Rex Heuermann is a registered architect and suspected serial killer who is accused in the deaths of multiple women whose bodies were dumped near Gilgo Beach in New York.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney confirmed that Heuermann was arrested in a news conference on July 14, 2023. “These young women went missing between July 2007 and September 2010. They were found in September 2010 by the Suffolk County Police Department and then there was nothing, absolutely nothing. For the next 13 years, their cases went unsolved. Until today,” Tierney said.
He said Heuermann is charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. Heuermann made over 200 internet searches pertaining to the Gilgo Beach investigation and also searched pictures of the victims and their relatives, according to Tierney, who said the suspect was trying to locate those individuals. The internet searches included “a lot of torture porn” and depictions of women being abused, raped and killed, Tierney said.
The murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes remains under investigation, according to Tierney.
According to NBC News, Heuermann’s attorney, Michael J. Brown, told reporters that Heuermann maintains his innocence and called the accusations “extremely circumstantial in nature.”
“The only thing he did say, as he was in tears, was ‘I didn’t do this,'” Brown said, according to NBC News. “He’s distraught. He’s clearly distraught about the charges here.”
According to NBC News, citing court documents, 16 bodies were found in the Gilgo Beach area, but authorities are not accusing Heuermann of murdering the other women.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Hair & Cell Phone Evidence Connects Rex Heuermann to the Murders of the Women, Who Were Bound With Burlap, the District Attorney Says
Suspected Long Island Serial Killer is a straight up GIANT! 😳 Look how tall he is. Very different from Richard Allen in the Adelphi Murders #RexHeuermann #longislandserialkiller #gilgobeachmurders
In the news conference, Tierney said all of the women were petite and were buried in a similar way. “All of the women were bound at the head,” the mid section or chest and at the legs, he said. “They were bound by burlap.” Tierney described the material as camouflage burlap used for duck blinds in hunting.
Heuermann had purchased a burner cell phone that was prepaid and anonymous for each of the murders, and he used the phones to communicate with the victims and then got rid of them, Tierney said in the news conference. He added that authorities compared the victims’ phones with the burner phones and pinpointed an area in Massapequa Park (where Heuermann lives) that authorities called the “box.” They did the same thing for an area in midtown Manhattan.
Tierney said a hair was recovered from Brainard-Barnes in a belt buckle around her legs. Three hairs were recovered from Waterman, he said: one from around her head area, one from around her leg area in the burlap and one caught in between the tape.
A significant hair was recovered on Costello’s body, Tierney said. The hairs were degraded so traditional DNA evidence couldn’t be used. Technology improved, though, over the years, he said. In February 2022, a task force was formed, he said.
The day before her disappearance in September 2010, Costello “met with an individual for the purposes of having him pay her money for her services,” the DA said in the press conference. This provided a key break for the case.
“Once [he] gave her money, other individuals came into the house, pretended to be significant others,” and confronted Heuermann, who left “without retrieving his money,” Tierney said. The witnesses described the man as white, between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6, “thickly built,” with glasses and dark hair, the DA said. They also said he was “driving a dark-colored black … Chevrolet Avalanche” pickup truck with a unique feature.
In March 2022, Heuermann was identified as a suspect due to having owned such a vehicle, Tierney said. He was physically the same size. He owned a Chevy Avalanche and lived in the box area, the DA said. He was continuing to patronize sex workers, according to Tierney.
Heuermann was followed by authorities to get abandonment DNA from him and his family, and then DNA testing was done. Cell phone evidence was used, Tierney said.
During the murders of the last three women, Heuermann’s wife and children were out of New York state, and he was alone in the tri-state area, Tierney said.
NBC New York reported that authorities believe Heuermann “used Melissa Barthelemy’s cell phone to call her teen sister repeatedly soon after Melissa disappeared in 2009.”
According to NBC, “the alleged killer made explicit sexual comments, claimed to have killed Melissa and related details of her killing that only the murderer would know.”
NBC New York added: “The same victim’s cellphone briefly pinged off of a tower in the Massapequa area around the same time.”
In a lengthy bail application, posted on the Daily Mail’s website, prosecutors revealed that they are also accusing Heuermann of accessing child pornography.
On December 11, 2010, a police officer located a set of human remains along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, Suffolk County, New York. The remains were Barthelemy. Two days later, authorities found three additional sets of human remains within one-quarter mile of the first discovery, the document says.
All of the victims were placed in close proximity, 22 to 33 feet form the parkway’s edge, and all were petite females 22 to 27 years old and “believed to be working as sex workers,” and all had missing clothing and personnel possessions, the document says. All were victims of homicide.
The break in the case came with the discovery of the first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann, the documents say.
They say Heuermann set up a Tinder profile as “Andrew Roberts,” and an AOL account as “John Springfield.” He is accused of using a cell phone to search terms like “teen girl begging for rape porn” and “mature escorts Manhattan” and “short fat girl tied up po(r)n.”
He is also accused of searching things like “why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the Long Island serial killer” and “why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught.”
In July 2022, it was determined that female hairs on the three victims were believed to match Heuermann’s wife, likely coming from their residence or transferring from his clothing while she was out of the state, the documents say. The letter also says that DNA matched to DNA on Rex Heuermann’s pizza crust excluded more than 99% of the population.
2. Rex Heuermann Is an Architect Whose New York Company Has Provided Services to City Agencies & Nonprofits
Suffolk Co DAMap of the bodies
Heuermann is an architect who runs a company called RH Consulting & Associates, Inc., in New York City.
