home was left in ruin from search
Thursday 3 August 2023 19:15 , Rachel Sharp
This week, Rex Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup broke her silence in her first interview since her husband’s arrest where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” she told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Rex A Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, appears in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said last week that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the home which Mr Heuermann grew up in as a child – and which he went on to share with his family up until his sudden arrest.
No human remains were discovered, but a trove of around 270 guns were seized from the home.
The DA previously revealed that they believe at least some of the murders may have taken place inside the home.
WATCH: Evidence removed from home of Long Island serial killer suspect
Thursday 3 August 2023 18:15 , Rachel Sharp
ICYMI: Sex workers reveal recordings of calls with Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect
Thursday 3 August 2023 17:15 , Rachel Sharp
Multiple sex workers have revealed that they held onto recordings of phone calls with the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect after he contacted them – but they refused to meet with him.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told The Independent in a statement on Monday that officials have been interviewing sex workers as they are booked into local jails about any past encounters they had with Rex Heuermann.
So far, two women have revealed that they not only were in contact with the accused killer but also had made recordings of conversations with him.
Read the full story:
Sex workers reveal recordings of calls with Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect
Rex Heuermann is ‘traumatised’ by Gilgo Beach murders arrest, attorney says
Thursday 3 August 2023 16:15 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann’s attorney has said that the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer is “traumatised” by his sudden arrest – as he claims that the 59-year-old married father-of-two has already been “convicted by the media”.
Attorney Michael Brown told ABC News that he met the accused serial killer for the first time on Friday when he was arraigned on charges for murdering three women and dumping their bodies along the shores of Long Island.
He said that Mr Heuermann seemed normal in the meeting but was “traumatised” by the fact he had been taken into custody over the unsolved killings.
“Nothing struck me as unusual about him. He was articulate, he was intelligent, he was soft-spoken,” he said.
Eight gigabytes of evidence handed over in Rex Heuermann’s case
Thursday 3 August 2023 14:15 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
Rex Heuermann’s chilling response to arrest revealed
Thursday 3 August 2023 13:15 , Rachel Sharp
The Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect had a somewhat blase reaction when a group of plain-clothes police officers swooped on him in the heart of a busy Manhattan street and arrested him in connection to a chilling series of cold case murders, according to authorities.
Rex Heuermann was taken into custody on 13 July as he left the office of his architecture business in midtown Manhattan.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has now revealed the accused serial killer’s first words when officers descended on him more than 13 years after the victims’ bodies were found discarded along Gilgo Beach, Long Island.
Mr Harrison told NBC News that the 59-year-old married father-of-two was dismissive of the allegations – but then quickly lawyered up.
“He very much said, ‘What am I here for? I don’t know nothing of what you’re talking about,’” he said.
“He asked for a lawyer – and that was the end of the conversation,” he added.
As the 59-year-old was processed into Suffolk County Jail on a string of murder charges, sources told CNN he did have another chilling question – this time about his newfound notoriety.
“Is it in the news?” he asked.
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
Thursday 3 August 2023 12:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has stayed in contact with him since his bombshell arrest for the murders of at least three women, it has been revealed.
Asa Ellerup – who has been married to the accused serial killer for more than 20 years and shares two adult children with him – has spoken to her husband in “personal” jailhouse phone calls while he remains behind bars in Suffolk County jail, her attorney Robert Macedonio told CNN on Tuesday.
“I believe there has [been contact] but you have to realise any phone calls are recorded out of the facility,” he said, declining to detail the contents of those conversations.
Read more here:
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
WATCH: Gilgo Beach, the story so far
Thursday 3 August 2023 11:15 , Rachel Sharp
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s wife speaks out for first time
Thursday 3 August 2023 10:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann broke her silence in her first interview this week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” Asa Ellerup told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family
Thursday 3 August 2023 09:15 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
WATCH: Rex Heuermann’s attorney says there will be no plea deals
Thursday 3 August 2023 08:15 , Rachel Sharp
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect ruled out of Atlantic City murders
Thursday 3 August 2023 07:15 , Rachel Sharp
A New Jersey prosecutor said Tuesday that the murders of several sex workers on Long Island do not appear to be related to the unsolved killings of four sex workers near Atlantic City in 2006.
Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said detectives from his office met recently with detectives from Suffolk County, New York and compared information on the two sets of homicides.
Officers from both agencies compared “timelines, dates, methodologies, etc. of both cases,” the prosecutor said.
“There does not seem to be a connection between the suspect in the Gilgo Beach case and the Atlantic County homicides from 2006,” he said.
