Friday’s announcement that police had made an arrest within the notorious Lengthy Island serial killings was surprising not simply due to the unbelievable growth in a chilly case but additionally as a result of the suspect — like these on the heart of so many latest high-profile circumstances — lived an unassuming life close to his victims, had no identified historical past of violent crime, was seemingly profitable and presumably didn’t elevate alarm bells amongst his household and pals.
Regardless of quite a few podcasts, books and movies concerning the killings — and hordes of citizen sleuths speculating on message boards and social media — the case had remained unsolved for the reason that December 2010 discovery of the our bodies of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Megan Waterman, 22, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who died within the summers of 2009 and 2010.
So what led investigators to encompass and arrest 59-year-old architect Rex Heuermann on Thursday as he strolled down Fifth Avenue after leaving his Manhattan workplace at 8:30 p.m.? Authorities on Friday revealed how a job power combed by proof over the past 12 months, and on Monday they continued to hunt any potential connections to the killings in private belongings — which included, per police, greater than 200 firearms — at his Massapequa Park house and storage models within the space. To this point, Heuermann has pleaded not responsible to 6 fees in reference to the deaths of three girls.
As police proceed to unspool crime scene tape close to Heuermann’s house and different areas of curiosity, right here’s what we all know concerning the “Gilgo 4” investigation — and the various questions we’ve concerning the unsolved deaths of a minimum of seven different individuals, a lot of them unidentified, whose stays have been present in desolate areas of Lengthy Island.
REUTERS/Suffolk County Police Division/Handout
What the Gilgo Seaside victims had in frequent: The 4 girls, all of whom have been petite and of their 20s, have been intercourse employees who marketed on Craigslist. Their skeletal stays have been discovered inside a whole lot of toes of one another buried within the thick underbrush alongside the distant Ocean Freeway, every virtually equidistant from the highway. All had been strangled and have been “lacking garments and private possessions,” based on prosecutors in a bail utility. They’d all been certain at their heads, chest and legs with belts or tape, and three of the ladies’s our bodies have been wrapped in a burlap materials.
Burlap: Early reporting that the victims had been certain in burlap had taken on a lifetime of its personal, with individuals believing it to be the form of burlap utilized in nurseries, Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney mentioned in a information convention following Heuermann’s arraignment Friday. On the information convention, he specified for the primary time that it was a camouflage burlap, like that used for duck blinds and looking. “Clearly it was used to purposely cover the our bodies,” he mentioned.
The Gilgo Seaside Murder Investigation Job Drive: In accordance with a 32-page bail utility launched on Friday, an interagency job power — comprising the police division and sheriff’s workplace of Suffolk County together with the FBI and different investigators, analysts and prosecutors — was convened in January 2022 and zeroed in on a suspect on March 14, 2022, which Tierney referred to as a “watershed day” for the investigation. Earlier than the duty power began its work, the investigation had languished for 13 years, drawing widespread criticism for the police division’s failure to research when the ladies have been first reported lacking, their disappearances seemingly dismissed as a result of they have been intercourse employees. Adjustments in employees and management, cronyism, corruption and company siloing all appeared to play a job within the case rising chilly, points that have been highlighted in podcasts akin to “Unraveled” and “LISK: Lengthy Island Serial Killer.”
James Burke, a former Suffolk County police chief, pressured out detectives who have been engaged on the case when he took workplace in 2012, blocked the FBI from persevering with to help within the investigation and had been the topic of an inner affairs investigation due to his relationship with a intercourse employee within the Nineties. In 2015, Burke pleaded responsible to beating a prisoner, Christopher Loeb, whereas he was handcuffed and shackled to the ground as a result of Loeb had stolen intercourse toys and porn DVDs from Burke’s police automobile. Burke was sentenced to virtually 4 years in jail. Thomas J. Spota, then the Suffolk County district lawyer, and considered one of his high prosecutors have been additionally sentenced to 5 years in jail for his or her function in overlaying up the assault on Loeb.
Tierney mentioned he aimed to make modifications when he took over the DA’s workplace in January 2022. “I made Gilgo a precedence,” he instructed reporters Friday. “I made Gilgo a precedence earlier than I took workplace. I met with the victims’ households, a few of whom I’m proud to have standing with us at present, and I instructed them that we have been going to deal with this case in another way.”
