A glimpse into how police found suspect decades after Long Island killings

A glimpse into how police found suspect decades after Long Island killings

After the stays of 4 ladies had been discovered close to a seaside in Long Island, New York, greater than a decade in the past, investigators say DNA proof and cellphone knowledge now level to a homicide suspect – a neighborhood architect whose web historical past confirmed him usually looking the standing of the case and particulars concerning the victims.

Rex Heuermann was arrested in New York City on Thursday, greater than a 12 months after a police process power explored his attainable connection to the chilly case often known as the “Gilgo Four,” named for the seaside the place the stays had been discovered.

Heuermann, 59, was indicted on one rely of first-degree homicide and one rely of second-degree homicide in every of three of the killings – Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010, in response to the indictment.

Rex A. Heuermann, an architect in his late 50s, seems in what investigators decribe as “selfie” pictures taken from the fictional Springfieldman9 AOL account, as a part of a bail utility by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s workplace July 14, 2023. Suffolk County Court/Handout by way of REUTERS NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. (by way of REUTERS)

He pleaded not responsible Friday throughout his first court docket look on Long Island and was remanded with out bail.

The defendant, who informed his legal professional he didn’t perform the killings, can also be the prime suspect within the 2007 disappearance and dying of a fourth lady, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, in response to a bail utility from Suffolk County prosecutors. Heuermann has not been charged within the case, however the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the doc states.

“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us. A predator that ruined families. If not for the members of this task force, he would still be on the streets today,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison mentioned throughout a news convention Friday, and provided his condolences to the victims’ households.

“To the family members of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. I can only imagine what you’ve had to endure over the last decade regarding knowing that your killer was still loose. God bless you,” Harrison mentioned earlier than hugging just a few individuals standing behind him.

Authorities had been left with little data after a seek for a lacking lady in 2010 led to the invention of a number of units of human stays at Gilgo Beach. By the time the stays of the lacking lady, Shannan Gilbert, had been discovered the next 12 months, no less than 10 units of human stays had been recovered throughout two Long Island counties.

In this December 8, 2011 photograph, investigators use a backhoe to dig whereas looking for Shannan Gilbert’s physique in a marsh space simply east of Oak Beach, New York. (Kevin P Coughlin/AP/File)

As they looked for a suspect within the “Gilgo Four” case, investigators combed via telephone information from each midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park space in Long Island – locations the place the suspect is believed to have used a burner telephone, court docket paperwork present.

“For each of the murders, he got an individual burner phone, and he used that to communicate with the victims. Then shortly after the death of the victims, he then would get rid of the burner phone,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney mentioned Friday.

In February 2022, Harrison created a process power to concentrate on fixing the chilly case. By mid-March, Heuermann’s title confirmed up on authorities’ radar after a New York state investigator recognized him in a database, in response to Tierney.

Investigators say they narrowed cell tower information from hundreds of attainable people right down to tons of after which to a handful of individuals. Next, authorities centered on residents who additionally matched a bodily description supplied by a witness who had seen the suspected killer.

This reserving picture supplied by Suffolk County Sheriffs Office, exhibits Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who was charged Friday, July 14, 2023, with homicide within the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings often known as the Gilgo Beach murders. (Suffolk County Sheriffs Office by way of AP0 (AP)

Witness talked about inexperienced pickup truck

As the search pool narrowed, they zeroed in on anybody with a connection to a inexperienced pickup truck a witness had seen the suspect driving, in response to two regulation enforcement sources with data of the case.

Later, authorities discovered Heuermann drives a inexperienced pickup truck registered to his brother.

Eventually, investigators discovered Heuermann matched a witness’s bodily description, lived near the Long Island cell website and labored close to the New York City cell websites the place different calls had been captured.

Cell telephone and bank card billing information present quite a few cases the place Heuermann was within the common areas because the burner telephones used to name the three victims “as well as the use of Brainard-Barnes and Barthelemy’s cellphones when they were used to check voicemail and make taunting phone calls after the women disappeared,” Suffolk County prosecutors allege.

The defendant’s subsequent court docket look is scheduled on August 1.

New York State cops transfer a metallic cupboard as regulation enforcement searches the house of Rex Heuermann, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y. Heuermann, a Long Island architect, was charged Friday, July 14, with homicide within the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings often known as the Gilgo Beach murders. (AP Photo/Jeenah Moon) (AP)

Technology performed vital position in figuring out suspect

A significant component within the case that helped level investigators to Heuermann as a suspect is DNA proof, which was made attainable because of the newest scientific improvements within the subject.

After Heuermann was recognized as a suspect in March 2022, authorities positioned him and his household underneath surveillance and would get hold of DNA samples from discarded objects.