Representatives of the Suffolk County Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Ever since the bodies were found on Long Island, speculation quickly arose as to whether the killings might have been carried out by the same person or persons that killed four women whose bodies were found in a drainage ditch behind a string of seedy motels just outside Atlantic City in 2006.
The two sets of homicides involved sex workers whose bodies were dumped in remote, overgrown areas not far from the ocean.
No one has been charged in the New Jersey cases, which happened in Egg Harbor Township, near Atlantic City.
Reynolds said those cases remain open and active.
“Authorities will continue to follow all leads until the perpetrator of those crimes is brought to justice,” he said.
A joint investigation is being carried out by Atlantic City and Egg Harbor Township police, as well as state and federal law enforcement officers.
AP contributed to this report
Pizza crust, burner phones and his wife’s hair: How Long Island police tied Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders
Thursday 3 August 2023 06:15 , Rachel Sharp
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:
How pizza crust, burner phones and wife’s hairs led police to Gilgo Beach suspect
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Thursday 3 August 2023 05:15 , Rachel Sharp
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?
Rex Heuermann’s wife pleads to be left alone
Thursday 3 August 2023 03:15 , Rachel Sharp
In a statement released through her lawyers Macedonio & Duncan, Rex Heuermann’s wife has pleaded to be left alone.
“On behalf of my family and especially my elderly neighbors, who have also had their lives turned upside down by the enormous police presence, in addition to the spectators, and news crews,” Ms Ellerup’s statement read.
“They deserve to live peacefully; they should be able to walk their dogs and go to the grocery stores without cameras shoved in their faces.
“I am pleading with you all to give us space so that we may regain some normalcy in our neighborhood.”
VOICES: Gilgo Beach and the ‘normal’ man turned serial killer
Thursday 3 August 2023 02:15 , Rachel Sharp
“While news of the arrest of Long Island resident Rex Heuermann on multiple counts of murder may have sent ripples of shock through his community, the revelation that a “normal” man was capable of such heinous acts of violence was hardly surprising for sex workers and their advocates. Violence – including infrequent but horrendous instances of serial predators and killers – is too often a reality for those engaged in sexual labour.
“Media coverage has typically focused on dissecting the police investigation, and now the killer’s biography. Of course, the media has long been interested in stories of serial killers preying on sex workers, and there has been no shortage of such cases. From the sensationalist reporting of Jack the Ripper in Victorian-era London to the Yorkshire Ripper case in 1970s England, from Robert Pickton’s terrorising of Indigenous women in Vancouver (1990s) to Seattle’s “Green River Killer” (1980s-90s), serial predators have long targeted people in the sex trades. The Dallas police have just arrested a man on suspicion of the murders of three sex workers.”
Dr Jayne Swift writes:
Gilgo Beach and the ‘normal’ man turned serial killer
PREMIUM: Horror on the shore: the murder spree that has gripped America
Thursday 3 August 2023 01:15 , Rachel Sharp
Back in 2010, very few people knew the name Gilgo Beach.
The small beach in Long Island didn’t have the same draw for New York day-trippers or staycationers as the shores along other oceanfront towns like Montauk or East Hampton.
And for anyone outside of New York state, they’d likely never even heard of it.
That all changed one night in May when a terrified woman called 911 begging for help to save her from someone she believed was trying to kill her.
A search of the area for the missing woman followed – and what it uncovered was something that placed Gilgo Beach on the map forever.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
The murder cold case that has gripped America
WATCH: Rex Heuermann makes court appearance
Thursday 3 August 2023 00:15 , Rachel Sharp
When will Rex Heuermann next appear in court?
Thursday 3 August 2023 16:29 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann appeared in court in Suffolk County on Tuesday for a brief preliminary hearing.
His next court date was set for 27 September when he will appear for a pre-trial conference hearing.
Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence as he faces court in Gilgo Beach murders case
Wednesday 2 August 2023 23:15 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s wife breaks silence in first interview
Wednesday 2 August 2023 22:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann broke her silence in her first interview this week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” Asa Ellerup told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Rex Heuermann’s wife says neighbours want to bulldoze her home
Wednesday 2 August 2023 21:31 , Megan Sheets
Rex Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup spoke out on Wednesday to reveal how her neighbours want to raze her home in the wake of her husband’s arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders.
“The people in this neighborhood, they want this house gone,” she told the Daily News. “They want it bulldozed, you understand? They want it gone.”
She said her family continues to come across things “destroyed” by investigators who spent days scouring the home for evidence linking Mr Heuermann to the serial killings.
As for how she’s coping with her husband’s traumatic unmasking, she said: “I can’t think. You ask me what do I want? ... I want to be able to sleep for a couple of hours. I’m not sleeping.”