“RH Consultants & Associates, Inc. was incorporated in 1994, founded by Rex Heuermann, a Registered Architect,” the company’s website says.
“RHC has extensive experience providing over thirty years of service dealing with the New York City Building Code, the New York State Code, the NYC Department of Buildings and all major city agencies,” it adds.
The website continues:
Throughout the years, Rex Heuermann has provided services to other city agencies, not for profit agencies, builders, developers and individual owners of buildings in regard to ADA, NYC and NY State Codes as well as Zoning Consultation. RHC provides Expediting Services and Special Inspections mandated by law. He has also successfully presented his clients to the New York City Landmark Preservation Commission numerous times. His clients include Catholic Charities, NYC-DEP Sewerage Treatment and American Airlines and other major tenants at the JFK International Airport. He has an expert team with successful experience in all aspects of building regulations and best practices.
The website lists Target and Foot Locker stores among its recent projects.
Heuermann’s company received a negative Google review a year before his arrest. “Use them at your own risk and as a last resort. Sent me a bill for a thousand dollars when they moved to new office space. Literally yes billed me 1,000 dollars because they moved,” it read.
In 2007, the New York Daily News reported, according to a story accessed on Newspapers.com, that more than two dozen Harlem families were “booted from their crumbling apartment building” and the city Buildings Department commission “said the agency was investigating whether the architect hired to renovate the seven-story building, Rex Heuermann, falsely identified it as vacant.”
His LinkedIn page lists Heuermann as the owner of the business.
“Today’s arrest is a testament to the tenacity, diligence and hard work by the brave men and women of the Suffolk County Police Department and all coordinating agencies Thousands of hours were spent investigating these heinous murders and pursuing leads,” the Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association wrote on Facebook.
“This predator will be held accountable for his crimes and we hope the families of his victims will find some closure. We also commend District Attorney Ray Tierney for his leadership and partnership during the course of this vast and complex investigation.”
3. Rex Heuermann, Who Has a Wife Named Asa Ellerup & 2 Kids, Went to School With Actor Billy Baldwin
According to the New York Post, Heuermann is married and the father of two children.
The New York Post reported that Heuermann is raising a child with special needs in a “ramshackle Long Island home he grew up in” and has been married twice. The Post reported that his wife is named Asa Ellerup and his daughter is named Victoria Heuermann and was listed as working for his company.
A 2015 photo on Ellerup’s Facebook page appears to show Heuermann in the background. The page says Ellerup “Worked at Long Island Jewish Medical Center” and “Went to Farmingdale High School.”
A 1990 article in The Central New Jersey Home News, accessed via Newspapers.com, says Heuermann’s first wife was Elizabeth R. Ryan of North Brunswick. It says he is the son of Dolores Heuermann of Massapeaqua Park, New York, and the late Theodore Heuermann. The wedding took place at St. Peter’s Church.
Heuerman has a brother named Craig Heuermann, the wedding announcement said. It said the bride worked for an office products company as a junior planner.
The announcement says Heuermann was a graduate of Berner High School in Massapequa and New York Institute of Technology in Westbury, New York “with a degree in architectural technology.” At that time, he was employed by Greer Construction Corp. in Freeport, New York, as an intern architect.
Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann.
Berner High School
Massapequa, New York
Class of 1981
Married, two kids, architect.
“Average guy… quiet, family man.”
Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock.…
The actor Billy Baldwin tweeted, “Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann. Berner High School. Massapequa, New York. Class of 1981.”
Baldwin added: “Married, two kids, architect. ‘Average guy… quiet, family man.’ Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock. 23andMe strikes again???”
Online records show Heuermann lives in Massapequa Park, New York, and is 59-years-old. Online records show that Heuermann has also lived in North Reading, Massachusetts, Freeport, New York, and Brunswick, New Jersey. Online records also indicate that his name comes up attached to a concealed carry permit.
According to CNN, Heuermann had permits for 92 guns and a history of late tax payments and suing motorists for injuring him in car accidents.
4. In a Video Interview, Rex Heuermann Told Jokes, Called Himself a ‘Troubleshooter’ & Said He Was ‘Born & Raised on Long Island’
Bonjour Realty posted an interview with Heuermann on YouTube that has since been made private on the platform. It was called, “L’INTERVIEW with Rex, Dept. of Buildings consultant & facilitator.”
In the February 2022 interview, Heuermann wore a buttoned down shirt with a pen in the pocket and made constant quips.
For example, when the interviewer made a comment about his new office, Heuermann quipped, “I wasn’t looking forward to doing this under a scaffold.”
Asked who he was, he said: “Rex Heuermann, I’m a troubleshooter. Born and raised on Long Island. Been working in Manhattan since 1987.” He said he has his “own staff.” He said to succeed in his job a person needs patience and tolerance.
He explained: “I do troubleshooting, architectural troubleshooting and negotiations with the building department.”
Heuermann said he was the person who got the phone call when a job is no longer routine, for example when there is an “old building” and someone is needed to “understand 1938 building code.”
“I’ve actually used 1901 old tenement laws in the City of New York and you can legally do so,” he said.
He said people fail to read the administrative section of building codes.
5. A Neighbor Described Rex Heuermann as a ‘Regular Guy Who Goes to Work’
#RexHeuermann neighbors
A former neighbor, Rosemarie Kafka, told NBC News that, if Heuermann is guilty,”he was living a double life.”
“You know, the regular guy who goes to work, has kids in the local school and in a good neighborhood, but he’s killing people on the side,” she told NBC.
Heuermann was a “tall, big, big guy. Always well dressed,” said Patrica Maressa, another neighbor, to NBC New York.
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