Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann’s ‘disturbing’ behavior before his arrest
- Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Heuermann continued engaging in ‘disturbing activity’ up until his arrest – including internet searches
- Harrison said he was confident that Heuermann was the culprit but didn’t rule out the possibility that there may have been other ‘predators’ on Long Island
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann continued his ‘disturbing activity’ up until his arrest, a top Long Island cop has revealed.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Newsday on Wednesday: ‘He’s somebody that was still engaging in activity that was disturbing, be it his internet searches, be it engaging in other activities that he shouldn’t be engaging in.
‘That’s something I was very, very passionate about, regarding ‘we need to see what his lifestyle is.’
Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered on a stretch of the Long Island beach in December 2010. He is the prime suspect in a fourth murder.
Harrison said he was confident that Heuermann was the culprit but didn’t rule out the possibility that there could be other ‘predators’ in the neighborhood. The bodies of up to two dozen people have been discovered at Gilgo Beach since 1996.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison (pictured last month outside the alleged killer’s home on Long Island) told Newsday on Wednesday: ‘He’s somebody that was still engaging in activity that was disturbing, be it his internet searches, be it engaging in other activities that he shouldn’t be engaging in’
Rex Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, whose bodies were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2010
https://youtube.com/watch?v=g5SmawX4ZMs%3Frel%3D0
Harrison had previously referred to Heuermann as a ‘demon that walks among us, a predator that ruined families’ and expressed his confidence in the case on Wednesday.
He said: ‘I’m very confident that Mr. Heuermann’s our subject. Because of my confidence, I’m gonna call him what I wanna call him — somebody that ruined families, somebody who’s a predator, somebody who shattered lives.
‘And not just one, several, and there may be more. I didn’t say that there is, but there may be more. If the family members have a problem with me calling him a demon, then I’ll apologize.’
In the wide ranging interview, Harrison also said he formulated a task force to crack the long unsolved killings.
When asked if Long Islanders should be worried that a serial killer responsible for some or all of the killing is still at large, Harrison said: ‘I wish I could give you an answer.
‘I can’t tell you at this time. Is Rex Heuermann going to be held accountable for the other bodies on Ocean Parkway? Time will tell.’
The bodies of the women had been bound with belts or red tape and wrapped in burlap, which boasted DNA that matched samples taken from the discarded meal.
Taken during cops’ secret surveillance of Heuermann this past year, DNA is set to be a key factor in the case, due to the time between the murders and the architect’s arrest. He is also the prime suspect of a fourth murder, but has yet to be charged.
Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown Manhattan office.
Heuermann was linked to one of the killings through mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and a used napkin that he discarded from his Midtown Manhattan office
Aired by Judge Timothy Mazzei Wednesday, the ruling serves as a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion – based on the belief the DNA found on the discarded meal will yield more evidence. The jurist and Heuermann are seen in sketch from a hearing this past week
A judge ruled earlier this week that Heuermann will have to submit a cheek swab for analysis due to the discarded crust.
Judge Timothy Mazzei issued the ruling on Wednesday, which is a win for prosecutors who had fought for the motion – based on the belief the DNA found on the pizza crust and an accompanying napkin will yield more material evidence.
The judge also revealed that one of Heuermann’s attorneys will be present during the swab process – after fighting relentlessly to avoid such an analysis due to a supposed lack of evidence their client committed the crimes he’s accused of.
That said, prosecutors on Tuesday revealed some of the evidence that’s been mounted against the suspected killer – which includes some 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports and hundreds of hours of video footage taken at Heuermann’s home and office.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to first-degree and second-degree murders. He was arrested on July 13 and remains in jail ahead of his trial
A forensic photographer is seen bending over the tray of objects excavated from the back yard of Heuermann’s house in Massapequa Park. Prosecutors say ‘nothing of note’ was discovered in the back yard, but on Tuesday said they have a trove of evidence against the suspect
For more than a week following his July 14 arrest, investigators had been conducting an exhaustive search of the house
That trove was laid bare in a brief preliminary hearing where prosecutors turned over four hard drives holding the evidence to the Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice and Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, following weeks of uncertainty as to how strong their case is.
The judge scheduled the next pre-trial conference hearing for September 27, at which point the results from the swab will be in.
Danielle Coysh, who is representing Heuermann, had argued the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office is a ‘far cry’ from the legal benchmark needed to force the architect to give in the swab, but was shot down Tuesday with Mazzei’s order.
It remains unclear which of victims the DNA was uncovered – a fact prosecutors will wait to reveal until the results of the swab are in.
Brown, meanwhile, recently maintained that his client still says he is innocent – and is ready to fight the charges against him in court.
He remains incarcerated without bail in a single sell at Suffolk County Correctional Facility – somewhere his kids and now ex-wife have so refused to visit.