Who are the Gilgo Beach victims?
Wednesday 2 August 2023 21:15 , Rachel Sharp
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.
Seven months later, on 26 July 2011, the remains of Jessica Taylor were found in a wooded area in Manorville during the ongoing search for Gilbert. Taylor worked as an escort in New York City.
Valerie Mack also worked as an escort but was last seen alive in Philadelphia in 2000. Her remains were found on two separate occasions in Manorville in 2000 and in Oak Beach in 2011 but she was only identified in 2020 through the use of genetic genealogy.
Some of the victims have never been identified.
The skeletal remains of an Asian male, aged between 17 and 23 years old, around 5 feet 6 inches tall and with poor dental health, were found along Ocean Parkway in April 2011. He is believed to have died around five to 10 years earlier.
That same day, the remains of a female toddler were discovered. She was later identified as the daughter of the also-unidentified female victim dubbed “Peaches” whose remains were found in Nassau County.
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
Wednesday 2 August 2023 20:16 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has stayed in contact with him since his bombshell arrest for the murders of at least three women, it has been revealed.
Asa Ellerup – who has been married to the accused serial killer for more than 20 years and shares two adult children with him – has spoken to her husband in “personal” jailhouse phone calls while he remains behind bars in Suffolk County jail, her attorney Robert Macedonio told CNN on Tuesday.
“I believe there has [been contact] but you have to realise any phone calls are recorded out of the facility,” he said, declining to detail the contents of those conversations.
Read more here:
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
WATCH: Gilgo Beach, the story so far
Wednesday 2 August 2023 19:15 , Rachel Sharp
How Rex Heuermann was linked to the murders
Wednesday 2 August 2023 18:15 , Rachel Sharp
Court records show that Rex Heuermann was linked to the “Gilgo Four” murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, “sadistic” online searches, phone calls taunting victims’ families, his wife’s hair found on the victims’ bodies – and a pizza crust.
The first piece of the puzzle came when a witness in the Amber Costello case revealed details about a vehicle that a client was driving when she was last seen alive.
Costello, who worked as a sex worker, was seen alive on the evening of 2 September 2010 when she left her home in West Babylon. A witness said she had gone to meet a client who was driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
Last year, a registration search showed that local man Mr Heuermann owned a first-generation model of the truck at the time of Costello’s disappearance. He also matched the witness’ description of the man believed to be the killer: a large, white “ogre”-like male in his mid-40s, around 6’4’ to 6’6” tall, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses”.
The discovery of the car led investigators to hone in on Mr Heuermann including executing 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence to determine his potential involvement in the killings.
Among this was Mr Heuermann’s alleged use of burner phones, with prosecutors saying that he used burner phones to contact the three women and arrange to meet them at the time when they went missing.
He also allegedly took two of the victims’ cellphones – and used one to make taunting phone calls to one of their families where he boasted about her murder, court documents state.
Mr Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the victims, while his wife’s hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to.
Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family
Wednesday 2 August 2023 17:15 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
WATCH: Moment Gilgo Beach suspect arrested in crowded New York street
Wednesday 2 August 2023 16:15 , Rachel Sharp
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
Wednesday 2 August 2023 15:17 , Rachel Sharp
For around two decades, the sands and marshes of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach kept a dark secret.
A killer or killers roamed the area, 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.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the story:
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
Watch: Suffolk County District Attorney gives statement on court conference
Wednesday 2 August 2023 14:00 , Ariana Baio
Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence as he faces court in Gilgo Beach murders case
Wednesday 2 August 2023 13:00 , Andrea Blanco
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
No cameras were allowed during the hearing and Mr Huermann was brought inside the Arthur M Cromarty Criminal Court Complex through an underground tunnel from the jail across the street, according to WSAZ. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney told media outside the courthouse in Riverhead that his team had handed eight terabytes of evidence to the defence.
“We’re talking about a 13-year-old case so we’re talking about a massive amount of material, and don’t forget it is continuing, because the investigation is continuing,” Mr Tierny told reporters. “It had to be done in a way that made sense to us but also to the defence ... and we were able to catalogue everything that we provided.”
The Independent’s Andrea Blanco reports:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
Recap: Tuesday’s court conference was related to discovery
Wednesday 2 August 2023 12:00 , Ariana Baio
Rex Heuermann and his attorneys met with the Suffolk County District Attorney and a judge to discuss the timing of discovery being handed over to defence counsel.
District attorney Ray Tierney told reporters that prosecutors have a “tremendous” amount of evidence related to the case as investigators first began collecting it 13 years ago.