In late 2022, detectives recovered a cup believed to have been discarded by Heuermann, however they could not get DNA pattern from it, a regulation enforcement supply near the investigation informed CNN on Saturday.

But then in January 2023, investigators bought an entire pattern of Heuermann’s DNA from leftover crust in a pizza field he threw within the trash, in response to the supply.

During the preliminary examination of one of many victims’ skeletal stays and supplies found within the grave, the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory recovered a male hair from the “bottom of the burlap” the killer used to wrap her physique, in response to prosecutors. Analysis of the DNA discovered on the sufferer and the pizza confirmed the samples matched.

Additionally, hair believed to be from Heuermann’s spouse was discovered on or close to three of the homicide victims, prosecutors allege within the bail utility, citing DNA testing. The DNA got here from 11 bottles inside a rubbish can outdoors the Heuermann house, the court docket doc says.

The hairs, present in 2010, had been degraded and DNA testing on the time could not yield outcomes. But as expertise progressed, mitochondrial DNA testing allowed investigators to make the connection, Tierney defined.

The victims’ stays “were out in a tough environment for a prolonged period of time. So, there was not a lot of forensic evidence,” Tierney informed CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday, and credited the FBI and one in every of its brokers for a “phenomenal job” with extracting the proof.

Police officers stand guard close to the home the place a suspect has been taken into custody on New York’s Long Island in reference to a long-unsolved string of killings, often known as the Gilgo Beach murders, Friday, July 14, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez) (AP)

Evidence exhibits Heuermann’s spouse and youngsters had been out of the state when the three ladies are believed to have been killed, Tierney mentioned throughout Friday’s news convention.

“So with regard to that DNA and those hairs, it’s either transfer – in other words, one person comes into contact with a second person who then comes into contact with a third person – or, they were at a location where you know the family member occupied, whether it’s a car or a house,” Tierney informed CNN’s Polo Sandoval on Saturday.

Tierney mentioned there is not any proof of any accomplices within the murders.

“When we focused on him, you know, there was no evidence of any – other than patronising prostitutes – any criminal activity,” Tierney mentioned. “But certainly the pattern of life that we saw was concerning.”

Tierney mentioned Heuermann has 92 handguns registered. Asked if any of these weapons could have been used within the killings, Tierney mentioned. “The autopsies indicate homicidal violence, which would preclude the use of a weapon.”

“We’ve executed a search warrant on a number of locations including his home,” Tierney added. “Obviously, that search warrant includes trace evidence. So the forensic folks are going to go through that, all those locations, with a fine-tooth comb. So they’re going to be there for a while.”

A glimpse into the thoughts of the ‘Batman’ killer

Concerns about particulars being leaked

Tierney mentioned it was clear from the duty power’s current surveillance the suspect was “carefully monitoring the investigation” and the duty power was frightened about leaks within the case.

The prosecutor mentioned, “We’ve executed a lot of search warrants and we’re just beginning to comb through that evidence, and we hope that we’re going to get more evidence, and obviously if the nature of your investigation or how close you are leaks to that one person – all of that evidence disappears. So it’s a balancing act.”

A search of Heuermann’s pc revealed he had scoured the web no less than 200 occasions, looking for particulars concerning the standing of the investigation, Tierney added.

Heuermann’s web historical past additionally turned up searches for torture porn and “depictions of women being abused, being raped and being killed,” Tierney mentioned.

Heuermann was additionally compulsively looking for pictures of the victims and their family members, and he was making an attempt to trace down family members, the district legal professional mentioned.

Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. (Suffolk County Police Department)

Victims had been discovered days aside in 2010

Tierney mentioned the work of the duty power is not over.

“There are a lot of other victims, you know, in that area,” Tierney mentioned. “There are a lot of victim’s families that want closure, so that’s what you work towards.”

While the ten units of human stays discovered are all being investigated as victims of suspected murder, 4 of the ladies discovered have garnered particular consideration because of the similarities discovered of their deaths.

The victims often known as the “Gilgo Four” had been all final seen alive between 2007 and 2010, and their stays had been discovered alongside a quarter-mile stretch of highway in a span of three days in December 2010.

The ladies, who all labored within the intercourse trade, had been additionally buried in a similar way, Tierney famous.

“All the women were petite. They all did the same thing for a living. They all advertised the same way. Immediately there were similarities with regard to the crime scenes,” he mentioned. The killer hid their our bodies by wrapping them in camouflaged burlap, the sort utilized by hunters.

Authorities have mentioned they consider the dying of Gilbert, whose disappearance sparked the searches that discovered the opposite victims, could have been unintentional and never associated to the opposite killings.

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Source: www.9news.com.au