The Chevrolet Avalanche: On March 14, in what Tierney referred to as a “important break within the case,” investigators discovered that Heuermann was the registered proprietor of a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck, a kind of car police believed had been pushed by Costello’s killer. The truck, distinctive due to an angular body behind its second-row seats connecting to a flatbed cowl, was seen at Costello’s home on two successive nights: Sept. 1 and a pair of, 2010. On the primary night time, a witness allegedly instructed police, Costello had tricked a shopper into paying with out intercourse by having somebody posing as an outraged boyfriend barge in and persuade him to go away. Someway the shopper satisfied Costello not solely to see him once more the subsequent night time but additionally to go away with him to keep away from encountering anybody else, prosecutors mentioned.
He regarded like an “ogre”: The witness, who final noticed Costello strolling towards an Avalanche, in contrast her shopper to an ogre, saying he was very tall (6 toes, 4 inches to six toes, 6 inches) in his mid-40s with “darkish bushy hair” and carrying huge “Seventies-type” oval eyeglasses, based on prosecutors. Heuermann is 6 toes, 4 inches and heavyset, he would’ve been round 46 years previous in 2010 and, as Tierney bluntly mentioned in a information convention following Heuermann’s arraignment, “he matched the outline of the ogre.” Megan Waterman’s sister, Allie Pertel, instructed ABC Information, “I used to be actually very shocked as a result of he doesn’t seem like the monster that he’s. However listening to particulars from the day, I assume he actually was a monster.”
Cellphone information: As soon as the duty power discovered Heuermann had owned a Chevy Avalanche, they obtained his cellphone billing information, which they mentioned they related to burner telephones used to contact all 4 girls whose our bodies have been discovered on Gilgo Seaside. He purchased a brand new burner telephone to speak with every of his victims, Tierney mentioned, and discarded it after their deaths. Utilizing cell web site information, police mentioned they have been in a position to present that the burner telephones have been in the identical space because the victims and Heuermann’s private cellphone, and that the burner calls originated in places close to Heuermann’s workplace in Midtown Manhattan and his house in Massapequa Park.
Suffolk County District Lawyer’s Workplace
“Taunting” telephone calls: Authorities mentioned Heuermann used Barthelemy’s telephone 5 occasions to name her household after her loss of life. In accordance with Robert Kolker, who interviewed the households in 2011 for New York journal, an article that he adopted with “Misplaced Women,” a ebook concerning the case, the caller spoke to Barthelemy’s teen sister Amanda, calling her a “half-breed” and Barthelemy a “whore,” and, in his final name in August 2009, telling her he had sexually assaulted and killed Barthelemy. Each Barthelemy’s and Brainard-Barnes’ telephones have been used to test their voicemail after their disappearances, authorities mentioned, and placement information mentioned these calls have been made in the identical space as Heuermann’s telephone.
“Considerably, investigators may discover no occasion the place Heuermann was in a separate location from these different cellphones when such a communication occasion occurred,” prosecutors mentioned within the bail utility.
Heuermann’s spouse: Investigators additionally obtained cellphone information for Heuermann’s spouse, which they mentioned confirmed that she was out of New York — in Iceland, Maryland and New Jersey — when Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello disappeared. Her telephone information, nevertheless, weren’t accessible for 2007, when Brainard-Barnes went lacking and was discovered killed.
DNA: Sadly, Heuermann’s spouse was instantly tied to the case, although police don’t imagine she had something to do with the crimes. Strands of feminine Caucasian hair not belonging to the victims have been discovered on or close to the bindings used to restrain Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello, however DNA evaluation was restricted on the time the hair was collected. In July 2022, investigators despatched swab samples from bottles “neglected for assortment” in entrance of the Heuermann’s home for DNA profiling. The outcomes, which have been supplied between February and June 2023, confirmed a digital match between Heuermann’s spouse’s DNA and the hairs discovered on Waterman and Costello.
A DNA profile was additionally created in July 2020 for a white male’s hair recovered from the underside of the burlap used to wrap Costello’s physique. After investigators found the Avalanche belonging to Heuermann and related his cellphone information to the victims, a surveillance workforce eliminated a pizza field from the trash can the place they’d seen him discard it. Swabs of the pizza crust have been decided by DNA analysts to be a match for the male hair discovered on Costello’s restraints, prosecutors mentioned.