Both adults, the offspring of the suspected serial killer, Victoria Heuermann and step-stop Christopher Sheridan, are aged 26 and 33, respectively.
Victoria Heuermann, 26, and step-brother, Christopher Sheridan, 33, said they are ‘not foreclosing on’ seeing their father in his Suffolk County incarceration, but will also not rush into making a decision
In a statement from the siblings’ attorney also aired Wednesday, they refused to rule out ever speaking to him again – but also said they would not rush into making a decision.
The pair also refused to discuss the allegations against Heuermann, and declined to offer their opinions on his alleged crimes.
Their mother, 59-year-old Asa Ellerup, has also yet to visit her former spouse, whom she divorced days after his arrest to ‘protect herself’ from any future lawsuits, her lawyer told DailyMail.com this week.
That revelation – offering insight into the state of the family weeks after it was shattered by the headline-grabbing case – comes a little more than a week after the were seen returning to the ransacked Massapequa Park residence they had lived in with Heurmann since 1994.
The homecoming happened nearly two weeks after Heuermann was apprehended as a result of an in-depth probe enacted by federal investigators, and was somewhat marred by the mass of media seen at the site scrutinizing the family.
Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 – after it was searched by feds – with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later.
Christopher, born from Ellerup’s previous marriage, became emotional as he sat on a bench outside the property with his mother, who appeared similarly overwhelmed.
The 59-year-old filed for divorce less than a week after her ex was detained – and while yet to physically visit her husband of more than 20 years, she told DailyMail.com that they have spoken over the phone.
A ‘major excavation’ took place at Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home. Pictured are State Police investigators gathering evidence at the scene
Asa Ellerup and her two children looked solemn as they arrived back at the torn-up property at 10.30am on July 27 – after it was searched by feds – with Suffolk County cops accompanying the clan back into the home before leaving about an hour later
Heuermann is being held at Suffolk County Correctional Facility away from other inmates, with a cell complete with a TV. Cops said the suspect has vowed to be ‘compliant’ as he awaits trial. Almost a month into his incarceration, he has yet to receive a visitor – family included
Speaking to DailyMail.com Wednesday from the family’s home, she told DailyMail.com she doesn’t ‘want to walk down the street’ anymore due to the mass of attention her and her children have been exposed to since moving back in.
‘The neighbors want the house gone,’ she said. ‘They want it bulldozed.’
She became emotional discussing how she’s tried to cope with the intense media scrutiny and neighborhood gossip.
‘Look I don’t want to walk down the street. I heard what people said about us. I heard it,’ Ellerup, who had been married to her ex for more than 27 years before their split, she said as she began to cry.
‘I heard the other people on the neighborhood. They want the house bulldozed,’ she added, revealing how her neighbors were now put off by their proximity to a site where the suspect is believed to have committed unspeakable atrocities.
‘Do you understand?’ she asked over the phone, growing increasingly distraught. ‘Please I can’t talk anymore.’
The suspect’s house sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across the South Oyster Bay
Her husband, meanwhile, stands accused of murdering at least three women – Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello -but detectives probing the case are wary there are more bodies that may be linked to him.
The main suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007, he has had no visitors at the Suffolk Country Correctional Facility where he’s been imprisoned since his arrest – other than his lawyer.
Officials at the facility have since said the alleged serial killer is ‘very comfortable’ in his cell, where he has a TV and is kept from other inmates – despite being on simultaneous suicide watch.
His ex’s lawyer, Bob Macedonio told DailyMail.com that Ellerup had been at home at the time of her husband’s arrest outside his office in Midtown Manhattan, and that authorities simultaneously swooped in to search the residence.
State police remove evidence from Rex Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, NY, in the afternoon on Monday morning, July 17, 2023
The home of Rex Heuermann is shown on Saturday, July 17, 2023, in Massapequa Park, NY
Ellerup – whose hair was found at one of the crime scenes but it not believed to be an accomplice – attended Farmingdale High School and married briefly in her 20s, divorcing in the early 1990s.
It remains unclear if she had a professional life outside the home.
Her daughter Victoria, meanwhile, worked with at her father’s Big Apple firm as a receptionist. The New York Times reported son Christopher has special needs.
With Heuermann’s incarceration set to give away to an eventual trial, the family has been largely forced to remain within their home, rarely venturing out since being allowed back in after the FBI’s and local authorities’ extensive, 12-day search.
Police have kept mum on what’s been found at the family home, but described the search as ‘fruitful’ in terms of evidence.
What is known is that police recovered more than 250 guns from the residence, and also discovered a walk-in vault in the basement.
That said, cops’ investigation into the killings is still ongoing, after linking ten sets of human remains found in Wantagh on April 15, 2011, to Heuermann.
Police believe the victims were killed by the same person.
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