Tuesday’s court conference regarded how the prosecution will hand over discovery, starting with an 8-gigabit file of photos, reports, physical evidence and more.
Another court conference is planned for 27 August.
Rex Heuermann’s wife says investigators turned their house ‘upside down’
Wednesday 2 August 2023 11:00 , Ariana Baio
An attorney for Asa Ellerup, the wife of Rex Heuermann, described a chaotic scene inside the house that she shared with the accused killer.
“Everything in the house was turned upside down,” Bob Macedonio, Ms Ellerup’s attorney told CNN.
“Dresser drawers were emptied out. The bathroom tub – which was a vinyl tub – was actually cut open. The floors were ripped up. The couches and the mattresses have been removed,” Mr Macedonio said.
Investigators in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said that law enforcement found “massive amounts” of material when they investigated the suspect’s home.
How Long Island police tied Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders
Wednesday 2 August 2023 10:00 , Ariana Baio
For more than a decade, the accused killer continued to go about his day-to-day life – going to work at his architecture firm in Manhattan and coming home to his wife and two children.
He seemed just as baffled by his lack of arrest as the local residents and victims’ families who questioned why police had not been able to catch the killer.
Rachel Sharp reports:
How pizza crust, burner phones and wife’s hairs led police to Gilgo Beach suspect
Rex Heuermann is ‘traumatised’ by Gilgo Beach murders arrest, attorney says
Wednesday 2 August 2023 09:00 , Ariana Baio
Rex Heuermann’s attorney has said that the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer is “traumatised” by his sudden arrest – as he claims that the 59-year-old married father-of-two has already been “convicted by the media”.
Attorney Michael Brown told ABC News that he met the accused serial killer for the first time on Friday when he was arraigned on charges for murdering three women and dumping their bodies along the shores of Long Island.
He said that Mr Heuermann seemed normal in the meeting but was “traumatised” by the fact he had been taken into custody over the unsolved killings.
“Nothing struck me as unusual about him. He was articulate, he was intelligent, he was soft-spoken,” he said.
Timeline of events in Giligo Beach murders
Wednesday 2 August 2023 07:00 , Ariana Baio
1 May 2010
Shannan Gilbert, 24, disappears after working a job as an escort in Oak Beach, Long Island.
December 2010
Suffolk County police find four bodies along Ocean Parkway between Gilgo Beach and Cedar Beach while searching for Ms Gilbert.
January 2011
Victims identified as Megan Waterman, 22, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27. All four women were escorts.
Ms Waterman was last seen in the spring of 2010. Ms Brainard-Barnes was last seen on 9 July 2007. Ms Barthelemy was last seen on 12 July 2009. Ms Costello was last seen on 2 September 2010.
April 2011
By April, eight other bodies were found in a several-mile stretch along the Long Island Shore. Among those were a toddler and one man.
13 December 2011
Remains of Ms Gilbert are found.
January 2020
Police release a photo of a black leather belt embossed with the letters “WH” or “HM” and ask for the public’s help in identifying what it could mean or who it could belong to.
February 2022
Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police and the FBI form a task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach killings.
13 July 2023
Rex Heuermann arrested in Midtown Manhattan and charged with three counts of first-degree murder for Ms Waterman, Ms Barthelemy, and Ms Costello. He is also named as the prime suspect in Ms Brainard-Barnes’ death.
Watch: Rex Heuermann’s defense attorney says there will be no plea deal
Wednesday 2 August 2023 05:00 , Ariana Baio
Gilgo Beach witness questions why it took so long to make arrest after he gave tip that cracked case in 2010
Wednesday 2 August 2023 03:00 , Ariana Baio
Dave Schaller told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that, by the time Rex Heuermann’s mugshot was plastered on every local and national news channel on 13 July, he was very familiar with the Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” he had long ago described to investigators.
Andrea Blanco reports:
Gilgo Beach witness reveals he gave tip that helped crack serial killer case in 2010
Rex Heuermann had one chilling question for officials after his arrest
Wednesday 2 August 2023 01:00 , Ariana Baio
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann had just one chilling question for jail officials following his arrest last week, it has been revealed.
As the 59-year-old married father-of-two was processed into Suffolk County Jail on a string of murder charges, sources told CNN he was curious about his newfound notoriety.
“Is it in the news?” he asked.
Mr Heuermann’s alleged interest in the media coverage of the killings isn’t new.
Court documents revealed that over the last year between March 2022 and June 2023, he repeatedly looked online for updates in the investigation, searched for details about the victims and their families, read news stories about the case and looked for podcasts and documentaries about the murders.