“Sadistic” telephone searches: By way of searches of Heuermann’s telephone and banking information, investigators have been in a position to hyperlink him to burner telephones, emails and on-line accounts created utilizing pretend names, based on the bail utility.
By way of this information, police have been additionally in a position to see his web historical past, which they mentioned included hundreds of searches for “sadistic, torture-related pornography” and baby sexual abuse pictures. The searches specify ages, ethnicities, and hair and eye colour alongside acts of sexual violence.
His searches additionally allegedly included names of the victims, their relations and different particulars concerning the Lengthy Island serial killer case.
Authorities mentioned the net information confirmed that Heuermann had continued to rent intercourse employees, had a Tinder profile and shared selfies — photographs which are included within the bail utility — “to solicit and organize for sexual exercise” even after investigators had recognized him as a major goal. This might probably clarify why they moved ahead with an arrest with out charging him for the killing of Brainard-Barnes, noting within the bail utility that “there’s substantial proof” towards him and that “he’s the prime suspect in her loss of life and the investigation, which is continuous and is anticipated to be resolved quickly.”
Search warrants: In the meantime, investigators proceed to seek for extra proof at Heuermann’s house and a self-storage facility. In his basement, they discovered between 200 and 300 weapons — Tierney had beforehand mentioned Heuermann had permits for 92 firearms — in a “walled-off vault behind a locked steel door,” a supply instructed CNN, together with pistols, revolvers and semiautomatic rifles. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison referred to the gathering as an “arsenal” in an interview with Fox Information’ Brian Kilmeade on Monday.
“Important and stronger leads”? In a assertion launched on Monday, Heuermann’s lawyer Michael Brown highlighted his shopper’s skilled credentials and devotion to his household, saying investigators have been wrongly concentrating on his shopper and ignoring different proof. “Rex Heuermann is 59 years previous with no prior prison historical past,” Brown mentioned. “He’s a school graduate and is a hardworking licensed architect who has his personal NYC agency. He’s a loving husband to his spouse of over 25 years and an concerned and devoted father to his daughter and stepson. He has entered a not responsible plea and has insisted he didn’t commit these crimes. There may be nothing about Mr. Heuermann that might recommend that he’s concerned in these incidents. And whereas the federal government has determined to give attention to him regardless of extra important and stronger leads, we’re trying ahead to defending him in a court docket of regulation earlier than a good and neutral jury of his friends.”
Shannan Gilbert: Though police don’t contemplate the Could 1, 2010, disappearance and loss of life of Shannan Gilbert to be associated to the “Gilgo 4” or different killings within the space, her mom’s dogged pursuit of justice for her daughter has been extensively publicized. Shannan, just like the 4 different girls, was a intercourse employee who marketed on Craigslist, and “Misplaced Women,” the latest Netflix docudrama primarily based on Kolker’s ebook, was framed round her case. Gilbert made a frantic 911 name from her rich shopper’s house, however investigators dragged their heels on even contemplating her a lacking individual due to her intercourse work. Despite the fact that her disappearance predated the opposite girls’s, her stays weren’t discovered till December 2011, a 12 months after the Gilgo 4 have been found, after police drained a marsh the place she was final seen. Police maintained after her physique was discovered that her loss of life was unintentional, a results of publicity or drowning after she received misplaced when working away from her shopper’s home. Their place doesn’t appear to have modified since then: A web site devoted to the Gilgo Seaside murder investigation states, “Whereas the division is of the opinion that Shannan’s loss of life was an unlucky accident, the division will proceed to judge any data that the general public might have to assist decide a definitive reason behind loss of life on this case.”
The opposite our bodies: Police mentioned they haven’t excluded Heuermann as being concerned within the deaths of different individuals whose stays have been discovered within the space in 2010 and 2011, together with two intercourse employees, a toddler and an Asian man.
“Even with this arrest, we’re not finished,” Harrison mentioned at Friday’s information convention. “Since we found the primary sufferer, there’s been a number of scrutiny and criticism relating to how this investigation was dealt with. I’ll inform you this: The investigators have been by no means discouraged. They continued and uncovered proof and adopted leads. We’ll by no means cease working and can proceed to work tirelessly till we convey justice to all of the households as effectively. Final however not least, I’m going to thank my predecessors who got here earlier than me for the work that they did. I wish to thank them for actually laying the inspiration to assist us get to right here at present.”